Dumping the ROM of a GBA game by crashing it

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  • Опубліковано 16 січ 2024
  • Turns out, the GBA crash sound is just the console playing its entire address space as sound data. If we have a clear recording, we can convert it back to actual bytes, thus dumping the RAM and ROM.
    Used source code is available at: sites.google.com/site/thezzaz...
    File name: gbacrashsound_dumper.zip
    Note - this is hardly a ready-to-use solution, and requires a lot of tuning, depending on the source data format.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 937

  • @ManIkWeet
    @ManIkWeet 4 місяці тому +1323

    You "cheated" but I wonder: is it possible to get the correct offset given enough recordings?
    Or is the playback speed not a constant rate?

    • @TheZZAZZGlitch
      @TheZZAZZGlitch  4 місяці тому +619

      It is constant rate - but due to imprecisions and the desynchronization between the console's and the recording's sample rates, each byte might take a slightly different number of samples every once in a while (say 9 instead of 10).
      Usually this is not a problem, since it's possible to find boundaries between different bytes by seeing the changes in audio level. Even if there's a streak of several identical bytes, it's still possible to get correct answers quite reliably just by rounding (if there's a segment of 48 identical samples, it's fine to reason that it corresponds to 5 identical bytes).
      However, if the streak is thousands of bytes long, the errors add up to the point where simple rounding cannot give a correct result, and it becomes close to impossible to know how many errors occurred. The only real solution would be to increase the sample rate to make the errors even less significant - but we quickly get to the point where we pretty much need a data-logging oscilloscope, and I wanted to stick to simple hardware.

    • @pablo5425
      @pablo5425 4 місяці тому +18

      ​@@TheZZAZZGlitchassuming there are slight differences on each generated rom, why dont you make the program repeat several times to enhance accuracy? make 5-6 roms and keep the closest one

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому +161

      @@pablo5425 That's... kind of what he did? Repeat the process a few times to iron out the errors?

    • @mechabubba
      @mechabubba 4 місяці тому +14

      @@TheZZAZZGlitch thanks for your answer, this was something i was wondering as well. the fact that a byte can be represented with a varying number of samples helps this make a lot more sense.

    • @nyanpasu64
      @nyanpasu64 4 місяці тому +19

      Can you use the "average" samples per 100k bytes during periods of activity, to produce a high-precision estimate of the byte rate to bridge long gaps of silence, or does the playback and recording rate drift enough to break that?
      Also how did you avoid least significant bit errors?

  • @SanJo2MD
    @SanJo2MD 4 місяці тому +1964

    Hearing the in-game musicians tune their instruments by crashing the game is unbelievable but also really cool

    • @cirkulx
      @cirkulx 4 місяці тому +94

      i crashed my gba and at 1 hour and 17 minutes i started hearing all the sfx and its hilarious

    • @closedthedor8400
      @closedthedor8400 4 місяці тому +66

      When it's 6 A.M in a animatronic restaurant 1:11

    • @K9V1
      @K9V1 4 місяці тому +23

      I'm wondering what the hell the sound at 1:02 was from. Don't think I have ever heard it in-game and it doesn't really sound like it even belongs in a Pokémon game.

    • @sarougeau
      @sarougeau 4 місяці тому +30

      @@K9V1I'm guessing that they may have had a library of sounds they were working with and not all of them were used.

    • @K9V1
      @K9V1 4 місяці тому +6

      @@sarougeau That would actually make a great deal of sense. Very interesting sound bit nevertheless!

  • @KonaKonaKaabisteru
    @KonaKonaKaabisteru 4 місяці тому +1530

    This whole thing feels like watching someone reproduce an almost perfect replica of the food they ate via throwing up violently. Incredible work ZZaZZ.

  • @VinsCool
    @VinsCool 4 місяці тому +1219

    While this is already a very impressive feat, I'm even more impressed by the fact that the Chinese bootleg cart had been designed with actual efforts in order to make the game function as good as it possibly could without the RTC battery or the dedicated SRAM chip.
    I wonder why they bothered to replace the battery message, at this point they could have made the code to just bypass that screen entirely just to make it look genuine from the get go.

    • @tr7zw
      @tr7zw 4 місяці тому +72

      Thats exactly what I was wondering too. Why change the message, and not just nuke the check?

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому +253

      My guess is that the bootleggers were under deadline pressure - nuking the check would have taken longer to implement and debug than simply changing the message to something innocuous.

    • @LupisLight
      @LupisLight 4 місяці тому +9

      I don't really understand why anyone would have gone to all that extra trouble to make a replica cart to begin with?

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому +191

      @@LupisLight So they can mass-produce it and sell the carts for cheaper than the price of a real cart, of course.

    • @stgigamovement
      @stgigamovement 4 місяці тому +34

      Keep in mind that there's a decompilation of Emerald out there so technically they may actually have more control. The question is whether or not this repro supports the link cable and the GBA-GC cable, plus GBA-to-DS migration of Pokemon.

