TMNT: Return to New York (NES) Updated (v1.81)

[guitarpalooz]

Any of them but the bottom lol.

Somewhat kidding... I agree with the others that the left does fit better consistency-wise.  However I do like the right one more generally speaking (it's slightly 'prettier'), but the lighting is more akin to something like Turtles in Time.

Thanks so much for all you've been doing for this hack... it's amazing.

Thanks for the support!  I put a new update out today, it has a few updates including the above april sprite.  I tried to do splinter as well, but there's no sprite of him that works well enough (the closest I found was TMNT tournament fighters NES), and the way the game organizes and stores his portrait is a pain in the butt compared to yoshi and april.

Also, please check out my aesthetic hack "TMNT Attack of the Grem" for a new spin on the game!

Flaviogames, sorry to say but implementing many of the things youre asking, while they would make the game better, would require a rewrite of the way the game handles sprites and is beyond my ability.

[G30FF]

I gave Attack of the Grem a quick test, and I love that you pulled from the recent IDW comics for Lita and Jennika for it! I like the new Casey sprite too. A nice touch. At first I thought you had made a mistake, having Venus's name in the pause menu as MEI instead of VEN. But then I looked her up on TMNTPedia and learned her real name is Mei Pieh Chi. Shows how long it's been since I've seen The Next Mutation! 

[guitarpalooz]

Yeah, that was intentional but it doesn't mean it's necessarily the best option.  Originally i had it in there as VNUS, which phonetically works but looks off.  I also wrestled with APRL vs APR.  If people feel strongly one way or another I'm happy to change.

IMHO the IDW turtles are the best iteration yet, followed by the original TMNT movie.  If i ever do a total level hack for this game, it's gonna be based off last ronin, where each weapon has a lifebar and if it runs out you lose the weapon sort of deal.

[G30FF]

Now that I know where it came from, I don't personally mind having her name as MEI. It just confused me until I figured that part out! I don't feel strongly enough about it to change.

I'm totally with you on the IDW series, it's fantastic. If you haven't seen it, I also recommend Rise of the TMNT. It's got a surprisingly deep story, along with great action scenes and animation.

[Flaviogames]

guitarpalooz: I see, thanks for explaining about how complicated the improvements I mentioned would be.

[guitarpalooz]

While playing some of the other TMNT NES games and their improvement hacks, I noticed the fonts for TMNT 2 and 3 are similar to each other and much different from TMNT 1.  Would anyone be interested in using the TMNT 3 font in this game?

[Flaviogames]

guitarpalooz: seria interessante alguem fazer isso no TMNT 1

[Emsi-D]

guitarpalooz, I have a suggestion: a couple of years ago, romhacker Lomax made a small ROM hack of TMNT-1.
In that hack, he fixed the camera scrolling and increased the invulnerability time (after the character takes damage).
Could you add these fixes to your project?
Link to download this hack: https://www.sendspace.com/file/3v71cf

Would anyone be interested in using the TMNT 3 font in this game?

I think this font looks great.

[ifightdragons]

guitarpalooz, I have a suggestion: a couple of years ago, romhacker Lomax made a small ROM hack of TMNT-1.
In that hack, he fixed the camera scrolling and increased the invulnerability time (after the character takes damage).
Could you add these fixes to your project?
Link to download this hack: https://www.sendspace.com/file/3v71cf

I second this! Adding these improvements would make it the ultimate way to play the game.

[Flaviogames]

increasing vulnerability is great, I realized that there is this problem in the game after covering one damage can take another one afterwards and that makes the game bad

[guitarpalooz]

I have a suggestion: a couple of years ago, romhacker Lomax made a small ROM hack of TMNT-1.
In that hack, he fixed the camera scrolling and increased the invulnerability time (after the character takes damage).
Could you add these fixes to your project?

Hey thanks for sending this my way!  I'm excited to try it, Im wondering how the scrolling affects enemy spawn?

It's funny you bring up the I frames, I was actually playing around with the enemy i frames after playing the TMNT2 revamped hack today.  Thankfully player and enemy invulnerability are stored separately, and last 24 frames (hex 18).  Reducing it to 0D (13 frames) has some interesting effects.  Every one of raph, leo, and mikes swings will hit an enemy, and don will 2 hit enemies if hes close enough, giving him a nice buff.  Boomerangs will also become super OP, which further buffs mike and don.  The downside is it makes it a little too easy to mow through enemies and slow bosses, which might require an enemy HP rebalance (or eventually an AI change to make them more interesting fights).

[Dantk]

guitarpalooz, I have a suggestion: a couple of years ago, romhacker Lomax made a small ROM hack of TMNT-1.
In that hack, he fixed the camera scrolling and increased the invulnerability time (after the character takes damage).
Could you add these fixes to your project?
Link to download this hack: https://www.sendspace.com/file/3v71cf
I think this font looks great.

