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I'm a bit late with this I know, but I've added the u89 and u189 manuals to my Texas page: https://www.blunham.com/Misc/Texas/ Colin.

Absolutely sweet! On my NTSC 800XL (viewed on RetroTink5) the last line of the picture is cut, see the photo. This is due to this VBXE hardware bug that we discussed with @phaeron a while back: and also in the Popeye thread. Bottom line: compared to Altirra that does this by the book / official spec, the real VBXE displays everything one scanline too late. In Popeye, I implemented a key to add/remove this extra line to be able to make it work correct both in the emulator and on the hardware. I think Avery even implemented the fix in Altirra, but it is yet to be activated (he needs more confirmation / confidence that the bug is consistent). Unless you are taking the whole 240 scanlines of the VBXE overlay, you can simply start one line early, first detecting that you in fact deal with an NTSC installation.

Why?

This product isn’t tageted at people who aren’t already capable of reading a single page of instructions. Shit, every original Atari 2600 game came with a multi page manual of instructions. doing this update is less complicated than playing Raiders of the Lost Ark

It does not boot from SD, that would be ideal. But custom firmware was made by @Brad_from_the_80s to bring the main data directory out to the SD card to allow some manipulation to what is presented in the GUI with the sqlite database used by the main built-in GSP interface app. Prior to that a firmware patch by @fluxit was established so that we can manipulate how the games are executed by allowing a runme script to be called, a feature additionally included by Brad's customization as referenced in the beginning of this thread. You may find one or more of these posts relevant, or perhaps not, otherwise, someone else would be better equipped to explain from the hardware perspective: post 1 post 2 post 3 post 4

I saved myself a bit of money to get my official 3rd NEO-GEO CD game. I had a £70 budget. I was torn between Battle flip shot by pixelheart and Ninja Combat which I have a 'burned' copy of. Decided to go with Ninja Combat. Used my budget up, worth it thou. Love my beat 'em ups! Hopefully arriving this week...

Yeah, more arcade-like doesn't necessarily always mean easier, or even more fun, for that matter. I was messing around to hack the airplane into something that looks a little more like the arcade (never liked how Atari rendered it on the 8-bit computers). Nothing difficult, but I think I just need to locate the playfield graphic of it (for when it gets shot); I already hacked the player-missile graphic graphic of it in the game.

I've seen him get 600,000 I'm a little skeptical about 800,000 LOL

Is it possible to reinitialize HSC (to change the name)?

yes, I read your blog last Saturday, as well, as this whole topic about "random" started during last zoom call thingy, and got into it for a bit. But it is good to see how it all works out, looking forward to Lee updating his first post with more info. I used similar RND code in my "3d string art" program I released the other day, which is similar to the math in Tombstone City as well, with the fixed integer math values. http://www.adamantyr.com/blog/index.php/2018/08/30/random-thoughts/

Crazy what people will do to get what they want.

Any idea if these are both the Dos version? Looking to pick up a CD so I can try out the CD soundtrack w/ SFX. I think the top one is the original Atari release, while the bottom one is a re-publication after Atari was merged into JTS? I heard there is a windows version as well, so I think I want to avoid that as my PC won't be able to run it.

try the card without any batteries, you don't need the batteries in it to test the card

Funnily enough, I was playing it last night. I thought having the three bases, along with the game automatically selecting the closest base to shoot from, would make it a bit easier ... but based on my scores so far, I'm doing worse than on the regular version. I think I'm too used to not having to pay attention to protecting anything but the central cities and single silo in the later stages of the game (otherwise you lose a good chunk of your missiles) right now. Which is a bit odd, since on the arcade version, with a trackball and three independent fire buttons, I do much better. It's very cool, all the same.

US: (starting with Rev) 1. Humblejack (completed) 2. JoeM Intellivision (completed) 3. cvga (completed) 4. zendocon (completed) 5. Illtiger1 (completed) 6. First Spear (completed) 7. Colormesticky (completed) 8. Wolfy62 (completed) Canada: 9. rietveld (completed) 10. mr intv (completed) US: 11.Tlinder (completed) 12. Coleco Gamer (completed) 13. Psycho Strormtrooper (completed) Italy: 14. Spadafermo51 (completed) 15. MauAnouk2012 (in hand) 16. Morpheus Australia: 17. abeckett *We will start a new thread for 2025 Loot Box once the current one gets to Australia. You can post there if you want to join. It will probably be sometime in May.

