Hiroyuki Masuno (NES Driver)

Hiroyuki Masuno

Programmers Hiroyuki Masuno Language 6502 Assembly

Hiroyuki Masuno is the unofficial name of the sound driver used in all of the games Kemco developed for the NES. It was programmed by Hiroyuki Masuno, who also composed music and sound effects to almost all of their games.

Hiroyuki wrote the music on a Roland CMU-800 with an Apple II computer. The Apple II and NES both used 6502 assembly, so it was easier to convert to the NES.

Release History

Hiroyuki developed two different drivers for the NES, or heavily modified the first version.
The first game to use the sound driver was Dough Boy, a port of the Commodore 64 game, released exclusively in Japan.

The second version of the sound driver is one of the best known sound engines for the NES, thanks to its reverb and jazzy compositions by Masuno.

Output

Hiroyuki's sound driver outputs only to the RP2A03 and RP2A07. For the Famicom Disk System games it was used in, it never took advantage of the RP2C33.

Games

Version 1

Released	Title	Sample
1985-12-11	Dough Boy (FC) (ダウ・ボーイ)
1986-04-26	Spy Vs Spy (NES)
1986-09-25	Space Hunter (FC) (スペースハンター)
1986-12-26	Electrician (FDS) (エレクトリシャン)
1986-12-26	Toki no Tabibito: Time Stranger (FC) (時の旅人 タイムストレンジャー)
1987-03-27	Nangoku Shirei: Spy vs. Spy II (FC)
1987-10-20	Indora no Hikari (FC) (インドラの光)
1987-12-22	Superman (NES) (スーパーマン)
1988-04-28	Desert Commander (NES) (砂漠の狐)
1988-06-27	Sanada Juu Yuushi (FC) (真田 十勇士)
1990-02-23	Kiteretsu Daihyakka (FC) (キテレツ大百科)

Version 2

Released	Title	Sample
1988-12-21	Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu (FC) (銀河英雄伝説)
1989-02-16	Roger Rabbit (FDS)
1989-09-22	Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular! (NES) (ドナルドダック)
1988-11-22	Déjà Vu (NES)
1989-02-16	The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle (NES)
1989-03-31	Shadowgate (NES)
1989-07-14	Ghost Lion (NES) (ホワイトライオン伝説)
1989-09-29	Uninvited (NES)
1989-12-01	Rescue: The Embassy Mission (NES) (ホステージ)
1990-08-03	The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout (NES) (Happy Birthday Bugs)
1990-09-21	North and South (NES)
1991-08-09	Dragon Wars (FC)
1992-09-30	Kid Klown in Night Mayor World (NES) (ミッキーマウスIII 夢ふうせん)

Technical

Frequency Registers

Version 1

The first version of Masuno's driver uses an algorithm to divide each frequency by 2 to attain a higher note. Thus, only the lowest octave is programmed into the driver.

B-7 = 0E
A#7 = 0F
A-7 = 0F
G#7 = 10
G-7 = 11
F#7 = 12
F-7 = 14
E-7 = 15
D#7 = 16
D-7 = 17
C#7 = 19
C-7 = 1A
B-6 = 1C
A#6 = 1E
A-6 = 1F
G#6 = 21
G-6 = 23
F#6 = 25
F-6 = 28
E-6 = 2A
D#6 = 2C
D-6 = 2F
C#6 = 32
C-6 = 35
B-5 = 38
A#5 = 3C
A-5 = 3F
G#5 = 43
G-5 = 47
F#5 = 4B
F-5 = 50
E-5 = 54
D#5 = 59
D-5 = 5F
C#5 = 64
C-5 = 6A
B-4 = 71
A#4 = 78
A-4 = 7F
G#4 = 86
G-4 = 8E
F#4 = 97
F-4 = A0
E-4 = A9
D#4 = B3
D-4 = BE
C#4 = C9
C-4 = D5
B-3 = E2
A#3 = F0
A-3 = FE
G#3 = 10D
G-3 = 11D
F#3 = 12E
F-3 = 140
E-3 = 153
D#3 = 167
D-3 = 17D
C#3 = 193
C-3 = 1AB
B-2 = 1C5
A#2 = 1E0
A-2 = 1FC
G#2 = 21B
G-2 = 23B
F#2 = 25D
F-2 = 281
E-2 = 2A7
D#2 = 2CF
D-2 = 2FA
C#2 = 327
C-2 = 357
B-1 = 38A
A#1 = 3C0
A-1 = 3F8
G#1 = 436
G-1 = 476
F#1 = 4BA
F-1 = 502
E-1 = 54E
D#1 = 59E
D-1 = 5F4
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AE

Version 2

In the second version of Masuno's driver, the frequencies are all programmed.

C-7 = 19
B-6 = 1A
A#6 = 1C
A-6 = 1E
G#6 = 20
G-6 = 22
F#6 = 24
F-6 = 27
E-6 = 29
D#6 = 2B
D-6 = 2E
C#6 = 31
C-6 = 34
B-5 = 37
A#5 = 3A
A-5 = 3E
G#5 = 42
G-5 = 46
F#5 = 4A
F-5 = 4F
E-5 = 53
D#5 = 58
D-5 = 5E
C#5 = 63
C-5 = 69
B-4 = 70
A#4 = 76
A-4 = 7E
G#4 = 85
G-4 = 8D
F#4 = 96
F-4 = 9F
E-4 = A8
D#4 = B2
D-4 = BD
C#4 = C8
C-4 = D4
B-3 = E1
A#3 = EE
A-3 = FD
G#3 = 10C
G-3 = 11C
F#3 = 12D
F-3 = 13F
E-3 = 152
D#3 = 167
D-3 = 17C
C#3 = 193
C-3 = 1AB
B-2 = 1C4
A#2 = 1DF
A-2 = 1FC
G#2 = 21A
G-2 = 23A
F#2 = 25C
F-2 = 280
E-2 = 2A6
D#2 = 2CF
D-2 = 2F9
C#2 = 327
C-2 = 357
B-1 = 389
A#1 = 3BF
A-1 = 3F8
G#1 = 435
G-1 = 475
F#1 = 4B9
F-1 = 501
E-1 = 54D
D#1 = 59E
D-1 = 5F3
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AE

Addresses

Version 1

Desert Commander: $1F2ED-$1F304
Dough Boy: $8D6F-$8D86
Electrician: ???
Indora no Hikari: $1CBFB-$1CC12
Nangoku Shirei!! Spy vs. Sy: $104EF-$10506
Sanada Juu Yuushi: $172EA-$17301
Spy vs. Spy: $0BF0-$0C07
Superman: $1F405-$1F41C
Toki no Tabibito: $1DDAD-$1DDC4

Version 2

Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout: $1FF30-$1FFC1
Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle: $FEE4-$FF75
Deja Vu: $1FB4B-$1FBDC
Dragon Wars: $3FF52-$3FFE3
Ghost Lion: $1FF47-$1FFD8
Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: $1F9F2-$1FA83
Kid Klown: $1FF4C-$1FFDD (U) $1FF1D-$1FFAE (J)
Kiteretsu Dai Hyakka: $9AD8-$9B69
North & South: $1FBE9-$1FC7A
Rescue: The Embassy Mission: $1FE5A-$1FEEB
Shadowgate: $1FB1E-$1FBAF
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular!: $1FACD-$1FB5E
Superman: $7993-$7A24
Uninvited: $1FB66-$1FBF7