  • @osek7
    @osek7 4 місяці тому +254

    I'm old enough to remember time when radio stations sometimes played video games. You could record it and played it on Commodore 64.

    • @mindwarp42
      @mindwarp42 4 місяці тому +39

      Or write a program and save it on a cassette using a tape recorder peripheral. Thanks, Texas Instruments, for letting me save TI Basic that way and use it to play music otherwise!

    • @MarkyVigoroth
      @MarkyVigoroth 4 місяці тому +7

      I was thinking of the ZX Spectrum.

    • @gabrielv.4358
      @gabrielv.4358 4 місяці тому +6

      what???????????/

    • @serraramayfield9230
      @serraramayfield9230 4 місяці тому +22

      @@gabrielv.4358The C64 and other computers of the time had analog input/output, along with built-in software to save data as audio and vice-versa.
      Given that most computers of the time used cassettes, this was required to make full use out of them.

    • @laudennn
      @laudennn 4 місяці тому +2

      you aren't though

  • @louierichardson8832
    @louierichardson8832 4 місяці тому +413

    I grew up with a chinese bootleg of each gen 3 game, and that "The save file will be loaded." message was always so confusing to me, since I didn't realise they were fake at the time. Other quirks of the bootlegs were that if booted up in a DS rather than a GBA, the save file would be wiped, and for Emerald specifically beating the elite 4 would also wipe the save file. I know bootlegs can differ from each slightly, so I'd love to what weird changes they made to the ROM for those very annoying problems to happen.

    • @lpfan4491
      @lpfan4491 4 місяці тому +57

      If I think of the correct bootlegs, then they patched the games to store the savefile within the same internal area where the rom is. Yes, they *write* to the *read only memory* , which is illegal.(And this is legit, patches to replicate these roms actually exist publically. Probably useful for physical repros of Gen1/2 games too because those guys normally require battery and die when it does) Idk if they also did other modifications, but nonsense like this is probably why the slightest variance in functionality from the DS makes the game cr*p itself and panicwipe the savedata.
      As for the elite 4-wipe in emerald, they probably just screwed up the savewrite there considering getting into the hall of fame alters specific values in your savefile that otherwise aren't touched. Either that or the way it resets the game does something to the game that this specific bootleg does not like.

    • @GreenBeanSilly
      @GreenBeanSilly 4 місяці тому +77

      It because there's actually extra space in the savefile for the hall of fame data, and writing the first hall of fame to your savefile is usually when the flag gets checked that you beaten the game and can trade pokemon outside of the regional dex. However, most bootlegs don't bother taking this into account and what ends up happening is your save will get overwritten with the hall of fame information and corrupts the save. The gen 3 games also holds two copies of your save (128k), but the bootlegs only holds one copy (64k)

    • @DennisTheZZZ
      @DennisTheZZZ 4 місяці тому +17

      Same for me, but with a bootleg version of Sapphire and Leafgreen.
      Sometimes, with the latter, the save file would be wiped for no reason when booting up, so in order to play through the game, I had to keep the power on my GBA. Those bootleg versions don‘t work if you use Pal Park in the Gen 4 games.
      Luckily, the Pokémon can be traded to a legit copy, in my case, Emerald, and get them to the most recent games.

    • @louierichardson8832
      @louierichardson8832 4 місяці тому +7

      thats actually what i did years later when i finally got legit copies. managed to transfer up a few things to gen 4, but most of the bootlegs had already wiped themselves by then anyway (or the cartridge wouldnt read at all)@@DennisTheZZZ

    • @fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771
      @fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771 4 місяці тому +8

      I had a bootleg leafgreen that worked in my DS but if I played a DS Pokemon game with it plugged in the save corrupted. Apparently that's a common issue with fakes

  • @TheZZAZZGlitch
    @TheZZAZZGlitch  4 місяці тому +705

    Note: the magic UA-cam algorithm seems to be recommending this video to people without context - if you're curious about why crashing GBA games play their entire memory as sound in the first place, check out my previous video from 6:00 onward - ua-cam.com/video/wSWNkpqjtQY/v-deo.html

    • @Hi-ix5bb
      @Hi-ix5bb 4 місяці тому +6

      fact

    • @cattenchaostherandomperson
      @cattenchaostherandomperson 4 місяці тому +14

      listen to some master boot record and report back to me
      (this comment used to say something different)

    • @Tomw1983theidiot
      @Tomw1983theidiot 4 місяці тому

      Yea

    • @chamber_hiro256
      @chamber_hiro256 4 місяці тому +2

      Crazy thing is, I got this video recommended a few minutes later after I watched the interesting things 4 video.
      Your a mad man is all I can say.

    • @eatmyfrigginshorts
      @eatmyfrigginshorts 4 місяці тому

      A link got posted on twitter a few hours ago as well

  • @clementpruvost8670
    @clementpruvost8670 4 місяці тому +460

    ZZAZZ is the only guy who wants to dump a ROM by destroying his ears. Mad props to him.

