We were given a file full of some random fix length strings.
[Wani@Linux gits]$ cat lugkist GVZSNG AXZIOG YNAISG ASAIUG IVPIOK AXPIVG PVZIUG AXLIEG YUPISK AXASEG GVZSSG AXZSKG PVPIXK ZNASKG LVPSOG PVZSVK IVASNG GVPIEK IVPSNK PNZIKK YNASSG TVPSSK LVZIVG PVLSKG PVLIVG TNLING ANLSUG PVPSEG AVASVK LNLSXG PVPSKK LVPSXK TNASXG AXPSVG GNLIUG LNLSNG TVLIOK AVZINK GNZSXG IVAIVG TVPIUK LVLSSG IVLSEG AVLISK YVAIKK ZKPING YVPIKG LNZSUG PVZSOG AXZISG YVASOK ZNAING AXPSUG IVLSVG AXLIKG GVZIXG IVASUG TXGIEK PNZIEK YVLIXK IVZSEG AXLSOG [Wani@Linux gits]$
Hint provided was: "Hints: lugkist: SLTIYG". On googling, one quickly comes across: http://nintendo-entertainment-system.weebly.com/game-cheats-2.html, which tells us that these codes are game genie codes. So, obviously, we needed to decode them.
Now, since online decoders required the person to enter the 62 codes manually, to decode them, I needed to write a program. So, I read the rules of decoding here and wrote the following python program:
def func(op):
if op == 'A':
return 0x0
if op == 'P':
return 0x1
if op == 'Z':
return 0x2
if op == 'L':
return 0x3
if op == 'G':
return 0x4
if op == 'I':
return 0x5
if op == 'T':
return 0x6
if op == 'Y':
return 0x7
if op == 'E':
return 0x8
if op == 'O':
return 0x9
if op == 'X':
return 0xA
if op == 'U':
return 0xB
if op == 'K':
return 0xC
if op == 'S':
return 0xD
if op == 'V':
return 0xE
if op == 'N':
return 0xF
import sys
n = [func(x) for x in sys.argv[1]]
address = 0x8000 + ((n[2] & 7) << 12)| ((n[4] & 7) << 8) | ((n[3] & 8) << 8) | ((n[1] & 7) << 4) | ((n[0] & 8) << 4) | (n[3] & 7) | (n[2] & 8);
data = ((n[1] & 7) << 4) | ((n[0] & 8) << 4) | (n[0] & 7) | (n[5] & 8);
print "%0x %0x"%(address, data)
Lets see what the output is!
[Wani@Linux gits]$ while read line ; do python genie.py $line ; done < lugkist af65 64 a125 20 8575 77 8355 50 9165 6d 9625 20 a365 61 b025 20 9535 3f 8825 20 ad65 64 ac25 20 9265 69 8c75 72 9965 63 ae65 69 8f65 65 9065 6c 9f65 6d a475 79 8d75 77 9d65 6e a665 63 bc65 61 b665 61 b775 76 bb75 70 9865 61 8e65 68 ba75 73 9c65 69 9a65 6b 8a75 76 9e25 20 b375 74 bf75 73 b165 6e a765 68 aa75 74 8665 65 9365 6e bd65 63 b865 65 b565 68 8465 6f 9745 42 9465 67 ab75 73 a965 61 a525 20 8965 6f 8775 72 9b25 20 be65 65 b425 20 a265 64 8b65 65 c025 2e a075 79 b265 6f a865 65 b925 20 [Wani@Linux gits]$
The second column seemed to have numbers which seem printable characters. But the address are not. So, making a few changes:
address_ = int(str("%0x"%address), 16)
print "%d %d"%(address_, data)
Lets see the output now:
[Wani@Linux gits]$ while read line ; do python genie.py $line ; done < lugkist | awk '{printf "%c",$2}' | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/ /g'
d wPm a ? d ircielmywncaavpahsikv tsnhtencehoBgsa or e de.yoe [Wani@Linux gits]$
Looks a little messed. Lets try this sorting according to memory. (Remember assembly instructions in memory?)
[Wani@Linux gits]$ while read line ; do python genie.py $line ; done < lugkist | sort -k1n | awk '{printf "%c",$2}' | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/ /g'
Power overwhelming? Back in my day cheats did not have spaces.[Wani@Linux gits]$
