Gumshoe: Inspector Gadget

Are you Gadget enough? You'll have to shoot fast to get out of this Light Gun game alive!

Wowsers! It's the most dangerous case yet for Inspector Gadget, the accident-prone, half-mechanical secret agent with a knack for getting into trouble. Secretly, his clever niece Penny and her dog Brain also have a knack for getting Gadget out of trouble. But now Penny's been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Claw!

It's your chance to prove you're a sharp-shooting secret agent by helping Inspector Gadget find the five diamonds that will pay his niece's ransom. You'll use your Zapper Light Gun to blow away anything in your way. But even with the Zapper, this case will be hard to crack. You'll have to think fast and shoot even faster, because the evil organization MAD (Mean and Dirty) is on your case too.

Ferocious monsters, diving airplanes, speeding cars and hungry man-eating sharks will stop at nothing to prevent you from getting to the diamonds. You only have 24 hours to find them, and you'll travel the world across four deadly stages - City, Air, Sea and Jungle - before facing off with the legendary Zulie monster. You'll get information from Chief Quimby and Brain. If you're really a world-class secret agent, you'll save Penny and finally unmask Dr. Claw! Think you're a sharp shooter? Because if you're not, it's curtains for you in this quick-on-the-trigger Nintendo Light Gun Game!

This is a graphics hack of Gumshoe for the NES. Stevenson has been replaced with Inspector Gadget. There is a new title screen. Penny, Brain, Chief Quimby, Dr. Claw, Madcat, and three MAD Agents will appear in a complete playthrough. Minor changes have been made to the music and gameplay.

Inspector Gadget was an animated series from DiC Entertainment, created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, and starring the voice of Don Adams. It premiered on September 12, 1983.

Inspector Gadget
Nintendo Entertainment System
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Are you Gadget enough? You'll have to shoot fast to get out of this Light Gun game alive!

Wowsers! It's the most dangerous case yet for Inspector Gadget, the accident-prone, half-mechanical secret agent with a knack for getting into trouble. Secretly, his clever niece Penny and her dog Brain also have a knack for getting Gadget out of trouble. But now Penny's been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Claw!

It's your chance to prove you're a sharp-shooting secret agent by helping Inspector Gadget find the five diamonds that will pay his niece's ransom. You'll use your Zapper Light Gun to blow away anything in your way. But even with the Zapper, this case will be hard to crack. You'll have to think fast and shoot even faster, because the evil organization MAD (Mean and Dirty) is on your case too.

Ferocious monsters, diving airplanes, speeding cars and hungry man-eating sharks will stop at nothing to prevent you from getting to the diamonds. You only have 24 hours to find them, and you'll travel the world across four deadly stages - City, Air, Sea and Jungle - before facing off with the legendary Zulie monster. You'll get information from Chief Quimby and Brain. If you're really a world-class secret agent, you'll save Penny and finally unmask Dr. Claw! Think you're a sharp shooter? Because if you're not, it's curtains for you in this quick-on-the-trigger Nintendo Light Gun Game!

________________________________________________________________________

NES ROMhacking and graphics by Garrett Gilchrist (tygerbug/ocpmovie)
Bankswitching, Mapper change and additional hacking fixes by Cyneprepou4uk
Additional hacking fixes by Rani Baker (destroyed4com4t)
Special thanks to Justin Olbrantz (Quantam) for music engine assistance
________________________________________________________________________

This is a graphics hack of Gumshoe for the NES. Stevenson has been replaced with Inspector Gadget. There is a new title screen. Penny, Brain, Chief Quimby, Dr. Claw, Madcat, and three MAD Agents will appear in a complete playthrough.

On NES hardware, you can plug your NES Zapper into controller 2's port and play on an old CRT television. In emulation you can play with the mouse. Namco's Guncon3 can be used for Zapper emulation on LCDs on MiSTer. A Wiimote might also work, perhaps mapped to mouse movement with DarwiinRemote.

The title screen is adapted from Inspector Gadget: Operation Madkactus for Game Boy Color, and character sprites owe something to that game and the SNES Inspector Gadget game.

