Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (NES Driver)

Yoshihiro Sakaguchi

Released 1986-02-08 Programmers Yoshihiro Sakaguchi Language 6502 Assembly Formats MML

Yoshihiro Sakaguchi is the unofficial name of a sound driver developed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi for Capcom to use in their Nintendo Entertainment System games. When Sakaguchi joined Capcom, he originally joined in hopes of becoming a sound producer, but the company required him to know the hardware of the consoles they worked on, so Sakaguchi wrote the driver in 6502 assembly to target the RP2A03 sound chip. To use the driver, composers would usually compose music on a keyboard and then convert their notes into a custom hexadecimal MML that included options to support the various capabilities of the NES audio chip.

In the early-1990s, Capcom started to work with Make Software and used their sound driver for Capcom's final NES games.

Output

The sound driver outputs to the RP2A03 for NTSC regions, and the RP2A07 for PAL regions. The driver does not take advantage of any of the NES expanded audio channels.

Games

Released	Title	Sample	Notes
1985-12-11	1942 (NES)		Unconfirmed, but probably.
1986-02-08	SonSon (FC)		Unconfirmed, but probably.
1986-06-13	Ghosts 'N Goblins (NES)		Unconfirmed, but probably.
1986-09-27	Commando (NES)
1986-12-24	Trojan (NES)
1987-04-14	Hell Island: Great Adventure of Seven Islands (FC)
1987-05-25	Section-Z (NES)
1987-09-24	Expert Yosuke Ide's Combat Mahjong (FC)
1987-12-17	Mega Man (NES)
1988-02-??	Gun.Smoke (NES)
1988-07-??	Legendary Wings (NES)
1988-07-20	Bionic Commando (NES)
1988-10-??	1943: The Battle of Midway (NES)
1988-11-15	Samurai Sword (FDS)
1988-12-24	Mega Man II (NES)
1988-12-24	Pro Baseball? Murder Case! (FC)
1989-05-19	Destiny of an Emperor (NES)
1989-07-??	Strider (NES)
1989-09-??	DuckTales (NES)
1990-02-23	Code Name: Viper (NES)
1990-06-??	Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (NES)
1990-06-??	Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (NES)
1990-08-08	Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight (NES)
1990-09-??	Little Nemo: The Dream Master (NES)
1990-09-28	Mega Man 3 (NES)
1991-04-05	The Devouring of Heaven and Earth II: The Story of Kong Ming (FC)
1991-07-??	The Little Mermaid (NES)
1991-12-??	TaleSpin (NES)
1991-12-06	Mega Man 4 (NES)
1992-06-??	Darkwing Duck (NES)
1992-07-17	Gargoyle's Quest 2 (NES)
1992-12-??	Mega Man 5 (NES)
1993-01-15	Wily and Light's Rockboard: That's Paradise! (FC)
1993-06-12	Mighty Final Fight (NES)
1993-11-05	Mega Man 6 (NES)
Unreleased	Titan Warriors (NES)
Unreleased	California Raisins: The Grape Escape (NES)

Technical

Frequency Registers

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 = 21A
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 = 3BF
A-1 = 3F9
G#1 = 436
G-1 = 475
F#1 = 4BB
F-1 = 501
E-1 = 54D
D#1 = 594
D-1 = 5F3
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AE
B-0 = 714
A#0 = 7D6
A-0 = 7F2