DKC Atlas Forum

[Mattrizzle]

Donkey Kong Country: Boss Blitz
Here's a hack that I've been working on for over a month. It transforms Donkey Kong Country into a boss rush. Can you make it through all 7 bosses unscathed?

Download: DKC - Boss Blitz.zip - 98 KB

Note: This patch is to be applied to the U version 1.0 Donkey Kong Country ROM, without a header.

Screenshots:

The title screen has been altered to make use of Mode 3, just like in the Japanese version of DKC. Exiting the title screen leads you to...


...the Options Menu. In addition to some of the options you'd expect, you can choose the Kongs' colors. There are 8 palette sets, including the two in the original game.


The game is a race against the clock to defeat all seven of the game's bosses. The stopwatch timer's code is based on code from Super Mario Kart (its functionality) and the DKC Competition Edition (its display). Your times and hits are recorded during game play. Beat all of bosses or lose a life, and you will be taken to...


...this results screen, which displays the times for each boss beaten, the number of times you were hit, and--if you defeated all the bosses--your total time.

A video can be found here:



Donkey Kong Country 2: Brigand Barrage
The sequel to Boss Blitz. How fast can you beat Kaptain K. Rool and his Kremling Krew?

Download: DKC2- Brigand Barrage.zip - 58 KB

Note: This patch is to be applied to the U version 1.0 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest ROM, without a header.




The Options menu. Unlike DKC: Boss Blitz:

• You can choose to play as a two-player team or alone.
• The "Active Kong" and "Maximum Number of Kongs" options have been merged into the "Kong Select" option.
• There is a new "Boss Select" option which allows you to choose a single boss to battle in addition to "All", which mimics the behavior of Boss Blitz.

The results screen displays more information in this game than in Boss Blitz--the hits taken (marked with the bandage icon) in each battle are now reported along with the total amount. On the right is the alternate version of the screen seen after you fight a single boss. New records are displayed in blue, which leads me to the next feature:


Record times, along with the data related to them (selected Kongs, game play mode, and hits taken), are saved to battery-backed memory! I wanted to do this in Boss Blitz, but I rushed to get it finished before college classes resumed in the fall. This screen is displayed after the results screen, and it can be accessed from the title screen.

Records can also be deleted using a prompt accessible from the title screen:

Press L at this screen and... BOOM!


The records are gone!


EDIT (December 2, 2012): Added DKC2: Brigand Barrage to this post.
EDIT (March 11, 2017): Fixed the broken links.
EDIT (March 29, 2022): Fixed the download links again (but didn't bother with the screenshots yet).

[Markster]

Holy crap, that amazing!!!

[Simion32]

I must say... very impressive!!

I give this hack an Overall Rating of: 10/10
and an ASM Hackiness Rating of: 7/10

[Markster]

Here is my record...

Screenshot.png (25.43 KiB) Viewed 486823 times

[VideoViking]

I must say, this is a very impressive effort, Mattrizzle. I am intrigued by this Boss Rush so much, I am considering the use of your boss rush concept for my DKCX game. You will be credited, of course.

Were the Castlevania DS games the inspiration for DKC: Boss Blitz?

[Markster]

You need to make more hacks more often, why not attempt to add squiter to DKC1, or block switching on and off like in SMW, or even making custom tiles, like pirate ships from DKC2, with your ASM mastery, I bet you could do that.

[Kingizor]

Whoa! Hacks like this make the rest of us look bad...

Absolutely magical...

[Mattrizzle]

Thanks for your support!

Were the Castlevania DS games the inspiration for DKC: Boss Blitz?

Here's how the story goes:

At first, I was just trying to duplicate the behavior of the Competition Edition, except with all levels. After adding the code that transports you to the correct level after beating a boss, I wondered what it would be like if were to remove all of the normal levels and just keep the bosses. At that moment, this hack was born.