What exactly does the fixed camera scrolling do?

[guitarpalooz]

Seems like it reduces the amount your character goes off center before the screen scrolls.  "Tighter scrolling" would probably be a better term than "fixed."

I cant yet decide how I feel about it, as tighter scrolling will also mean more enemy respawns, especially if you get knocked back.  By way of playtesting I've now played this game so much that it's hard to tell how this might affect your everyday user.  It might be time to include some optional patches, such as this and one that gives everyone normal jump heights.

I'm also playing around with i frames to see if there's a sweet spot, but the enemy ai in this game is rather uninspired.  Being able to hit rocksteady with each swing usually means killing him before he does anything.

[ShadowOne333]

Hey guitarpalooz!
I've been enjoying this hack ever since the release, and gotta say there's no better way to experience the original TMNT on NES than with this hack

I am currently following Displaced Gamers on YouTube, and they have been recently tackling some quirks about TMNT on recent videos. They covered one where they attempt to fix the Water Dam Level physics, and another where they try to make the jump better and responsive.

I have tried to backport their modifications to "Return to New York", but I am having some issues:

1) With the Water level physics fix, I am struggling a bit with what seems to be the cap logic and the sinking/swimming up/down routines after the fix. I opened a thread about it here:
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=35500.0

2) With the Jump gravity fix, I was able to implement 3 out of the four byte changes they recommend into your hack, except for one address:

Code Select Expand

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Possibly changde to $1C80A (AND #$F8)
%org(4,$A042)    ; 0x12052, bank 4
    lda #$F8    ; Originally LDA #$FAHere's the source code for the changes I made:

Spoiler

Code Select Expand

; TMNT (NES) Jump Physics Fixes
; By Displaced Gamers

;---------------------
; Macro definition for NES banks/addresses
norom

macro org(bank,address)
!headersize = $10
!banksize = $4000

org (<address>%!banksize)+(!banksize*<bank>)+!headersize

base <address>
endmacro

;-----------------------
; 6 Frame Short Jump
%org(4,$A01C) ; 0x1202C, bank 4
cpy #$06 ; Originally CPY #$04

; Short Jump Velocity Change
%org(4,$A02B) ; 0x1203B, bank 4
lda #$FE ; Originally LDA #$FD

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Needs to be changed to work with "Return to New York" hack
%org(4,$A042) ; 0x12052, bank 4
lda #$F8 ; Originally LDA #$FA

; Increase Gravity
%org(4,$A5F4) ; 0x125F4, bank 4
adc #$74 ; Originally ADC #$54
;-----------------------


[close]

This one seems to be modified by your hack, and I am not sure where the corresponding value for each one of the turtles would be located at so that I can effectively port the Jumping changes they mention to make the jumping controls more responsive.

If you are interested, please comment on these, and feel free to tweak these codes as you see fit for a possible new update for the hack.

[Neon Streetlight]

Hey guitarpalooz!
I've been enjoying this hack ever since the release, and gotta say there's no better way to experience the original TMNT on NES than with this hack

I am currently following Displaced Gamers on YouTube, and they have been recently tackling some quirks about TMNT on recent videos. They covered one where they attempt to fix the Water Dam Level physics, and another where they try to make the jump better and responsive.

I have tried to backport their modifications to "Return to New York", but I am having some issues:

1) With the Water level physics fix, I am struggling a bit with what seems to be the cap logic and the sinking/swimming up/down routines after the fix. I opened a thread about it here:
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=35500.0

2) With the Jump gravity fix, I was able to implement 3 out of the four byte changes they recommend into your hack, except for one address:

Code Select Expand

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Possibly changde to $1C80A (AND #$F8)
%org(4,$A042)    ; 0x12052, bank 4
    lda #$F8    ; Originally LDA #$FAHere's the source code for the changes I made:

Spoiler

Code Select Expand

; TMNT (NES) Jump Physics Fixes
; By Displaced Gamers

;---------------------
; Macro definition for NES banks/addresses
norom

macro org(bank,address)
!headersize = $10
!banksize = $4000

org (<address>%!banksize)+(!banksize*<bank>)+!headersize

base <address>
endmacro

;-----------------------
; 6 Frame Short Jump
%org(4,$A01C) ; 0x1202C, bank 4
cpy #$06 ; Originally CPY #$04

; Short Jump Velocity Change
%org(4,$A02B) ; 0x1203B, bank 4
lda #$FE ; Originally LDA #$FD

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Needs to be changed to work with "Return to New York" hack
%org(4,$A042) ; 0x12052, bank 4
lda #$F8 ; Originally LDA #$FA

; Increase Gravity
%org(4,$A5F4) ; 0x125F4, bank 4
adc #$74 ; Originally ADC #$54
;-----------------------


[close]

This one seems to be modified by your hack, and I am not sure where the corresponding value for each one of the turtles would be located at so that I can effectively port the Jumping changes they mention to make the jumping controls more responsive.

