List of Controller II microphone games

[JC]

Famicom Microphone Games
Which games make use of Controller II's microphone?

Atlantis no Nazo (NES = Super Pitfall II) - get the microphone power-up and then yell into the microphone to freeze and kill most enemies.

Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami (NES = Kid Icarus) - talk into the microphone to bargain for lower shop prices.

Raid on Bungeling Bay (NES = Raid on Bungeling Bay) - ?

SD Kamen Rider -- in one of the mini games, blow air into the microphone to get a windmill to spin.

Takeshi no Chousenjou - featuring Takeshi Kitano who starred in Zatoichi, Battle Royale, Violent Cop, etc.) Kitano hates videogames and wanted this game to show its players how futile and pointless their hobby was. Amongst the challenges included in the game were a section where the player must hold a single button for up to an hour, a boss that takes over 1,000 punches to kill and of course the microphone section, where players are required to sing a verse of karaoke or talk whilst playing a pachislo minigame. The microphone section was replaced in later versions of the game once the microphone was dropped from the Famicom.

Zelda no Densetsu: The Hyrule Fantasy (cart/disk) (NES = The Legend of Zelda) - yell into the microphone to kill Pols Voice enemies.

[MattyD]

Takeshi no Chosenjo (Takeshi's Challenge, featuring Takeshi Kitano who starred in Zatoichi, Battle Royale, Violent Cop etc)

Kitano hates videogames and wanted this game to show its players how futile and pointless their hobby was. Amongst the challenges included in the game were a section where the player must hold a single button for up to an hour, a boss that takes over 1,000 punches to kill and of course the microphone section, where players are required to sing a verse of karaoke or talk whilst playing a pachislo minigame. The microphone section was replaced in later versions of the game once the microphone was dropped from the Famicom.

[JC]

I didn't realize the game was changed for later versions because of the AV FC. That's kinda interesting. A question I had in another thread was whether or not games with a microphone feature still had the feature in place even when the system (NES) didn't have a microphone. I guess with this game it was necessary to remove the feature because it was impossible to advance in the game if there was no mic.

[MattyD]

A lot of them they just remapped the sound part to the 'select' button. The machine obviously couldn't interpret what the sound was, it just detected whether there was sound or not. You could just blow into it for instance, so it's no big deal to just press a button instead.

[Sensei]

There were also some karaoke games for the Famicom.  Did they make use of the microphone?  I would assume so.

[UglyJoe]

I think the karaoke games came with microphone controllers (some of them, at least).  Those would be used via the expansion port, not with controller II.  Some of them may have worked with it, though, I don't really know 

[Lorfarius]

So the microphone was pretty much a big failur then? Seems a shame.

[NintendoKing]

So the microphone was pretty much a big failur then? Seems a shame.

I like to talk on my tv with it, so its not a total waste. Its actually quite fun to play with.

[Xious]

Here is a link to a list on Yahoo Japan for anyone who wants to either translate it or can read it properly. There are games mentioned there, and information on microphone use, that people may find interesting. 

[P]

Edit: Cleaned up the post to be more readable.

It's a myth that the microphone was almost never used in games. After doing some research I found many more games and I would bet there are still more. I have tested some of them but not all.


Games that supports the mic:


Takeshi no Chousenjou (unconfirmed)
As was said before there are some parts of the game that requires the mic to proceed. But apparently there is a way to pass these parts of the game without a mic (maybe an added feature in later versions of the game as was suggested before in this thread, I don't know) that was added as an alternative for people with the New Famicom, and thus doesn't have a mic. However many people misunderstood this as a built in function in the New Famicom itself and that it would work in every game that uses the mic. Anyway here's what is said about it:
Use the microphone with the New Famicom: Press DOWN and A buttons on Controller II and after that the A button on Controller II will act as shouting into the mic.

Raid on Bungeling Bay
In 2P mode shout in the mic and a mic icon will appear under the score. Keep shouting and it will turn red. At this time up to 6 fighter planes will come attack the heli. It's said that one should shout out "HUDSON!!" into the mic.

Star Luster (unconfirmed)
If you call into the mic when energy is low and part of the ship is in NG condition, a mysterious character called Starnoid shows up, refills energy and repairs ship. But this can only be used once.

Bakushou!! Jinsei Gekijou (unconfirmed)
This board game which is based on The Game of Life has an event where you need to sing in to the mic.