  • @lovedeath9075
    @lovedeath9075 4 місяці тому +195

    This is an incredible engineering feat so congratulations. It's like loading a game off of casettes back in the Commodore days. I can't wait for the day pirate radio stations start broadcasting this type of data lol.

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому

      The data is just a little too fragile to be sent in audio form over radio. Distortions from static will probably corrupt too much of the ROM to boot it, let alone play it. But if you're interested in the general concept of smuggling information by sending it in a nonstandard format, search up "illegal numbers" on Wikipedia, you might find it a fun read.

    • @Chengeist
      @Chengeist 4 місяці тому +20

      Some pirates on shortwave kinda do, in various digital modes, mostly sstv pictures.

    • @jameswalker199
      @jameswalker199 4 місяці тому +12

      I've been looking to get my radio ham licence, but given that it isn't music I think I could get away with sending this sort of data over the radio, so long as I also send my callsign every now and then. It'd be fun to try, just stick a Spectrum into the radio and see how wrong it gets the data.

    • @WildCharger
      @WildCharger 3 місяці тому

      jet set radio:

  • @tigaliyt
    @tigaliyt 4 місяці тому +239

    Oh, my... Being able to "read" by EAR an entire game's code is... amazing, and incredibly poetic. It's such a fun idea, too. Are you gonna drop the full EP now or what? xD

    • @BrunodeSouzaLino
      @BrunodeSouzaLino 4 місяці тому +15

      It's not a new idea though. That was how games and software were recorded on cassette tapes back in the day.

    • @jameswalker199
      @jameswalker199 4 місяці тому +16

      @BrunodeSouzaLino
      Type `load ""` and hit play, go and make a cuppa, come back 5 or 10 minutes later and find it errored out and you have to adjust the azimuth of your tape player again. Given how finicky the GBA software is here about timing, its a wonder tape loading even worked at all with the wow and flutter. I suppose the answer is a lot of error correction, but it was never perfect even with that.

    • @Mizu2023
      @Mizu2023 4 місяці тому

      You can also just import the ROM into Audacity as Signed 8-Bit Audio and a sample rate of somewhere around 10kHz to 16kHz

  • @diaz35scrodrigo
    @diaz35scrodrigo 4 місяці тому +253

    This channel is reaching reaching a very professional level, I honestly cannot express how much I appreciate the existing of it, keep going ZZAZZ, and thanks for giving me the passion of glitching (lol)

    • @kab43
      @kab43 4 місяці тому +11

      fyi he works at microsoft iirc so hes pretty professional

    • @serraramayfield9230
      @serraramayfield9230 4 місяці тому +3

      @@kab43proof?

    • @kab43
      @kab43 4 місяці тому

      it's in one of his april fools videos i think, he talks about being busy cause of the job iirc@@serraramayfield9230

  • @sylverrez
    @sylverrez 4 місяці тому +99

    This is interesting stuff, didn't know the corrupted noises are actually ROM data loaded into RAM. Makes for a good project if you don't have a dumper on hand.

  • @fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771
    @fgfhjfhjfbhfghf5771 4 місяці тому +94

    The real hardware method could actually be a game changer for unlicensed game preservation. Many unlicensed games have their own unique protection to stop them from being dumped and this could get around it entirely. Also yes i'd love to see a video on the bootleg ROM differences

  • @KingCHAWLZ
    @KingCHAWLZ 4 місяці тому +71

    The scuffed-ass DS is a sign of true love.

  • @mistashadow
    @mistashadow 4 місяці тому +119

    so... this is the evolution method of GBA Crash Sound?
    ...and it evolves into a whole game? Amazing.

  • @gretarreynisson3280
    @gretarreynisson3280 4 місяці тому +119

    This reminds me of that Retro Game Mechanics Explained video where he tries to reverse engineer the code of Yar’s Revenge by looking at the neutral zone’s pixels

    • @Hijiri_MIRACHION
      @Hijiri_MIRACHION 4 місяці тому +23

      This ended up producing an actual game at the end though. Due to the way the Neutral Zone was made, I remember that making a ROM from that became extremely difficult after a certain point.

    • @Yingxera
      @Yingxera 4 місяці тому +13

      @@Hijiri_MIRACHION Yeah, the values used for the zone was only part of the game's memory, with 1/8 bits missing and iirc only half the entries, so essentially only half the game was to be found there, and even then that was incomplete and required a lot of guesswork to make sense of. It's a bit unfortunate, because it was really interesting

    • @MasDouc
      @MasDouc 4 місяці тому +1

      I was thinking the same exact thing

    • @Mizu2023
      @Mizu2023 4 місяці тому +4

      I'm pretty sure the guy who coded that thing into Yar's Revenge said "It's pretty ironic that the code for drawing the neutral zone *is* the graphics of the neutral zone" lol

    • @serraramayfield9230
      @serraramayfield9230 4 місяці тому

      @@Mizu2023he has a pinned comment in that same video

  • @wolfcl0ck
    @wolfcl0ck 4 місяці тому +88

    The very notion of this is so overwhelmingly absurd... I wanna see more stuff like this.

