Unreleased Pokemon Slot 2 Distribution [decchi.bin] Azure Flute / Arceus Distribution Download [JPN]

[Professor Oak]

Within several of the Nintendo DS distribution roms there is an unused file hidden within it called "decchi.bin". This may be best known by some people as a file that had been found in the US GameStop Deoxys rom, however it is in several more, like the Toys R US Dragonite. This file, decchi.bin, is actually a GBA rom. The rom is Japanese GBA prototype of the original Pokemon Ranger game, though the game was eventually released on the NDS, never the GBA. This implies production of the first Pokemon Ranger started on the GBA, but eventually got pushed to the NDS.

You can run decchi.bin in a GBA emulator, however all you will see is s a rough prototype title screen consisting of the Japanese Pokemon Ranger logo and what appears to be what the game's serial number would've been if it were completed and made for a retail GBA cartridge, their is nothing you can do with it here. However, this rom hides an even bigger secret. If you load the rom in Slot-2 in a NDS emulator, then then load a Japanese Pokemon Diamond or Pearl game, decchi.bin will reveal that it is also a prototype distribution rom used for testing in the early days of Diamond and Pearl.

What is a Slot 2 Distribution?

Exclusive to Japan was the Slot-2 distribution cartridge, which would be inserted into your NDS's Slot-2 at events to receive a Pokemon/item in your DS Pokemon game. decchi.bin's distribution data is an early version of a Slot-2 distribution rom, and it can actually be used. When accessing Mystery Gift and selecting the Japanese equivalent of "Receive from a Friend" with a Japanese Diamond or Pearl rom, with decchi.bin in Slot-2, it will surprisingly distribute the Azure Flute to your game. It is region locked to Japan, so no it will not work with English games.

The Azure Flute's wondercard text from decchi.bin, is of course in Japanese. Though with rough translations of the wondercard text , the title says "Mystery Gift Test AGB Version", and the description is just a copy of the discription from the official Old Sea Map wondercard: "Let's bring the Old Sea Chart to the Faraway Island! Let's go to the wild Mew!" While the description doesn't seem to make sense, as it was only a test distribution, this is to be expected. The mini icons at the top of the wondercard don't show the Azure Flute sprite, rather a Bulbasaur, Mew, and Ho-oh.

As we all know, the Azure Flute ended up never being officially distributed anywhere, so you've had to resort to hacking to obtain it in game. And as we all know, the Azure Flute is used to gain access to the Hall of Origin on top the Spear Pillar, which allows you to battle and catch a Lv. 80 Arceus.

In conclusion while there was never an official Azure Flute distribution, this rom is somewhat of a semi-legit way to obtain the Azure Flute, as it is still something that was officially made by Nintendo or GameFreak, it was just never released.

Of course, since it can be used via emulators, decchi.bin can be placed on a GBA flashcart and used with Japanese Diamond and Pearl carts. Potential future romhacks of decchi.bin may provide a region free Azure Flute Slot-2 distribution rom, as well as the ability to replace the wondercard with something entirely different.

Videos:

Screenshots:



Download:

Pokemon Slot 2 Distribution Prototype / Test [decchi.bin] Download

 

[UnknownRespected]

I went ahead and made a simple python script to change the Wondercard that decchi.bin distributes. May or may not require Python 2.7, I don't know all that much about that so eh.

Usage: decchi.py input.pcd

It will read from decchi.bin (and write to) in the same directory. Make backups if you want to keep the original clean ;p

If we figure out how to make it distribute to other languages (if it's even possible), that can be added.

 

[Deoxyz]

Thanks for uploading and making the thread. I would put [Unreleased] or something in the title, just for the extra emphasis that this isn't a totally legit way to get the Azure Flute, rather only "semi-official", if that's the right word for it.

Just a few things I want to note that have changed since I originally typed all that up.
I did recently say that decchi.bin seems to not need to be changed to decchi.gba to work with emulators(I see you edited .gba references), but I haven't tested it outside of VBA and DeSmuME. I had read decchi needed to be .gba, but that was in a really old thread somewhere talking about it being a Ranger proto. I suppose maybe older emulators needed it that way, and I can't confirm or deny if anything other than VBA or DeSmuME will read it as .bin.

While my download file contains decchi.gba, if anyone wants a raw decchi.bin, just download dslazy and use it to unpack a DS distro rom that contains it.

Also, while I haven't checked every single DS distro rom yet(don't have them all quite yet), as of now it appears that decchi.bin is found in all Gen 4 distro roms, besides the GameStop Shiny Beasts, and it doesn't seem to appear in any Gen 5 distro roms. I don't know what's up with the Shiny Beasts rom or if there are any other oddities, but other than that they all follow that pattern.

Edit: It is also reported that Slot-2 carts were used in the US/Europe for VGC events(makes since since we never found Slot-1 carts), as well as some random events in Korea. There's just no image/video documentation for these outside of Japan, and seem to be even more rare.

