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Work on the NeoGeo Pocket core continues. The system is very complex for a small handheld, mainly due to the Toshiba MCU that powers it. The MCU is comprised of the processor, the TLCS900h and many peripherals such as an interrupt controller, timers, ADC, etc. This MCU seems to be a variation of the
For MiSTer and Pocket FPGA users, how many of you use an automatic updater to install cores in your devices?
2023-05-16 04:27:54 +0000 UTC View Post
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The Konami CPU seems to have at least two different flavours, named 052001 and 052256 on original schematics. The first one, older and present in Haunted Castle, seems more like a cut-down version of the Motorola 6809. But the second one expands the CPU capabilities with more instructions, especially string manip...
2023-05-12 13:43:44 +0000 UTC View PostEspañol abajo 日本語は以下
Beta calendar
Maintenance updates this week
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As planned, we have a new game for the JTKIWI core this week, the great Arkanoid sequel. I find this game much more fun than the first while keeping with its spirit. Skutis worked on the schematics for this board. It is very similar to the other boards in this TAITO series but it has a uPD4701, which is the most common chip used for spinn...
2023-04-28 11:39:28 +0000 UTC View Post
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Beta files
Find the beta files through update_all if you use MiSTer or directly in JTBIN. For the other platforms, used the files attached. MiSTer users need the jtbeta.zip, which has not changed. We have an additional core for Pocket users: JTCOMSC (compatible with Konami’s Combat School...
2023-04-14 13:24:54 +0000 UTC View Post
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Konami CPU
We are testing the CPU now and we are honestly shocked at how well it is going. If you were here last Autumn you would remember that we were working on the NGP CPU and that progress was slow. Eventually, the freshman engineer who was working on it parted ways with us and I had to look for another person. ...
2023-03-31 18:15:51 +0000 UTC View Post
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After much work, we finally have the line-based frame buffers working on both the MiSTer and the Pocket. As I explained before, most arcade games draw the sprites as the image lines are scanned. This gives about 64 microseconds to parse and draw the line pixels for each visible sprite. In games with many sprites or very large sprites, lik...
2023-03-24 17:42:12 +0000 UTC View Post(Español abajo, 日本語は以下)
The last time we talked about Out Run, we had the game running on several platforms with the FPGA clocked at 96MHz and some graphic glitches, especially in the sprites. The 96MHz version wasn’t stable on MiSTer and it didn’t work for many people. A 48MHz version was available too, which was stable but more glitchy. What makes Out R...
2023-03-11 20:48:20 +0000 UTC View PostEspañol abajo 日本語は以下
A lot of people demand support for odd controllers, like the rotary joystick with a top button used on Forgotten Worlds. Yet, I was surprised when I was asked to support a ride. Yes, you can now play Magical Pumpkin, a ride videogame that operates on CPS1 hardware. The game features characters popular among kids to this day and t...
2023-03-03 12:39:31 +0000 UTC View Post
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The New Zealand Story, released by Taito in 1988.
The story follows the lovable protagonist, the flightless bird "Kiwi", as he uses various vehicles and equipment to rescue his friends.
Initially, there were no plans to develop this game. However, it was eventually made by Taito, who had been working on part 2 of Crazy Balloon...
2023-02-24 20:46:16 +0000 UTC View Post
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As you know, I have been working on improving the work flow to prevent problems when updating cores and ease maintenance. I finished unifying the source code for all cores in a single location this week. The 59 JT cores supporting over 900 MRA files are now available he...
2023-02-17 18:55:33 +0000 UTC View Post
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The Motorola M6809 CPU powered many arcade games (and some home computers). It was used by CAPCOM in Ghosts’n Goblins and by Konami in Kicker, Track’n Field, etc. The CPU had complex memory addressing instructions that made development easy and was favored by developers despite its relative high price. Konami tried to protect their games by playing an...
2023-02-10 20:19:44 +0000 UTC View Post
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JTKARNOV core (supporting Karnov, Chelnov and Wonder Planet) goes public today for all systems. The files are available at the JTBIN repository and automatic updaters for MiSTer and the Pocket can grab the files from there.
Another core from th...
2023-02-03 11:20:21 +0000 UTC View PostEspañol abajo 日本語は以下
We added spinner support to the JTCOP and JTMIDRES cores (Heavy Barrel and Midnight Resistance). That leaves only two spinner games left to do: Block Block (JTPANG) and Pokonyan (JTCPS1). Curiously, pretty much each game has its own way...