    • @derpboxstudios
      @derpboxstudios 3 дні тому

      i'm willing to forgive... around half of what you've done for being a ZZAZZ fan

  • @ranpatoamami7048
    @ranpatoamami7048 4 місяці тому +8

    3:05 looks like if the copyrights were scribbled out with a marker, could be an aesthetic for a pirate ROM or something

  • @lior_haddad
    @lior_haddad 4 місяці тому +164

    I'm more shocked that the chinese clone has a modified rom than I am surprised about you dumping the rom with audio.

    • @MasDouc
      @MasDouc 4 місяці тому

      Why is that so interesting

    • @pacomatic9833
      @pacomatic9833 4 місяці тому +18

      @@MasDouc These things are made for a quick buck, so to see the bootleggers put in all that effort is interesting.

  • @Cametek.CamelliaOfficial
    @Cametek.CamelliaOfficial 4 місяці тому +32

    0:35 BANGER

    • @AgentLazarus
      @AgentLazarus 4 місяці тому

      You're not black

    • @-w-.
      @-w-. 4 місяці тому +1

      Holy moly, it's Camellia 👋
      (Please do not add that to your latest tracks, our ears will bleed)

    • @MailMainbutnot
      @MailMainbutnot 3 місяці тому +3

      camellia don't listen to -w- it would be so funny if you put the gba crash sound in a song

    • @ronaid-with-an-i
      @ronaid-with-an-i Місяць тому +1

      Hello 2025 leak

    • @turkey_sandwhich
      @turkey_sandwhich 25 днів тому

      gba crash remix

  • @maplemabel
    @maplemabel 4 місяці тому +27

    replacing the famous error screen with "the save file will be loaded." is such a flex

  • @zdragov
    @zdragov 4 місяці тому +20

    the one dislike was from you soldering white to red

  • @DelayRGC
    @DelayRGC 4 місяці тому +30

    1:33 is just the life of a programmer.
    Also - Kitchen floor, table and ancient laptop reveal! And a cursed bit of soldering we shall not talk about ever again!

  • @mistaecco
    @mistaecco 4 місяці тому +57

    Absolutely incredible! I always fantasized as a kid that the horrific screeches of pulling a cartridge held some secret information... I guess that was kinda true!
    Curious, do you own a GBxCart to do a "proper" dump with to compare against? I'd be extremely curious to learn more about the tricks that get implemented in cheap clone carts, and would happily send you one if you think it'd help your efforts!

    • @LanHikariDS
      @LanHikariDS 4 місяці тому +3

      I DO own one, and working in a game store I tend to use it to flash over those carts for various purposes, I usually dump them beforehand just for safe keeping.

    • @Neogeddon
      @Neogeddon 4 місяці тому +5

      Kid me assumed, through child moon logic, that the screech must have been Jirachi's cry. Since I knew about Jirachi but had never seen one in-game, and didn't know what it sounded like. So I wasn't *technically* wrong either :'D

    • @Labotohs
      @Labotohs 4 місяці тому +1

      Had similar thoughts after once getting weird text to pop up in SF2 CE on Genesis after accidentally bumping the console while playing. Never happened again though. Kinda wish I had a GBA game crash while I was away (on the DS due to batteries) and to come back while it was playing the instruments.

  • @quonit37
    @quonit37 4 місяці тому +61

    That's so interesting :O The crash noises playing all the SFX then eventually the ROM??? It makes me so curious about why those crash noises even happen, that's so cool

    • @ritabennett
      @ritabennett 4 місяці тому +18

      If you haven't seen it, he goes over /why/ the noise happens in his previous video (Interesting observations #4). It's apparently different for every game, too, the same video has a sample of Mystery Dungeon crash sound in the section about its glitch dungeons. Super cool stuff.

    • @BrunodeSouzaLino
      @BrunodeSouzaLino 4 місяці тому +12

      In modern computing, there's no difference between software and data. The different sounds you hear are data being interpreted as audio and playing as such.

    • @heliusuniverse7460
      @heliusuniverse7460 4 місяці тому +8

      the audio chip plays samples from a pointer to a memory location that gets incremented automatically. To loop the sample you just set the pointer back to the beginning, but if the game crashes, the pointer will keep incrementing, playing every byte of memory as if it was sample data.

  • @macyler
    @macyler 4 місяці тому +18

    Awesome video!
    The long string of similar bytes is a very real problem in EE in general. For example, the USB protocol requires a state change (called "bit stuffing") every 6 bits if one hasn't happened to prevent the loss of timing like you experienced.
    Regarding the 0x00s at the end, it may be the cartridge, or it might be the sound card. Realtek especially, but other ones as well, often have DC blocking, so after a while of the same non-zero data, the actual output/recording goes back to 0.
    Finally, the crosstalk you noticed may have actually been caused by the cable you used, a shorter cable, or better shielded one may yield better stereo results.