@UnknownRespected
Thanks, that's a good step forward. Hopefully we can break the region lock, because Slot-2 distro romhacks won't be that useful while still restricted to Japanese games.

 

[UnknownRespected]

To be fair, it's pretty easy for anyone with a hex editor to figure it out, the Wondercard is there "in plain text" or so to speak. But I figured that automating it would be convenient so that anyone who wishes to edit decchi for personal use can do it a lot quicker.

By the way I'm a noob at Python, if anyone knows how to make drag & drop work the same as giving the .pcd as command line argument let me know, heh. That would be even more convenient.


If anyone wants to make an actual graphical app for this kinda like the Deoxys distro editor:

- Distribution header is at 0x100060-0x1000FF, this is the same as 0x0-0x9F of the Wondercard. This is what you see on the top screen when receiving the gift in-game (haven't added that to my script because I kind of literally just realized this was a thing.) Possible has a little bit more than just Wondercard title but since it's identical to the first few lines of the Wondercard you should probably copy the whole thing in anyway.
- Wondercard is at 0x100150-0x1004A7, this is the entire Wondercard directly. Last few bytes are the receiving date, it doesn't matter if it isn't 0 since it gets overwritten when you receive the card.

 

[Deoxyz]

Of course, it's just not convenient to actually change it directly with a hex editor. An app is much quicker and convenient to change wondercards as you please.

I'd be interested in a full graphic app if we can somehow get region locking undone.

 

[UnknownRespected]

Turns out drag & drop not working to give the file as a command-line argument is a python limitation on Windows, eh.

You can make a .bat with "c:\Python27\python.exe" decchi.py %1 in it, dropping the .pcd onto the .bat will work, should be more convenient than having to open command line.

Or you can use py2exe to make it into a standalone Windows .exe file which should work with drag&drop out of the box.

 

[InsaneNutter]

I do find it interesting Slot 2 distributions were used outside Japan until as late as 2010, likely as Wireless became unreliable at large events I would have guessed.

I'll also archive this below in case it's of used in the future, given how scarce info is on Slot 2 distributions.

From the Google Cache of this site:

World Championships 2010 Crobat

This Pokémon event was distributed on the last day of the 2010 Pokémon Trading Card and Video Game World Championship in Waikaloa, Hawaii at two different times. English, Italian, and French players were 11am to 1pm while German, Spanish, and Japanese payers were 2pm to 4pm. It was a three day event starting August 13, 2010 and ending August 15, 2010. This event was available to all Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver players who came to the Championships. The Crobat could be downloaded wirelessly and via slot 2 distribution.

CROBAT ♂
Height : 5'11"
Weight : 165.3 lbs
OT : WORLD10
ID : 08150
Level : 30
Held Item : Life Orb
Nature : Timid
Ball : Cherish
Met At : Pokémon Event
Ribbon : Classic
Release Date : August 15, 2010
Website : http://www.pokemonworldchampionship...ook-out-for-crobat-at-the-world-championships

World Championships 2009 Weavile

This Pokémon event was distributed on the last day of the 2009 Pokémon Trading Card and Video Game World Championship in San Diego, California at two different times. English, Italian, and German players was from 11am to 1pm while French, Spanish, and Japanese payers was from 2pm to 4pm. It was a three day event starting August 13, 2009 and ending August 15, 2009. This event was available to all Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum players who came to the Championship tournament. The Weavile could be downloaded wirelessly and via slot 2 distribution.

WEAVILE ♂
Height : 3'07"
Weight : 75.0 lbs
OT : WORLD09
ID : 08159
Level : 30
Held Item : Focus Sash
Nature : Jolly
Ball : Cherish
Met At : Pokémon Event
Ribbon : Classic
Release Date : August 15, 2009
Website : http://www.go-pokemon.com/worlds/2009/

 

[Invader TAK]

Not sure how much I'd make use of edited Slot 2 distro ROMs (provided we can break the region lock on this one), but they'd be nice to have for the Japanese events that were distributed that way.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Not sure how much I'd make use of edited Slot 2 distro ROMs (provided we can break the region lock on this one), but they'd be nice to have for the Japanese events that were distributed that way.

Do we know what JPN events were distributed this way?

I know theirs the 10th Movie Deoxys and a Regigigas distributed in the JPN Pokemon center back in 2008, however beyond that information is quite scarce.

 

[theSLAYER]

I could write a program with a user-interface for injection and replacing/swapping,
Though I am partially worried about people selling it as fake slot-2 injection situation.

Of course,
I've been unable to find much public information of said tool to write into dev carts,
but just making it public I'm still on the fence, for now.

I believe the NDS roms use a two-prong approach:
1. Header title needs to be changed (such as to B5BE, and header checksum fixed)
2. Language byte somewhere.

There is a language byte between Emerald JP and EN roms, at 0x103 (0x0100 and 0x0200, respectively),
but I couldn't really find a 0x0100 in the decchi, that when swapped, enabled reading.
[tho to my understanding, it's likely the NDS gen IV games may not check region byte, else Pokepatch for Pal-Park wouldn't work,
cause I read all it does was switch the location of the to be referenced title code in the package/file, and it works]

So, there's a possibility that the decchii.bin checks the NDS rom's region,
and locks itself out, from being read.