2023-01-27 19:43:18 +0000 UTC View Post
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We arrive to the final delivery of the JTKARNOV core with support for Wonder Planet. Gradius (Nemesis) was a dark-themed game and spurred a number of colorful shooters in reaction: Fantasy Zone, Parodius and Data East’s Wonder Planet (tate scroll). This 10-stage game let you collect money and buy weapons and robot parts. If yo...
2023-01-20 19:12:12 +0000 UTC View Post
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Tutorials, updaters, etc
For newcomers, please check the welcome e-mail from Patreon, the core README files and the other text files in the Pocket zip. There are links to text and video tutorials as well as tools in them. Public cores are in JTBIN and beta files are attached to Patreon posts and in... 2023-01-13 19:21:00 +0000 UTC View Post
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Reaching out to open source developers about a 14-year old project usually ends in a disengaged response. So I contacted Arnim Läuger about his T48 project with skepticism. Intel produced the MCS-48 line of micro controllers until very recently. These tiny CPUs with their minuscule computing power had been used as keyboard and printer co...
2023-01-06 18:04:04 +0000 UTC View PostEspañol abajo 日本語は以下
Robocop opened 2022 as the first 16-bit Data East arcade on the MiSTer. It was a year ago and the System16 core received its last title, Bay Route, while Data East series kept conquering us with Fighting Fantasy and Midnight Resistance.
My favorite of the spring rel...
2022-12-30 22:33:54 +0000 UTC View Post
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We visit this week a hardware from Data East that preceds Robocop and Dragon Ninja. The board is similar to those games in the main CPU, the sound subsystem and some of the glue logic but the graphics subsystem is more primitive.
It uses three layers: characters, scroll and sprites. The characters can have 8 colo...
2022-12-23 19:28:29 +0000 UTC View PostWhich one is the golden arcade era for you?
2022-12-22 10:07:02 +0000 UTC View Post
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We bring support to one more arcade title this week: Kageki. This game operates on hardware very similar to Insector X except for the sound. The PCB features a PCM driver to play voices and sound effects. The English and Japanese versions have different voices, although the game has a distinct Japanese atmosphere in every scene.
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JTKIWI is this week’s beta core. It is compatible with the game Insector X. Find files attached for all systems. MiSTer users can also use update_all. Pocket users are reminded to generate the .rom files following this
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A lot of activity this week as usual, let me go quickly through it
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The core development this week has been focused on fixing the Out Run stability problem in MiSTer. This requires the addition of a new module, a sprite frame buffer. This design is closer to the original one and with it, the FPGA clock can be divided by two, to a nicer 50MHz instead of the 100MHz used before. The frame buffer is designe...
2022-11-25 17:59:56 +0000 UTC View Post
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Note: some Out Run versions may spent 30 seconds on a black screen before booting up. But they eventually boot up.
MiSTer files are in JTBIN (use 2022-11-18 17:54:49 +0000 UTC
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FILES FOR MIST(ER) & SIDI ARE IN JTBIN
POCKET FILES ATTACHED
I am proud to announce the first Out Run beta. This system is a bit more complex than the usual despite supporting only two games (Out Run and Turbo Out Run). The board has two M68000 CPUs sharing a common memory and two road layers combined with the...
2022-11-04 20:48:18 +0000 UTC View PostPlease mark all the FPGA devices that you own from the following list.
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Por favor marca todos los dispositivos FPGA que tengas de la lista.
2022-11-01 16:44:44 +0000 UTC View PostThings have not been going as planned lately. First, the electrical installation in the office needed major works and we have been having an electrician breaking the walls to pass cables through and causing all sorts of havoc. This has been quite a distraction.
Secondly, ramping up our new hire is proving more time consuming than expected. We had to abort trying to improve the FOSS tool f...
2022-10-28 18:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostI had planned to have Out Run for today but those super scalers sprites are asking for a bit more love. We’ll go on a honeymoon over the weekend.
Work didn’t stop in other fronts. We spent two days improving the open source tool for simulation coverage that we are using for the NeoGeo Pocket. It isn’t our plan to become contributors to the open source EDA tool scene; but sometimes y...
2022-10-14 19:10:07 +0000 UTC View Post