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arkbloc2: MAME ROM Information.

History:

Block (c) 1986 Game Corporation.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Z80 (@ 6 Mhz)

Sound Chips : AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical

Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 512

Players : 2

Control : dial

Buttons : 1

- TRIVIA -

In this bootleg/hack of "Arkanoid", it is possible to choose the start level.

Jason Dowling of Dublin, Ireland holds the official record for this game with 228,980 points on February 19, 1987.

Official releases :

Taito's Arkanoid

Taito America's Arkanoid

Taito's Tournament Arkanoid

Bootleg releases :

Tayto's Arkanoid

Game Corporation's Arkanoid

Hack releases :

Two-Bits Score's Arkanoid Plus

Game Corporation's Block

SPA Co.'s Block II

Paddle 2

- SOURCES -

Game's rom.

MAME Info:

0.34b8 [?]

0.30 [Brad Oliver]

Artwork available

Bugs:

- arkgcbl arkgcbla: [possible] there is small square during intro on big ship exhaust. haynor (ID 04814)

WIP:

- 0.143u2: Added clone Arkanoid (Japan, older). Renamed (arkmcubl) to (arkanoidjb). Marked MCU rom as bad dump in Arkanoid (World) and clone (US, older).

- 0.138u4: Brian Troha added or corrected the PCB location for the genuine Arkanoid rom sets and documented the MCU Taito ID number. Arkanoid now load (but don't yet use) the decapped MCUs (arkanoid1_68705p3.ic14, arkanoid_mcu.ic14 and arkanoid_68705p5.ic14) [Dr. Decapitator]. I think the MCU dump we're using with the original sets is actually from a bootleg? It's similar to the ones dumped from other bootlegs and the 2/3 of the decapped MCUs appear to be very different. Another bootleg had a dump very similar to the fresh decaps instead. This needs sorting out properly. The hookups for the different types of MCU is not identical.

- 10th July 2010: Smitdogg - We're working on a "for sure" legit Taito Arkanoid MCU (for the ones we already have, it's hard to tell if they are all from bootlegs or not; bootleggers made their own MCUs for this game).

- 25th June 2010: Guru - The 68705P3 ans 2x 68705P5 MCUs for Arkanoid have now been successfully processed (decap, de-protect & read).

- 0.136u1: Corrado Tomaselli changed Arkanoid to use YM2149.

- 0.136: David Haywood added clone Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 3).

- 0.135u4: Fabio Priuli fixed memory leak in debug mode in clone Block 2 (S.P.A. CO. bootleg).

- 0.135u3: f205v and ANY added clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 2). Changed description of clone 'Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware)' to 'Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 1)'.

- 0.135u1: Fabio Priuli added driver data struct to Arkanoid driver.

- 16th November 2009: ANY dumped Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware, set 2).

- 0.134u3: Andy Welburn and Stephane Humbert added clone Block 2 (S.P.A. CO. bootleg).

- 4th October 2009: Smitdogg - Another cool dump from Andrew Welburn has been added (Block II), the emulation is preliminary at the moment but coming right along as you can see below. It's a bootleg of Arkanoid.

- 0.133u1: Renamed (arknoidu) to (arkanoidu), (arknoiuo) to (arkanoiduo) and (arknoidj) to (arkanoidj).

- 0.129u3: Fabio Priuli fixed paddle input for clones arkbloc2, arkgcbl and paddle2.

- 0.128u7: Robiza added PAL to clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).

- 0.128u6: Robiza added correct proms to clone Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).

- 0.127u4: Dazzer added correct colour PROMS to clone Tournament Arkanoid (US) and fixed rom names.

- 30th July 2008: Guru - Arkanoid chips arrived to be decapped, thanks to Dox.

- 0.123u4: Corrado Tomaselli changed/verified clocks in Arkanoid.

- 0.123u1: Stephane Humbert fixed some Arkanoid clones INPUT_PORTS definitions that were curiously using PORT_START_TAG("DSW") instead of PORT_MODIFY("DSW").

- 0.122u6: Changed M68705 CPU2 clock speed to 3MHz.

- 0.122u4: Bryan McPhail fixed MCU emulation (arkanoid061gre). Bit 7 is suspected to be MCU reset, the evidence for this is that the games tilt mode reset sequence shows the main CPU must be able to directly control the reset line of the MCU, else the game will crash leaving the tilt screen (as the MCU is now out of sync with main CPU which resets itself). This bit is the likely candidate as it is flipped early in bootup just prior to accessing the MCU for the first time.

- 0.115: Aaron Giles updated 68705 clocks to take into account the internal divide by 4. Added constant so that it is clear why this is being done. Changed M68705 CPU4 clock speed to 750000 Hz.

- 0.114u4: Tormod Tjaberg updated clocks in Arkanoid based on measurements from a real PCB.

