From 0a3fcb3cdfc1d9b834f88efc2e1bb00be724e4d5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mow <32942550+taxicat1@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 23 May 2026 04:22:15 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Add race condition patch for Houkago Shounen (Japan) (#178)

---
 CHANGELOG.md        |  1 +
 data/patchlist.json | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d255adc..a4bc2f2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 - DMA card read support for the DSTT platform - by @lifehackerhansol
 - DMA card read support for the M3DS platform - by @lifehackerhansol
 - AP patches for NRL Mascot Mania and AFL Mascot Manor - by @taxicat1
+- Houkago Shounen race condition patch - by @taxicat1
 
 ### Fixed
 - DMA card read offsets for Pokemon Ranger (EU) - by @taxicat1
diff --git a/data/patchlist.json b/data/patchlist.json
index ff9588d..1debdbf 100644
--- a/data/patchlist.json
+++ b/data/patchlist.json
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@
             {
                 "type": "replace",
                 "address": "0205653C",
-                "data": "20 B5 05 00 68 6F 01 38 07 D0 05 DF 68 6F 01 38 03 D0 90 21 68 58 40 00 01 38 20 BD",
+                "data": "20 B5 05 00 68 6F 01 38 07 D0 05 DF 68 6F 01 38 03 D0 90 21 68 58 40 00 01 38 20 BD"
             }
         ]
     },
@@ -334,7 +334,27 @@
             {
                 "type": "replace",
                 "address": "0205653C",
-                "data": "20 B5 05 00 68 6F 01 38 07 D0 05 DF 68 6F 01 38 03 D0 90 21 68 58 40 00 01 38 20 BD",
+                "data": "20 B5 05 00 68 6F 01 38 07 D0 05 DF 68 6F 01 38 03 D0 90 21 68 58 40 00 01 38 20 BD"
+            }
+        ]
+    },
+
+    // YHGJ - Houkago Shounen (Japan)
+    //
+    // This game has a save speed race condition leading to a softlock. The game will draw a face in the notebook during the 
+    // card async wait, and once the face is finished, set a flag to advance the menu state. But if saving finishes too quickly,
+    // it will exit the async wait, stop calling the face-drawing function, never finish it, never set the flag, and become stuck.
+    // To fix this, part of the saving function is rewritten to include a check for if the async wait idle callback function is the one
+    // that draws the face, and if this is the final block of save data to be written (saving happens in four blocks).
+    // If both of these are true, then it will loop calling the save idle callback until the menu advance flag is set.
+    {
+        "gameCode": "YHGJ", // Houkago Shounen (Japan)
+        "gameVersion": 0,
+        "patches": [
+            {
+                "type": "replace",
+                "address": "02027EB4",
+                "data": "FF FF FF FA 08 4D A8 42 0C D1 3F 0C 0A D2 76 09 08 D2 06 4E F6 68 A8 47 30 78 05 28 FB D1 30 79 1C 28 F8 D3 00 F0 52 E8 50 C1 09 02 CC 87 0C 02"
             }
         ]
     },