BattleSport is a combination sports / vehicular combat game from Cyclone Studios. It was published for the 3DO in 1996, and ported to the Saturn and PlayStation in 1997.
There are a bunch of cheat codes listed for the 3DO version on the cheat sites. Some of them seem to work on the Saturn version without modification, but is the list comprehensive? I decided to check…
Saturn and 3DO: button codes
Good news — there are a bunch of unreported cheat codes for the 3DO and Saturn versions of this game. All of them are entered at the mode select screen. The buttons are the same for both 3DO and Saturn, provided you interpret L as LS and R as RS.
The sequences that require holding multiple buttons are reasonably forgiving — for example, to do L+R+A, you can first hold L, then R, then A. You’ll hear a sound effect (“Oh, yeah!”) if you’ve entered a code correctly.
The video codes
These codes play one of the game’s video files:
Credits: L+R+C
Opening: L+R+A
"Your tournament ends here": R+B, C, L+C, L+A, Right, A, Left, C
"Champion": L+A, Right, L+Left, R+Right, A, R+C, L+A, R+A, Left, L+Left, L+Left, L+R+Left, L+R+B
I think all of these were previously undocumented?
The opponent codes
These codes unlock opponents that you can play against:
Bull: A, B, Left, B, A, L+Left, L+A, Right
Bog: Left, R+A, L+A, Right, A, C, R+B
Kubo: Left, L+C, B, A, L+A, L+Right
Ariana: B, Left, L+Right, R+A, L+C, L+A
Veteran: R+Right, Left, R+B, A, L+C, L+Left, R+Right
Andro: R+A, L+Left, A, L+Right, C, B, C, L+A, L+Left
Pthark: L+B, Right, R+Right, L+Right, L+C, L+B, R+A
Wertol: Left, L+Right, B, C, L+A, L+Right, L+Right, L+A
Ka'av: L+B, Right, R+Right, L+Right, R+Right, Left, R+Left, A
Quazar: L+B, Right, R+Right, L+Right, Left, L+C, B, A, L+A
All but Quazar: A, R+Right, L+R+Right, L+B, L+A, L+R+B, R+A, R+Left, R+C, A
Some of these were known previously, but I don’t think the “unlock all but Quazar” one was. Quazar is the star of his own 3DO game, so he’s a guest character.
The tank codes
These codes allow you to choose different tanks for yourself:
Invader: R+B, C, L+Right, A, L+A, L+B, R+Right
T-Shark: A, L+Left, R+A, L+Right, B, R+C, L+C, L+Left
Repulse: L+A, Left, R+Right, L+B, L+C, R+B, R+A
Scorpion: Left, L+Right, A, C, L+Right, L+Right, L+C, L+A
Brawler: Right, R+A, L+C, L+Right, A, L+C, R+B, Left
Stingray: L+Left, L+C, Right, A, L+A, L+Right, L+A
Past-time: A, Left, L+Right, R+Left, L+C, L+A, L+Right
Quazar's: R+A, Left, R+Left, Right, L+C, L+B, R+Right
B'sotto: R+C, L+Left, Right, L+B, C, R+B, C, L+A, Left
All tanks: L+Right, A, L+R+Right, L+C, Left, L+C, L+B, C, A, L+A, A, L+A
Some of these were known previously, but I think the “all tanks” one is new. Quazar’s tank is way overpowered!
The arena codes
These codes let you play in additional arenas — I think the first code is new:
Extra arenas 1: B, A, L+C, L+Right, A, L+C, R+B, R+Left
Extra arenas 2: Right, L+A, R+C, L+C, Left, L+C, R+B, Left
Press left at the arena selection screen to see the additional ones:
Notice that the secret arenas on the Saturn version seem to be missing: contrast the gray ground texture on Saturn with the 3DO’s blue:
Technical details
There’s one code whose effect I can’t figure out:
Unknown: A, B, C, A, B, C, L+A, L+B, L+C, R+A, R+B, R+C
Based on where its effect is referenced, I think this may be intended to alter sound effects somehow? Even with speakers turned up I couldn’t hear a difference.
That code provides a nice illustration of how the codes are stored in memory, though. The array at 06092a2c (Saturn NTSC-U version) holds the sequences of buttons for each of the codes. Each button gets a bit pattern, and when the buttons are held in combination, the patterns are OR-ed together:
06093080 08000000 # A
06093084 04000000 # B
06093088 02000000 # C
0609308c 08000000 # A
06093090 04000000 # B
06093094 02000000 # C
06093098 08200000 # L+A
0609309c 04200000 # L+B
060930a0 02200000 # L+C
060930a4 08400000 # R+A
060930a8 04400000 # R+B
060930ac 02400000 # R+C
A is 08000000, L is 00200000, so L+A is 08200000.
Everything is more or less the same on 3DO — the button list starts at 000d4888.
Outro
For more on Battlesport, see the expanded version of my article at Rings of Saturn, which covers the cheat codes system used by the PlayStation version of the game.
For more about Sega game hacking, see my archive here at SHIRO!, which has articles covering dozens of games. I’ll return next week with something for Dreamcast fans, so be sure to check back…
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