 

[UnknownRespected]

Do we know what JPN events were distributed this way?

I know theirs the 10th Movie Deoxys and a Regigigas distributed in the JPN Pokemon center back in 2008, however beyond that information is quite scarce.

Hard to find any sort of exact list, but safe to assume that all the movie pre-order events were slot-2. Deoxys, Regigigas, Shiny Pichu, Crown beasts.

Then there was the Birthday events which were likely slot-2 as well, since you could only get them if you showed proof of your birthday. If those were local wireless then it would have let other randoms around download it which defeats the purpose.

I've also heard of an Electabuzz slot-2 which I assume was Pokémon Festa, so Festa Electabuzz and Magmar would have been slot-2? That's possible, if they didn't have any slot-1 distros ready back then (this was one of the first events), and those WCs were even made re-distributable so this could have been a way to incentivize people to go around and share with others rather than everyone just getting the event and being done (promote the shareable WCs feature/Receive from a Friend.)

The Japanese equivalents of the World Championships events were likely slot-2 too. WORLD ones are a given, but WCS Eevee and Milotic were slot-2 (given to participants' games.)

World Hobby Fair Manaphy had to be slot-2 as well, since that was given to people who bought the DVD and redeemed a coupon that was inside the box.

I could write a program with a user-interface for injection and replacing/swapping,

Though I am partially worried about people selling it as fake slot-2 injection situation.

Doesn't really matter, it's painfully easy to edit as-is, and I put that Python script up there that makes it more convenient already anyway. An actual program would just be less painful to use (I went for a simple py script because I never learned how to make graphical apps, and the Python way of hex editing a file seemed a lot easier than the C# way. And Python works on more than just Windows out of the box so that's a bonus.)

Once a rom is out there, anyone can edit it; not everyone needs to wait for a rom hacking tool to be made by someone else before they can start ;p

 

[InsaneNutter]

Someone requested the PGT & PCD of the Azure Flute Arceus Distribution, so i've extracted it with PkHex from my save (directly after receiving) and attached it to this post.

 

[Deleted member 48171]

Maybe a dumb question, but should the file extension be .wc6?

 

[UnknownRespected]

It's a Gen. 4 card/gift, so no.

 

[King Impoleon]

has someone new knowledge regarding the distribution of other wonder cards with the decchi.bin?

Do we know what JPN events were distributed this way?
I know theirs the 10th Movie Deoxys and a Regigigas distributed in the JPN Pokemon center back in 2008, however beyond that information is quite scarce.

there are much more distributed over SLOT2!

2006:
WHF Manaphy
Battle Festa Electabuzz/Magmar

2007:
Shokotan Tropius
Movie Deoxys
Tanabata Jirachi
Bithday Present??

2008:
Tanabata Jirachi
Regigigas
WCS 08 Lucario

2009:
Pikachu-colored Pichu
WCS 09 Weavile

2010:
WCS Eevee
Shiny Beasts (Korean too!)
WCS 10 Crobat

Someone takes picture of the Japanese Slot-2 Distribution devices and write:

ポケモンはこの配布用カセットからダブルスロットで入れてもらったんです
このカセットオークションで出たらすごい値段がつきそうですよね＾＾；
Pokemon received over double slot from this distribution cassette
I heard that this cassette auction will cost you a great price ^ ^;

 

[Nightwing13666]

I just somehow managed to mess around with the WCDPatcher app and somehow salvaged a pcd file for the Azure Flute event and I was able to generate an Azure Flute distribution rom. It has worked so far and I was able to catch a level 80 Arceus from Spear Pillar.

Hope it helps for people looking for this.

 

[Nightwing13666]

I noticed that if any other Japanese version of the Events which were in line before the Azure Flute Distribution, are used for any game, the Azure Flute cannot be sent into the game using the mystery gift.

Okay, I am not much knowledgeable on how to use a Hex editor and I have no idea how to use them, so if anyone could translate the the Azure Flute.nds file into an English rom instead of Japanese, then it could be used again.


EDIT: Spent almost 15 hours with multiple pcd files generated from Pokesav for Platinum. I noticed that the secret key wonder card distro rom prevented the sending of the azure flute into the game. after lot of trial and errors, finally solved it

Generated a new file which a close enough replica of the original Japanese azure flute wonder card. Seems to have worked over my other wonder cards.

 

[KayX2]

Might seem like a silly question, but does this work on the R4i Gold Plus?

 

[InsaneNutter]

No you need a GBA flashcard, its untested on real hardware however does work on an emulator.

 

[Invader TAK]

No you need a GBA flashcard, its untested on real hardware however does work on an emulator.

I got it to work using an EZ-Flash 3 in 1 on my Japanese copy of Platinum. Had to use a DS flash cart to flash the ROM to the 3 in 1 but it wasn't a hard process.