TECH : Namco System 1 Games

[paul.cawley@clara.co.uk]

[ukvac] TECH : Namco System 1 Games
Hi people,

I managed to get hold of a Pacmania PCB (after only a week of looking, and
at a great price!), but heard that they are scarce because they got
converted into other Namco System 1 games...

My question is; is it really that easy to convert the games? - eg, if I get
hold or the Mame ROM's for Splatterhouse and Galaga 88, get them burnt and
plug them into the relevant sockets, will they work???

Or is there some horrible protection / game specific unburnable chips on the
PCB?

any info greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Paul

 

[P-Man]

Re: [ukvac] TECH : Namco System 1 Games
> Hi people,
>
> I managed to get hold of a Pacmania PCB (after only a week of looking, and
> at a great price!), but heard that they are scarce because they got
> converted into other Namco System 1 games...

yeah ooooh.. R@RE LQQK!

i think that's spiel hand-fed to you by the seller..

yeah, so scarce you could find one in a week Its SO scarce, yeah the
price had to have been right! can't miss this opportunity to buy it now!

heh i'm digging at ya. no they didn't get converted to other stuff..
pacmania has to be the most common namco system 1 game. Think about it..
galaga 88, splatterhouse.. splatterhouse is a runner-up being moderatley
uncommon, galaga 88 being quite rare. pacmania being the most common

> My question is; is it really that easy to convert the games? - eg, if I
get
> hold or the Mame ROM's for Splatterhouse and Galaga 88, get them burnt and
> plug them into the relevant sockets, will they work???
>
> Or is there some horrible protection / game specific unburnable chips on
the
> PCB?

yes, a customs IC per romset, as well as a few PAL's and GAL's thrown in to
the mix i believe.

> any info greatly appreciated!
> Cheers,
> Paul

but fear not, there IS a namco system 1 multigame hack in development as we
speak. just keep your ear out...

Andy



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[philipbennett]

[ukvac] Re: TECH : Namco System 1 Games
Each game has a unique security chip on the ROM PCB to stop game
swaps of this manner. Most likely, such games were converted by means
of official ROM+Security IC kits.

However, since NS1 games are emulated, it should be possible to
eliminate the need for the security chip with a bit/a lot of skillful
ROM hacking. I think somebody (the MAME team?) has already released
patched ROMs. They're on the Unemulated ROMS ftp-site at Emultion:

http://www.emulition.dhs.org/gate.phtml?unemuftp.txt

(Under 'namcos1_patched')

Unfortunately, the actual ftp-site has been down for months, so I'm
yet to see what they do.

Bear in mind that you can't directly use 1Mbit EPROMs in place of the
Mask ROMs found on the games - their pinouts are different. You'd
have to make adaptors - and each game uses a lot of Mask ROMS (there
aren't jumpers for all the ROM sockets to let you choose between
using EPROMs or Mask ROMs).

Having a ton of 1Mbit EPROMs lying around, I too considered
converting my Pacmania. As far as I'm concerned though, it's too much
hassle (and I haven't yet fixed the 6 or so faults my Pacmania PCB
arrived with).

Philip Bennett

> I managed to get hold of a Pacmania PCB (after only a week of
> looking, and
>at a great price!), but heard that they are scarce because they got
>converted into other Namco System 1 games...

> My question is; is it really that easy to convert the games? - eg,
if I get
> hold or the Mame ROM's for Splatterhouse and Galaga 88, get them
burnt and
> plug them into the relevant sockets, will they work???
>
> Or is there some horrible protection / game specific unburnable
chips on the
> PCB?
>
> any info greatly appreciated!
> Cheers,
> Paul



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