User:Kimbles/Medarot 2 Core Hacking Notes

Medarot 2 Core is a GBA remake of Medarot 2, released as "Medabots" in NA/Europe. The Japanese version was released slightly later and has a bit of extra content.

For the original game, see Medarot 2 Hacking Notes.

Text locations

This game is organized quite differently from the original M2. In terms of text volume, the main difference is that everything on the stats screens now has a description when you press start for "help". The addresses (and pointer table locations) are also somewhat different between the Japanese and English versions, probably on account of the translated text and graphics taking up different amounts of space.

Text locations
Address (JP)	Address (EN)	Text
3A9953	3AC9A8	Debug menu text
3B2050	3B5068	Menu messages
3B31A8	3B6319	Medal names, Rokusho, Metabee
3B32C8	3B6478	Attributes
3B3334	3B65B8	Attribute descriptions (Medals)
3B36EC	3B6A14	Attribute descriptions (parts)
3B3A10	3B6E6C	Skill names
3B3A58	3B6EC8	Target descriptions
3B3B88	3B70AC	Medaforce names
3B3E1C	3B73E8	Medaforce descriptions
3B4710	3B7EB4	Medaforce targets
3B474C	3B7F34	Skill descriptions
3B489C	3B8170	Rotation option descriptions
3B6748	3BA05C	Medarot names
3B6CBC	3BA698	Part names
3B81B4	3BC12C	Part model numbers (unused in the English version)
3B9654	3BD5CC	Part stat descriptions
3B9830	3BD890	Action names + descriptions
3BA1C4	3BE4B4	Action names
3BA440	3BE7B8	Leg type descriptions
3BA514	3BE928	Leg type names
3BA554	3BE978	Terrain names
3BDAB0	3C1DB8	Pre-battle messages
3BE69C	3D2D1C	Post-battle messages
3BF264	3C3B94	Medarotter names
3BFBF8	3C4624	UI messages
3C01CC	3C4C84	Battle messages
3C19A8	3C6DA8	Head/Right Arm/Left Arm/Legs
3C9D5C	3CF168	Link messages (Robo-Toll, errors)
40A83C	40FDD4	Signs and objects
40E10C	414484	Stuff obtained messages (unused copy)
40E8E8	414D48	Dialogue starts
44AB15	479E0B	Dialogue ends
44F390	47E47C	Stuff obtained messages
4548B4	?	YES/NO (in English)
4574B4	484160	Item names
45775C	484524	Item descriptions
457F54	4852AC	Map descriptions
4580C8	48550C	Shop/saving text
4582EC	4857B4	Link stuff
458C08	4861B8	Medaroad Race stuff
458EB4	486544	More dialogue (cutscenes?)
4594E0	486EFC	Weekly Medarot (end of text)

Other known data locations

These are mixed in with the text, so the addresses are different between the Japanese and English versions.

Address (JP)	Address (EN)	Text
3B2FC8	3B6138	Medal stats data
3B4948	3B825C	Part stats data

Text table

The text tables for the English and Japanese versions of the game are different. You can download them both here:

• Japanese: http://www.mediafire.com/file/xjydoxmztnt/2core.tbl
• English: http://www.mediafire.com/file/l2ll4jnjmnt/medabots.tbl

Use these to view/edit the text in a hex editor.

Control codes

• F7?? = Changes the text speed. Lower numbers are faster, but using 00 will make the game freeze. F7FF makes the text appear instantly.
• F8 = In the English version this enables and disables italics. In the Japanese version it does nothing.
• F9?? = Inserts a piece of variable text from RAM. F900 inserts the player's name, and F901 is used for other variables in battle.
• FA?? = Unknown. FAFF is used in some messages that appear on stat screens.
• FB?????? = This sets the dialogue portrait:
  • First byte: Decides if it appears on the right (00) or left (01) of the text box. Left is used for Ikki and flips the portrait horizontally.
  • Second byte: Decides the character. There are 97 (60 in hexidecimal) possible characters in the English version, and 98 (61) in the Japanese version since they added a face for Koishimaru. Using FF makes it not display a portrait.
  • Third byte: Decides the expression. These can range from 00 to 08, meaning 9 possible expressions for some characters. Most minor characters only have one possible expression (00).
  • Example: FB-01-00-04 displays Ikki's 04 expression (smiling) on the left side of the text box.
• FC = Starts a new text box.
• FD = New line character. Using this on the second text line will start a new text box.
• FE = End character used to seperate entries in lists.
• FF?? = Ends a string. FF00 is the most common, but FF02 and FF04 get some use as well.

Japanese-only events

The Japanese version of the game added a few extra events to the postgame:

• Robottles with your Mom, Dad, and Salty at home.
• A Robottle with Rintarou at Medarot Island
• A Robottle with Koishimaru (from M5, via time travel nonsense) at Medarot Island. He uses a copy of the player's team.

The data for these encounters does not exist in the English version.

M2 Core script vs. original M2 script

Compared to the original GBC game, the dialogue script in Medarot 2 Core is almost completely unchanged. The main changes seem to be:

• Modifying line breaks to make use of the wider text boxes
• Removing references to GBC-only features or mechanics.
• Removing unused text (i.e. unpointed lines).

Like the original Medarot 2, Medarot 2 Core doesn't use kanji in its script even though Medarot 3-5 and Navi did previously. (For what it's worth, Shingata doesn't either.)

In the English version, the dialogue section ends with "Obviously, this is a bathroom door." (same as the original M2 script). The Japanese version adds a bit more dialogue and ends with the Koishimaru event instead.