M A S T E R O F M O N S T E R S
(Sega Genesis Version)
A Few Words From A Devoted Fan On March 18th In The Year Of Our Lord 1998
INTRODUCTION
------------
Master of Monsters is one of my all time favorite games. It is the only
strategy game where your characters keep "growing" until they die. Other
games like Military Madness only let your characters "grow" during 1 level,
then they lose all of their experience. RTS games like Red Alert overlook
this aspect entirely (which is good for fast fun gaming, but they could
have put something into the single player games...)
My ultimate goal when playing this game is to develope as many "sandbagger"
monsters as possible to fight in the final level of the campains, and to
have a few level 4 monsters as well (King Dragon/Taipan.) By "sandbagger"
I am talking about characters that are on the VIRGE of promotion (1 or 2 xp
points away.) There's nothing like whipping out a bunch of these bad boys
and laughing when they engage in battle, knowing that no matter how much
damage they take, they are about to be "reborn" into a superior form. My
favorite being a Fire Dragon on the virge. I mean, this guy is pretty
bad-ass as it is, then suddenly he IS Mr. Bad Ass.
It's like a game within a game! Carefully selecting which monsters to fight
in battles, you are able to make long range plans for your little minions.
I actually have a notebook where I have recorded my "table" of monsters at
the beginning of the final battle of the campain. I have recorded 7 of my
campain battles (meaning I have played through an entire campain 7 times.)
Every time I play this game,I try to end up with a stronger set of monsters
for the final battle (basically making the last battle a walk in the park.)
My ONLY complaint about this wonderful game is the randomness of damage
inflicted when fighting (in other words, monsters don't always hit their
targets 100% of the time.) To me this RUINS the game! How can you possibly
plan a perfect victory when you aren't even sure if your monsters are going
to hit the target monster at all??? They could have made a much better hit
system.
Needless to say, I was very pleased that I discovered a "work-around" fix
for this. The very first time I played MOM, I noticed that if you just
loaded a game then in the very first fight your monster would hit 100% of
the time. (See my letter to VG&CE at the end of this document.)
What this boils down to is saving your game before EVERY fight, then if you
are not happy with the results, simply reset, load the saved game, and hit
your target 100%. (It is important to note that the enemy will also hit
back 100%. The only exception to this is when the percentage of hitting is
40% or below -- then only 2 out of 3 attacks get through.)
After years of serving me well, the battery of my MOM cartridge finally
died. It was truely a sad day as it contained my best ending lineup. The
funeral ceremony brought many gamers together, creating the first ever
battery martyr. Many gamers still pay their respects to THE MOM battery.
The other day I got bored with Team Fortress and Red Alert (the only two
games I currently enjoy playing as of 03-98.) I decided to do a quick web
search and see if Toshiba-EMI had any plans for future Master Of Monster
games.
I was deeply shocked to learn that a Japanese Import for the Playstation
called Master of Monsters: Neo Generations exsisted! I have ordered a copy
and eagerly await its arrival as I write this (not looking forward to the
game being in Japanese though as I can't read a word...)
While waiting I decided I should gear-up for it by playing the Genesis
version of MOM. I was about to begin my quest when I decided that I really
didn't want to do it. I mean, I had already accomplished my goal of making
the "perfect" line-up for the final battle.
I hit a few web sites and downloaded the latest Genesis emulator I could
find (Genecyst.) I was really impressed with the performance of this
emulator! The GUI was very user-friendly!
After toying with it for a bit, I discovered the "states". (Saving and
loading an exact moment in the game.) I also noticed that Genecyst also
handled battery games by creating a save game file.
I don't know about you, but I have always wanted to somehow cheat at this
game. (Another one of those "if you can't have it, you really want it"
things.)
Sure it defeats the entire purpose of playing the game, but hey, I have
already MASTERED Master Of Monsters. There's nothing left to do but the
impossible (read: cheat.)
The Genesis trainer scene of course overlooked MOM, as did GameGenie and
every other cheating utility in exsistance. And there are no cheat codes
that I know of (i'm talking CHEAT codes, not hidden music codes.)