  • @atc_wro
    @atc_wro 4 місяці тому +23

    such a cool idea, the quality of the videos have never been this good. Actually inspired me to try glitchhunting myself.

  • @EmberQuill
    @EmberQuill 4 місяці тому +22

    Waaaaait a minute, is that the Uplink OST I hear during those coding segments? Brings back memories.
    A really interesting idea. I'm surprised it's even possible, let alone that you managed to achieve 100% accuracy by repeating the recording. That bootleg cartridge is really interesting too.

    • @TheMilkmanDan
      @TheMilkmanDan 4 місяці тому +1

      I'm only in the comments to say the same think. God damn I loved Uplink.

  • @SighFi
    @SighFi 4 місяці тому +11

    incredibly cool, and what an interesting replica cart!! i've played around with various bootleg pokemon cartridges before (though none of quite that quality) and from what i've seen, the whole "the save file will be loaded" message seems pretty universal (the one i've seen most often was simply "the game can be played." without the rest of the "however, clock-based events will no longer occur", also removing any mention of an actual battery).
    also shoutout to the cursed adapter + cat ears, gotta be one of my favourite genders

  • @zacadoole1
    @zacadoole1 4 місяці тому +6

    The Uplink hacker music really set the tone for the reverse engineering segments

  • @blitzen8876
    @blitzen8876 4 місяці тому +23

    it may not be "music" to most, but it IS art!

  • @Xkeeper0
    @Xkeeper0 4 місяці тому +30

    reminds me of when we had to dump an fds disk by using a program that output all of the disk's data over audio. pretty neat to see the changes the bootleg made, too. surprised they didn't just hack out the dry battery textbox rather than change the text, tho

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому

      Probably because they were too rushed to test if that'd break anything, and didn't want to risk yoloing it.

  • @blablablablabla504
    @blablablablabla504 4 місяці тому +10

    One of the better videos I've seen in your channel, intresting topic, "slice-of-life" scenes, and cool topic in general. I hope to see more like that. :)

  • @colinstu
    @colinstu 4 місяці тому +7

    For anyone else trying to read the single frame text/comments in the vid... pause and comma/period keys are a godsend (single frame back/forward).

    • @renakunisaki
      @renakunisaki 4 місяці тому +2

      Meanwhile on mobile: guess they just don't want people to read it /shrug

    • @colinstu
      @colinstu 4 місяці тому

      @@renakunisaki RIP :( sorry

  • @Trianull
    @Trianull 4 місяці тому +4

    0:44 Oh wow, this makes ripping GBA samples incredibly easy... Really cool discovery for someone like me who's fascinated by the sound limitations of the GBA and how to mimic it, especially considering the lack of info around it.

  • @LetsPlayKeldeo
    @LetsPlayKeldeo 4 місяці тому +14

    when the car ears flew in I died

  • @Littlefighter1911
    @Littlefighter1911 4 місяці тому +6

    "So, how do you dump your rom files?"
    "It's complicated..."

  • @Jaccount12
    @Jaccount12 4 місяці тому +64

    As someone who has watched none of the video yet, this is a ZZAZZ classic.

    • @kittrz
      @kittrz 4 місяці тому +34

      as someone who has watched all of the video, this is a ZZAZZ classic

    • @pillowcasecorner7519
      @pillowcasecorner7519 4 місяці тому +5

      This is indeed a certified ZZAZZ classic.

    • @Lunascaped
      @Lunascaped 4 місяці тому +2

      @@kittrzfr

  • @TheBester7
    @TheBester7 4 місяці тому +11

    This is wild!
    i didn't know if it would be possible,but you managed to do it! When i saw the thumbnail, i was like "No way, he actually tried it!"

  • @Darkshadows9776
    @Darkshadows9776 4 місяці тому +8

    Ooooh that music at 1:22 sparked some memories. Good pick.

  • @scj643
    @scj643 4 місяці тому +5

    You made it into the latest HW news from gamers nexus

  • @camwoodstock
    @camwoodstock 4 місяці тому +27

    tch, i recognize that frequency, now I've i have your SRAM and own ALL your pokemon!!! >:)

  • @zelenpixel
    @zelenpixel 4 місяці тому +11

    fascinated by this just nearly barely complete rom. i like how you have to crash the game 7 (or 45) times and sit there for hours upon hours recording all of this just to have the worlds most inefficient dumping method. thats hilarious. and really interesting too
    is this the first time there was actual real life camera footage on the channel?
    would be very interested to see the hacky bootleg cartridge tech stuff too

    • @underrated1524
      @underrated1524 4 місяці тому +7

      Technically, no, it's not the first time. When ZZAZZ wants to show footage from 3DS VC, he simply puts his 3DS in front of a camera, presumably because there aren't a lot of options for 3DS capture cards.

    • @LonelySpaceDetective
      @LonelySpaceDetective 4 місяці тому +1

      ZZAZZ also had a video demoing some Game Boy Camera emulation they worked on, by using a webcam for what the emulated camera sees.

