diff --git a/src/mame/machine/snes.c b/src/mame/machine/snes.c
index debaabe06f5..b33b92a566a 100644
--- a/src/mame/machine/snes.c
+++ b/src/mame/machine/snes.c
@@ -338,18 +338,6 @@ READ8_HANDLER( snes_r_io )
 	/* offset is from 0x000000 */
 	switch( offset )
 	{
-		/* hacks for SimCity 2000 (J) to boot - I presume openbus emulation will fix */
-		case 0x221a:
-		case 0x231c:
-		case 0x241e:
-			return 1;
-		case 0x2017:
-		case 0x221b:
-		case 0x231d:
-		case 0x241f:
-			return 0;
-		case 0x2016:
-			return 2;
 		case OAMDATA:	/* 21xy for x=0,1,2 and y=4,5,6,8,9,a returns PPU1 open bus*/
 		case BGMODE:
 		case MOSAIC:
diff --git a/src/mame/video/snes.c b/src/mame/video/snes.c
index f215f744c0f..afde5f18cf6 100644
--- a/src/mame/video/snes.c
+++ b/src/mame/video/snes.c
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ INLINE void snes_update_line( UINT8 screen, UINT8 color_depth, UINT8 hires, UINT
 			tile_divider = 2;
 			break;
 		case SNES_COLOR_DEPTH_8BPP:
-			color_shift = 6;	// 2009-08 FP: this should be 6 or 8, if I'm following correctly the drawing code
+			color_shift = 0;	//n/a, pal offset is always zero
 			color_planes = 8;
 			tile_divider = 4;
 			break;
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ INLINE void snes_update_line( UINT8 screen, UINT8 color_depth, UINT8 hires, UINT
 		vflip = snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x80;
 		hflip = snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x40;
 		priority = ((snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x20) >> 5) ? priority_b : priority_a;
-		pal = (snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x1c) << color_shift;		/* 8 palettes of (4 * color_shift) colours */
+		pal = (color_depth == SNES_COLOR_DEPTH_8BPP) ? 0 : (snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x1c) << color_shift;		/* 8 palettes of (4 * color_shift) colours */
 		tile = (snes_vram[tmap + ii + 1] & 0x3) << 8;
 		tile |= snes_vram[tmap + ii] & 0xff;