S.C.I.: Special Criminal Investigation (Arcade)

S.C.I.: Special Criminal Investigation
Developer: Taito Publishers: Taito (INT), Electrocoin (EU) Platform: Arcade (Taito Z System) Released in JP: October 1989[1] Released in US: December 1989[2] This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: The district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders; and S.C.I., who pursue the offenders in their sweet rides and fire indiscriminately at passing motorists. This is their story.

Debug Functions

Stage Select

This game uses the Taito Code:

• While booting the game, hold Service 1 until the "SERVICE ERROR" message pops up on the screen.
• Then, press 1P Start (x3), Service 1, 1P Start. The stage select menu should appear after starting a new game.

Use the steering wheel to select a round and 1P Start to go to that stage.

(Source: RyogaMasaki)

Debug Flags

There are multiple ROM locations that the game checks to activate various testing features. Put the codes at the start of each section in sci.xml or any of the child sets' cheat files to activate these features.

Timer Stop

  <cheat desc="Timer Stop">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00300=0x01</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00300=0x00</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

When set to a non-zero value, this flag freezes the stage timer.

Debug Display

  <cheat desc="Debug Display">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00301=0x01</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00301=0x00</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

When active, the game will print the player's current Y position and the ID of the chunk of the stage they're on in the upper-left corner of the screen.

Game Pause

  <cheat desc="Game Pause">
    <script state="run">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00304=0x01</action>
    </script>
    <script state="off">
      <action>maincpu.mb@00304=0x00</action>
    </script>
  </cheat>

When activated, pressing 1P Start will toggle a game pause. Pressing 1P Start again will resume the game.

(Other debug functions: Original TCRF research)

Old Title Screen

There's leftover code in the game to draw an unused foreground graphic on the title screen: A police badge with the text "Chase H.Q. II"! This is the name that the game usually goes under in ports, but it looks like it was meant to be used from the start. It was replaced by the S.C.I. badge, which is a sprite, not a foreground element.

The game is set to rapidly change the color of the II if the region flag is set to Japan (01), which strongly suggests that this graphic would only be used in Japanese sets.

Place one of the following codes in either sci.xml (World), scij.xml (Japan), and sciu.xml (USA) to replace the newer badge with the older one:

Japan, World

USA

<cheat desc="Old Title Screen"> <script state="run"> <action>maincpu.md@03898=0x4EB90007</action> <action>maincpu.mw@0389C=0xFF00</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E67C=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E684=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E68C=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E694=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF00=0x4EB90000</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF04=0x823E3B7C</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF08=0x00F09B2E</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7FF0C=0x4E75</action> </script> <script state="off"> <action>maincpu.md@03898=0x3B7C00F0</action> <action>maincpu.mw@0389C=0x9B2E</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E67C=0x05BB</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E684=0x05BD</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E68C=0x05BC</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E694=0x05BE</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF00=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF04=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF08=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7FF0C=0xFFFF</action> </script> </cheat>

<cheat desc="Old Title Screen"> <script state="run"> <action>maincpu.md@0389C=0x4EB90007</action> <action>maincpu.mw@038A0=0xFF00</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E67C=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E684=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E68C=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E694=0x0000</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF00=0x4EB90000</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF04=0x82DA3B7C</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF08=0x00F09B2E</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7FF0C=0x4E75</action> </script> <script state="off"> <action>maincpu.md@0389C=0x3B7C00F0</action> <action>maincpu.mw@038A0=0x9B2E</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E67C=0x05BB</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E684=0x05BD</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E68C=0x05BC</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7E694=0x05BE</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF00=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF04=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.md@7FF08=0xFFFFFFFF</action> <action>maincpu.mw@7FF0C=0xFFFF</action> </script> </cheat>

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Graphics

Chase H.Q. (Used)	S.C.I. (Unused)

Sprite IDs: 037A-0384
Sprite Data: N/A

There are two unused billboards in the game. The first is a redone version of the Party Lights billboard from Chase H.Q. that's closer to the ground.

Sprite IDs: 03A1-03A8
Sprite Data: N/A

The second is an untouched version of an unused billboard from Chase H.Q., though this version has its palette intact. Didn't keep it from being unused, though.

Chase H.Q. (Used)	S.C.I. (Unused)

Sprite IDs: 047C-0487
Sprite Data: 0x78404

There are also two unused buildings. The first is the Bebee's building that originated in Chase H.Q.; this version has some questionable color choices and lacks the large sign on top of the building.

Sprite IDs: 0498-04A6
Sprite Data: 0x784E8

The second building is new: A misspelled, possibly sexy bar. The sign by the door says that no one under 20 years of age will be admitted. The sign on the right has the names of at least two Taito developers: "Simamoto" is Kyoji Shimamoto, a programmer who worked on the original Chase H.Q., and "Kiku Kikuti" is Masami Kikuchi, an artist whose work includes Darius and The Ninja Warriors.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Audio

Sounds

ID	Sound
19
21
49

Three sounds are unused. Ho-hum. The third is an alternate version of the helicopter sound that includes the helicopter lifting off; this would have been used in Stage 5.

Voice Lines

ID	Japanese	English
63
78

Two unused lines. The first is a generic "Fire!" clip that could have been used when shooting at enemies, while the second is a hint from Karen on how to deal with the Stage 5 boss.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Developer Text

At 0x0BC7A in the main CPU, programmer Kazunori Sako's name appears three times in a row like some kind of Beetlejuice incantation:

KAZUNORI SAKO
KAZUNORI SAKO
KAZUNORI SAKO

Text for a deleted sprite viewer starts at 0x357D9 in the main CPU:

STYLE NO  :
V POSI    :
H POSI    :
ZOOM      :
COLOR     :

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Regional Differences

JP	INT

Only the Japanese set uses kilometers per hour. Every other set, including the World sets, use miles per hour.

JP	INT

The emergency beacon is red in the Japan set and blue in every other set.

(Source: Original TCRF research)