  • @Biaanca5036
    @Biaanca5036 4 місяці тому +3

    02:35 _"Good morning Acer. 👋_
    -- _ready to do something cool?"_
    Honestly how I think it feels to use a spare machine to do interesting things

  • @placeholderplaceholder3448
    @placeholderplaceholder3448 4 місяці тому +4

    Long time fan, I am 100% here for this new direction of videos, I'm loving it.

  • @FutureFractal
    @FutureFractal 4 місяці тому +4

    yessssss I was waiting for this :D
    also hearing all the instrument samples back-to-back is so cool omfg

    • @FutureFractal
      @FutureFractal 4 місяці тому

      also, fun fact: those horrible squawking sounds after the Bard's "A E I O U" voice samples are actually compressed audio data for all the Pokémon cries! that's why they still sound slightly more like actual audio than the other glitchy screeching sounds

  • @DogeAnimator75
    @DogeAnimator75 4 місяці тому +1

    I like how all the instruments and sound effects play when it crashes. This would be a great method of creating soundfonts for gba games that don’t use the sappy sound engine

  • @freeformboozler
    @freeformboozler 4 місяці тому +4

    This reminds me a lot of how 1980s computer games were sometimes sold on cassette tapes with the game code literally being the "music" on the tape

  • @_Smokescreen_
    @_Smokescreen_ 4 місяці тому +3

    Incredible video detailing how it works and the processes you did, honestly really cool to hear all the different individual sounds

  • @user-yp6hi1yi6e
    @user-yp6hi1yi6e 4 місяці тому +7

    A video about self-modifying code would be a real treat. Thank you for your work!

  • @Safyire_
    @Safyire_ 4 місяці тому +33

    some of those sample sounds in the ROM are groovy. i’m guessing the voiced ones (like the “a, i, u, e, o” one) are generic samples that probably show up in other GBA ROMs, just interesting hearing them alongside ones that you do hear in-game

    • @iacon0425
      @iacon0425 4 місяці тому +15

      No there's an NPC in the game named "the bard" that uses them. He's in the mauville Pokemon center but only on certain save files.

    • @Zichqec
      @Zichqec 4 місяці тому +2

      @@iacon0425 I spent a few hours getting a save file with him because I've never had him before. The samples sound a lot different in game, are they processed somehow? I want to know more about the bard because I had never seen him before today lol

    • @Tyranitar66501
      @Tyranitar66501 4 місяці тому +2

      @@Zichqec He appears based on your trainer id, if it ends in 0 or 1 he will appear.

    • @Zichqec
      @Zichqec 4 місяці тому

      @@Tyranitar66501 Yeah I found that out, and reset over and over until I got one. And then I found out you can't mix records until you get to mauville anyways, so I had to spend a few hours making my way there. I was hoping to cheat the system by mixing records before then with a save that was already at mauville lol

  • @hckromcatomb
    @hckromcatomb 4 місяці тому +17

    It may not be music to my ears, but it is a video game
    edit:that adapter at 5:13 is super cool 😄
    edit:thanks for the info on how that bootleg cart saves, I’m glad to understand that obscure engineering! Great work great video!

  • @ValerieNight
    @ValerieNight 4 місяці тому +13

    5:00 Was that a cat ear headband?

  • @blazernitrox6329
    @blazernitrox6329 4 місяці тому +3

    Okay, that's really cool hearing all of the ROM's MIDI samples played back-to-back like that. You can literally _hear_ the structure of the data in some places.
    It's also really nostalgic hearing samples from my favorite Pokemon generation getting absolutely _blasted_ like that. I can even place certain sound effects. Man, do I need to boot up my copy of the Emerald decomp again?
    Yes, PLEASE do another video about the engineering of that Chinese ROM. I can't imagine it's a small feat, especially on GBA hardware.

  • @ayoraster2970
    @ayoraster2970 4 місяці тому +1

    This is amazing! When you hinted this last video, iI was sad because I really wanted to see it straight away. I'm glad you did it, and I'm so suprised how accurate you can get the rom!

  • @TheSmegPod
    @TheSmegPod 4 місяці тому +4

    listening to those instrument samples I've just noticed that RSE uses the same soundfont as Mother 3

  • @gblargg
    @gblargg 4 місяці тому +4

    Long sections of the same value will get affected by the high-pass filtering in most audio paths (why 8b/10b encoding and similar exist, to remove DC). And the Gibbs effect at sharp transitions due to the analog sampler's low-pass filter.
    4:10 I'm surprised it was so easy to get it to dump the ROM over audio.

  • @Wizzkidwas
    @Wizzkidwas 4 місяці тому +6

    This might be one of the wackiest things I've ever seen pulled off

  • @philipegoulet448
    @philipegoulet448 4 місяці тому +2

    diffing the chinese copy with the original rom was such a great idea! I'd love to see you go through that in another video! Especially since you took the time to reverse engineer it :)

  • @shreebington
    @shreebington 4 місяці тому +2

    "What are you listening to?"
    "Pokémon Emerald."

