Strange Easter Egg in MULE

[Bryan]

During the game, press SHIFT+OPTION to put the screen into Attract mode. It will say:

 

PRESS START TO RESUME PLAY

 

Now, press SHIFT+SELECT and it will say:

 

YOU FOUND IT, DABIJIAL

 

Any ideas what this means?

 

-Bry

[Bryan]

Even stranger...

 

When you do this, code is executed at $3114 that looks for RAM installed at $C000, and a jump instruction at $C001. I guess this is left over development stuff.

 

-Bry

[Schmutzpuppe]

During the game, press SHIFT+OPTION to put the screen into Attract mode. It will say:

 

PRESS START TO RESUME PLAY

 

Now, press SHIFT+SELECT and it will say:

 

YOU FOUND IT, DABIJIAL

 

Any ideas what this means?

 

    -Bry

843603[/snapback]

Not really but DABIJIAL are the first two letters of the programmers wrote together:

DAn (Bunten), BIll (Bunten), JIm (Rushing), ALan (Watson)

Interesting found, like to know if it has any influence to the gameplay.

[Bryan]

Not really but DABIJIAL are the first two letters of the programmers wrote together:

DAn (Bunten), BIll (Bunten),  JIm (Rushing), ALan (Watson)

 

You're right! Thanks.

 

-Bry

[danwinslow]

Isn't a jump to $C000 the Omnimon addr?

[mr-atari]

I did a dutch translation years agoo and found the text

something like: "Do not steal"

But in game-play I have never encoutered this.

 

Perhaps has this to do with it?

 

Cheers,

Sijmen.

[andylama]

DABIJIAL are the first two letters of the programmers wrote together:

DAn (Bunten), BIll (Bunten),  JIm (Rushing), ALan (Watson)

843615[/snapback]

Holy Spit! How on earth did that occur to you?! I mean, I knew the programmers' names, but I never would have extrapolated that connection.

Your brain works in impressive ways.

[Tempest]

DABIJIAL are the first two letters of the programmers wrote together:

DAn (Bunten), BIll (Bunten),  JIm (Rushing), ALan (Watson)

843615[/snapback]

Holy Spit! How on earth did that occur to you?! I mean, I knew the programmers' names, but I never would have extrapolated that connection.

Your brain works in impressive ways.

845237[/snapback]

 

I figured it was something like that. It was a nonsense word, but when I saw DA at the begining I started to put two and two together. I got 5... so then I rethought about it and figured DAB was Dan Bunten, but then rest didnt make sense. I didnt realize it was first names only not last (I figured A was Dan's middile initial or something).

 

Tempest

[Callipygous]

Isn't a jump to $C000 the Omnimon addr?

843677[/snapback]

 

Sounds right. It also makes sense. Didn't Trip Hawkins complain bitterly about copying and Omnimon-type mods? EA might have put some protection in there.

[Schmutzpuppe]

DABIJIAL are the first two letters of the programmers wrote together:

DAn (Bunten), BIll (Bunten),  JIm (Rushing), ALan (Watson)

843615[/snapback]

Holy Spit! How on earth did that occur to you?! I mean, I knew the programmers' names, but I never would have extrapolated that connection.

Your brain works in impressive ways.

845237[/snapback]

Lol, Tempest is right DA gave the hint and programmers love to leave a mark like their initials into the code.

[ijor]

Isn't a jump to $C000 the Omnimon addr?

843677[/snapback]

 

Sounds right. It also makes sense. Didn't Trip Hawkins complain bitterly about copying and Omnimon-type mods? EA might have put some protection in there.

845822[/snapback]

 

All (or at least most) EA programs have a protection check against Omnimon. It is performed early during the boot stage. If you run the original MULE, for example, with Omnimon active, you get a message “REMOVE CUSTOM O.S”.

 

But this doesn’t look like being related to Omnimon. The code checks for RAM at $C000, and nothing is done if there is no RAM.

 

It seems to be a break into a custom monitor/debugger. This is typical in many games. The monitor code was obviously removed for production release, but for some reason the entry point was left. And the message might be some sort of Eastern Egg for the beta testers perhaps (where the monitor was still there)?