Analyzing the Castlevania III Password Algorithm #ReverseEngineering #Gaming
MeatFighter explains the mechanism Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse uses to save and restore game state through the medium of passwords. The information discussed here applies to the North America and PAL versions released for the NES.
An unbridged table of all 3,294 valid name-and-password combos is located here.
Each column corresponds to a save point. Each row corresponds to a unique combination of name, partner, toggle mask index, and mode. Since the name is hashed to a 3‑bit value, there are only 8 name classes. As shown in the table below, the shortest names that cover all the classes are blank and B–H. These names appear at the left of each row.
Name
Hash
(blank)
4
A
4
B
5
C
6
D
7
E
0
F
1
G
2
H
3
HELP ME
1
AKAMA
2
OKUDA
3
URATA
4
FUJIMOTO
1
The table includes the special names because they modify the behavior of the game.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.