The idea to limit the player to a single life came from the boss rush modes in various Kirby games. The next logical step was to add a timer, like this Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hack.

[Tompa]

Nice hack, I made a TAS of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGisAOaP9NM
=)

[Joshy]

This is incredible. Great work man.

[Mattrizzle]

This is incredible. Great work man.

Glad you like it.

Also...

[Simion32]

After seeing that image I'm literally expecting a DKC3 Boss Blitz.

[Mattrizzle]

There are a few hurdles to clear in this one. The biggest one is compression. I won't be able to change "Nintendo Presents" into "Mattrizzle Presents" or alter the title screen without a means to decompress/compress the data. And there isn't enough free space in the ROM to place them in uncompressed.

There seems to be a decompression routine for graphics at SNES $BB:8D91. Prior to its execution, the X register must contain the lower two bytes for the starting address of a compressed data block, and Y must contain its bank byte.

Is this the same one the levels use?

[Simion32]

The entire game seems to use the same compression routine (as far as I know), so I'd wager that the answer is a yes.

There do exist recompression tools - checkout Kingizor's DKC2 and DKC3 Editor translations (here). They come with programs to import and export the level data, which starts off in the ROM as compressed data. Hopefully that may provide some way for you to finish the title screen.

[Joshy]

Quite awesome that you are doing a Blitz for DKC 2 as well! (DKC 2 is my favorite)

If you need any help with anything I wouldn't mind lending a hand. I've only worked in x86 assembly language so I couldn't help code wise but artwork is mostly what I do.

[Scraps69]

This is a fantastic hack mattrizzle. This is my poor man's score heh.

record.jpg (27.43 KiB) Viewed 486356 times

[leo_core]

This is incredible. Great work man.

Glad you like it.

Also...

First, congratulations for the great hack!
Are you still working on this DKC2 hack?

[mentholcase]

I hope he is.

[Mattrizzle]

No work has been done on the DKC2 boss run hack since about two months prior to posting that screenshot. I likely won't resume it for at least another three months, due to the fact that my free time is consumed by college studies, Mario Kart 7, and work on another smaller hack.

[mentholcase]

I'll study for you, I only have one class this semester. Plus, I'll hold on to your Mario Kart 7 so that you can have zero distractions whilst working on your hacks.

[sakuraxangel31]

This is awesome but ive got a question .. about the color ''engine''would it be possible to make the same thing for DKC2 like making an extra option that lets you change te Kongs color ? it would be awesome

[Tonberry2000]

Or a Kirby Superstar patch where you fight all DKC 1-3 bosses in random order.

[Mattrizzle]

@ sakuraxangel31: That's my plan for the DKC2 boss run hack. I've already made custom palettes for Diddy and Dixie as well (Note: these are only tentative):

dkc2_boss_run-kong_colors.png (10.63 KiB) Viewed 485841 times

@ Tonberry2k: If there were full disassemblies of the whole trilogy like there are for the Sonic the Hedgehog games, this might actually be possible. Even so, someone would have to be pretty masochistic to actually go about creating that hack...

[Tonberry2000]

Albino Dixie is freaking me out. Nice choices.

[Phyreburnz]

I love the Dixie with Diddy's palette. I think it would also be cool to give Dixie a yellow palette, like Diddy's and DK's, but maybe make her hair the light brown like from the Dixie with Diddy's colours.

[Mattrizzle]

dkc2_boss_run-kong_colors_7.png (1.95 KiB) Viewed 485808 times

That color combo does look nice. Thanks for the idea! I also created a Diddy palette with colors mimicking the orange Dixie's.

With these, I've reached my quota of eight color variants for each Kong, just like in DKC: Boss Blitz.

[Markster]

Cool, but how hard would it be to make DKC2 Boss Blitz compared to the original DKC1 Boss Blitz?

[Mattrizzle]

About as hard as it was to make the first one, barring the intro/title screen graphics compression issues. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about those...

