Posted by ShaneM

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On the original, when Bowser turns to face the player he flips but in an odd way. It makes him go into the ax at times. SMAS fixes this and SMB Deluxe GBC partially fixes this by making him properly turn. I wrote this code from scratch to fix it, it was made with SMB2J in mind but should work on SMB1; credit me if borrowed:

;new RAM addresses StarMusBWSRFlag = $4c BowserHTimer = $0788

ResetMDr: lda EnemyFrameTimer,x ;if timer set here expired, beq GetPRCmp ;branch to next section jsr PlayerEnemyDiff ;get horizontal difference between player and bowser, bmi MoveBRght ;and branch if bowser to the right of the player MoveBLft: lda BowserHTimer ;SM load Bowser's horizontal flip timer bne DNMB+5 ;SM if Bowser just turned rightward, branch lda #$02 ;otherwise load value to sta Enemy_MovingDir,x ;set Bowser to move and face to the left lda StarMusBWSRFlag ;SM load Bowser's flip flag (note this is only set if Bowser has flipped from left to right) beq BBoundChk ;SM if not set, branch to continue with Bowser's boundary check lda Enemy_X_Position,x ;SM get Bowser's front horizontal coordinate sec ;SM sbc #$10 ;SM take away ten from it thus giving the illusion of his front and rear flipping sta Enemy_X_Position,x ;SM then store as Bowser's new front horizontal coordinate dec StarMusBWSRFlag ;SM clear Bowser's flip flag lda #$10 ;SM load value to sta BowserHTimer ;SM set Bowser's horizontal flip timer bne GetPRCmp ;SM then branch unconditionally MoveBRght: lda BowserHTimer ;SM load Bowser's horizontal flip timer bne BBoundChk ;SM if Bowser's horizontal flip timer is still going, branch lda #$01 ;load value to sta Enemy_MovingDir,x ;set Bowser to move and face to the right lda StarMusBWSRFlag ;SM load Bowser's flip flag bne DNMB ;SM branch if flag already set to avoid wrong enemy placement lda Enemy_X_Position,x ;SM get Bowser's front horizontal coordinate clc ;SM adc #$10 ;SM add ten to horizontal coordinate sta Enemy_X_Position,x ;SM then store as Bowser's new front horizontal coordinate inc StarMusBWSRFlag ;SM set Bowser's flip flag (this gets the ball rolling) lda #$10 ;SM load value to sta BowserHTimer ;SM set Bowser's horizontal flip timer DNMB: lda #$02 sta BowserMovementSpeed ;set movement speed lda #$20 sta EnemyFrameTimer,x ;set timer here sta BowserFireBreathTimer ;set timer used for bowser's flame BBoundChk: lda Enemy_X_Position,x cmp #$bf ;(SM original value #$c8) if bowser to the right past a certain point, bcs HammerChk ;skip ahead to some other section

I also discovered that on 1-2 of SMB2J if you collect the Starman and run to the sideways warp pipe the SFX will not play most of the time if still invincible. SMB Deluxe and SMAS fixes this. I don't know offhand if Starman + sideways pipe ever occurs in the same room on SMB1. I don't think so hence this oversight. My code is from scratch, credit me if borrowed:

PipeDwnS: ldy StarInvincibleTimer ;SM load invincibility timer bne PlayPipeDwnS ;SM branch if set to play SFX (fixes SFX not playing on 1-2) lda Player_SprAttrib ;check player's attributes bne PlyrPipe ;if already set, branch, do not play sound again PlayPipeDwnS: ldy #Sfx_PipeDown_Injury sty Square1SoundQueue ;otherwise load pipedown/injury sound PlyrPipe: ora #%00100000

Yes, the Bowser fix does take up a lot of space, but it's worth it IMO. -ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Hi Shane,

Awesome fixes!

~Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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In SMAS, the "ContinueGame" routine has been slightly changed to this:

ContinueGame: jsr LoadAreaPointer ;update level pointer with lda #$01 ;actual world and area numbers, then sta PlayerSize ;reset player's size, status, and lsr ;SMAS diff: shift bit right to initialize player status sta PlayerStatus ;SMAS diff inc FetchNewGameTimerFlag ;set game timer flag to reload lda #$00 ;game timer from header sta TimerControl ;also set flag for timers to count again sta GameEngineSubroutine ;reset task for game core sta OperMode_Task ;set modes and leave lda #$01 ;if in game over mode, switch back to sta OperMode ;game mode, because game is still on GameIsOn: rts

I would like to know if it is safe (because of the INC statement) to remove the LDA #$00 before the TimerControl flag because I placed an LSR before the PlayerStatus flag to change 1 to 0?