Bakushou!! Jinsei Gekijou 2 (unconfirmed)
The sequel also has an event where all human and computer players are forced to shout into the microphone. You can apparently not proceed without a mic (I guess AV Famicom users are out of luck on this one).

Doraemon (unconfirmed)
At the point at defeating the boss in area 3 and if Gian appears, shouting in the mic will defeat all enemies onscreen. But only once.

Apple Town Monogatari (FDS)
The mic is used in one of several easter eggs in the game. When the girl is climbing the upper stairs, hold B on Controller II and shout into the mic. After she falls hold both A and B and shout again. I've tried it long ago but I don't remember all details exactly. Strategywiki has this listed.

Kamen Rider Club (unconfirmed)
When playing roulette, you can blow in the mic to make the roulette move a bit from the place it stopped at. Also something about the pinwheel. Is this the same game as "SD Kamen Rider" in the first post? Kazaguruma can mean both pinwheel and windmill in Japanese.

Family Basic
There's no command to read the mic in BASIC, and the commands STICK and STRIG that are normally used to read the buttons on the controllers can't be used to read the mic. However, with the PEEK command you can read any one of the memory addresses in the Famicom. The mic's current state is stored in bit 2 in memory address $4016, so by PEEKing on that bit we can read the mic's current state. Here's a simple mic testing program:

Code Select Expand

10 M=PEEK(&H4016) AND &H4
20 IF M=4 THEN PRINT"MIC";
30 GOTO 10
Type RUN to execute, the word "MIC" will be printed on screen every time the Famicom detects that you are blowing into the mic. Press STOP to end the program. Some emulators like Nestopia won't let you use the controllers in Family Basic if they are mapped to the keyboard (since the Family Keyboard is also mapped to the keyboard). If you are running Family BASIC on such an emulator you can add this line

Code Select Expand

5 B=STRIG(0) to fool the emulator that you are going to use the controller (which we are in the sense that the mic is a kind of controller input but we are not actually going to use STRIG at all). Nestopia will temporarily disable the keyboard if a program with the STRIG command is executed.
This code should work in all flavours of Family Basic and Playbox Basic including V1.0, V2.0A, V2.1A and V3.
By using a logical AND on the value in &H4016 together with the value &H4 (the same as binary 00000100) we can read bit 2 without reading the whole byte. This code uses the same way to read the mic as many commercial games, and is also the way the Family BASIC V3 sample game "Heart" is reading the mic.


I also heard rumors about a mic function in Ninja Hattori-kun and also in some pachinko game where shouting into the mic when you run out of balls would give you more balls (it's possible this is just the pachinko part of Takeshi no Chousenjou which also involves the mic), but I can't find any info on these rumors.

[PunkicCyborg]

Best use for the mic is heckling your friend in a 2 player vs game 

[P]

This is mic-related but it doesn't really have any effect on the game AFIK. In the manual for Bokosuka Wars there are lyrics for the background music in the game, and it's suggested that one could sing it in the mic while playing.

進め　進め　ものども
邪魔な　敵を　蹴散らせ
目指せ　敵の　城へ
オゴレス　倒すのだ
Susume susume monodomo
jamana teki wo kechirase
mezase teki no shiro e
Ogoresu taosu no da

My crappy translation:
Forward forward, men
kick about the bothering enemies
aim for the enemy castle
in order to defeat Ogereth

There is a version of the song were mezase (aim for) is replaced by a third susume (advance), likely due to a mistake in the manual of the Famicom version of the game (the song is listed twice in the manual and one of them is wrong).


The Famicom Basic manual also suggest to make a karaoke session using the Music Board and con II mic.



Edit: More games that support the mic:

Super Chinese 2
This game apparently has a place in game where you must blow into the mic to be able to proceed. Confirmed in this video: http://www.mmcafe.com/nico.html#http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm18096475 at 22:14 there's a dialogue with princess Leila and she tells you to blow into the microphone to prove yourself.

Star Soldier (unconfirmed)
There are two uses for the mic.
Meijin's Finger: You get 16-shots-on-screen auto-fire (look up Takahashi Meijin if you don't know him) if you shout into the mic when you shoot at this panel (a blue panel with a light blue hand pointing with the index finger). It's found on stage 3 at the second continent. According to http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Soldier/Stage_secrets it works in the NES version as well if you have some means to use the mic.
Ura stages: Play a harder version of the game. Strategy wiki also explains the process in English here http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Soldier/Codes. It's a button combination that involves the mic:
1) At the title screen, press Select button × 4
2) On controller I, press and hold Right d-pad + A button + B button + Select button. On controller II, press and hold Left d-pad.
3) As you press Start button on controller I, you must shout into the microphone on controller II. If successful, the title screen will blink back on to the screen.
Press Start button to begin the game.