If you are interested, please comment on these, and feel free to tweak these codes as you see fit for a possible new update for the hack.

I've been hoping someone who try to tackle this and glad to see it's you, Shadow! This will be a truly definitive way to play this game.

[guitarpalooz]

Hey guitarpalooz!
I've been enjoying this hack ever since the release, and gotta say there's no better way to experience the original TMNT on NES than with this hack

I am currently following Displaced Gamers on YouTube, and they have been recently tackling some quirks about TMNT on recent videos. They covered one where they attempt to fix the Water Dam Level physics, and another where they try to make the jump better and responsive.

I have tried to backport their modifications to "Return to New York", but I am having some issues:

1) With the Water level physics fix, I am struggling a bit with what seems to be the cap logic and the sinking/swimming up/down routines after the fix. I opened a thread about it here:
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=35500.0

2) With the Jump gravity fix, I was able to implement 3 out of the four byte changes they recommend into your hack, except for one address:

Code Select Expand

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Possibly changde to $1C80A (AND #$F8)
%org(4,$A042)    ; 0x12052, bank 4
    lda #$F8    ; Originally LDA #$FAHere's the source code for the changes I made:

Spoiler

Code Select Expand

; TMNT (NES) Jump Physics Fixes
; By Displaced Gamers

;---------------------
; Macro definition for NES banks/addresses
norom

macro org(bank,address)
!headersize = $10
!banksize = $4000

org (<address>%!banksize)+(!banksize*<bank>)+!headersize

base <address>
endmacro

;-----------------------
; 6 Frame Short Jump
%org(4,$A01C) ; 0x1202C, bank 4
cpy #$06 ; Originally CPY #$04

; Short Jump Velocity Change
%org(4,$A02B) ; 0x1203B, bank 4
lda #$FE ; Originally LDA #$FD

; High Jump Velocity Change
; Needs to be changed to work with "Return to New York" hack
%org(4,$A042) ; 0x12052, bank 4
lda #$F8 ; Originally LDA #$FA

; Increase Gravity
%org(4,$A5F4) ; 0x125F4, bank 4
adc #$74 ; Originally ADC #$54
;-----------------------


[close]

This one seems to be modified by your hack, and I am not sure where the corresponding value for each one of the turtles would be located at so that I can effectively port the Jumping changes they mention to make the jumping controls more responsive.

If you are interested, please comment on these, and feel free to tweak these codes as you see fit for a possible new update for the hack.

Thanks for the kind words!  I feel the same way about your zelda redux hacks.

I've seen those videos and got the swimming issues figured out, adding downward acceleration and fixing the current issues.  That'll be in the next update, and I'll try to submit a standalone swim fix for the base game this weekend.  I tried changing the hitboxes like he did, but it creates an issue where the current will drag you across the ground instead of letting you rest.

When I changed the jumping in my hack, it was back when most of my changes were trial and error, so I'll have to spend some time figuring out exactly what i changed.  I learned a lot from his second video about how the jump mechanics work, and I was going to spend some time to see if I could revamp it and implement a button press double jump.

If I can do that, I'll probably release a separate swimming+double jump patch for the original game, then sort it into RTNY.

[ShadowOne333]

Thanks for the kind words!  I feel the same way about your zelda redux hacks.

I've seen those videos and got the swimming issues figured out, adding downward acceleration and fixing the current issues.  That'll be in the next update, and I'll try to submit a standalone swim fix for the base game this weekend.  I tried changing the hitboxes like he did, but it creates an issue where the current will drag you across the ground instead of letting you rest.

When I changed the jumping in my hack, it was back when most of my changes were trial and error, so I'll have to spend some time figuring out exactly what i changed.  I learned a lot from his second video about how the jump mechanics work, and I was going to spend some time to see if I could revamp it and implement a button press double jump.

If I can do that, I'll probably release a separate swimming+double jump patch for the original game, then sort it into RTNY.

Oh awesome!
I didn't know you were following them too and even got the swimming fixes already implemented.
That's nice to know!

For the jumping changes, I think the only one that might need some testing would be the modifications to the High Jump velocity change. Iirc in RTNY the jump top limit was modified for each turtle (Leo and Mike 1.0x, Raph 0.88x and Don 0.63x). I haven't pinpointed where in your hack these values for each turtle yet, but I'm sure you might be able to find these and then play around with the values a bit.
With the other 3 values modified, they get to around 7/8 of the jumping height compared to RTNY, so I think just a small tweak to the High jump velocity would do it for each turtle.

