2018.10.12
"Slapping a Tiger would be a poor life choice"
I’ve been doing a bit of work on the XaviX emulation in MAME (technology
used by a number of Plug and Play TV Games) and in that time I’ve made some
decent progress with the emulation. While still far from perfect (some
graphical problems, no sound, poor performance) I feel there has been enough
progress to show some of it here. Some of the most noteworthy things using
the hardware are the Taito / Namco Nostalgia collections which were released
in Japan in 2006.
Taito Nostalgia 1 contains “Slap Fight” and “KiKi KaiKai” and remixed
versions of them.
Below is the remix version of Slap Fight which mixes Slap Fight with another
classic, Tiger Heli, giving you the Tiger Heli ship instead of the regular
Slap Fight one. Due to the compressed screen size this version of the game is
very difficult. The KiKi KaiKai allows you to play as the main character from
Bonze Adventure instead.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_taitons2_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_taitons2_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_4.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_5.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_sftiger_6.png
Namco Nostalgia 2 contains “Gaplus” and “Dragon Buster” again with
remixed versions.
Below you can see the Gaplus remix “Gaplus Phalanx” where instead of
shooting things you must capture the grey enemies while avoiding capturing
the red ones (and not hitting anything in the process)
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_namcons2_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_namcons2_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_4.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_5.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_gaplus_6.png
Taito Nostalgia 1 contains “Legend of Kage” and “Gladiator” plus the
usual remixes of them. Below is Amazones, the remix of Gladiator. Note, with
current emulation missing the EEPROM support the key assignments are invalid
by default and get lost every time you exit the game, but they can be
assigned each time.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_taitons1_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_taitons1_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_4.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_5.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/new_amazon_6.png
Namco Nostalgia 1 still doesn’t run properly, so no shots from that one at
the moment.
Outside of Japan the XaviX technology was used mostly by games with novelty
controllers. Progress has been made on the emulation of some of those too.
Graphics were much improved in Radica’s Play TV Boxing, menus now look
solid, priorities are correct, sprites fill the screen properly etc.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbox_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbox_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbox_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbox_4.png
Radica’s Bass Fishing game no longer crashes when you enter gameplay, and no
longer has corrupt text in the menus. Inputs aren’t fully mapped yet tho.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbass_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbass_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbass_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbass_4.png
Radica’s Card Night no longer crashes upon reaching the main menu, and has
more correct graphics. The glitch where it rendered a corrupt menu over the
startup screens is gone too.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radcard_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radcard_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radcard_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radcard_4.png
The Radica Madden & Football games now show their startup screens (EA license
screen on Madden, Farsight developer screen on Football) and also prompt the
player to throw the ball (not emulated) to start, rather than crashing at
that point.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmad_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmad_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radfb_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radfb_2.png
The e-kara things now have a scrolling screen and colours that aren’t
garbage (although no inputs exist to get past this screen) and the Fisher
Price ‘Rescue Heroes’ shows a startup screen now before crashing. Excite
Fishing DX moans about the EEPROM.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/xaveka_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/fp_rh.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/excitefish.png
Wild Adventure Mini Golf shows some startup screens before getting to an
animated display asking you to swing the club to start (not hooked up)
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/has_wamg_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/has_wamg_2.png
Radica’s Baseball 2 shows it’s secret test menu, and also a startup screen,
but crashes after showing the Radica Logo
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbb2_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radbb2_2.png
Radica’s Ping Pong now boots, although you can’t serve.
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radping_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radping_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radping_3.png
Radica’s Monster Truck has improved priorities (although controls still aren
’t hooked up)
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmtrk_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmtrk_2.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmtrk_3.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radmtrk_4.png
Snowboard has some minor improvements but still needs the raster interrupt
hooking up for the ground
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radsnow_1.png
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/pics2018/radsnow_2.png
While many of these still aren’t playable the progress over the last few
days has taken most of them from doing almost nothing to looking much more
like what they’re meant to be, and a much better picture of the overall
hardware.
None of this would have been possible without Sean Riddle dumping the
majority of these titles and Peter Wilhelmsen purchasing many of them for
that purpose.
etc.
"Now You C Inside"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/03/20/now-you-c-inside/
"Master Detective"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/04/05/master-detective/
"End of April notes"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/04/26/end-of-april-notes/
"On the War Path"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/06/05/on-the-war-path/
"Robin Banks gets you nowhere"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/08/06/robin-banks-gets-you-nowhere/
"20 Years a Prototype"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/09/05/20-years-a-prototype/
"A Pile of Tiles, Correctly Ordered"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/09/05/pileoftiles/
"Little Changes"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/09/10/little-changes/
"Little Changes (part 2)"
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/2018/10/02/little-changes-part-2/
https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/