This document focuses on the data in the Panel de Pon ROM
from memory address ~14B80. I believe this data contains
the ruleset which defines the player's and AI's fields of
panels. It will be updated to reflect further testing.

Around 14B80 there are a series of strings that look like:

AD 60 0E 89 40 00 F0 16 89 20 00 D0 11 AD 60 18 89 00 01 D0 09 A2 E2 00 8E 96 03 20 B8 DC
AD 62 0E 89 40 00 F0 16 89 20 00 D0 11 AD 62 18 89 00 01 D0 09 A2 E4 00 8E 96 03 20 B8 DC
AD 64 0E 89 40 00 F0 16 89 20 00 D0 11 AD 64 18 89 00 01 D0 09 A2 E6 00 8E 96 03 20 B8 DC

Etc. Notable differences are the digits after AD (60/62/64)
and the digits after A2 (E2/E4/E6). The remaining digits
are constant in each string.

There are a total of 72 of these strings, corresponding to
the 72 slots on the player's field which may contain panels.

Taking the two hex numbers after "AD" as a label for each of
these slots, and arrangeing them visually, this is how they
line up to describe the field in-game:

32 34 36 38 3A 3C
42 44 46 48 4A 4C
52 54 56 58 5A 5C
62 64 66 68 6A 6C
72 74 76 78 7A 7C
82 84 86 88 8A 8C
92 94 96 98 9A 9C
A2 A4 A6 A8 AA AC
B2 B4 B6 B8 BA BC
C2 C4 C6 C8 CA CC
D2 D4 D6 D8 DA DC
E2 E4 E6 E8 EA EC

In other words, "E2" corresponds to the very bottom left
slot on the player's field.

The AI has a field defined in the same way, with the same
numbers (32-EC) corresponding to the slots. The AI field
is defined starting around memory address 153D0 in the ROM. 

The data for what specific panels appear in these fields is
defined elsewhere. These strings, as far as I can tell,
simply indicate the rules for how far panels drop when they
are downstacked or when something clears underneath them.
This may also inform logic for what constitutes chains and
AI garbage clears.

                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
                  DOCUMENT IN PROGRESS.
                   Testing is Ongoing.
                ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Testing/Methodology Thus Far:

* Over-writing the data in the player field strings with
unrecognizable data (e.g. straight 0's or 1's) caused the
game to freeze immediately after the "3...2...1..."
countdown, on the very first frame in which the game would
start. This was replicated in both Endless and Vs. modes.

* Over-writing the digits preceded by "AD" in every string
with the same number (for example, over-writing
E4/E6/E8/EA/EC/etc. all with "E2") resulted in strange
behavior in which aligned panels would sometimes not clear,
in some cases panels would not fall entirely to the floor
after panels below them cleared, etc; this leads me to
believe these strings describe the field logic and relative
positions of panels.

* Notably, in the above case (over-writing all of the AD ##
digits in each string with the same digits), there would be
precisely one panel that would trigger a "jumping" animation
seemingly out of nowhere; the placement of this panel
exactly corresponds to the spot on the matrix listed above.
This was how the labeling convention was determined.

* Further testing needed to determine what the remaining
digits in each string do and what the AI is able to "see"
from this data to make decisions on matching panels and
clearing blocks.

Document created 10/31/2021 by ArcanaXIX.