Medabots AX Hacking Guide v.0.7 Released on July 2, 2002 by Soren Kanzaki (soren_kanzaki@yahoo.com) ------------------- Table of Contents: ------------------- Section 1: Overview Section 2: Version History Section 3: Medabot Memory Basics Section 4: Medal Block Section 5: Parts Block Section 6: Battle Block Section 7: Credits Section 8: Copyright / Authorization Section 9: Miscellaneous -------------------- Section 1: Overview -------------------- Medabots. While sometimes the anime reminds me of Crayon Shin-chan (*shiver*), Medabots AX is a pretty well done game that balances action, collection, and RPG elements. (Which seem to be the popular choices nowadays.) You take on the role of the protagonist of the series, Ikki, in his attempt to win the Medabot tournament and generally prove that he is a good Medafighter. Based on your predilection for shooting or slashing, you can start off as either Metabee (gun-happy players) or Rokusho (sharp implement wielders). And of course, to encourage people to buy both and fight their friends, the only way to get all 12 medals and 120 Medabot parts is through linking. Well, or knowing how the game stores information in memory ... --------------------------- Section 2: Version History --------------------------- 0.7 (7/02/02): First draft. --------------------------------- Section 3: Medabot Memory Basics --------------------------------- A disclaimer before we begin (as borrowed from my other hacking guides): If you use any of these cheats, I'm not responsible for any 'weird' things happening to your game or your save data. You use these cheats at your own risk (to your game, your system, your enjoyment of Medabots AX). I made this document as a sort of educational glimpse into how the game was put together. You can make the game easier. You can make it harder. You can make it more fun. You can make it a bore. I think you get the point. Secondly, this document is much more technical in nature than other things I have written. I cannot guarantee it's 100% correct. I cannot guarantee you'll understand it. Hopefully, both of those conditions will hold true. Now, with the formalities over ... Thanks to programmers of Medabot AX, it is possible to write a single guide on how the memory is used for both Medabot AX: Metabee and Medabot AX: Rokusho. (This is either good discipline on the part of the programmers, or laziness. Possibly both?) Both store critical game values in the same address. Medabots stores information on the current experience/commands of each medal you currently possess, your global supply of Medabot parts (which includes those that have been equipped), and many other values in the memory. This game's approach is fairly straight-forward, so let's get into each section without further ado. ----------------------- Section 4: Medal Block ----------------------- There are a total of 12 different medals in Medabots AX. If you have Medabots AX: Metabee, you will start with the Kabuto and Mermaid medals. If you purchased Medabots AX: Rokusho, you will start with the Kuwagata and Mermaid medals. You obtain additional medals when you clear the Robattle Trial Areas, to a total of 8. Each 'medal' has 12 bytes of memory associated with it. Let's look at the Kabuto medal (which comes first): Byte 0 (203ec30): Current Level Byte 1 (203ec31): Not Used (set to 0) Byte 2 (203ec32): Points until next level, lo-byte (2-bytes) Byte 3 (203ec33): Points until next level, hi-byte (2-bytes) Byte 4 (203ec34): Strategy Panel 1 Byte 5 (203ec35): Strategy Panel 2 Byte 6 (203ec36): Strategy Panel 3 Byte 7 (203ec37): Strategy Panel 4 Byte 8 (203ec38): Strategy Panel 5 Byte 9 (203ec39): Not Used (set to 0) Byte 10 (203ec3a): Not Used (set to 0) Byte 11 (203ec3b): Not Used (set to 0) This is a neat, clean, and brutally inefficient memory block. (A third of it is waste padding, as far as I can tell.) Further medals start at the following addresses: 203ec30 - Kabuto 203ec3c - Kuwagata 203ec48 - Mermaid 203ec54 - ? (that's the name) 203ec60 - Spider 203ec6c - Bear 203ec78 - Monkey 203ec84 - Devil 203ec90 - Unicorn 203ec9c - Phoenix 203eca8 - Ghost 203ecb4 - Alien Simply add the byte number to the start address to arrive at the 'final' memory address. (E.G., the Strategy Panel 5 for Ghost is located at 203eca8 + 8 or 203ecb0) If you plan on simply adding the medals you are missing at level 1, I recommend entering a value of 1, then adding the cheats. Save via the normal, in game method (hit Select), then remove the cheats and restart your Gameboy Advance. Use the