Hi!... My name is Roberto Fresca, and I'm part of the MAME Dev Team since 1998. Here you can find some technical things about rare hardware. This site is intended to avoid duplicated efforts. This page is *always* in construction... :-)
Hi!... My name is Roberto Fresca, and I'm part of the MAME Dev Team since 1998. Here you can find some technical things about rare hardware. This site is intended to avoid duplicated efforts. This page is *always* in construction... :-)
--- 2016/11/14 14:20 ---
Attract working!... Here some snaps.
Also added button-lamps and coin counter support to American Music Poker...
--- 2016/11/12 21:50 ---
Found an old and unknown Amusco board in an auction and Charles MacDonald was kind enough to get it...
Finally was Draw 88 Poker (V2.0), running in the same Amusco platform than American Music Poker. This will help to understand a lot of things about this platform.
Here some snaps...
The game is still not working due to some coin issues. Also detects the current inputs as an attempt to tampering.
Need more work on them...
--- 2016/02/08 17:00 ---
This board was dumped by f205v. It's similar to the former one, but...
The game have some odd things...
GFX devices are 4 times bigger and contains 4 times the same data (Maybe the manufacturers run out of proper devices)...
The background is not set properly due to a palette error. The program ROM stores the palette at offset 0xC700 onwards... The value stored at 0xC780 (color 0x80) should be black to mask the reels tilemaps and turn them 'invisible'. This program has a value of 0x40 instead, turning the tilemaps blue and therefore visible. The results is an odd effect that shouldn't be there. Need to be checked with the real board.
The hardware uses only the second half of the program ROM (double sized), that replaces the double-up's cards graphics with 'drakkars' (scandinavian / viking ships).
Here some snaps...
The Double-Up feature with scandinavian ships instead of cards (due to italian laws)...
--- 2016/01/20 21:14 ---
After long hours, got the correct bankswitching. Also found the I/O ports, hooked the YM2149 and I'm right now finishing the second CPU support for the samples sound system.
You must choose a character from the following ones:
1st: Boketa
2nd: Kunio
3rd: Pyon-Pyon
4th: Pyokorin
5th: Botechin
Then press start. The pads start to roll like reels and when finish, the character that can cross the lake is the winner. Here some snaps...
The race starts...
We have a winner!...
Also some final bonus...
And last the settings/bookkeeping mode...
And here a video of the attract running plus a couple of played games, to show you the game in action with accurate samples support...
Now we have two games of the 'Pyon Pyon' series preserved... :-) Still need to find the first one called just 'Pyon Pyon' (a marathon game where
the same characters are runners).
Hopefully one day!... :-)
--- 2016/01/18 17:22 ---
I was a bit out of the scene due to health troubles. Some days ago Ryan Holtz, Smitdogg, Shoutime, and The Dumping Union got a japanese Success board that caught my attention...
The game is 'Pyon Pyon Jump'. A japanese medal game from Success / Taiyo Jidoki. It runs in similar hardware than Kuru Kuru Pyon Pyon, but with different addressing, banks, bankswitching, etc... In fact is a MSX2 on steroids... 2x Z80 (one for audio purposes), 1x YM2149 for regular sounds, 1x OKI M5205 for samples, and a Yamaha VDP for video. Since I love these obscure games, I decided start to work in this one.
This is very preliminary, but found the writes to the Yamaha VDP registers and hooked properly the V9938. Now at least have some response on screen. After some tweaks, got the attract running, but no graphics due to the different bankswitching...
Here some snaps...
**** EDITED ****
Some graphics appeared, but still wrong banking... Keep trying... ;-)
--- 2015/11/20 14:05 ---
As I ever said, I love when rare/dark stuff appear... This time, I started to work with a dump coming from a not working hacked board with a weird banking. A lot of patches found in the program ROMs to do weird things, even in the interrupt routines.
But my surprise was once I decoded the graphics... See the tiles!
Need a lot of work to understand what the hell the program is doing... Wish me luck!
--- 2015/11/15 13:16 ---
I'm dealing with a new Aristocrat MKIV dump. I have almost working 'Fever Pitch' (not sure if it's the correct name). Inputs are still incomplete due to lack of the different betting ones (only have max bet, but doesn't behaves like maximum bet allowed). I'll try to fix this one, and get the remaining missing inputs to get the game working properly.
Here some snaps...
**** EDIT ****
Identified the game name... :-)
Got all the inputs, so the game now is working properly.
Also added a new set of Potten's Poker. Seems for amusement (at least has the 'just 4 fun' string on screen replacing the 'Insert Coins' one.
Here some snaps too:
And also added more new Aristocrat MKV sets...
- Tropical Delight (PHG0625-02, Export, 92.25%).
- The Gambler (EHG0916, Export, 92.268%).
- Party Gras (MV4115/3, Export, touch).
- Queen of the Nile (MV4091, NSW/ACT).