  • @Zichqec
    @Zichqec 4 місяці тому +4

    This is SO COOL. Please make videos about the chinese cart! I got scammed a long while back when I was young and naive (I have legit carts now) and it is so fascinating to me to see those carts be picked apart. Mine had a text box like "The save has been loaded. The game can be played." or something. It was a bit different from yours!
    And now that I've grown up, I've become very interested in programming, so even more reason I'd like to see what kind of stuff is going on under the hood there.
    This video is excellent, thank you so much for making it.

  • @scarlas7071
    @scarlas7071 4 місяці тому +6

    Fascinating! I think it would also be interesting to look at virtual console roms and see how they differ from the originals.

  • @Stormshine
    @Stormshine 4 місяці тому +2

    omg this is SO COOL, and i guess proves that no one else has ever been brave enough to listen to the gba crash noises for 2 hours? absolute banger of a video, thank you

  • @mmmmmmmmmmmmm
    @mmmmmmmmmmmmm 4 місяці тому +1

    great video and i love the new way you're taking things (not that i had anything against your previous videos)!

  • @lazykits537
    @lazykits537 4 місяці тому +3

    I remember crashing my emerald rom by accident and left it on. I remember hearing the instruments play out and got so scared i turned it off

  • @mrdoognoog
    @mrdoognoog 4 місяці тому +10

    Always wondered about that "save file will be loaded" message, i have a bootleg emerald that does the same
    Mine also had this really annyoing issue of muting one of the audio channels after saving which was fun

  • @rezexnyx
    @rezexnyx 4 місяці тому

    i’m so glad youtube algorithm brought me back to your channel. used to watch you like almost 10 years ago or less on my old account 🖤

  • @LunarLambda
    @LunarLambda 4 місяці тому +4

    The self-rewriting Pokémon bootleg cartridges are a pretty commonly known thing in the GBA homebrew community because they're an inexpensive way to get rewritable cartridges. Would love to see a video detailing a code

  • @Summanis
    @Summanis 4 місяці тому +3

    2:30 Neil Breen's cabinet

  • @Kurausukun
    @Kurausukun 4 місяці тому +3

    You were actually super close to the correct samplerate! All Gen 3 games run the engine at 13379Hz (most if not all of the samples are also sampled at that rate)

  • @Ricar2002YT
    @Ricar2002YT 4 місяці тому +2

    This is absolutely insane and Im so glad you actually did it

  • @CraftMine1000
    @CraftMine1000 4 місяці тому +2

    The fact this boots at all is just astounding, wow, great work!

  • @Titanic4
    @Titanic4 4 місяці тому +3

    Well, this is just mind blowing. While there are GBA ROM dumpers available, this video proves that it's possible to dump the ROM of the game from the audio output of the GBA itself, given that you have sufficient patience and right equipment to do that.

  • @Elevatorisbest
    @Elevatorisbest 4 місяці тому +3

    This video better blow up in the algorithm because it's awesome

  • @AzraelFPV
    @AzraelFPV 4 місяці тому +1

    I'm glad I'm not the only one putting way too much time into random projects for my own entertainment and curiousity, alongside a possibility of some small utility

  • @heroslippy6666
    @heroslippy6666 4 місяці тому +1

    I knew that it was playing some sort of data in memory, but I never left it running to play ALL of the memory because I thought it was just looping. Very impressive.

  • @plushifoxed
    @plushifoxed 4 місяці тому +3

    this was really neat!! i would definitely love to see a video where you dig into chinese bootlegs of gen 3 a little more, too!

  • @asteria5267
    @asteria5267 4 місяці тому +8

    Knowing the soundfont is actually just tuned in the ROM makes Mother 3’s mechanic of timing combos to the beat make a lot more sense

    • @flint8291
      @flint8291 4 місяці тому +2

      Every song in a game using the Sappy/M4A engine has a BPM attached to it. MOTHER 3 does stuff to check whether you've pressed A to the beat, the ROM does not "tune" the soundfont.

  • @jakikazu
    @jakikazu 4 місяці тому +1

    We are eating so, so well with these recent uploads. What a treat!

  • @andriypredmyrskyy7791
    @andriypredmyrskyy7791 4 місяці тому +1

    I loved this so much. Sigbovik level work! I need more creators in my life like you and suckerpinch.

  • @gameplanetanimations
    @gameplanetanimations 4 місяці тому +4

    Unrelated to the topic, but for those wondering what the song in 6:22 is, it's the goldenrod city game corner theme.
    I really liked hearing it and wanted to hear it in a different video. Sadly it's not credited in the description... but thank Arceus for song finder apps!

  • @jagger8595
    @jagger8595 4 місяці тому +3

    I had no idea there were samples of human voice in the GBA games

  • @zwabTheRealOne
    @zwabTheRealOne 4 місяці тому +1

    Banger video as always.
    Love this channel.