~Ben

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Posted by ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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In SMAS, the "ContinueGame" routine has been slightly changed to this:

ContinueGame: jsr LoadAreaPointer ;update level pointer with lda #$01 ;actual world and area numbers, then sta PlayerSize ;reset player's size, status, and lsr ;SMAS diff: shift bit right to initialize player status sta PlayerStatus ;SMAS diff inc FetchNewGameTimerFlag ;set game timer flag to reload lda #$00 ;game timer from header sta TimerControl ;also set flag for timers to count again sta GameEngineSubroutine ;reset task for game core sta OperMode_Task ;set modes and leave lda #$01 ;if in game over mode, switch back to sta OperMode ;game mode, because game is still on GameIsOn: rts

I would like to know if it is safe (because of the INC statement) to remove the LDA #$00 before the TimerControl flag because I placed an LSR before the PlayerStatus flag to change 1 to 0?

~Ben

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It would be more efficient to just use Y register like this:

ContinueGame: jsr LoadAreaPointer ;update level pointer with ldy #$01 ;actual world and area numbers, then sty PlayerSize ;reset player's size, status, and dey ;SMAS diff: shift bit right to initialize player status sty PlayerStatus ;SMAS diff inc FetchNewGameTimerFlag ;set game timer flag to reload sty TimerControl ;also set flag for timers to count again sty GameEngineSubroutine ;reset task for game core sty OperMode_Task ;set modes and leave iny ;if in game over mode, switch back to sty OperMode ;game mode, because game is still on GameIsOn: rts

But to answer your question, yes - it is safe to remove the LDA #$00. INC affects incrementing memory (RAM), not an immediate value loaded into the accumulator. That instruction also affects the negative and zero flag. INY and INX affects said registers directly though. -ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Posted by ShaneM

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Cool find, SMB2J-2Q!

Is that limited to SMB1 or The Lost Levels as well? I know the FDS SMB2J has a check for that under "CheckInvalidWorldNum:". On that version, it cannot be done after "FindAreaPointer:" because sm2data4.asm is loaded over that old code be it identical.

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Hi Shane,

Time for a new hack question.

In Super Mario All-Stars, in the x-4 levels, the Podoboo moves up higher than in the NES original but only up to the bottom edge of the status bar. May I ask you what I'd do to fix this, so that the Podoboo goes up high but only to the status bar's bottom edge?

So far, I remember you re-coded this:

MovePodoboo: lda EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;check enemy timer bne PdbM ;branch to move enemy if not expired jsr InitPodoboo ;otherwise set up podoboo again lda PseudoRandomBitReg+1,x ;get part of LSFR ora #%10000000 ;set d7 sta Enemy_Y_MoveForce,x ;store as movement force and #%00001111 ;mask out high nybble ora #$07 ;SM FIX set for at least seven intervals sta EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;store as new enemy timer lda #$f8 ;SM FIX podoboo moves higher up in SMAS sta Enemy_Y_Speed,x ;set vertical speed to move podoboo upwards PdbM: jmp MoveJ_EnemyVertically ;branch to impose gravity on podoboo

I also wanted to share this from SMAS:

InitPodoboo: lda #$d0 ;set enemy position to below sta Enemy_Y_Position,x ;the bottom (at 208th pixel) of the screen (why was it $02?) lda #$01 sta Enemy_Y_HighPos,x sta EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;set high vertical byte and timer for enemy lsr sta Enemy_State,x ;initialize state for enemy jmp SmallBBox

UPDATE: SUCCESS! The Podoboos now rise up to the edge of the status bar before going back down, with the original unaltered attributes for MovePodoboo.

In the NES SMB, both the Podoboo's Y position and high Y position were checked first and both set to $02 before the enemy interval timer was set to $01 via the LSR. But in SMAS this was changed so the Podoboo's Y position was explicitly checked first, now set to $d0 (208th pixel) before the high Y position and enemy interval timer were set, now both set to $01.

Here's a screenshot of the result of this fix:


~Ben

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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I found SMAS has a new separate enemy slot check just for Piranha Plants, which is a reversed version of the existing FindEmptyEnemySlot routine in that X is loaded with the value pointing to the last enemy slot and is decremented with each loop until it goes to $FF, and also replaces the existing JSR to the FindEmptyEnemySlot routine within the WarpPipe routine.
https://github.com/Maseya/SMAS-Disassembly/blob/master/Assembly/SMB1/code/b03/ParseAreaData.asm

Here is that code:

FindPiranhaPlantSlot: ldx #$05 ;start at last enemy slot PPChkLp: clc ;clear carry flag by default lda Enemy_Flag,x ;check enemy buffer for nonzero beq ExitPPChk ;if zero, leave dex cpx #$ff ;if nonzero, check next value bne PPChkLp ExitPPChk: rts ;if all values nonzero, carry is set

For some reason, it disallows Mario from destroying it with fireballs, so what else should I do to make it work with fireballs again (other than removing this new code)?