Oh btw, I made some modifications to the sprites of the Turtles that I use for a personal ROM of mine, but in case you want to apply these slight changes into RTNY, here they are:
https://imgur.com/a/WhzWu9A

The main changes are mostly in the backsprites/shells of the turtles. Everything else is still the same, so you can focus just on those sprites that have their full shells on-screen. Let me know if you want the full ROM/patch so you can apply these shell changes into RTNY

Really looking forward to your next update!

[guitarpalooz]

Oh awesome!
I didn't know you were following them too and even got the swimming fixes already implemented.
That's nice to know!

For the jumping changes, I think the only one that might need some testing would be the modifications to the High Jump velocity change. Iirc in RTNY the jump top limit was modified for each turtle (Leo and Mike 1.0x, Raph 0.88x and Don 0.63x). I haven't pinpointed where in your hack these values for each turtle yet, but I'm sure you might be able to find these and then play around with the values a bit.
With the other 3 values modified, they get to around 7/8 of the jumping height compared to RTNY, so I think just a small tweak to the High jump velocity would do it for each turtle.

Oh btw, I made some modifications to the sprites of the Turtles that I use for a personal ROM of mine, but in case you want to apply these slight changes into RTNY, here they are:
https://imgur.com/a/WhzWu9A

The main changes are mostly in the backsprites/shells of the turtles. Everything else is still the same, so you can focus just on those sprites that have their full shells on-screen. Let me know if you want the full ROM/patch so you can apply these shell changes into RTNY

Really looking forward to your next update!

I went ahead and submitted swimming updates to the base game and RTNY today.

Not sure if you had the same problem, but the issue I had implementing the swimming changes (removing extra Y caps, moving downbutton check before current, adding code to zero out Xvelo subpixel) came with collision detection in current sections...collision detection is tied to the xvelo subpixel but he doesnt show the change exactly, so I had to make sure to zero xvelo subpixel in areas without current and skip that instruction when there is, or youd get pulled through the floor in current areas.

The values for the jump changes are in a table basically at the end of the rom.  rainponcho made the ASM for me way back when, and i believe most of those tack on changes are the reason the game doesnt work on real hardware. I believe I still have the files he made for me I can share, if interested.  I dont have a coding background...anything I do involves staring at fceux debug/hex and reasoning things out >_<

It seems there's enough dead code in the game to someday disassemble, clean it up, and implement those changes more naturally to run on hardware.  But that's out of my time/skill set for sure.

Love those sprites.  I struggled mightily on the ladder and bomb defuse sprites.  Please share!

[ShadowOne333]

I went ahead and submitted swimming updates to the base game and RTNY today.

Not sure if you had the same problem, but the issue I had implementing the swimming changes (removing extra Y caps, moving downbutton check before current, adding code to zero out Xvelo subpixel) came with collision detection in current sections...collision detection is tied to the xvelo subpixel but he doesnt show the change exactly, so I had to make sure to zero xvelo subpixel in areas without current and skip that instruction when there is, or youd get pulled through the floor in current areas.

The values for the jump changes are in a table basically at the end of the rom.  rainponcho made the ASM for me way back when, and i believe most of those tack on changes are the reason the game doesnt work on real hardware. I believe I still have the files he made for me I can share, if interested.  I dont have a coding background...anything I do involves staring at fceux debug/hex and reasoning things out >_<

It seems there's enough dead code in the game to someday disassemble, clean it up, and implement those changes more naturally to run on hardware.  But that's out of my time/skill set for sure.

Love those sprites.  I struggled mightily on the ladder and bomb defuse sprites.  Please share!

Oh so it was rainponcho the one who helped with ASM for the hack?
I wasn't even aware, the dude was a legend for helping so many projects back then, just hope he is doing well since it's been a while from when I last knew of him.

If you still have the code he made, and the one you have done as well, it can easily be setup into a proper repository on GitHub. A compiler shouldn't be an issue since almost everything compiles 6502 now.
I'd suggest using Asar and the custom macros I wrote in the swimming code thread I posted.

Out of curiosity, at what address is the new table with the jumping changes to the turtles located at?
(Btw check your PM about the sprites stuff)

[guitarpalooz]

Oh so it was rainponcho the one who helped with ASM for the hack?
I wasn't even aware, the dude was a legend for helping so many projects back then, just hope he is doing well since it's been a while from when I last knew of him.

If you still have the code he made, and the one you have done as well, it can easily be setup into a proper repository on GitHub. A compiler shouldn't be an issue since almost everything compiles 6502 now.
I'd suggest using Asar and the custom macros I wrote in the swimming code thread I posted.

Out of curiosity, at what address is the new table with the jumping changes to the turtles located at?
(Btw check your PM about the sprites stuff)

Sent you his code.  My changes didn't come in assembly...I just use an opcode chart and type it into a hex editor because i dont know any better