In the emulator

Everything drawn on this website is checked against openMSX with a Japanese MSX2 machine (C-BIOS_MSX2_JP). The probes are Tcl scripts that take the cartridge wherever it needs to be, by poking RAM or pressing real keys, and dump the whole VRAM (128 KB), the palette and the RAM. One emulator runs at a time.

The probes

probe	what it does	launcher	dumps
`omsx_konami.tcl`	the Konami logo, when its sweep ends	`lanza_konami.sh`	1
`omsx_vuelca.tcl`	the demo, at each change of cell or state	`lanza_vuelca.sh`	—
`omsx_zonas.tcl`	the entrance of each area	`lanza_zonas.sh`	49
`omsx_interiores.tcl`	the 21 interiors, closed and open	`lanza_interiores.sh`	21 + 8
`omsx_vecino.tcl`	the title with Q\*bert and with the Game Master in slot B	`lanza_vecino.sh`	2
`omsx_claves.tcl`	the four password keywords	`lanza_claves.sh`	4
`omsx_secretos.tcl`	the menu, the pause words, F2, F5 and the money on dying	`lanza_secretos.sh`	1 game
`omsx_pasadizos.tcl`	the 42 secret passages, the view and the map	`lanza_pasadizos.sh`	84
`omsx_entrada_pasadizo.tcl`	entering the passage by paying in interior 16	`lanza_entrada_pasadizo.sh`	1

To force an area, omsx_zonas.tcl puts the stage in 0xC288, the area in 0xC280 and 0xC268 to 0, and goes back to state 4, step 1: the game loads the area as if it had been reached on foot.

The comparisons

make coteja compares what is drawn from the ROM with the dumps. Current result:

test	what it compares	result
`coteja.py`	the 49 area entrances: 0xD800, the screen, the characters on page 1 and the palette	49 dumps, 0 different
`titulo.py`	the logo, the title and the neighbour's menu	0 pixels different
`figuras.py`	Goemon's pose in each dump: patterns, sprites and colours	49 dumps, 0 different
`enemigos.py`	each figure in the dumps and the lists of each cell	107 figures and 49 lists, 0 different
`interiores.py`	the 21 interiors, the whole of page 0	0 bytes different
`pasadizos.py`	the 42 passages: the grid at 0xD800, the map and the palette	42, 0 different

Tricks to see it

The stage goes in 0xC288 (0-6), the area in 0xC280 (0-6) and the cell in 0xC281.
To enter an interior: its number with bit 7 in 0xC500, 0xC482 = 1 and 0xC283 = 5.
In the shop menus, the first button (space) changes the option and the second (CTRL) chooses.
With Q\*bert or the Game Master in another slot, STOP brings up the neighbour's pause (p00:40E7).
The pause words are typed by their place in the keyboard matrix (table in bank 6, 0xADEC).