We've switched from Mapper 66 to Mapper 11 (Color Dreams) due to the extra CHR graphics banks in this version. At one point the ROM was also padded out to 192KB (08 08 in header) for compatibility, but this copy is not (08 05 in header). With thanks to Cyneprepou4uk.
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Inspector Gadget was an animated series from DiC Entertainment, created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, and starring the voice of Don Adams. It premiered on September 12, 1983.
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Additional hacks, with thanks to Rani Baker:

In the earlier VS. System arcade version of Gumshoe, the level 2 (Air) music is pretty clearly based on the then-current song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. The NES version instead uses a piece more reminiscent of Gyromite, another game Hirokazu Tanaka composed for.

The theme used in VS. Gumshoe still exists in the NES version's ROM, and has been hacked back in here by Rani Baker, in a patch also available separately.

You can hear it in a standard ROM by freezing the RAM addresses 00e7:01 and 00ec:01

The music engine used in Gumshoe is basically that used in Metroid and Kid Icarus, which is well documented elsewhere. This may allow for music replacement in the future. (We are attempting the Inspector Gadget theme in the intro. Many thanks to Quantam and Snarfblam for their help.)

Game Genie code PAXXAZGA (or changing $002238 from 04 to 01) gives you a Green powerup on the second potion, rather than waiting for five. Potions are dispensed so rarely that you'll never get Green outside of level 1's optional area anyway.

GASAUALA will give you four bullets per balloon instead of 3 ($018863 from 03 to 04).

Both changes are added to this hack, with thanks to Rani Baker.

Future idea: It would be better if every bird, or most birds, dispensed powerups like the goony-looking Lucky Birds do.

It would be nice if the game was supported by the level editor CadEditor, especially for enemy and powerup placement. It's not hard to write a CadEditor config file which sets the ROM addresses where background data appears. There's also usually utilities for reading that data properly, which gets more complicated. The format might be close to that used by Metroid, Gyromite or Kid Icarus.

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The Game
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Gumshoe is one of six NES games made by Nintendo that requires the use of the Nintendo Zapper Light Gun. It was released in the US on June 6, 1986. It was not released in Japan. It was also released in arcades using Nintendo's "Vs." arcade hardware system as Vs. Gumshoe. (This version includes some unused graphics of a bat, and an armed mobster who you shoot the pants and underwear off of. It also has "Walking On Sunshine" as stage 2's music, which is also in the NES ROM but not used.)

The game takes place across four stages- City, Air, Sea, and Jungle. Each stage has a diamond positioned at some point along the way, which must be collected to proceed. The fifth and last diamond has been eaten by the Zulie Monster, which Gadget must defeat at the end of the Jungle stage in order to pay off Dr. Claw and rescue his niece Penny.

The game then repeats from the very beginning at a harder skill level, adding the bullet obstacle.

You will get information from Chief Quimby, and in Level 3 from the dog Brain, whom Gadget does not recognize.

The game has no saves or passwords and 3 lives, but does feature infinite continues. Simply shoot any of the letters of the word "GAME" or "OVER" when the GAME OVER screen is shown. You get one chance to do this. If you miss, you have to start from the beginning. Don't shoot the area between the words!

Gameplay
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Gadget walks continuously to the right. The goal is to get to the end of each stage by keeping Gadget from dying. Gadget will lose a life anytime he collides with an obstacle, falls down a pit, or runs out of time to complete the stage.

Players must not only keep Gadget alive, but must also monitor the number of bullets remaining throughout the course of the game. You start with fifty bullets.

In order to jump over obstacles or pits, or to reach higher pathways, the player must shoot at Gadget. Shooting Gadget causes him to jump, and does not require a bullet. Shooting anything else does. He can jump multiple times in midair if you continue to shoot him. You must also shoot any enemy that threatens to collide with him.

Collecting red balloons will add three bullets to your supply (four in this hack). Collecting twenty balloons early in a stage will unlock an optional bonus area in each stage.

It is difficult for Gadget to reach the end of any stage without dying, let alone make it all the way to Zulie at the end of stage 4 and then defeat him. Having a lot of bullets is essential to defeat Zulie, and the game is stingy with bullets at that point.

Drinking a Power Drink from a Lucky Bird will make this easier, but these are very rare and you'll probably only see them on the first stage's optional area, where five appear.