UPDATE: According to TakuikaNinja at the old RHDN, in the old SMB fixes thread he replied to, he suggested that this new code doesn't have to be used. Instead, under the WarpPipe routine, under the JSR to FindEmptyEnemySlot, let's do this...

WarpPipe: ... jsr FindEmptyEnemySlot ;check for an empty moving buffer space bcc DrawPPlant ;if found, draw the piranha plant lda Enemy_Flag,x ;check if the enemy buffer is full bne DrawPipe ;if so, skip to draw pipe DrawPPlant: jsr GetAreaObjXPosition ;get horizontal pixel coordinate

~Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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Posted by ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Posted by ShaneM

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Cool find, SMB2J-2Q!

Is that limited to SMB1 or The Lost Levels as well? I know the FDS SMB2J has a check for that under "CheckInvalidWorldNum:". On that version, it cannot be done after "FindAreaPointer:" because sm2data4.asm is loaded over that old code be it identical.

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Hi Shane,

Time for a new hack question.

In Super Mario All-Stars, in the x-4 levels, the Podoboo moves up higher than in the NES original but only up to the bottom edge of the status bar. May I ask you what I'd do to fix this, so that the Podoboo goes up high but only to the status bar's bottom edge?

So far, I remember you re-coded this:

MovePodoboo: lda EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;check enemy timer bne PdbM ;branch to move enemy if not expired jsr InitPodoboo ;otherwise set up podoboo again lda PseudoRandomBitReg+1,x ;get part of LSFR ora #%10000000 ;set d7 sta Enemy_Y_MoveForce,x ;store as movement force and #%00001111 ;mask out high nybble ora #$07 ;SM FIX set for at least seven intervals sta EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;store as new enemy timer lda #$f8 ;SM FIX podoboo moves higher up in SMAS sta Enemy_Y_Speed,x ;set vertical speed to move podoboo upwards PdbM: jmp MoveJ_EnemyVertically ;branch to impose gravity on podoboo

I also wanted to share this from SMAS:

InitPodoboo: lda #$d0 ;set enemy position to below sta Enemy_Y_Position,x ;the bottom (at 208th pixel) of the screen (why was it $02?) lda #$01 sta Enemy_Y_HighPos,x sta EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;set high vertical byte and timer for enemy lsr sta Enemy_State,x ;initialize state for enemy jmp SmallBBox

UPDATE: SUCCESS! The Podoboos now rise up to the edge of the status bar before going back down, with the original unaltered attributes for MovePodoboo.

In the NES SMB, both the Podoboo's Y position and high Y position were checked first and both set to $02 before the enemy interval timer was set to $01 via the LSR. But in SMAS this was changed so the Podoboo's Y position was explicitly checked first, now set to $d0 (208th pixel) before the high Y position and enemy interval timer were set, now both set to $01.

Here's a screenshot of the result of this fix:


~Ben

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Actually, your code is inaccurate. The SNES version actually adds more code at the end to check Podoboo's vertical position to determine if to launch him anew. Also, SNES Podoboo jumps up inside the status bar at times and has SFX. I wrote this code from scratch to emluate SMAS' behavior on this 6502 program, credit me if borrowed:

MovePodoboo: lda EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;check enemy timer bne MoveJ_EnemyVertically ;branch to move enemy if not expired lda Enemy_Y_HighPos,x ;SM obtain Podoboo's vertical high byte lsr ;SM compare it to visibly highest offscreen value bne PodobooJump ;SM branch if greater than 1 or less than to reinitiate Podoboo lda Enemy_Y_Position,x ;SM get Podoboo's vertical low byte coordinate cmp #$e4 ;SM check against if it's right at the bottom of the screen bcc MoveJ_EnemyVertically ;SM branch if less than to continue moving enemy to prevent disappearing object PodobooJump: lda #Sfx_EnemyStomp ;SM otherwise load value to play smack enemy sound sta Square1SoundQueue ;SM and store it here jsr InitPodoboo ;set up Podoboo again lda PseudoRandomBitReg+1,x ;get part of LSFR ora #%10000000 ;set d7 sta Enemy_Y_MoveForce,x ;store as movement force and #%00001111 ;mask out high nybble ora #$06 ;set for at least six intervals sta EnemyIntervalTimer,x ;store as new enemy timer lda #$f8 ;SM original value was #$f9 sta Enemy_Y_Speed,x ;set vertical speed to move podoboo upwards and impose gravity on podoboo MoveJ_EnemyVertically: ldy #$1c ;set movement amount for podoboo/other objects