The code that dumps you into the next boss's level after beating a boss is finished, as well as a functioning clock (which is simply ported from DKC: Boss Blitz). The menu, results screen, and title screen graphics are not finished yet, nor is the code that stores the times for beating each boss into RAM. (If you're curious, beating Krocodile Kore currently just sends you directly to the cutscene of Crocodile Isle sinking)

Also, I haven't thought of a title for this one yet--it will likely be something other than DKC2: Boss Blitz. I do want an alliterative subtitle, though.

[VideoViking]

There are no synonyms for "boss" or "master" that begin with the letter "D" except for "dean" and "director," and I really do not like those options. You could base the title on the game's theme instead. As the gimmick of the game is about pirates, you could use words like "captain," "savage" or "pirate" in the title. "Kaptain's Klaim" or "Captain's Challenge," some examples.

[Tonberry2000]

Mainbrace Melee?

[sakuraxangel31]

oh ok but my question wasn't for the Boss Blitz for the game itself not for the hack ^^

[Super_Meat_Boy]

Pretty good hacks

[Blaziken257]

I just tried this for the first time, it's nice. Must have been a lot of work with the ASM hacking (which I'm not very good at, and I've never even attempted it for SNES) -- it looks like it could have been an official game! I'm also looking forward to the DKC2 and DKC3 versions, although they will most likely be significantly harder since the bosses are harder (K. Rool is going to be hard in both these games...). And yeah, it does remind me of Kirby Super Star (as well as two of the Super Smash Bros. games) since the boss mode is very similar... except here, it's non-random and it's easier since you get both your Kongs back after each battle. Still awesome, though.

This is my first time trying it. It's not bad for a first attempt, although I see that others have done better -- I really messed up on both Neckys because I missed one chance in attacking him in both fights.

[Geno]

I REALLY want to play this but I cannot find a Donkey Kong Country (U) (R1.0) ROM.
I tried to patch the Donkey Kong Country (U) (V1.0) [!] ROM, but it gives me a black screen.
Just saying.

[Markster]

It might have something to do with a header, if you have a header, remove it, if you don't, then add one.

[Mattrizzle]

Every hack patch I have created should be applied to a headerless ROM.
(U) (R1.0) and (U) (V1.0) mean the same thing--what you don't want is one tagged with [b1], [b2], [b3], [f1], [f2], [f3], etc. as those are bad or altered dumps.

As Markster guessed, your issue is very likely due to the presence of a header in the ROM you applied the patch to.

Line 21 in the ReadMe file included with the patch states how to deal with headers.

* If the ROM is headerless, its size should be 4,096 KB. If not, you'll need to remove the header with NSRT,
which can be downloaded at one of the following links, depending on your OS:
Windows: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/400/
Mac: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/484/
Linux: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/401/

[Geno]

Every hack patch I have created should be applied to a headerless ROM.
(U) (R1.0) and (U) (V1.0) mean the same thing--what you don't want is one tagged with [b1], [b2], [b3], [f1], [f2], [f3], etc. as those are bad or altered dumps.

As Markster guessed, your issue is very likely due to the presence of a header in the ROM you applied the patch to.

Line 21 in the ReadMe file included with the patch states how to deal with headers.

* If the ROM is headerless, its size should be 4,096 KB. If not, you'll need to remove the header with NSRT,
which can be downloaded at one of the following links, depending on your OS:
Windows: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/400/
Mac: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/484/
Linux: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/401/

So you are saying a (U) [!] ROM should work.
Thanks for all the help!
YAY it works now!
See my epic scores for the 1st 2 bosses!

[B.B.Dixie]

I almost got you by 1 minute.Queen bee's rough with Diddy only...

Anyway, Is there a way to copy and paste those extra palettes into a normal DKC rom using SNES palette editor? I'd love to play the whole game as the GB colors DK's. Maybe there's some offsets I can use?

