Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I think you'll find he left 'sausage' out of his Dictionary, Baldrick



The title and heading image are from the Blackadder episode Ink and Incapability, dealing with the first ever English dictionary - which apparently lacked a number of words including sausage. Rather apt given that this blog entry lists EVERY SINGLE WORD in the video game known as Wordtris (GB version). And it too is missing the word sausage. Join us for some ROMhacking fun.


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I've been playing Wordtris on the Game Boy, and it is terrible. Almost Your Weekly Kusoge terrible, in that the concept just doesn't work - in trying to make long words, you will almost always accidentally make shorter words, thereby curtailing your attempt. Higher "difficulties" omit shorter words, but it doesn't really fix the problem. It also annoyingly seems to count two separate words stuck together, again ruining attempts to go for that really big word, purely by accident. The other thing is that the GB, and possibly the other versions of the game, just don't have enough memory to carry a large enough list of words. Tetris, Puyo Puyo, and every other puzzle game work because they've based on simple mathematical rules. Wordtris is meant to encapsulate the entire English language, and yet it's missing words like sausage and genie. Swearing I can understand being omitted, but when the game failed to recognise genie I just gave up. It does not function as intended due to hardware limitations.

Then I wondered: what words DOES it recognise?

So I went to Romhacking.net and posed a question on the forum, and forum user Zoinkity replied. His message, including a subsequent PM:

---
Text table starts at 0x1CE76, though there is a set of tables that define each start and length for each possible word length (like 'word' within 'wordy') and I'm far to lazy to disassemble anything at the moment. As for actual variations on words, it just changes the length of them. That's why the original list is in such a bizarre order; note how words that can end in 'd' or 's' will be followed by a word starting with that letter.  That's some pretty impressive sorting they did to conserve space like that.
---



There are two lists here. The first is the order they appear in the game, since the end of some words lead on to other words. If I understand this correctly, Flood and Issue are together to produce the word "Diss"? Actually, I'm not sure, I haven't tested that. Perhaps Letter and Shrink, to include Letters? Regardless, there's two lists here, so those curious can see what is actually under the hood.

There are by my count 301 basic words in the GB version, with more when you include compounds and words-within-words. How many words do the DOS, Mac and SNES versions have? I dunno, and I'm not that interested in investigating. But perhaps someone else will look into this and maybe produce an amusing chart or graph comparing how linguistical the different versions are. Which is wordier?

And, most importantly, which version if any contains the word SAUSAGE.

There's probably an amazing investigative article hidden within this topic.


The list Zoinkity discovered:

GREEN
BOGUS
CLOWN
ZEBRA
KNOCK
PEACE
EDICT
HAPPY
EARTH
KNAVE
GREAT
GRAPE
APPLE
TOTAL
SHAME
STONE
WHOLE
ROUND
BINGO
CROWD
STAND
YEAST
EXCEL
HOVER
EXALT
FANCY
GUILE
TRICK
FLOOD
ISSUE
ACUTE
MANIA
FABLE
NOVEL
STORY
BRAWL
GORGE
STUFF
BLINK
EMPTY
BLUNT
PRIME
CHIEF
ADAPT
EQUIP
AFFIX
LIMIT
GROSS
DECAY
BLOOM
CHECK
GRANT
YIELD
PROOF
SOBER
WORDY
WORRY
FUNNY
BRAND
SIGHT
AMAZE
DOUBT
STARE
COMICS
CORN
WRECK
SWEAT
FAINT
JADED
WEARY
TEASE
RELAX
HONOR
MERIT
PROBE
QUEST
HASTY
RAPID
SWIFT
QUERY
QUAKE
CROWN
BLISS
AXIOM
AVOID
BASIC
BLANK
ADMIT
CATCH
DELAY
FAITH
GIANT
HAUNT
IDEAL
JUDGE
KNACK
LEARN
MAGIC
CHARM
SPICE
DETACH
MOUSSE
AMAZON
FALTER
ACACIA
SQUEAL
LIVING
SACHET
EFFORT
ACCORD
ZEALOT
FLIGHT
EXCITE
LETTER
SHRINK
REDUCE
CHANGE
SIGNAL
SULTRY
MORTAL
ENIGMA
VORTEX
GENTLE
COSMIC
FRENZY
FAMOUS
SCRAPE
EXCESS
OBSESS
ATTACH
ADROIT
MIRAGE
THWART
ASSUME
RECKON
IMPEDE
DENOTE
SAVAGE
BATTLE
SYMBOL
OCCUPY
SCREEN
SETTLE
SMOOTH
GROUND
STRONG
ADJUST
MISFIT
GOVERN
LOCATE
DESERT
REVOKE
VACATE
REVIVE
COMBAT
ENDURE
SUBMIT
WONDER
MODEST
ADMIRE
COMPEL
PONDER
IGNORE
FALCON
STRIVE
MOTHER
SISTER
HARASS
PESTER
PLAGUE
SOOTHE
SEARCH
SURVEY
ACTIVE
CLEVER
SHREWD
SECRET
COVERT
OBJECT
BEYOND
CANCEL
CARTEL
LAVISH
DOCILE
FABRIC
GALAXY
ROBUST
HAZARD
STEREO
JARGON
LAWFUL
MALADY
NARROW
OCCUPY
MINGLE
RESCUE
SECURE
SPHERE
TENDER
UNIQUE
GRAPHIC
WHISPER
EXPLODE
BELOVED
CHERISH
PRECISE
BENEFIT
CONTROL
FLUTTER
NATURAL
COMBINE
WRESTLE
COMPACT
SATISFY
MARSHAL
FICTION
MINIMAL
BUOYANT
DISTANT
FANTASY
AGITATE
SUSPEND
PERPLEX
ELEVATE
NOSTRIL
MUSICAL
PARABLE
REALITY
SUPREME
EXHAUST
IMITATE
PENALTY
CORRECT
ADVANCE
WRINKLE
SHIMMER
SHRIVEL
CONCEAL
MYSTERY
SUCCUMB
PROBLEM
MIRACLE
EVIDENT
NEGLECT
CONCISE
ACHIEVE
NATURAL
EXCLUDE
PROTECT
ANXIETY
CONCERN
BROTHER
TROUBLE
TORMENT
COMFORT
BENEFIT
UTILITY
CRUSADE
PURSUIT
BRUSQUE
DYNAMIC
QUARREL
CALLOUS
COMPLEX
BALANCE
REQUEST
CAUTION
ACQUIRE
ORGANIC
CAPABLE
CAPITAL
PATTERN
PENALTY
HEALTHY
ECSTASY
FASHION
HIDEOUS
GENERAL
GIMMICK
HOSTILE
VERSION
JOURNEY
KINGDOM
LECTURE
MACHINE
NEUTRAL
OBVIOUS
PASSION
PEEVISH
QUALITY
RESIDUE
RESTORE
SCANDAL
SCATTER
TEXTURE
UPRIGHT
SUBJECT
VENTURE
WELCOME
LICENSE
LEVEL


Re-arranged into alphabetical order by me:

ACACIA
ACCORD
ACHIEVE
ACQUIRE
ACTIVE
ACUTE
ADAPT
ADJUST
ADMIRE
ADMIT
ADROIT
ADVANCE
AFFIX
AGITATE
AMAZE
AMAZON
ANXIETY
APPLE
ASSUME
ATTACH
AVOID
AXIOM
BALANCE
BASIC
BATTLE
BELOVED
BENEFIT
BENEFIT
BEYOND
BINGO
BLANK
BLINK
BLISS
BLOOM
BLUNT
BOGUS
BRAND
BRAWL
BROTHER
BRUSQUE
BUOYANT
CALLOUS
CANCEL
CAPABLE
CAPITAL
CARTEL
CATCH
CAUTION
CHANGE
CHARM
CHECK
CHERISH
CHIEF
CLEVER
CLOWN
COMBAT
COMBINE
COMFORT
COMICS
COMPACT
COMPEL
COMPLEX
CONCEAL
CONCERN
CONCISE
CONTROL
CORN
CORRECT
COSMIC
COVERT
CROWD
CROWN
CRUSADE
DECAY
DELAY
DENOTE
DESERT
DETACH
DISTANT
DOCILE
DOUBT
DYNAMIC
EARTH
ECSTASY
EDICT
EFFORT
ELEVATE
EMPTY
ENDURE
ENIGMA
EQUIP
EVIDENT
EXALT
EXCEL
EXCESS
EXCITE
EXCLUDE
EXHAUST
EXPLODE
FABLE
FABRIC
FAINT
FAITH
FALCON
FALTER
FAMOUS
FANCY
FANTASY
FASHION
FICTION
FLIGHT
FLOOD
FLUTTER
FRENZY
FUNNY
GALAXY
GENERAL
GENTLE
GIANT
GIMMICK
GORGE
GOVERN
GRANT
GRAPE
GRAPHIC
GREAT
GREEN
GROSS
GROUND
GUILE
HAPPY
HARASS
HASTY
HAUNT
HAZARD
HEALTHY
HIDEOUS
HONOR
HOSTILE
HOVER
IDEAL
IGNORE
IMITATE
IMPEDE
ISSUE
JADED
JARGON
JOURNEY
JUDGE
KINGDOM
KNACK
KNAVE
KNOCK
LAVISH
LAWFUL
LEARN
LECTURE
LETTER
LEVEL
LICENSE
LIMIT
LIVING
LOCATE
MACHINE
MAGIC
MALADY
MANIA
MARSHAL
MERIT
MINGLE
MINIMAL
MIRACLE
MIRAGE
MISFIT
MODEST
MORTAL
MOTHER
MOUSSE
MUSICAL
MYSTERY
NARROW
NATURAL
NATURAL
NEGLECT
NEUTRAL
NOSTRIL
NOVEL
OBJECT
OBSESS
OBVIOUS
OCCUPY
OCCUPY
ORGANIC
PARABLE
PASSION
PATTERN
PEACE
PEEVISH
PENALTY
PENALTY
PERPLEX
PESTER
PLAGUE
PONDER
PRECISE
PRIME
PROBE
PROBLEM
PROOF
PROTECT
PURSUIT
QUAKE
QUALITY
QUARREL
QUERY
QUEST
RAPID
REALITY
RECKON
REDUCE
RELAX
REQUEST
RESCUE
RESIDUE
RESTORE
REVIVE
REVOKE
ROBUST
ROUND
SACHET
SATISFY
SAVAGE
SCANDAL
SCATTER
SCRAPE
SCREEN
SEARCH
SECRET
SECURE
SETTLE
SHAME
SHIMMER
SHREWD
SHRINK
SHRIVEL
SIGHT
SIGNAL
SISTER
SMOOTH
SOBER
SOOTHE
SPHERE
SPICE
SQUEAL
STAND
STARE
STEREO
STONE
STORY
STRIVE
STRONG
STUFF
SUBJECT
SUBMIT
SUCCUMB
SULTRY
SUPREME
SURVEY
SUSPEND
SWEAT
SWIFT
SYMBOL
TEASE
TENDER
TEXTURE
THWART
TORMENT
TOTAL
TRICK
TROUBLE
UNIQUE
UPRIGHT
UTILITY
VACATE
VENTURE
VERSION
VORTEX
WEARY
WELCOME
WHISPER
WHOLE
WONDER
WORDY
WORRY
WRECK
WRESTLE
WRINKLE
YEAST
YIELD
ZEALOT
ZEBRA

3 comments:

  1. reminds me when some guy put up the list of 'banned' word in unirally/uniracer:

    http://forums.x-cult.org/topic/4809-unirallys-swears-list/

    good times.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hum... A highly necessary post...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If it's so unnecessary to you, why did you bother reading it? Little obscure technical details of games fascinate me (seriously, I would love more articles in this vein) and I'd appreciate if you kept your off-topic opinions to yourself. Thank you.

      Delete