That's all that needs to be changed. Nothing in "InitPodoboo:"

Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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I found SMAS has a new separate enemy slot check just for Piranha Plants, which is a reversed version of the existing FindEmptyEnemySlot routine in that X is loaded with the value pointing to the last enemy slot and is decremented with each loop until it goes to $FF, and also replaces the existing JSR to the FindEmptyEnemySlot routine within the WarpPipe routine.
https://github.com/Maseya/SMAS-Disassembly/blob/master/Assembly/SMB1/code/b03/ParseAreaData.asm

Here is that code:

FindPiranhaPlantSlot: ldx #$05 ;start at last enemy slot PPChkLp: clc ;clear carry flag by default lda Enemy_Flag,x ;check enemy buffer for nonzero beq ExitPPChk ;if zero, leave dex cpx #$ff ;if nonzero, check next value bne PPChkLp ExitPPChk: rts ;if all values nonzero, carry is set

For some reason, it disallows Mario from destroying it with fireballs, so what else should I do to make it work with fireballs again (other than removing this new code)?

UPDATE: According to TakuikaNinja at the old RHDN, in the old SMB fixes thread he replied to, he suggested that this new code doesn't have to be used. Instead, under the WarpPipe routine, under the JSR to FindEmptyEnemySlot, let's do this...

WarpPipe: ... jsr FindEmptyEnemySlot ;check for an empty moving buffer space bcc DrawPPlant ;if found, draw the piranha plant lda Enemy_Flag,x ;check if the enemy buffer is full bne DrawPipe ;if so, skip to draw pipe DrawPPlant: jsr GetAreaObjXPosition ;get horizontal pixel coordinate

~Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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Change the ldx #$04 to ldx #$05 to get your outcome. I wouldn't recommend it unless you do more ASM work because powerups, vine and flagpole flag share the sixth slot on vanilla SMB1/2J:

adc #$1c ;then add $1c or 28 bytes to it tay ;to use fireball's bounding box coordinates ldx #$04 FireballEnemyCDLoop: stx $01 ;store enemy object offset here

-ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Thank you for the heads-up on the Podoboo and Piranha Plant slot check. I will likely leave these bits of code alone.

I also wanted to let you know that in SMAS, when you die via falling down a hole, the player's size and status are also reset, and inline with your suggested changes of using the Y register in both ContinueGame and Shroom_Flower_PUp, I added these here.

HoleDie: inx ;set flag in X for player death ldy GameEngineSubroutine cpy #$0b ;check for some other routine running beq ChkHoleX ;if so, branch ahead ldy #$ff ;SM FIX set master timer control sty TimerControl ;SM FIX to halt timers ldy DeathMusicLoaded ;check value here bne HoleBottom ;if already set, branch to next part iny sty EventMusicQueue ;otherwise play death music sty DeathMusicLoaded ;and set value here sty PlayerSize ;SMAS fix: reset player's size... dey ;SMAS fix sty PlayerStatus ;SMAS fix ...and status HoleBottom: ldy #$06 sty $07 ;change value here ChkHoleX: cmp $07 ;compare vertical high byte with value set here

Thank you,



Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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Posted by ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Thank you for the heads-up on the Podoboo and Piranha Plant slot check. I will likely leave these bits of code alone.

I also wanted to let you know that in SMAS, when you die via falling down a hole, the player's size and status are also reset, and inline with your suggested changes of using the Y register in both ContinueGame and Shroom_Flower_PUp, I added these here.

HoleDie: inx ;set flag in X for player death ldy GameEngineSubroutine cpy #$0b ;check for some other routine running beq ChkHoleX ;if so, branch ahead ldy #$ff ;SM FIX set master timer control sty TimerControl ;SM FIX to halt timers ldy DeathMusicLoaded ;check value here bne HoleBottom ;if already set, branch to next part iny sty EventMusicQueue ;otherwise play death music sty DeathMusicLoaded ;and set value here sty PlayerSize ;SMAS fix: reset player's size... dey ;SMAS fix sty PlayerStatus ;SMAS fix ...and status HoleBottom: ldy #$06 sty $07 ;change value here ChkHoleX: cmp $07 ;compare vertical high byte with value set here

Thank you,



Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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On NES, Player size and status are changed during the lives screen. It does nothing game-wise adding that code there. Sure, it resets the values but the player is already offscreen, hence it makes no difference. SNES must be set up differently to need it for some reason. I would say it's a waste of space and resources, unless you can pinpoint a certain function adding that would do.