But now that the game is on my PC, i have resources at my fingertips! So I
busted out with my favorite hex editor, Game Guru (made for cheating!) My
first attempt was to modify the saved game. Low and behold, the bastards
put a CRC check on the saved game file, and I couldn't figure it out.
That's when I decided to edit the saved state files created by Genecyst.
After finding various data locations and changing them, I was very happy to
see that the changes worked!
CHEATING FUN
------------
Some of the things you can do with this info:
1) Give the enemy MORE magic points, allowing him to make more/stronger
monsters and attack you more often with magic!
2) Extend the number of turns (up to 52.) Now you can really "milk" the
bastard for more monsters which gives you more chances to gain the much
needed experience points.
3) Upgrade his monsters so that you have more of a challenge.
The things you will most likely do with this info:
1) Take away ALL of the enemy magic points. This will cause him to do
absolutely ZILCH (because that's about what you can do with no magic.)
2) Create an army from hell. (Hmm, let me have 10 King Dragons, 5 Taitans,
and a few Amazons, TO GO!)
3) Turn his own monsters against him. (Gee, look at all the monsters that
you just created... I wish they were mine... Hell, now they are!)
4) Give yourself an ungodly amount of Magic Points.
5) Create an ARMY of "sandbaggers". A bunch of Fire Dragons with 255 xp
can strike the fear of god into any computer adversary.
6) After all your monsters have moved, change their status letting them
move again! Change the enemy status to already moved! Take one monster
and just keep moving him around, killing everything in his path.
7) Ruin the damn game!
Let's face it, once you have this power at your fingertips, it's very hard
not to abuse it. I suggest you try playing the game differently at this
point.
1) Try to see how fast you can bum rush the fool. Try taking him out EARLY
in the game instead of milking him for experience (since unlimited xp
is now just a hex edit away...)
2) Play some 3 on 1. That's right, take on all 3 of the boys and laugh
your ass off while you crush them.
3) Let the computer play itself, but give one of them a huge advantage in
monsters, the other lots of magic points, ect.
4) Let the computer gather his forces for a few moves, then start playing.
(In other words, give him a big headstart.)
5) Delete this cheat and forget you ever heard of it! Play the game it was
meant to be played! Then when you get bored, find this cheat again.
HEX LOCATIONS IN THE GENECYST EMULATOR'S SAVE STATE (USING GAME GURU)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Campain 1 Locations for the first map:
(other maps/campain locations are pretty close to these locations.)
17801.....Current Turn Number
17803.....Number Of Turns
17822.....Your Magic Points
17824.....Computer's Magic Points
19576.....Beginning Of Character Data
00 02 00 27 00 13 00 01 00 00 00 64 00 00 03 81 00 00
00 = Empty
02 = Turn Status.......02 indicates you can still move/fight. 03 cannot.
00 = Empty
27 = X Location........Creature's X location on the map.
00 = Empty
13 = Y Location........Creature's Y location on the map.
00 = Empty
01 = Creature Type.....You can put any creature you like here.
00 = Empty
00 = Blue Is Owner.....You can change ownership of any creature. (Total<=30)
00 = Empty
64 = Current HP........I suggest entering FF here. Towers negate effect.
00 = Empty
00 = Current XP........I suggest FF UNLESS it's a max level creature.
03 = Graphic Type A....Creature's Graphic Representation.
81 = Graphic Type B....Creature's Graphic Representation.
00 = Empty
00 = Empty
(The above information is from Campain 1, map 1.)
COLOR VALUES
------------
00.....Blue Ownership
01.....Red Ownership
02.....Green Ownership
03.....Yellow Ownership
CREATURE VALUES
---------------
01.....Daimyou
02.....Wizard
03.....Sorcerer
04.....Darklord
05.....Summoner
06.....Daimyou (Glitch)
07.....Fire (Elemental)
08.....Water (Elemental)
09.....Air (Elemental)
0A.....Earth (Elemental)
(All of the above have no/limited movement.)