So kbadlands.zip doesn't work with mame 2003, or are there multiple zip versions, one specifically for CHD based? Did you try the appropriate zip files with 2014 or 2016 mame? Also it could be that GSP hardware is insufficient.

Does the Atari Gamestation Pro boot from the micro sd card, I can not see a nand on its board...?

Why yes, there is a whole population of French folk in Illinois that brought SCART to the states in the 70s. 🤥

Interesting. That's basically the same style RND generator that Tombstone City had. A quick test in Classic99 though shows it avoids the "even/odd" alternating, which is nice.

@foft no point in quoting the post just above: 1. Synthesis now works 2. I am probably much much less experienced in soldering than you, and doing this in stages requires "very manual" soldering, and I am not sure you ordered the stencil with the boards, but I would most certainly start with the BGA chip and use paste and a hot plate to have less result variability here. (Easier said than done, I know, will see how I get through this when the time comes...)

BTW... has anyone tried Missile Command+ yet? It's the superior version of Missile Command (3 missile silos, various visual additions). Missile Command+.rom Missile Command+.xex

Hi guys, Time Extension @timeextension64 Metal Slug Artist Recalls When Neo Geo Was So Popular "People Would Commit Crimes To Get It" https://timeextension.com/news/2024/04/metal-slug-artist-recalls-when-neo-geo-was-so-popular-people-would-commit-crimes-to-get-it… #Repost #NeoGeo #SNK #Japan From timeextension.com 12:50 PM · Apr 22, 2024 https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/04/metal-slug-artist-recalls-when-neo-geo-was-so-popular-people-would-commit-crimes-to-get-it Metal Slug Artist Recalls When Neo Geo Was So Popular "People Would Commit Crimes To Get It" "I guess they thought it was a sales vehicle loaded with SNK games" by Damien McFerran Yesterday, 5am Once upon a time, SNK's Neo Geo was the absolute pinnacle of gaming luxury. Here was a home console capable of playing actual arcade games; no wonder so many kids desired one. However, its high cost (not to mention the fact that each game was hundreds of dollars) meant that it remained a niche proposition in a world dominated by the SNES and Genesis / Mega Drive. It should come as no great shock to learn that the Neo Geo became a sought-after item back in the 1990s, but former Irem and Nazca artist Akio has just revealed a story which illustrates how far people were willing to go to get their hands on one. "In SNK's heyday, if you advertised your car with a giant Neo Geo sticker, you could earn 5,000 yen per sticker," Akio explains on Twitter. "At that time, I was still very loyal to the company, so I put up three large stickers and received 15,000 yen, but that same night, my car was broken into and the keyhole was smashed, which was a terrible disaster. Since my car was a minivan, I guess they thought it was a sales vehicle loaded with SNK games." akio @akio_1963 SNKの全盛時代はネオジオ特大ステッカーを自分の車に貼って宣伝するとステッカ一枚につき5千円貰えたんですよ。 その頃の私は、まだ愛社精神があったので特大ステッカーを3枚貼って1万５千円貰ったんですが、なんとその夜に車上荒らしに遭い車の鍵穴を破壊されてしまい大惨事でした。 私の車がワンボックスだったので、SNKのゲームが満載してある営業車だと思ったんでしょうね。 この辺りの治安は最悪で、〇〇〇がバックについた〇〇連合という窃盗集団がいてバイクを盗んだり空き巣に入ったりと悪の限りを尽くす悪者がいるゴッサムシティーのような町なんです。 ある日、娘と家の前で日向ぼっこしてると10数人の男が斜め向かいの家を囲むように集まってきて「出てこい！出てこい！」と叫びだしたんです。 出てくる様子がなかったので男達は脚立を二階の窓に立てかけ数人が家の中に突入しました。 玄関の扉が開き数人の男達に連れ出されるご近所さん。 情報通のヨーダ似のお婆さんが言うには、その家の2階は〇〇連合の溜まり場で、そのリーダー格のお兄さんが逮捕されたんだそうです。 あぁ、これでこの辺りも少しは平和になるのかなと思っていたある日、自宅の前で分厚い財布を拾った私は、近所の人なら届けてあげようと財布の中を見ると、〇〇組若頭と記された名刺が入っていました。 不吉な物を拾ってしまったと慌てて妻にその財布を見せると、 私「かあちゃん！〇〇組若頭の財布拾ったー！」 妻「あかーん！ほかしといでー！」 誰も見ていないか辺りを確認して財布を元の落ちてた場所にそっと置いておきました。 思い起こせば数日前、アパートの前でバイクのメンテナンスをしていると「邪魔じゃコラ！殺すぞ！」と『カオルちゃん最強伝説』のような喋り口調のお兄さんに凄まれたんです。 そのお兄さんは、我が家の上の階に引っ越してきた派手なお姉さんの部屋に入っていきました。 情報通のヨーダ似のお婆さんが言うには、我が家の上に住んでる派手なお姉さんに最近〇〇〇の彼氏ができたんだそうです。 やはり私に凄んだお兄さんは〇〇〇だったんですね。 バットシグナルを夜空に照射したい気分です。 あの頃は平穏な場所に引っ越すのが夢でした。 話が逸れましたが、犯罪を犯してまで手に入れたいゲームネオジオ、SNKの人気が絶大な時代のお話でした。 