============================================================================== HOW TO HACK TETRIS ATTACK :D v0.1 ============================================================================== By Arend T. Remsen(aka F'mitga and Squirrel Taskmaster for the denizens of the net) (e-mail: mryay@hotmail.com) Best viewed on some text editor that displays at least 79 chars/line...as if there was any other kind. :) Well, what with Pokémon Puzzle Leauge having come out and all, I figured it was high time to crack the puzzle mode password system of the classic Tetris Attack. I had an afternoon free, didn't feel like starting a new game on Lufia 2 just yet, and got to work. The purpose of this guide is simple; I'm going to show you how to make a password with whatever time/stage you wish. Sure, I could just list a pass for every level in the game, but where's the fun in that? :P Besides, people may not believe you if you have a time of 0'08 on level 5-7. :) I will not be disscussing the password systems of Stage or VS. mode in this document; the former becomes incredibly complicated due to it's retaining of your current score, and frankly, with the latter it'd be easier just to turn on the 1P CPU switch and put skill up to 7. :P ============================================================================== LEGAL CRAP / DISCLAIMER ============================================================================== This guide is (c) 2000 Arend T. Remsen. All rights reserved. If you want to put it on your website, email me and in all likelihood I'll let you do it...just make sure you ask me first. :) This guide may not be altered in any way. It may not be used for ANY commercial purpose, including but not restricted to: Selling it/giving it away with a game, or any other merchandise Printing it in any players guide/magazine/or other publication Putting it up on a commercial website Charging any money whatsoever for it Profiting from it in any way Of course, I may let you anyway if you ask nicely, don't edit the file, and give me free videogames. :D Nintendo and SNES are trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc. Tetris Attack is (c) 1995, 1996 Nintendo and Inteligent Systems. 'Tetris Attack' is licensed to Nintendo by The Tetris Company. ============================================================================== CONTENTS ============================================================================== I. Version History II. The Layout III. Puzzle Mode IV. Credits & Thanks & Links ============================================================================== I. VERSION HISTORY- ============================================================================== v0.1- 10/05/00 Cracked Puzzle mode. ============================================================================== II. THE LAYOUT ============================================================================== When I refer to C1-8, I am referring to a slot in the 8 character passwords. Thus, C1 is the first slot, C2 is the second, etc. Ok, for each game mode, there are several groups of characters that are used in encoding the password. This group changes with each mode. Here's a brief rundown of what they do: -Base Code- The earliest, cleanest code possible. This is what you'll be performing transformations on to get your advanced passwords. -Header- What you stick in the front of the code. -Standard Set- A group of 32 characters out of the possible 42. These have a set order that is primarily used in determining what level you're on, and are also broken up to define the sub sets used in determining the elapsed time, # of continues, difficulty level, etc. -Seconds Timer Set- A set of four of the 32 characters used in ticking off the seconds. When you reach the fourth character, begin again at the first. The additional sets in thist list are reached through loopping all the way through the standard set with another slot. -Counter- Works with the Seconds timer set. This character is used 4 times, once for each char of the Seconds timer, then progresses to the next value in the Standard Set. -On/Off Switch- Character 4 in the code. Every time you alter a character to a code, this changes between it's two possible values. For example, in Puzzle mode it's D/J. Every time you make one alteration, switch C4's value. A single alteration is adding one level, second, or used continue. -2 Minute Timer- This value goes up in the same order as the Standard Set, but as you might be able to guess, only after every 2 minutes have passed. Completely goddamned confused yet? ;) Don't worry, I'll take you through things step-by-step a bit further on. ============================================================================== III. Puzzle Mode ============================================================================== -Base Code- FP5J29CK (Level 1-2, 0'00) -Standard Set- (C8) ! K 3 P D R Z ? 2 4 H L N X R & C M 1 F J G Q 8 9 % S 5 7 6 Y B -Header- (C1 C2) FP -C3- (C3) 5 S % 9 B Y 6 7 F 1 M C 8 Q G J L H 4 2 & T X N P 3 K ! ? Z R D Begin at 5, pos J -On/Off Switch- (C4) D - J -2min Timer- (C5) Begins at 2 in standard set. -Counter- (C3) Begins at 9 in standard set. -Seconds Timer- (C7) Set 1: [C9!2] Set 2: [M%K4] Set 3: [1S3H] Set 4: [F5PL] Set A: [J7DN] Set B: [G6RX] Set C: [QYZT] Set D: [8B?