  • @lethalkitten2919
    @lethalkitten2919 2 місяці тому

    Amazing work ZZAZZ, I am just in awe at how clever this all is

  • @cattenchaostherandomperson
    @cattenchaostherandomperson 4 місяці тому +4

    THE KING IS ALIVE

  • @katieg1071
    @katieg1071 4 місяці тому +9

    My biggest question from all of this is where those *voices* are used. The one at 1:02 put in with all the instruments, and the "Ah Ee Oo Ei Ou Nn" sounds you showed in the emulator vs bootleg cart comparison. Like, those are the Japanese vowel sounds (plus ん, the only consonant capable of standing on its own), but why are they here? Where were these used...?

    • @LunaAlex64
      @LunaAlex64 4 місяці тому +8

      The ‘Ah Ee Oo Ei Ou Nn’ instruments are used for the guy in one of the Pokémon Centers who can “sing” a phrase you give him! I have absolutely zero clue about the voices at 1:02 though

    • @FlyingUltraSound
      @FlyingUltraSound 4 місяці тому +1

      I wonder if the GBA has that sample recording due to something...
      I wonder if the GBA uses MIDI or supports it?
      Many keyboards, music softwares, or any MIDI-related music thing tool, mostly no matter what brand, have a choir instrument, and sometimes a female voice and a male voice.
      I'm still unsure what this is, though, too.
      (or maybe it could be WAV samples!)

  • @zurreality
    @zurreality 4 місяці тому +2

    daaaaammmn, the music from the uplink game got me x)! nice :D

  • @Hijiri_MIRACHION
    @Hijiri_MIRACHION 4 місяці тому +3

    So that's what the GBA crash sound does. It apparently becomes a full game with enough mixing and shuffling around.
    Now I wonder how long the extended Pokeball sequence when you have zero Pokémon in these games is, and if they actually get healed at the end, and any other effects it may have...

  • @SneedFeedAndSeed
    @SneedFeedAndSeed 4 місяці тому +2

    A I E O UM **fnaf doorbell sound**

  • @dustytux
    @dustytux 4 місяці тому

    I finally found your channel! The game corner music brings back memories

  • @FartingSpider12
    @FartingSpider12 4 місяці тому +4

    I would be very interested in seeing a video that covers more of the details on what's different between an official ROM and the chinese bootleg. I hear that a few strange behaviors occur on those chinese ROMS such as some wiping the save data when played on a DS. I wonder just how many weird things can happen with the chinese version

  • @ouroya
    @ouroya 4 місяці тому +2

    the rom being filled with $FF instead of $00 is likely due to the exact memory chips used and the way they were flashed, some chips, before flashing, are filled with $FF, and some with $00, though of course they can be overwritten to be one or the other. the rom was likely dumped and then the extra $00 bytes truncated (possibly due to not knowing what address to stop reading at, depending on how early the replica was made) then flashed onto a chip that had come off the assembly line filled with $FF and not overwritten with $00 bytes. this is further reinforced by the fact that they obviously used a very different type of chip (source: i have encountered both in my experience working with the memory of microprocessors and other chips)

  • @manamaster6
    @manamaster6 4 місяці тому

    This was amazing, especially the bit at the end about the code used to make the bootleg work.

  • @andreychen6523
    @andreychen6523 4 місяці тому

    Definitely would love to see a deeper dive into this weird code! Also great vid! I still can't believe what makes this process unreliable is the blocks of silence rather than the rest of the data lol.

  • @MuzikBike
    @MuzikBike 4 місяці тому +3

    My music taste is so thoroughly deformed and mutilated that the GBA crash sound genuinely is enjoyable to listen to in its own demented way.
    A question arises: since some games for some systems are stored via cassettes (the same type that music comes on), is it possible to dump the ROM from an audio recording of those?

    • @Vickyorlo
      @Vickyorlo 4 місяці тому +1

      For a game distributed on a cassette, an audio recording would be a de facto dump of the game's ROM. Look up those 3.5mm to cassette adapters, those things are kinda crazy in how braindead simple they are despite working perfectly. For a system that reads games off a cassette they're essentially a "flash cart" when combined with anything that can play an audio file of the dumped audio, like a phone (if your phone has a 3.5mm jack).

  • @Pyroscity
    @Pyroscity 4 місяці тому +5

    1:11 6am

  • @glitchy_weasel
    @glitchy_weasel 4 місяці тому +1

    Wow, you really went above and beyond for this video!
    That weird replica rom code definitely looks interesting, interesting that rewriting the game is cheaper for bootleggers than use extra chips for the save.

  • @rx_tx
    @rx_tx 4 місяці тому +1

    Loved the video, but especially the Uplink game soundtrack for the "coding/RE heavy" sections.

  • @TimkaSR
    @TimkaSR 4 місяці тому +5

    1:58 music?

  • @igorjuszczak6289
    @igorjuszczak6289 4 місяці тому +3

    1:22 uplink music :)