Mario in China (Dr. D)

Title – Mario in China
System – Nintendo Family BASIC
Author – Dr. D
Publication – Micom Basic (繝槭う繧ｳ繝ｳBASIC) June 1985
Page Scans – 1
Preserved By – ximwix
Recommended Emulator – Mesen

Download ROM

Files:

notes.txt – The file you’re reading now (wow!)
Mario in China (Dr. D).nes – Game converted to standalone NES rom
mario-in-china-prg.txt – The typed-up program listing
mario-in-china-prg.wav – WAVE file of the program listing, for playback to hardware
mario-in-china-bg.wav – WAVE file of the BG data, for playback to hardware
mario-in-china-prg.vtp – Virtuanes tape file of the program listing
mario-in-china-bg.vtp – Virtuanes tape file of the BG data
mario-inchina-prg.fbt – Mesen tape file of the program listing
mario-inchina-bg.fbt – Mesen tape file of the BG data
scan.jpg – A scan of the program listing from Micom Basic
screenshot1.png – Gameplay screenshot
screenshot2.png – Gameplay screenshot

Notes:

1.

There was no type-in for the background, just a small screenshot of the
background editor. I believe I have the tiles right, but the colors could
be wrong. I am hypothesizing that multiple palettes were used, given that
the tiles in the screenshot are layed out along 2×2 attribute blocks in
such a way as to color the water (?) sections and the status area differently
than the main background.

2.

I would consider lines 370 and 380 to be bugs. The scoring in the game makes
it very possible for your score to skip over 150 and 300, such that you’d
never encounter the additiona enemies. These should use the >= comparator,
not the = comparator.

Game Instructions:

Use the d-pad to move Mario around. Jump by pressing the ‘A’ button and use
left/right to control the jump a bit.

The objective is to time your jumps so that you collide with the enemies as you
land. You will have to do this while avoiding being touched by enemies in any
other way. Jumping costs “power”, but power can easily be restored by walking
around.

If your power is over 100 and you defeat an enemy, you will gain super-speed
for the rest of the game. If your score ever reaches 150 or 300 exactly, then
the number of enemies will go from 3 enemies to 4 or 5 enemies.

Cheats:

Line 40 initializes the game’s starting state, so changing the initial values
of its variable will affect how the game starts. Below is a short list of
what some of the variables represent. Change their values on line 40 to
begin with more lives, more enemies, etc.

M Number of lives
E Number of enemies
SC Score
R Mario’s speed
P Power