Continue function, and you should have the new medals. Do not exceed level 99 - it will remove the medal from your list. (For some reason, the default value for a medal not being present is 129. Go figure.) ----------------------- Section 5: Parts Block ----------------------- Some of the capitalization and spacing might be off on these names. However, you should get the drift. As far as I know, the two empty slots are there merely for 'padding' - the memory addresses in this game are quite nicely laid out, in that they start at nice round memory addresses. There are 23 different 'male' Medabot layouts, and 7 different 'female' layouts. You can switch between male and female Medabot layouts by hitting start, selecting the appropriate Medabot (Leader or Partner) and pressing the A Button. Then, move to any parts slot OTHER than medal and hit the Select button. You can use any combination of 'male' and 'female' Medabots that you desire. While you are free to customize the set of parts you place on your Medabot, pressing the L or R buttons will cycle through the 'default' Medabot layouts. If you're playing Medabots AX: Metabee, you'll start off with a complete set of Metabee parts (Missile, Revolver, Submachingun, Ochitsuka) as well as one other part of each type, randomly selected. You'll also have 2 parts in each type for your Female partner. (Thus, you could immediately change to 2 male Medabots or 2 female Medabots, if you prefer.) The Female parts don't always add up to a 'default' set. I've never gotten any Heads other than Pretty Face and All Repair, and I usually have PateriVulcan and Short Shot. Your mileage may vary. If you're playing Medabots AX: Rokusho, instead, you'll have the Rokusho default parts (Antenna, Sword, Pipo Hammer, Tatacker), and the rest will be random as with the Metabee version. You'll never get a chance to acquire any more Rokusho or Metabee parts (they're pretty good, but for the most part the parts in Medabots AX are balanced), so don't lose them! You can, of course, trade them to someone if you wish - and this is the only normal way to get additional sets of these parts. In case you're wondering, you'll get a set of parts (Prominence, Ignition, Explode, and FireWorks) once you've beaten the Rubber Robo gang and reclaimed your prize for winning the tournament. I haven't seen these parts used on any enemies you can encounter in Free Robattles, so this may be the only set you can get. Head: 203ecc0 - Missile 203ecc4 - Antenna 203ecc8 - Variablehair (Female) 203eccc - Holy Helm (Female) 203ecd0 - Hunter 203ecd4 - Tension UP 203ecd8 - Deathbreak 203ecdc - Fracture 203ece0 - Guardian 203ece4 - Pretty Face (Female) 203ece8 - Hatchin 203ecec - Tyranolaser 203ecf0 - Spydertrap 203ecf4 - Cover-Up 203ecf8 - All Repair (Female) 203ecfc - Flip (Female) 203ed00 - Head Cannon 203ed04 - Missile Base 203ed08 - Sala-Head (Female) 203ed0c - Light Circuit (Female) 203ed10 - Helmet 203ed14 - Blast gun 203ed18 - New Wave 203ed1c - Power Driver 203ed20 - Grave Lane 203ed24 - Dogu 203ed28 - Clear Shield 203ed2c - Pan 203ed30 - Peck Strike 203ed34 - Prominence 203ed38 - None 203ed3c - None Right Arm: 203ed40 - Revolver 203ed44 - Sword 203ed48 - PateriVulcan (Female) 203ed4c - Donor (Female) 203ed50 - Flexor sword 203ed54 - Shoot Barrel 203ed58 - Deathmissile 203ed5c - PastTouch 203ed60 - Canceller 203ed64 - Pride Viper (Female) 203ed68 - Catch 203ed6c - Megalaser 203ed70 - Cheapertrap 203ed74 - NinjaDagger 203ed78 - Cute Hand (Female) 203ed7c - Flap (Female) 203ed80 - Aim Rifle 203ed84 - Intermissile 203ed88 - Sala-Hand (Female) 203ed8c - Light Jab (Female) 203ed90 - Helmight 203ed94 - Fire Gun 203ed98 - Clinch Wave 203ed9c - PlusDriver 203eda0 - Judge Shield 203eda4 - Dohtack 203eda8 - Knightshield 203edac - Pun 203edb0 - Dondon Punch 203edb4 - Ignition 203edb8 - None 203edbc - None Left Arm: 203edc0 - Submachingun 203edc4 - Pipo Hammer 203edc8 - Short Shot (Female) 203edcc - Translate (Female) 203edd0 - Straw Hammer 203edd4 - Range Shooter 203edd8 - DeathLaser 203eddc - Past Feel 203ede0 - Recovery 203ede4 - Desire Bison (Female) 203ede8 - Twist 203edec - Gigalaser 203edf0 - Cheaptrap 203edf4 - Ninja Blade 203edf8 - Repair Arm (Female) 203edfc - Flop (Female) 203ee00 - Battle Rifle 203ee04 - Guidemissile 203ee08 - Sala-Arm (Female) 203ee0c - LightBlow (Female) 203ee10 - Helming 203ee14 - Flame Gun 203ee18 - Nibble Wave 203ee1c - Minus Driver 203ee20 - Crime Stick 203ee24 - Dohtatack 203ee28 - Greatshield 203ee2c - Keen 203ee30 - Dopa Punch 203ee34 - Explode 203ee38 - None 