Optional Areas
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To get to the optional area of a stage Gadget needs to pick up 20 balloons before getting to the area. It is essential to make it to this area in the last stage if you have started your game on that stage or you will not have enough ammo to defeat Zulie.

City Stage: Desert area. Lots of balloons and Lucky Birds, who may dispense Power Drinks.
Air Stage: Large, benign Skull Blocks.
Sea Stage: Secret MAD base and urchin cannons.
Jungle Stage: Lots of balloons.

The Lucky Bird
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Rarely, the goony-looking Lucky Birds fly above Gadget. Shooting the birds reveals either a roast chicken (collected for bonus points) or one of 3 power-ups (most likely a Power Drink). If Gadget catches them, he gains special abilities, signified by the color of his trenchcoat. If Gadget's trenchcoat has changed to pink, he can absorb one hit and survive. If he gets 5 Power Drinks, his trenchcoat will turn green. (Two, in this hack.)

Only roughly 8 Lucky Birds appear in the game. 5 of them appear on the first level and they reveal either Power Drinks or roast chickens when shot. The Helmet appears on the second level. The Super Shoes or another Power Drink appear on the third level. Sometimes, a Power Drink appears on the fourth level. If Gadget bumps into the Lucky Bird, he dies.

Powerups
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Roast Chicken: When Gadget eats this, 200 points are earned.

Power Drink: When Gadget drinks this, he is energized until he hits an obstacle. He turns pink allowing one free hit. If he drinks 5 Power Drinks (Two, in this hack), he becomes green allowing 5 free hits. It is very helpful if Gadget can become green on the first level.

Helmet: When Gadget wears this, it increases his power of resistance against Falling Rocks and Time Bomb attacks.

Super Shoes: When Gadget wears these, he cannot be harmed by some skulls.

The Battle With the Zulie Monster
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Just before Gadget reaches Zulie, he speaks to Chief Quimby who gives him a Gadget Gun. Only Gadget can damage and eventually defeat Zulie using this machine gun. He must shoot Zulie in his eye twenty times to defeat him. This will require shooting Gadget to make him jump, as Zulie is taller than Gadget. Whenever Zulie is shot in the eye, Zulie jumps back. Zulie shoots fireballs at Gadget which must be shot with the Zapper in order to protect Gadget.

Next Time, Gadget
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Ideas for future revisions, which we don't currently know how to do:

The music engine used in Gumshoe is basically that used in Metroid and Kid Icarus, which is well documented elsewhere. This may allow for music replacement in the future. (We are attempting the Inspector Gadget theme in the intro. Many thanks to Quantam and Snarfblam for their help.)

It would be better if every bird, or most birds, dispensed powerups like the goony-looking Lucky Birds do.

It would be nice if the game was supported by the level editor CadEditor, especially for enemy and powerup placement. It's not hard to write a CadEditor config file which sets the ROM addresses where background data appears. There's also usually utilities for reading that data properly, which gets more complicated. The format might be close to that used by Metroid, Gyromite or Kid Icarus.


Cheats
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YAUENALE: Start With Lots Of Lives
PAUENALA: Start with 1 life
TAUENALA: Start with 6 lives
PAUENALE: Start with 9 lives
IZSEEAAI: Start with 25 bullets
PASEKAAA: Start with 150 bullets
ZASEKAAA: Start with 250 bullets
PASAUALA: Gain 1 bullet on pick-up
TASAUALA: Gain 6 bullets on pick-up
LAKEGYTA: Timer set to 04:00
PAKEGYTE: Timer set to 10:00
SAKAVEKE: Different attack waves

: E0: b: 52: Infinite Time
: E3: b: 40: Infinite Bullets
: 8F: b: 1: Have Hat On
: 8B: b: 1: Stop Your Character
: 38: b: 9: Infinite Lives
: E0: b: 59: Infinite Time (Seconds)
: E1: b: 9: Infinite Time (Minutes)
: E3: b: 99: Infinite Bullets (Ten's & One Digit)
: E4: b: 9: Infinite Bullets (Hundred's Digit)

SXNOILSA: Invincibility - Stages 1 and 2
SXNSKXSE: ^

AEVSTZPA: Infinite Bullets - Stages 1 and 2
SZSEILVG: Infinite Lives - Stages 1 and 2
SXOSAZSA: Infinite Time - Stages 1 and 2

