Removing the "Banon Fell" condition from the game

Banon's death during battle triggers a game over while he is with you during the Lete River. If you'd like to remove this annoying condition, keep reading.

I will assume you you are able to search the rom in HIROM format for specific addresses and that you're able to change bytes as well. (Hex Editing).

There are three instances in the C2 bank where the Banon condition is documented:

Instance 1

Code:

C2/06DF: A9 06        LDA #$06
C2/06E1: 8D 6E 3A     STA $3A6E   (Banon fell... "End of combat" method #6)

Instance 2

Code:

Pointers for Special Combat Endings
Code pointers

C2/48F7: 97 48    (02-Warp)
C2/48F9: E0 48    (04-Gau leapt)
C2/48FB: F0 48    (06-Banon fell)
C2/48FD: A1 48    (08-FB 02-Usual monster script way to end a battle)
C2/48FF: EB 48    (0A-FB 09-Used by returning Gau when he joins the
                         party)
C2/4901: 22 4A    (0C-Annihilation perhaps?)

Instance 3

Code:

(Banon fell)
C2/48F0: A9 36        LDA #$36
C2/48F2: 20 CA 5F     JSR $5FCA
C2/48F5: 80 98        BRA $488F

Though there are other ways to do it, The easiest way to remove this condition is to replace the code from instance 1 by the NOP opcode, which will tell the game to "do nothing". That is, replace this

Code:

C2/06DF: A9 06        LDA #$06
C2/06E1: 8D 6E 3A     STA $3A6E   (Banon fell... "End of combat" method #6)

by THIS:

Code:

C2/06DF: EA EA         NOP
C2/06E1: EA EA EA     NOP

That should work and now Banon can die countless times .