Power Shovel

Power Shovel
Also known as: Power Shovel ni Norou! (JP 2000), Power Diggerz (EU), SIMPLE 1500 series Vol.89 The Power Shovel: Power Shovel ni Norou! (JP 2002) Developer: Taito Publishers: Taito (JP 2000), Acclaim Entertainment (US), JVC Music (EU), D3 Publisher (JP 2002) Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: September 21, 2000 (original), March 28, 2002 (rerelease) Released in US: July 15, 2001 Released in EU: November 30, 2001 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There might be some more graphics from the arcade release.

A port of the arcade game where the player controls an excavator and performs various tasks, such as parking, digging, cooking, shopping, and even playing Irritating Stick.

Because that's what excavators were truly made for.

Unused Graphic

PACK.DAT, the main graphic repository file, contains a graphic which seems to be a leftover from a demo version:

(Source: tikal.)

Unused Text

Build Date

Located in the .ELF executable. Note the Y2K non-compliance.

Japan (original)	US/Europe	Japan (Simple)
0x89330 POWER SHOVEL 19100/08/18 13:34:40	0x8D1E8 (US) / 0x8FAD0 (EU) POWER SHOVEL 19101/01/05 11:44:20	0x897B8 POWER SHOVEL 19102/01/24 11:28:33

Arcade Version Strings

Also located in the .ELF executable. The listed offsets are in the order of Japan (original), US, Europe, and Japan (Simple).

0x89764 / 0x8D61C / 0x8FF64 / 0x89BF8:

PLEASE INSERT COIN

0x8A0D8 / 0x8DF90 / 0x908E8 / 0x8A56C:

COIN ERROR
SERVICE SW ERROR

0x8AEB0 / 0x8F010 / 0x924B8 / 0x8B33C: (note that in the original arcade game, these messages are shown as a graphic rather than plaintext)

THIS VIDEO GAME IS FOR USE
IN JAPAN ONLY.
SALES,EXPORTS,OR OPERATION
OUTSIDE JAPAN MAY VIOLATE
COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK
LAWS AND SUBJECT THE VIOLATOR
TO SEVERE PENALTIES.

IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH
AMERICAS ONLY.
OUTSIDE THESE TERRITORIES
MAY VIOLATE COPYRIGHT AND
TRADEMARK LAWS AND
SUBJECT THE VIOLATOR

THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS IN AND TO
THIS VIDEO GAME ARE OWNED
BY TAITO CORPORATION
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
THERE FORE,SUCH ACT AS IMITATING
THIS VIDEO GAME,OR MANUFACTURING,
SELLING,LEASING OR EXPORTING
ANY SIMILAR VIDEO GAME,WITHOUT
PERMISSION FROM TAITO CORPORATION
IS SUBJECT TO SEVERE PENALTIES.

(Source: tikal.)

Version Differences

Title Screen

Every variant of the game uses a radically different title screen design. None of the international releases used the game's official English arcade title, Power Excavator.

Japan (original)	US
Europe	Japan (Simple)

Announcer

While the US version uses the original Japanese announcer, the European release changed it to an English announcer.

Special Controller

The Japanese releases include support for a special controller which resembles the design used in the original arcade release.

Oddities

Untranslated Ending Credits

In both of the game's international versions (Power Shovel and Power Diggerz), none of the staff roll is translated, so they all appear in Japanese much like the original Japanese version. Additionally, the branding for the Japanese title is still present on the menu background.

Debug Menu

There is a small menu that allows you to view VRAM. Press the SELECT button to enter the menu.

Japan (original)
D00C80C2 FFFE 300CB6C4 0001

Use the up & down to select, and square to enter.

The meaning and effect of each menu item are as follows:

• EXIT - Close this menu.
• VRAM - You can access the entire frame buffer. Press square to return.
• RESET - Clash.