0B.....Angel
0C.....Arch-A
0D.....Great-A
0E.....Demon
0F.....Arch-D
10.....Great-D
11.....Dragon L (Orange)
12.....Dragon L (Blue)
13.....Dragon C (Green)
14.....Dragon C (Brown)
15.....Dragon N (Grey)
16.....Flame-D
17.....Fire-D
18.....Frost-D
19.....Ice-D
1A.....Sky-D
1B.....Air-D
1C.....Dark-D
1D.....Death-D
1E.....Silver-D
1F.....Gold-D
20.....Roman
21.....Carthago
22.....Caeser
23.....Warrior
24.....Attacker
25.....Crasher
26.....Soldier
27.....Fighter
28.....Crusader
29.....Unicorn
2A.....Tricorn
2B.....Pegasus
2C.....Mono-P
2D.....Wraith
2E.....Dark-W
2F.....Black-W
30.....Troll
31.....Giant
32.....Collosus
33.....Cyclops
34.....Icegiant
35.....Firbolg
36.....Golem
37.....Stone-G
38.....Iron-G
39.....Minotaur
3A.....Gorgon
3B.....Sky-G
3C.....Loc
3D.....Phoenix
3E.....Griffin
3F.....Hippo-G
40.....Chimera
41.....Sphinx
42.....Lizard
43.....Twinhead
44.....Hydra
45.....Marmaid
46.....Sirene
47.....Octopus
48.....Kraken
49.....Serpent
4A.....Big-S
4B.....Cocoon
4C.....Guardian
4D.....King-D
4E.....Amazon
4F.....Musha
50.....Mage
51.....Valkyrie
52.....Taitan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MP3 Notes:
----------
Yes I got soooooooooooo caught up in the Nastalgia that is MOM, that I just
HAD to make some MP3s.
If you have ever played the game, you know a few things, such as:
1) The music rocks.
2) The music repeats endlessly with seemless looping.
For best possible effect, use my playlist, or set your mp3 player on auto-
repeat.
I created the following mp3s:
(Master Of Monsters) Intro Music
(Master Of Monsters) Select Music
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 01
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 02
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 03
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 04
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 05
(Master Of Monsters) Background Music 06
They take up a little over 12 megs. Worth every byte!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VG&CE LETTER
------------
My letter to VG&CE which never got published... This was the platform era.
Nobody gave a rat's ass about strategy games back then...
February 7, 1992
ATTN: Easter Egg Hunt (VG&CE)
I think your magazine is the best! I really love the tips section, and I'm
hoping that my tip is good enough the grace the pages...
I've been playing Master Of Monsters by Renovation for about a month now.
I just can't get enough of the game! My only gripe is that I haven't read
any game tips for the sucker yet! Well, I found a little jewel that can
give the player a definite edge. While the game is strategy based, the
creators saw fit to add a "chance" element to it by laying down the law
that says a monster is able to do such and such damage to another monster,
IF the attack makes contact.
For instance, say I had an Angel with 30 HP going up against a Serpent with
only 10 HP left. At short range I can hit him 2 times at 2 HP damage a
shot, and at long range I can get him 2 times at 6 HP a shot. Because the
Serpent can't fight me at long range, I go for this option. Well, let's
say my first shot hits, but my second shot misses! That sucks! If I would
have hit him both times, the Serpent would be dusted! Well I found a way
that GUARANTEES every hit connects! I had to set the Genesis Console next
to me since I found myself reaching for the "magic" reset button every time
one of my monsters missed a punch.
Master Of Monsters (GENESIS)
GUARANTEED HITS!
To guarantee that your monster or summoned elemental force hits your
opponent every time during one encounter, simply save the game, hit the
reset switch on your Genesis console, then continue the game. Now you are
guaranteed a 100% hit rate against your foe, for the first encounter only!
This comes in real handy when fighting a Master near the end of the level.
Use your strong monsters and get them to connect with their shots every
time by using this method.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have reached the end of this fine document. Is there more to this tale?
What about the playstation version? Did I leave the iron on?
As I finish this, I still have not received my copy of Master Of Monsters:
Neo Generations for the Sony Playstation. Of course the main problem being
that I stayed up all fucking night and missed the UPS delivery because I
was dead asleep.
If the Playstation game is any good, expect to see another file about it.
If it sucks, then you won't see anything.
Questions? Comments? Something you feel the need to share with me?
[email protected]
http://members.xoom.com/mom_me/index.htm
Another Work Of Art By Dennis Miller
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