Translated from Japanese by In SNK's heyday, if you advertised your car with a giant Neo Geo sticker you could earn 5,000 yen per sticker. At that time, I was still very loyal to the company, so I put up three large stickers and received 15,000 yen, but that same night my car was broken into and the keyhole was smashed, which was a terrible disaster. Since my car was a minivan, I guess they thought it was a sales vehicle loaded with SNK games. The security around here is terrible, with a gang of thieves called the XX Alliance backed by XX, and it's a town like Gotham City with bad guys doing all sorts of bad things like stealing bikes and breaking into houses. One day, while my daughter and I were sunbathing in front of our house, a group of about 10 men gathered around the house diagonally opposite and started shouting, "Come out! Come out!" When no one showed any signs of coming out, the men leaned a stepladder against a second-floor window and several of them burst into the house. The front door opens and a neighbor is taken out by several men. According to the well-informed Yoda-like old lady, the second floor of the house was a hangout for the X-X Alliance, and the leader of that group had been arrested. One day, just as I was thinking that maybe this area would finally become a little more peaceful, I found a thick wallet in front of my house. Thinking that I could return it to someone from the neighborhood, I looked inside the wallet and found a business card that said "Wakagashira of the X-X group" written on it. I showed the wallet to my wife in a panic, thinking that I had found something unlucky. Me: "Mom! I found the wallet of the young boss of the XX group!" Wife: "Oh no! Leave me alone!" I checked around to make sure no one was looking and then gently placed my wallet back in the place where it had fallen. If I recall, a few days ago, while I was doing some maintenance on my motorcycle in front of my apartment, a guy who spoke in a tone reminiscent of the manga series "Kaoru-chan's Strongest Legend" threatened me, saying, "Get in the way! I'll kill you!" The man went into the room of the flashy woman who had moved into the apartment above us. According to the well-informed Yoda-like old lady, the flashy lady who lives above our house recently got a boyfriend. So the guy who was so impressive to me was really XXX. I feel like shining the Bat Signal into the night sky. At that time, I dreamed of moving to a peaceful place. I've digressed, but this was a story about the time when SNK's Neo Geo game was so popular that people would even commit crimes to get it. 7:42 AM · Apr 19, 2024 Akio then adds a lengthy story about a "gang of thieves called the XX Alliance" who used to terrorise his neighbourhood before apologising for allowing his mind to wander. "I've digressed, but this was a story about the time when SNK's Neo Geo game was so popular that people would even commit crimes to get it." Akio is currently working alongside several other industry veterans on Black Finger Jet, a new Metal Slug style run-and-gun game. Anthony...

The RND in BASIC is over 5x faster than RND in XB. Both RXB and XB2.9 G.E.M. now use the faster TI BASIC random number routine. I have a feeling that it may not be as random as the XB one though. Random numbers in a compiled XB program are different than they are in a BASIC/XB program. Compiled code can only use integer arithmetic. That is a problem, because in BASIC a random number is from 0 to .9999999 The work around is to multiply the random number by another number. i.e. instead of: 10 IF RND<.5 THEN 100 ELSE 200 you would use 10 IF RND*2<1 THEN 100 ELSE 200 RND*2 gives a random integer from 0 to 1 RND*6 gives a random integer from 0 to 5 and so on....

Continuity test look good with a few that showed a short but verified with the good 4000B that it was the same so it seems consistent. There was voltage to pin 7 of U1 which wasn’t on the good 4000B IIRC it was about 2.1 volts. Not sure where this would be coming from (I mean the battery once it was powered off the voltage was not there) but it seems odd - could be the reason for the odd scenario with this board- thanks for the help!