[P]

Kaiketsu Yanchamaru / Kid Niki: Radical Ninja (unconfirmed)
Strategy wiki has the following information on stage 5 in this game which involves the mic:

Secret area 5-8
When you reach the first Buddha statue, walk to its lap, squat down, and shout in to the microphone. You will be transported to a bonus area that contains scrolls which bob up and down. Some scrolls reveal coins, while others may reveal Princess dolls or extra lives. If a scroll does reveal a doll or an extra, it will float up from where you struck the scroll and a large hand will sweep across the room from left to right. If you are hit by the hand, you will lose a life. For both of these reasons, it is recommended that you jump up and strike the scrolls when you are on your way down from the jump and the scroll is low in the air. This will allow you to a) duck when you land to avoid the hand that sweeps across and b) collect the doll or extra since it won't float particularly high. If you miss any dolls, don't be concerned, one is provided for you at the end of the section. When you exit, you will be deposited on the hand of the second Buddha statue at 5-12. Note that this secret is present in the North American version of the game, but without a microphone, it is inaccessible.

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Kid_Niki:_Radical_Ninja/Stage_5



Edit: New finding!! I found the following code in the beginning of Bokosuka Wars:

Code Select Expand


;ROM with iNES header

004A   AD 16 40   LDA $4016
004D   29 04      AND #$04

These two instructions here is the microphone reading routine that most commercial games use.

After some googling in Japanese I found a rumour that there's a command to make your army start out at the highest level of strength. Some suggest that there's a button combination involving both the mic and Start+Select on con II (which of course is normally impossible on any Famicom or NES), while other says you just blow into the mic immediately after booting the game. Yet other people shrugs this off and calls it an urban legend. But the code I found makes me believe it's more than an urban legend.
People have also noticed that if you have a NES or New Famicom you can hold Start+Select on controller II when booting, and the title screen music will be delayed a bit. Is this some kind of hint?

Other people say that you need two Ascii Sticks and use Start+Select on the second one. Here's the full instructions:

Play with the strongest army
-Prepare two Ascii Sticks.
-First connect one Ascii Stick (we call this stick A).
-Then connect another Ascii Stick into the first stick's expansion port (this is stick B).
-While holding Start+Select on stick B, press the RESET button.
-Face the II con mic and shout "Nattechonmage. Teka～".
-When starting the game, all your men will be at the strongest level.

I guess you can use any external controllers though as long as you have a multitap. I haven't been able to test this though and I couldn't get it to work on an emulator.

[UglyJoe]

Interesting, although it's odd that the cheat would have you say a particular phrase (since the mic is just a binary on/off switch). 

Does the assembly code do anything with the result in the accumulator after that point?  It may just be some boilerplate controller-handling logic that was never optimized.  I guess I can check the code myself later.

[P]

Yeah it's possible it's never used in the game, but since these rumours exists, it makes me think it's not just a coincidence.

I can't tell if the code is used in the game or not but, it looks like it increases $2E if the mic bit is set using the BEQ instruction, then it does some nested loop with nothing inside (some kind of delay?) and after some more branching it finally loads $2E into the accumulator and compares it with #$C8. It gets too complicated after that. lol

Code Select Expand


;ROM with iNES header

004A   AD 16 40   LDA $4016
004D   29 04      AND #$04
004F   F0 02      BEQ $0053
0051   E6 2E      INC $2E
0053   A2 10      LDX #$10
0055   A0 00      LDY #$00
0057   C8         INY
0058   D0 FD      BNE $0057
005A   CA         DEX
005B   D0 FA      BNE $0057
005D   E6 2D      INC $2D
005F   D0 E9      BNE $004A
0061   A5 2E      LDA $2E


Interesting, although it's odd that the cheat would have you say a particular phrase (since the mic is just a binary on/off switch).

Yes of course it doesn't matter what you say into the mic. I think that part of the cheat is just some joke, although I didn't get it. I asked a Japanese friend what it means, but he haven't answered yet.