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Thank you again for the heads-up; I will remove that code, then.

I tried your new Podoboo fix and it works perfectly!

New question: how were you able to resolve the five-enemy onscreen limit for your SMB1 and SMB2J builds? For example, (1) some enemies not appearing when they really should, or (2) Piranha Plants that disappear when you hit a nearby power-up block?

~Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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Posted by ShaneM

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Posted by SMB2J-2Q

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Thank you again for the heads-up; I will remove that code, then.

I tried your new Podoboo fix and it works perfectly!

New question: how were you able to resolve the five-enemy onscreen limit for your SMB1 and SMB2J builds? For example, (1) some enemies not appearing when they really should, or (2) Piranha Plants that disappear when you hit a nearby power-up block?

~Ben (SMB2J-2Q)

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The following is with SMB2J in mind. It wasn't one thing in particular but many:

1) I changed how powerups are loaded in the enemy slot from always being in slot 6 to using the first available slot but still preferring slot 6. This is in line with SMB Deluxe GBC and SMB Special. This makes it so multiple powerups can be on screen at once which also fixes disappearing powerups. Reference posts #112 & #113 on the old thread on RHDN (page 6) to see how this was done.

2) I simply moved some enemies over one spot, which isn't noticeable.

3) I did some ASM stuff with springboards to get them to load in the sixth slot at times or specifially an always-free slot on worlds A-D. A-3 was coded differently. Here's what I added in SM2DATA4 with a jump from SM2MAIN:

HWSpringChk: jsr GetLrgObjAttrib lda AreaPointer ;SM get pointer for the next area cmp #$26 ;SM if World C-3 beq C3Chk ;SM then take branch cmp #$2b ;SM if not on World D-2 bne FindSlot ;SM move on to find empty space in enemy object buffer D2Chk: lda WorldNumber ;SM fetch the current world number cmp #$01 ;SM if on World B, beq B1Chk ;SM branch to do check cmp #$03 ;SM if not on World D, bne FindSlot ;SM branch to continue on with normal routine B1Chk: ldx #$00 ;SM start at first enemy slot EmptyChkLoop2: lda Enemy_ID,x ;SM load enemy buffer cmp #$2f ;SM check for vine beq ConJSChk ;SM if found, branch to use current X offset inx ;SM otherwise, increment X offset cpx #$05 ;SM if under sixth slot, bne EmptyChkLoop2 ;SM check next value FindSlot: jsr FindEmptyEnemySlot ;find empty space in enemy object buffer bcs NoJs ;if none, cancel ConJSChk: jsr GetAreaObjXPosition ;get horizontal coordinate for jumpspring sta Enemy_X_Position,x ;and store lda CurrentPageLoc ;store page location of jumpspring sta Enemy_PageLoc,x jsr GetAreaObjYPosition ;get vertical coordinate for jumpspring sta Enemy_Y_Position,x ;and store sta Jumpspring_FixedYPos,x ;store as permanent coordinate here lda #JumpspringObject sta Enemy_ID,x ;write jumpspring object to enemy object buffer ldy #$01 sty Enemy_Y_HighPos,x ;store vertical high byte inc Enemy_Flag,x ;set flag for enemy object buffer ldx $07 lda #$68 ;draw metatiles in two rows where jumpspring is sta MetatileBuffer,x lda #$69 sta MetatileBuffer+1,x NoJs: rts C3Chk: lda CurrentPageLoc ;SM load the current page on C-3 cmp #$0a ;SM if on page 10 or greater bcs FindSlot ;SM continue on with normal routine ldx #$05 ;SM otherwise load value for sixth enemy slot bne ConJSChk ;SM and continue on with the normal routine with this specific value

4. I hardcoded how Piranha Plants are loaded in certain stages because sometimes it would be impossible even in the sixth slot to load them all. This took a lot of space and is in my current build.

5. Certain levels like 1-2 and 3-1 I had to hardcode because there's a spot on 1-2 for example with 4 powerups, a vine and platforms (treated as enemies) on the same screen and I had to make them all load a specific way.

As you can see, gameplay-wise it's nice, but took a lot of work. And also keep in mind this is SMB2J. I hope it helps. It would probably be easier to wait for a more finalized version to be released when I do. -ShaneM

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