PASEKAAA: Start on Stage 2
NTSEVAKT: ^
SZVAUAVA: ^

ZASEKAAA: Start on Stage 3
NTSEVAKT: ^
SZVAUAVA: ^

LASEKAAA: Start on Stage 4
NTSEVAKT: ^
SZVAUAVA: ^

GASEKAAA: Start on Fight with Zulie (Final Boss)
NTSEVAKT: ^
SZVAUAVA: ^

SXKOPYSA: Invincibility - Stage 4 and Fight with Zulie (Final Boss)
SZUIUSSE: ^

SZXOLGSA: Invincibility - Stage 3
SXVKVSSE: ^

AEVGAIPA: Infinite Bullets - Stage 3
SXXATZVG: Infinite Lives - Stage 3
SXEKZISA: Infinite Time - Stage 3
AAXIIIPA: Infinite Bullets - Stage 4 and Fight with Zulie (Final Boss)
SZOAPYVG: Infinite Lives - Stage 4 and Fight with Zulie (Final Boss)
SXKSYGSA: Infinite Time - Stage 4 and Fight with Zulie (Final Boss)


SC93aa:fc:dc:KNXOZUKS Unlimited HP (Stage 1 and 2) 1 of 2
SCa265:a5:c6:SZVZIZVG Unlimited HP (Stage 1 and 2) 2 of 2
SCa260:a4:84:KZVZAZKA Unlimited HP (Stage 1 and 2) 3 of 3
SCd2f3:a5:85:SXNILZSA Unlimited Bullets
SC835d:a5:c6:SZSEILVG Unlimited Lives
SC8cac:88:8a:EEXEKKXE Immune To Pits (Stage 1 & 2) 2 of 2 (Very Glitchy, Turn It Off And On Again To Unglitch)
SC8caa:20:01:EEXEXGPA Immune To Pits (Stage 1 & 2) 1 of 2 (Very Glitchy, Turn It Off And On Again To Unglitch)
SC93d8:fc:dc:KNSOAUKS Unlimited HP (Stage 3) 1 of 2
SCa299:a5:c6:SXOXPZVG Unlimited HP (Stage 3) 2 of 2
SC8853:04:03:Get Four Bullets Per Balloon
SCa228:01:04:PAXXAZGA Get Green Power Up On Second Potion
SC9776:fc:dc:KYNPTNKS Unlimited HP (Stage 4) 1 of 2
SCa118:a5:c6:SZOXAPVG Unlimited HP (Stage 4) 2 of 2
SC90b3:20:01:AXUPLAPA Immune To Pits (Stage 4) 1 of 2 (Very Glitchy, Turn It Off And On Again To Unglitch)
SC90b5:88:8a:EEUPIEXE Immune To Pits (Stage 4) 2 of 2 (Very Glitchy, Turn It Off And On Again To Unglitch)

0038 -- Lives

00D9 -- If 01, locks zapper input

00DC -- Hit points (for Potion powerup); NES version only

00DD -- Associated palette for "level" of protection (NES version only)

00 -- Normal
01 -- Pink
02 up -- Green

00DF -- If set to non-zero value, will change the in-game palette to an all-blue palette. This is different from the one used when you lose a life. NES version only; strange.

00E0 -- Time left, seconds digit

00E1 -- Time left, minutes digit

00E3 -- Bullets, lower byte *

00E4 -- Bullets, upper byte *

00E6 -- Diamonds (pointless, because you cannot leave the level without them, and altering the count does nothing)

00E5 -- Address where earned bullets are stored. If a non-zero value is entered here, it will start to empty said value into the bullets counter.

00E7 -- Current Level.

00 -- Stage 1
01 -- Stage 2
02 -- Stage 3
03 -- Stage 4
04 -- Fight with Zulie
05 -- glitched stage that freezes once Stevenson enters
06 up -- Crash

008C:08 -- Helmet flag (NES version only)


Database match: Gumshoe (USA, Europe)
Database: No-Intro: Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210216-231042)
File SHA-1: D2C9308FDCE6AC6A6ED4819FF51FF3985CED5C68
File CRC32: AAB00873
ROM SHA-1: F3250A728E7A1C21E011F187B90EE553C2D7FA7C
ROM CRC32: BEB8AB01