- The Chariot Challenge (04J00714, NSW/ACT).
- Cash Chameleon (Export).
- Bumble Bugs (Export, 92.691%).
--- 2015/11/04 08:54 ---
Well... Thanks to Matt B, that kindly dumped his boards, we have 2 new working additions. The first one, running on a ICP-1 blue board is a new set of 'Genie'. It's like a poker game, but with lamps and nasty genies (NSFW) instead of cards. The game is for amusement only. The board has some hacks to get this game running...
And here some snaps of the game running, so... Rub the lamps!
The second one is a 2/3-hand poker (configurable through the input system) entitled 'Super 98'. This one is running in a ICP-1 board, but also with hacks and different
connections to prevent roms swaps.
The game is still not working due to nested checks on the NVRAM / zeropage registers that could be harcoded from factory. Also is waiting for
the PIAs, expecting some entered info. Maybe an unlock code....
For now I bypassed some routines to get a way to go on, and work on the game emulation... The game has settings through DIP switches and 'on screen'.
Here some snaps...
Also added a new set of Potten's Poker... (I'm always asking me if it's the real name). This set is very stable and is set from factory to 2 coin for credit.
The good thing is that the supervisor mode allow to change the coin settings. Here some snaps too:
And last (but not least), added some new Aristocrat MKV sets...
- Enchanted Forest (MV4033, Export, 94.97%).
- Chicken (RHG0730, Export, 92.588%).
- Golden Pyramids (AHG1206-99, NSW/ACT, 87.928%).
- Koala Mint (MV4137, Export).
- Magic Garden (AHG1211, Export, 88.26%).
- Margarita Magic (EHG1559, NSW/ACT).
- Sweet Hearts II (PHG0742, Export, 92.252%).
--- 2015/10/26 20:41 ---
I made some moves 'alla 'Impossible Mission' to get some new games for the Aristocrat MKV platform. Also I got a mainboard for documentation and analysis purposes.
And his I/O board with a big dual UART 16C452 (not mine)...
Note these loopbacks in the board. If some of them are disconnected, the system doesn't boot.
The dumped and added titles are:
- Cuckoo (MV4104, Export).
- Mine, Mine, Mine (Export).
- Party Gras (MV4115/6, Export).
- Penguin Pays (Export).
- Wild Cougar (Export).
- Boot Scootin' (Export, 92.767%).
- Bumble Bugs (Export, 92.691%).
- Cash Chameleon (Export).
- The Chariot Challenge (04J00714, NSW/ACT).
- Dolphin Treasure (Export).
- Magic Mask (MV4115, Export, set 2).
- Adonis (MV4124/1, Export).
- Adonis (0100751V, NSW/ACT).
- Queen of the Nile (MV4091, NSW/ACT).
Some more titles are coming...
--- 2014/10/26 19:22 ---
Some years ago, when sharing some words about SuSiLu's Ms PacMan Twin, the owner of MIKI SRL told me that they released a double command PacMan, but didn't recall details at all. Just the title... "Club Pacman".
Now... Thanks to the effort of a MAME friendly called 'ytsejam', we have a proto board for this game.
See these ghastly odd hacks!!!
Controls need more work, due they are multiplexed. Need to investigate how they work... Here some pics:
--- 2014/06/16 20:55 ---
Warning: These stealth games are not related to the modern ones where the player is forced to do a 'stealth' rol. They are innocent games that have gambling games hidden inside. See the previous post for a better explanation.
Well... Back to the stealth games, I got a new PCB dump. Whilst we had a similar one in MAME (cmv4a) but without the front game code, this one is quite complete and works... It's... TETRIS!
Same strategic combo, but with different inputs combinations to trigger/switch between games. The game boots on Tetris. You can coin-up and play the game...
And again, triggering some magical inputs combo... The game turns into a Cherry Master game!
This game is also running in a taiwanese Cherry Master blue board, with some mods.
BTW, this game is also working properly, and also got the workaround to switch between games. :-)
--- 2014/06/15 23:55 ---
From ages ago, we're warned that these games exist. They are (as the 'stealth' word suggest) undetectable. Normally they have an innocent front game, and with a hidden inputs combo, you can switch to a gambling game forth and back...
Why?... Well, back then, when some countries started to prohibit the gambling games, these games start to appear as an easy way to avoid inspections, government visitors and police. You can switch from the front game to the gambling game, without to lose the stats/settings, conserving the credits, bets, etc... BTW, the Front games are totally playable. I'm currently ill and can't go further in the explanation, but I'm sure that David (or maybe another dev) will post something more elaborated about them, since they are an important piece in the videogames history.
See this one: A nice and crappy 'Super PacMan' game...
And touching some hidden switch... Turns into Cherry Master game!
The game is running in a taiwanese Cherry Master blue board, with a daughterboard placed in the Z80 location.
Here some details of the daughterboard...
BTW, the game is working properly. Also got the workaround to switch between games.
More soon!... :)