203ee3c - None Legs: 203ee40 - Ochitsuka 203ee44 - Tatacker 203ee48 - Flaregather (Female) 203ee4c - Petticoat (Female) 203ee50 - Sharp Edge 203ee54 - Abductor 203ee58 - Deathcrawler 203ee5c - Umbilical 203ee60 - Ace Hooves 203ee64 - Queendresser (Female) 203ee68 - Swick 203ee6c - Rollertank 203ee70 - Multi-leg 203ee74 - Tiptoe 203ee78 - Purple Fin (Female) 203ee7c - Flavor (Female) 203ee80 - Howzer 203ee84 - Limptank 203ee88 - Sala-Tail (Female) 203ee8c - Quick Alert (Female) 203ee90 - Helchaos 203ee94 - Red Tail 203ee98 - Fishtail 203ee9c - Smacker 203eea0 - Protoauto 203eea4 - Dokan 203eea8 - Trojan Horse 203eeac - Squashbasher 203eeb0 - Wanafly 203eeb4 - FireWorks 203eeb8 - None 203eebc - None ------------------------ Section 6: Battle Block ------------------------ The game, as can be expected, stores values for your current ability to utilize your Head part, Right Arm part, and Left Arm part. These run from 0 to 320, and are stored in 2-bytes as unsigned data. The Head readiness value is stored at 2010032; the Right Arm at 2010034; the Left at 2010036. The number of uses of the Head part is stored at 201003a as a 8-bit, unsigned value. If you exceed the maximum number of uses as defined by the part, you will not be allowed to use the part at all; if you plan on fixing the value of this address, I highly recommend you use the value of 1. The current Medaforce level of your Medabot is stored as a 8-bit, unsigned value residing in memory address 20100b0. The maximum value is, surprisingly, 51. The current HP (the game uses the term ARM) for your parts begins at 2010012 (the head). 2010014 is the Right Arm, and as you may have guessed, 2010016 is the Left Arm. 2010018 stores the armor of the legs. However, as with most life-based memory, if an attack exceeds the maximum HP value of the part, it will be destroyed regardless of whether or not you've fixed the value. For example, if you've fixed the current armor of your Medabot's legs at 10, but the legs sustain an attack of 20, your leg part will be 'destroyed' for the current battle. This is due to the underlying game logic (that is, the system check the current armor versus the damage; if the damage is greater than the current armor, the part is considered destroyed). Also, if you fix the armor of a part, you won't see the 'recovery' of the part's current armor until you're hit again. This is once again due to the game logic (the game doesn't redraw the color of the circle indicating your parts status unless you've been hit. Why should it?) ------------------- Section 7: Credits ------------------- There are several people without whose publicly available resources this document could have never been complied: GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com), for being the comprehensive game information site. ------------------------------------- Section 8: Copyright / Authorization ------------------------------------- This document is the sole property of soren_kanzaki@yahoo.com, and copyright 2002. Unauthorized reproduction, either in print, electronic, or other format is expressly prohibited without consent of the author. Individuals may download this document from the following authorized websites: GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) www.cheats.de www.neoseeker.com www.ign.com www.a2zcheats.com Individuals may only use this document for personal purposes and are expressly prohibited from transferring or reproducing this document in any format without consent of the author. This document cannot be altered and then redistributed without consent of the author. This document, reproductions thereof, or excerpts, cannot be sold for money. ------------------------- Section 9: Miscellaneous ------------------------- Nope, I didn't include the Appendix in this one. Didn't feel as though it needed it. I picked up this game, which turned out to be better than I probably first expected. It's not the most entertaining game I've ever played, but people ought to give it a chance - it's not half bad. Picking through the memory was a breeze, though. I plain guessed on the 12-byte size for the medal block, and it turned out that I was right. (I found two medals 48 bytes apart, which seemed excessive, but intervals of 16-bytes didn't work. 48 over 4 is 12 ...) Other folks are already working on the FAQ, so in all likelihood this is the only work I'll do for Medabots AX - I'm preparing for Harobots on the GBA, anyway, which if I can manage to play through it and understand enough of it, will be the next major work.