Asphalt Vendetta 32X

A vehicular-combat game for the Sega 32X, built as a from-scratch
reimplementation of the mechanics documented in the
tm1_decomp PlayStation
decompilation, retargeted to real 32X-on-Genesis hardware.

Output: tm32x.32x — a 4 MiB cartridge image with selectable Lean,
Balanced and Full graphics profiles.

Vibe-coded by D-Mar The Daytripper.

Quick start

Run the ROM in any 32X-capable emulator (PicoDrive, Kega Fusion, Ares,
BlastEm), or on hardware via flash cart / Mega Everdrive.

Controls — a six-button pad is detected automatically by the 68000
during the controller poll; a three-button pad falls back to the classic
layout. Both schemes feed the same internal action set, so the car handles
identically either way. On six-button pads, D-pad UP/DOWN are additional
throttle/brake inputs; the existing B/A assignments and all other
six-button controls remain available.

Action	6-button pad	3-button pad
Steer	D-pad LEFT/RIGHT	D-pad LEFT/RIGHT
Accelerate	B and D-pad UP	D-pad UP
Brake / reverse	A and D-pad DOWN	D-pad DOWN
Machine gun	C	B
Special weapon	Y	A
Cycle weapons	Z	C
Change camera	X	—
Pause menu	START	START
Standings (kills/deaths)	MODE	—

MODE freezes the match and shows the scoreboard; press it again to drop
straight back in. See "Checking the score mid-match" below.

The Select Mode screen reports which pad was detected; on a six-button pad
the MODE button pins the game to the three-button layout if you prefer it.
(The two uses never collide: one is on the Select Mode screen, the other is
only live during gameplay.)

Camera — X cycles four views: chase, close chase, bumper (your own
car is hidden) and a high wide shot.

In menus UP/DOWN move the selection; LEFT/RIGHT change the selected
setting. Graphics can also be changed from the pause menu during a match.

Content: 12 vehicles with distinct top speed / acceleration / handling /

armour / mass, 9 weapons across 5 ballistic classes, 3 arenas with props,

spawns and pickup placements.

Front end

The main menu is three rows - 1 PLAYER, 2 PLAYERS, OPTIONS -
with up/down to move and START or A to confirm. In Options, up/down selects
a row and left/right changes that setting. B returns to the main menu; the
BACK row does the same. The two axes are kept separate: up/down never
edits a value and left/right never moves the highlight.

Options menu, row by row

Row	What it controls	Values and default
TIME LIMIT	Match length; the choice is used when the next match starts.	1–15 minutes; 3 min by default
DIFFICULTY	CPU firing aggressiveness. Higher settings make opponents more likely to use their guns and special weapons.	Training Wheels / Pro / Vendetta; Pro by default
VEHICLES	Total active vehicles in the arena, including human players; any remaining slots are CPUs. The choice applies to the next match.	2–6 total; 6 by default
P1 PAD	Player 1's stock button-binding layout. With a detected six-button pad, left/right switches between the six-button and classic three-button presets; changing it restores that preset's default bindings.	6 BUTTON by default on six-button input; a detected three-button pad shows 3 BUTTON (ONLY) and cannot be toggled
P2 PAD	Player 2's stock binding layout. Left/right switches presets when port two has a controller; the pad's detection still determines whether six-button-only inputs are available.	6 BUTTON by default when connected; NO CONNECT when port two is empty
CUSTOMISE CONTROLS	Opens the control-binding screen, described below.	Press A, C or START to open
MUSIC	Menu and match music volume.	0 = mute, 10 = maximum; 6 by default
SOUND FX	Sound-effects volume, including gameplay and menu effects.	0 = mute, 10 = maximum; 9 by default
GRAPHICS	Selects the Lean, Balanced or Full effects profile. It also appears in the pause menu, where a change takes effect while the match is paused.	Lean / Balanced / Full; Balanced by default
BACK	Returns to the main menu.	Also press B

On CUSTOMISE CONTROLS, choose the player and action with up/down. Use
left/right to cycle that action's binding: NONE, A, B or C are available on
a three-button layout; a six-button layout also offers X, Y, Z and MODE.
Choose RESET TO DEFAULT and press A to restore the selected player's
stock layout. Steering and START stay fixed; up/down remain direct throttle
and brake controls as well. Press B or choose BACK to return to Options.

STANDINGS is available in the pause menu for three-button players who do
not have a Mode button. It sits after the camera choices and returns to the
pause panel rather than dropping back into the match.

Graphics profiles

All four effects are compiled into one 4 MiB cartridge. Choose Graphics
in the front-end Options screen or in the pause menu during a match; use
left/right to cycle Lean → Balanced → Full. Balanced is selected by
default. A pause-menu change redraws the frozen scene immediately and stays
active when play resumes.

profile	effects	documented fps	cadence (frames per tick)
Lean	none	21.47	500 x 3, 3 x 4
Balanced (default)	shadows + damage	21.20	507 x 3, 7 x 4
Full	all four	18.53	328 x 3, 175 x 4

“None” in Lean means no per-face lighting, light pools, car shadows, or
progressive damage appearance; damage remains part of the gameplay. Balanced
keeps shadows and damage shading, and disables per-face lighting and light
pools. Full enables all four effects. These are the README's measured profile
ratings; actual frame rate varies by scene and emulator/hardware.

Credits and licensing

• Mechanics, physics and ballistics reimplemented from
  tm1_decomp (MIT) by Abel Briggs.
• 68000 boot and resident code derives from Chilly Willy's 32X support code,
  by way of noudar-32x
  (BSD 2-Clause, Daniel Monteiro), whose three-file boot split this follows.
• Hardware documentation and the verification approach follow
  sega-32x-skill-for-claude.
• PWM mixer design informed by
  tracker-player-32x.
• Test harness built against PicoDrive.

All game content in this repository — names, tables, meshes, sprites and
sounds — is original or generated at build time.