[Mattrizzle]

Anyway, Is there a way to copy and paste those extra palettes into a normal DKC rom using SNES palette editor? I'd love to play the whole game as the GB colors DK's. Maybe there's some offsets I can use?

There's one problem with just telling you offsets--the palette variants for the map sprites don't exist in the ROM. I'll see what I can do, though.

Here are my new best overall times:

DKC Boss Blitz - 4'27''34 - Diddy.png (21.2 KiB) Viewed 485456 times

DKC Boss Blitz - 4'22''09 - Donkey.png (21.5 KiB) Viewed 485456 times

Here are two failed attempts as Diddy. Look at the times for Queen B and Really Gnawty here...

DKC Boss Blitz - Diddy Attempt 1.png (21.08 KiB) Viewed 485456 times

...and the times for Very Gnawty and Dumb Drum here:

DKC Boss Blitz - Diddy Attempt 2.png (21.45 KiB) Viewed 485456 times

That isn't my best time for Very Gnawty. I beat him in 0:10.88 once. Also, I defeated Queen B in under 34 seconds--with D.K.

[mentholcase]

You guys are all insanely good. Although I have beaten DKC 101% a handful of times, it wasn't the game I grew up with, and I'm not too great at it speed wise. With DKC2 on the other hand, I will be insanely mad at myself if I don't get times near the very top. I know a good number of tricks.

[B.B.Dixie]

It took me over 2 hours, but this is my very best time for D.K.



It could have been better, but my arch nemesis Queen B ate up my clock, and the purple Necky did me in constantly...

[Mattrizzle]

EDIT 3: Now released. Get it here. (patch is for DKC2 (U) v1.0, unheadered)

Old, outdated post below:

Work has resumed on the DKC2 boss run hack, which now bears the tentative title Donkey Kong Country 2: Buccaneer Brawl:

The color schemes are now implemented in the game. I also added a tens digit to the timer because it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to beat all of the bosses in under ten minutes.

Here is a mockup of the yet-to-be-added title screen:

In order to circumvent the space issue due to my lack of knowledge about the game's compression, I may have to split the background and foreground into separate layers, with the foreground on a 8BPP layer and the background on a 4BPP or 2BPP layer. The sprite layer might be an option for the characters, as exactly eight palettes would be used, and 120 tiles fit within the OAM limit of 128.

EDIT: Almost there, though there is no background yet, and the bosses are obviously the wrong colors :

DKC2 Boss Run_00000.png (22.47 KiB) Viewed 485222 times

EDIT 2: It's almost 3 AM?!

[B.B.Dixie]

It's lookin' great , Mattrizzle.

Is it too late in the programing to suggest keeping the 2P team feature? Like when you beat a boss it switches players/chars like in the original. I ask because I play your hacks on the Wii and I would love to play a time trail run with my little brother.

Either way I can't wait to play.

[Super Luigi!]

DKC2%20Boss%20Run_00000.png (22.47 KiB) Viewed 485171 times

What is that supposed to be, Buccaneer Brawl's Nightmare Difficulty mode?

[Mattrizzle]

@ B.B.Dixie: Did you mean the Two Player Contest mode? 2P Team is the cooperative mode. At the moment, I'm currently just trying to get things working correctly with one player.
The timer increases, but the times aren't actually recorded after beating a boss yet. There are also several cases when the clock should stop, but doesn't (e.g. After beating K. Rool in Krocodile Kore), or vice-versa (e.g. when getting hit in either of the K. Rool battles). The options menu and results screen are still completely absent too. In short, there's still lots of programming to be done, but some things can be taken from DKC: Boss Blitz.

If I were to adapt the 2 Player Contest mode to this hack, there are several things to consider:

• In the original game, players were switched at the map screen. Since dying no longer takes you to the map, I would need to come up with a different place to switch.
• The game will have the same rules as DKC: Boss Blitz, if a player dies once, it's game over for them. So, if one of the players loses, the game would continue with the other until he/she dies or beats the last boss. This defeats the purpose of a 2P mode, so some kind of alternative rule set would be needed.
• At least twice as much free RAM space would be required to store all of the needed variables for both players.
  
