Dragon Warrior (NES) - ROM

USA

USA

NES Header

00000-0000F

If your ROM is in iNES format, the first 16 bytes will be the iNES header.

Map Headers

0002A-000BF

There are 30 map headers, each is 5 bytes. The first two bytes are the starting address to begin reading the map data. It's stored as a 16-bit little-endian integer, however, the offset is based on where it will be loaded when the game is running, to get the ROM offset, subtract 32,768, then add 16 to account for the ROM header. The next two bytes are the map's width and height in tiles, the final byte is the tile to be used as the map's border. The first record is all zeroes, the second is the overworld Alefgard map, but it is not stored with the others and uses compression, the remaining 28 are the indoor maps.

Indoor Map Tile Data

000C0-01323

Indoor maps are stored using 4-bit encoding, so 1 byte is 2 tiles, based on the hi and lo nybble of the byte. Maps are made from a set of 16 tiles picked from the full background set. The tile set, NPC locations, chest locations, and roof locations are stored elsewhere.

000C0-00187 - Charlock Castle (20x20)
00188-0024F - Hauksness (20x20)
00250-00411 - Tantegel Castle (30x30)
00412-00443 - King Lorik's Throne Room (10x10)
00444-00605 - Dragonlord's Throne Room (30x30)
00606-00725 - Kol (24x24)
00726-008E7 - Brecconary (30x30)
008E8-00AA9 - Cantlin (30x30)
00AAA-00B71 - Garinham (20x20)
00B72-00D33 - Rimuldar (30x30)

00D34-00D65 - Sunlight Stones Cave (10x10) - Different tile set
00D66-00D97 - Rain Cave (10x10) - Different tile set
00D98-00DC9 - Rainbow Drop Cave (10x10) - Different tile set
00DCA-00E91 - Charlock Dungeon Level 1 (20x20)
00E92-00EC3 - Charlock Dungeon Level 2 (10x10)
00EC4-00EF5 - Charlock Dungeon Level 3 (10x10)
00EF6-00F27 - Charlock Dungeon Level 4 (10x10)
00F28-00F59 - Charlock Dungeon Level 5 (10x10)
00F5A-00F8B - Charlock Dungeon Level 6 (10x10)
00F8C-00FE5 - Swamp Cave (6x30)
00FE6-01047 - Mountain Cave Level 1 (14x14)
01048-010A9 - Mountain Cave Level 2 (14x14)
010AA-01171 - Garin's Grave Level 1 (20x20)
01172-01239 - Garin's Grave Level 3 (20x20)
0123A-0136B - Garin's Grave Level 4 (10x10)
0126C-012BF - Garin's Grave Level 2 (10x10)
012C0-012F1 - Erdrick's Cave Level 1 (10x10)
012F2-01323 - Erdrick's Cave Level 2 (10x10)

Map Tile Set Definitions

019F3-01A1F

Each map type has a unique tile set. The indoor maps all use a tile set of 16 tiles built from the complete list found in the Background Tile Definitions.

019F3-01A0F - Alefgard
01A10-01A1F - Towns / Castles

Background Tile Definitions

0F5C5-0F687

Each tile is five bytes. The first four are the address in the PPU's tile memory read left-to-right, top-to-bottom. The fifth byte is the palette.

00 - F5C5 - Grass - 02
01 - F5CA - Desert - 03
02 - F5CF - Hill - 03
03 - F5D4 - Stairs Up - 01
04 - F5D9 - Brick Floor - 01
05 - F5DE - Stairs Down - 01
06 - F5E3 - Swamp - 02
07 - F5E8 - Town - 00
08 - F5ED - Cave Entrance - 01
09 - F5F2 - Castle - 00
0A - F5F7 - Bridge - 00
0B - F5FC - Trees - 02
0C - F601 - Chest - 01
0D - F606 - Force Field - 03
0E - F60B - Counter - 02
0F - F610 - Water - 00
10 - F615 - Stone Wall - 01
11 - F61A - Door - 01
12 - F61F - Mountain - 01
13 - F624 - Shop Sign - 01
14 - F629 - Inn Sign - 01
15 - F62E - Roof - 01
16 - F633 - Void - 01
17 - F638 - Princess Tile - 01
18 - F63D - Shore Top - 00
19 - F642 - Shore Left - 00
1A - F647 - Shore Top-Left - 00
1B - F64C - Shore Right - 00
1C - F651 - Shore Top-Right - 00
1D - F656 - Shore Left-Right - 00
1E - F65B - Shore Left-Top-Right - 00
1F - F660 - Shore Bottom - 00
20 - F665 - Shore Top-Bottom - 00
21 - F66A - Shore Left-Bottom - 00
22 - F66F - Shore Left-Top-Bottom - 00
23 - F674 - Shore Right-Bottom - 00
24 - F679 - Shore Top-Right-Bottom - 00
25 - F67E - Shore Left-Bottom-Right - 00
26 - F683 - Shore Left-Top-Bottom-Right - 00

Graphics

10010-1400F

First character set is dual encoded with italic numbers, the Enix logo, and The End graphic.

Japan

Japan

USA (Rev 1)