Vampire Savior - mystery flag in save data

[xhul]

Welcome =]

Recently, i messed with the Vampire Savior save, the goal was to locate the flags that cause stuff to become unlocked.
That journey was quite boring, since it's basically a guessing game, while comparing the data in hexadecimal.
Anyway, i successfully managed to locate everything.

Accidentally, i spotted a flag that the game sets once it's completed (in any way according to my tests).
The thing is, if you look online, just completing the game (without additional conditions) isn't supposed to unlock anything.
I tried to identify what gets unlocked in the process by myself, without success.
Out of curiosity, anybody knows what it could be?
Thanks in advance for your time.

Note that there's of course the possibility that the game sets the flag, but never actually checks it.
For some reason, i doubt it.

 

[Danthrax]

When you beat Vampire Savior the first time, it unlocks the ability to bring up the extra options screen by highlighting "options" on the main menu, holding L and R, and pressing Start. The EX Options screen has RGB, life bar type, each unlocked character ending and English language select.

 

[xhul]

When you beat Vampire Savior the first time, it unlocks the ability to bring up the extra options screen by highlighting "options" on the main menu, holding L and R, and pressing Start. The EX Options screen has RGB, life bar type, each unlocked character ending and English language select.

Yo Danthrax, and thanks for the reply =]

Actually, the access to the extra options requires to beat the game without losing a single round (BTW, L or R suffice), and i've already identified the corresponding flag in the save data.
The mystery flag i'm talking about unlocks something else, and probably something pretty cheap, considering it's set even if you use continues.

To be clear, i've already identified the following flags, so it's not one of those:
- oboro bishamon playable
- ex option menu accessible
- all 22 endings listed+viewable
- "clear data" ex option usable

 

[Danthrax]

Yo Danthrax, and thanks for the reply =]

Actually, the access to the extra options requires to beat the game without losing a single round (BTW, L or R suffice), and i've already identified the corresponding flag in the save data.
The mystery flag i'm talking about unlocks something else, and probably something pretty cheap, considering it's set even if you use continues.

To be clear, i've already identified the following flags, so it's not one of those:
- oboro bishamon playable
- ex option menu accessible
- all 22 endings listed+viewable
- "clear data" ex option usable

Oh OK, well that’s interesting! I wonder if @bbayles could see what it is.

 

[rorirub]

It could be just a generic test since "beating the game once in any way" is a fairly common thing in Capcom fighters. While I struggle to come up with an example, I'm sure that at least one of those CPS2 uses this for something.
But I could be confusing it with some other game like VF2.

Maybe try to test at what point (if any) is the flag accessed?

 

[xhul]

Maybe try to test at what point (if any) is the flag accessed?

That's exactly what i wanted to avoid when i created this topic, hoping somebody already knew about an obvious unlocking i wasn't aware of.
Anyway, considering how old the game is, i guess it would have already been documented if somebody noticed an actual effect on the game's behaviour.

I've been dissecting save data on other capcom titles since, and i've encountered similar stuff, such as "times the game has been played", that doesn't seem to affect anything either.

From a development perspective, it makes sense that some recorded data never gets used, depending on the evolving decisions, who works on what, and in which order things are implemented.
I'll consider that flag a leftover for now, which is probably what it is, it seems.

 

[rorirub]

Keep in mind arcade games also have their own bookkeeping (not sure how much of that CPS2 games do) so it may have been just leftovers from when porting that.

 

[xhul]

Keep in mind arcade games also have their own bookkeeping (not sure how much of that CPS2 games do) so it may have been just leftovers from when porting that.

Good point =]