  Here are those variables, and the amount of space they require for one player:
  Current Time: 4 bytes
  Bosses beaten: 1 byte
  Time on clock after beating boss X: 4 bytes per boss x 7 bosses = 28 bytes
  Time spent on boss X: 28 bytes (calculated from the variables above)
  Number of times player has been hit: 1 byte
  
  
• Both players would need to be able to choose their team colors independently--this would be the easiest thing to implement.
• There would have to be a separate results screen for two player mode, as both players' times need to be displayed.

And about that DKC: Boss Blitz time in your other post: In spite of Queen B. causing trouble, you still managed to beat my best overall time as D.K. by a nose!


@ Super Luigi: The text above the screenshot explains what it is, but since the description was a little vague: That is what the title screen looked like in the actual hack at the time of the edit. The palettes were all wonky because the code that would display the proper ones wasn't present yet.

Also, there's no need for a nightmare difficulty mode--it's proven to be difficult enough to make it through all 7 bosses with only one life, at least for me... And that's with both Kongs! I may be forced to make an easy mode with infinite lives, just so that everyone is able to finish.

[B.B.Dixie]

What I meant was 2P cooperative mode so once you beat a boss, it switches to the next player for the next boss, Like say for example if this was in DKC boss blitz, I pick both Kongs, colors, and then the option for co-op ,etc. Now once I beat a boss it switches to the next Kong/player. If he gets hit, like if you were playing with both kongs in the original, it'll be the other players turn. When he gets hit, then its over. You don't have to record different times because we're working together on the same run, see what I'm saying? Basically, the same hack only with the option to have P1 as Donkey and P2 as Diddy. I didn't even think about 2p contest, as I knew without even programming that would be too much.

But yeah I hope I clarified it. Would that be more simple to implement than the Contest stuff?

[Super Luigi!]

And what I meant was supposed to be taken as a joke, as I saw your explanation of the snapshot. Did you laugh when you read my post? If so, then I have succeeded!

[The Kirby]

I have a couple of suggestions for any possible future versions of the DKC - Boss Blitz and perhaps for the DKC2 one:

1. Since a lot of people seem to be trying to get their best times on specific bosses, perhaps you could create a secondary timer that shows how much time you've spent on the current boss. Another idea would be to have a "one boss only" setting, (the statistics screen would just list the other bosses as "N/A" or something similar.)

2. I noticed that the ROM generates a SRM file, despite the fact that the hack doesn't appear to make any use of saved data. You could just set that SRAM size byte in the internal header to 00 or whatever, I don't exactly recall, or you could have a record screen that records your best times.

But credit is due; this hack blew my mind when I played it! Excellent work!

[Mattrizzle]

After taking the suggestions from B.B. Dixie and The Kirby and running with them, I now have this as the final Options menu:



The "Maximum Number of Kongs" and "Active Kong" options in DKC: Boss Blitz have been merged into one "Kong Select" option--something that I should have done in the first place. Another thing that can't be seen here is that the settings are now saved to SRAM.

I am currently making edits to Diddy and Dixie's sprites so that they are more color-swap friendly (e.g. changing the inside of Diddy's mouth so that it uses the fur colors instead of the hat/shirt colors). After that, there's just implementing the Results and Records screens (along with testing, of course), and I should be finished.

EDIT: I did a search and found that the title Buccaneer Brawl has been used by an iPhone game. How does Brigand Barrage sound? (Synonyms for brigand include thief, cutthroat, and pirate. Barrage can have the same meaning as attack.)

[B.B.Dixie]

That sounds wonderful. Thanks for taking my suggestion, too. I can't wait to play this. You sure have a knack for DKC recoding. Great work, bro.