Debug modes in various devices

[BladeSabre]

I'd like to collect up some info about these. Pretty sure I previously knew about more than I can remember now, so what else is there?

Pendulum 20th

NOTE! YOU DO RUN THE RISK OF LOSING YOUR SAVE BY DOING THIS! ALL DIGIMON AND ALBUM DATA MAY BE LOST!

To access: Hold A+B while pressing the reset button. The version number of your device will appear on screen. You then have three options corresponding with the three buttons.

A - Activates screen test
B - Activates pendulum test
C - Activates sound test

manicfan64 discovered the sound test while tabbing, so I suggested trying a reset button combo and miraculously it worked, and they went on to discover the screen and pendulum tests. There is also a demo mode that just shows Triceramon and Wizarmon with copymon, accessible by hitting A+C while resetting, but this seems to definitely erase your data if activated. I've seen one person who says their data DIDN'T reset when accessing the pendulum test, but I don't want to say that that's a guarantee, so tread with caution.

I tried out the 3 options and lost my save. Tried again a few times from my new Babumon. The pendulum and sound tests seemed to leave it alone. The screen test sequence waits for various button presses and goes through 4 different screen patterns and then screen off - if you reset at that point, it seems to be OK, but the next step is an EEPROM test which definitely erases your save. Still, this is all at your own risk; don't blame me if I'm wrong about any of this

[humulos]

For the Pen20 specifically, there's also the following:
A+B+C+Reset (only in Debug Mode) - Digimon Selection. Using this completely erases all data, but lets you pick any two rasiable Digimon and any two Copymon.
B+C on the normal Digimon raising screen (only in Debug Mode) - Fast Forward at a rate of 10 seconds per hour.

I'll check out the debugs on the DMX and DM20 either today or tomorrow.

[Cenrji]

Interesting... makes sense to how Bandai was able to test the V-Pets for evolutions, as normally it takes about a week-ish to get a fully evolved Ultimate Digimon.
So, could this be a way to obtain Special Egg Digimon that's otherwise "inaccessible" in the English Ver.20s, if it exists there?

[humulos]

Nah, the Digimon selector is dependent on Debug Mode being active, which is not possible to activate on the English DM20 unfortunately.

[Cenrji]

Well, interesting find anyways. But yeah as neat the localization is, my biggest nitpick with the English DM20 would be the inability to get 3 of the eggs.
And DORU being one you can only get if you have one of the three special Japan-only colors anyways. So make it 4, if you can't get those.

[humulos]

Testing complete, mostly expected results save one exception concerning Demo mode on the DMX:

DM20 (Options that require Debug mode only work on Japanese versions):A+B+Reset Version Screen
A+C+Reset Demo Mode (Agumon + Tyranomon) [Data Wiped]
B+C+Reset Sound Test
A+B+C+Rest Nothing
Version Screen + A Screen Test, clock test, ROM test, COMM Test [Wiped]
Version Screen + B Nothing
Version Screen + C Nothing
B+C while in Debug mode, while raising Digimon Fast Forward (5 minutes per hour)
Reset, Load while in Debug mode Digimon Picker (Choosing Digimon overwrites whatever is currently being raised, but does not wipe data, and fills in Album completely. Hitting C instead of picking a Digimon will preserve whatever was previously being raised.)

DMX:A+B+Reset Version Screen
A+C+Reset Demo Mode (Digimon Picker) [Data Wiped]
B+C+Reset Nothing
A+B+C+Rest Nothing
Version Screen + A Screen test, frequency in kHz (?), ROM Check, COMM test [Wiped]
Version Screen + B Nothing
Version Screen + C Sound Test
B+C while in Debug mode, while raising Digimon - Fast Forward (10 seconds per hour)
Reset, Load while in Debug mode Digimon Picker (Choosing Digimon overwrites whatever is currently being raised, but does not wipe data, makes all Quest areas and Evolution options available. Hitting C instead of picking a Digimon will preserve whatever was previously being raised.)

Since both my DMX devices are debugged, I am not currently certain whether the Demo Digimon Picker is restricted to Debug mode, but I'm leaning towards it being available to literally anyone. It may also unlock all areas and evolution options, INCLUDING Area SP with Dukemon.

[BladeSabre]

Thanks for the info! So are you talking about debug jumpers on the PCB, and all the new V-Pets except the English DM20 have one?

The original Pendulum had a debug jumper which people used for the speed hack. I wonder if that affects the reset options too.

[humulos]

Yes, that is correct! Labeled as JP1 on all modern devices (again, sans English DM20). I didn't realize the original Pendulums had that jumper as well, I should try messing around with that. Happen to know off the top of your head where on the board it appears? I assume on the front, annoyingly enough lol.

[BladeSabre]

I think it's on the back, but don't really remember. And I tried to search the web for it, but the results have been taken over by the Pendulum 20th.

[BladeSabre]

On the RETRY or OK screen, if you press A, it transmits 5AA5, and expects A55A in return. Alternatively, if it receives 5AA5, it transmits A55A in return. In either case, if it receives what it expected, it goes to the OK screen; and if it receives something different, it goes to the RETRY screen.

Other versions look the same. English V-Pets have RETRY in English, but otherwise look the same. I tried all the other reset button combinations, but only A+Reset did anything.

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For the shake count, one Pendulum I tried counted near-perfectly; one needed shaking rather hard; one barely worked at all; and the 3.0 I investigated previously was counting extra shakes all over the place with very slight movements. Back then, I stupidly assumed they were all the same as that one, but apparently it has issues, so time to think again.

On the ERROR screen, if you press A, it transmits 5AA5, and expects the same in return. Alternatively, if it receives 5AA5, it transmits the same in return. In either case, if it receives what it expected, it goes to the OK screen; and if it receives something different, it beeps but stays on the ERROR screen.

Other versions look the same, except for the "Ver." number. I tried all the other reset button combinations, but only A+Reset did anything. I also tried a speed-hacked Pendulum, but it didn't do anything different here.