&] Ok, lots of evil-looking gibberish, isn't it? Let's start with a simple code, Level 1-2 with one second elapsed. 1. We start with the base code, FP5J29CK, which is for 1-2, 0'00. That's one second less than we want! 2. Now, if we want to add a second to this code all we have to do is add one to the seconds timer, which in Puzzle is C7. Let's look at C7... the value it currently holds is C. Look up at the seconds timer chart. What comes after C? That's right, 9. So, our code now looks thissaway: FP5J299K. 3. But wait, remember about the on/off switch? C4 is currently J, so it becomes D. FP5D299K. Now there's still one last thing we must do, advance C3. You also do this each time you make a change. 4. C3's info tells us to begin at 5, pos J. This simply means that C3 should start as 5: FP[5]J29CK Okey dokey. Pos J refers to the on/off switch values of D and J and means that 5 has already been used once. In C3, each value is used twice before moving on to the next value. So, look-see up at the C3 chart and we discover that we must now change the 5 to an S. Thus; FPSD299K Take this bad boy and enter it as your Puzzle mode password. Ta-daa! Level 1-2 with 0'01. If you look closely at C3's char list, you'll see that it's just the standard set broken up into groups of 4, rearanged, and entered backwards! Simple enough, right? But what about all those other values? How and when do they come into play? Let's work on another password, this one also for 1-2, but with 6 seconds gone by. 1. Alrighty, FP5J29CK. We're going to add 6 seconds, so whip out that timer again; C -> 9 -> ! -> 2. Whoops, we reached the end, and that's only 3 seconds added...FP5D292K. 2. The answer is that we loop right back around to C. However, when we do this, we must now advance C6. Look at the standard set-- % comes after 9. Now continue your changes to the second timer, and add those last three seconds. 3. 2 -> C -> 9 -> ! FP5J2%!K 3sec 4sec 5sec 6sec 4. That's an even number of changes, so C4 is still J. How about C3? 6 changes have been made, so... 5 S S % % and finally, 9. Your code is FP9J2%!K. "Alright, you rat bastard, f*** you very much for that, I'm suuuure I'll find it most helpful, now how do I change what level I'm going to be on?" I thought you'd never ask! This is much easier to screw with. 1. Take the base code, FP5J29CK. Advance C8 by one, changing the K to 3. 2. Advance C3 and C4 each by one, as you've made one change. Voila~ FPSD29C3, Level 1-3, 0'00. That's all there is to it. Be careful not to try and go past level 6-10, as codes like that either reset or freeze the game. O_o Let's shoot for level 4-4! That's 32 levels higher than 1-2. 1. FP5J29C[K] + advance C8 by 32 values = FP5J29C[K] Hmm...we wrapped all the way around again. 2. Advace 32 in C3 and C4... FPLJ29CK. Now try this code. Eeeek! It didn't work, did it? That's because when you go back to the begining of the standard set, you have to upgrade the seconds timer set. In this case, we go from [C9!2] to [M%K4]. We will change the C in C7 to M, since C and M are both first values. Try the code FPLJ29MK. It works! Looks like we're all set! Every time 2 minutes pass, the 2min timer in C5 goes up one value on the standard set. This is also easy: FP5J[2]9CK -> FP5J49CK + C3 changes = FPSJ49CK. Why didn't we change C4 this time? Well, even though we're making a single change, there's an even # of seconds in 120(2:00), so it ends up the same. Now make a code for 60 minutes or higher and begin to play. Wait a minute and watch the timer...Foomp! It becomes 1'00'00. Try any number above 60 and it'll do this. Ok, so we've got a specific alteration that means an hour or more has gone by. All you have to do is change the on/off set from D/J to S/G. There are other sets, but are you really going to bother with a time of more than 1'59'59? :) And finally, the Puzzle Mode+ stages. Again, this is easy to do - the change is in what set you're currently using for C7. If you're currently on [C9!2], which is set 1, you switch to set A, [J7DN]. If set 2, switch to set B. While FP5J29CK is for 1-2, FP5J29JK is for 1-2+. Reeeall tough protection, there, Nintendo. ;P ============================================================================== VI. CREDITS & THANKS & LINKS ============================================================================== Thanks to GameFAQs of course, for being THE most comprehensive and complete gaming information site today. I suppose this is where I'd plug my website, if I had the wit and motivation to make one out of the Geocities account I have been using the last couple years as a placeholder for message board defaults graphics. Being as it is, I'll just throw out a few URLs I regularly slink around at. http://www.nintendorks.com - Behold the fury of the Seven Flavors of Ass! http://www.rpgamer.com - You like RPGs, don't you? And... http://www.rpgamer.com/board/poke/ - The finest, the first, and the best Pokémon Forum around. Unless you dissected the ROMs yourself, whatever you know about Pokémon today was probably handed down to you from us, one way or another. ^_^ http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/ - Pokey the Penguin. INDEED. (c)2000 Arend T. Remsen (e-mail mryay@hotmail.com)