- 0.108u4: Stephane Humbert added clones Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder), Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2) and Arkanoid (Tayto bootleg). Also added many more notes/info to the Arkanoid driver. Changed description of clone 'Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg)' to 'Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)'. Renamed (arkatayt) to (arktayt2).

- 0.108u3: Big update to the Arkanoid driver which improves emulation of some bootlegs [Steph]: Interverted 'arkblock' and 'arkbloc2' sets for better comparaison. Renamed sets. Changed some games descriptions. Removed flags from the following sets: arkbloc2, arkgcbl and paddle2. Changed description of clones 'Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 2)' to 'Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU)', 'Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 3)' to 'Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware)', 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg)' to 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 1)' and 'Block (bootleg, Japanese)' to 'Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2)'. Renamed (arkbl2) to (arkmcubl), (arkbl3) to (arkgcbl), (arkbloc2) to (arkblock) and (arkblock) to (arkbloc2).

- 3rd September 2006: Mr. Do - Added instruction cards for Arkanoid.

- 0.106u3: Fixed rom names in clone (Tayto bootleg, Japanese).

- 0.105u4: Fixed rom names in Arkanoid.

- 19th March 2006: f205v dumped Arkanoid (bootleg on Block hardware).

- 0.104u4: Adam Bousley added save states to the Arkanoid driver.

- 29th September 2005: f205v dumped Arkanoid (bootleg with MCU, harder). It's a bootleg of "Arkanoid (Japan)", with notice screen eliminated (it only shows a black screen with a red WAIT) and a fix (no dips selection) 1 ball x game and NO starting level selection.

- 0.82u2: Curt Coder merged memory maps in the Arkanoid driver. Moved Paddle 2 (bootleg) trickery to machine\arkanoid.c.

- 0.70u2: Angelo Salese added preliminary MCU simulation to Paddle 2, but it still has some issues.

- 0.69a: A number of changes to the timer system [Aaron Giles]: All the CPU scheduling has moved into cpuexec.c and been taken out of timer.c. A number of bugs relating to time tracking for suspended CPUs have been fixed. A side effect of all this is a change in the behavior of the CPU scheduling. For the most part, games are fine with this. However, there were a few exceptions: The timing of the MCU communication in the Arkanoid driver is broken.

- 0.69: Stephane Humbert added clone Arkanoid (US, older).

- 15th July 2002: Stephane Humbert added another version of Arkanoid.

- 7th July 2002: Smitdogg and Dave Widel fixed the sprite placement in Dig Dug and added a clone of Arkanoid.

- 0.60: Added clones Arkanoid (Japan bootleg Set 3), Block (bootleg, Japan) and Paddle 2 (bootleg 1986).

- 0.37b15: Frotz fixed Arkanoid "instant death in final round" bug.

- 0.37b5: Added clone Tournament Arkanoid (US).

- 12th June 2000: Kieron Wilkinson added the Tournament Arkanoid romset to the Arkanoid driver.

- 1st April 2000: Guru - Dumped Tournament Arkanoid (Taito 1987, Romstar License).

- 0.36b4: Highwayman added clone Block (Game Corporation bootleg). Added TESTDRIVER Block (bootleg 1986, Japanese) and Block (Game Corporation bootleg 1986).

- 0.35: Added clones Arkanoid (Japan) and Arkanoid (Game Corporation bootleg). Nicola Salmoria fixed later levels in clone (US). Changed description of clone 'Arkanoid (USA)' to 'Arkanoid (US)'.

- 24th June 1999: Nicola added made-up 68705 roms to Arkanoid's US and Japan versions, which fixes the later levels.

- 24th April 1999: Roberto Fresca added an Arkanoid version with round selector.

- 0.35b6: Replaced M6805 CPU2 with M68705.

- 0.34b8: Added clones Arkanoid (Japanese bootleg Set 3) (Testdriver) and Block (bootleg, Japanese) (Testdriver). Changed description of 'Arkanoid (Taito)' to 'Arkanoid (World)' and clones '(Romstar)' to '(USA)', '(bootleg)' to '(Japanese bootleg Set 2)' and '(Tayto bootleg)' to '(Tayto bootleg, Japanese)'.

- 0.33b7: Removed Arkanoid (BETA bootleg) from MAME. Added color proms ($0, 200, 400). Changed description of 'Arkanoid' to 'Arkanoid (Taito)' and clones '(U.S. Romstar)' to '(Romstar)' and '(Bootleg)' to '(bootleg)'.

- 0.33b3: Known issues: There might also be protection related problems in clone Arkanoid (U.S. Romstar) (later levels corrupted).

- 0.31: Thierry Lescot added clones Arkanoid (BETA bootleg) and (Tayto bootleg). Aaron Giles added clone Arkanoid (Bootleg). Due to a missing image for the 68705 microcontroller, the BETA bootleg doesn't work. Due to features of the 68705 not emulated yet, the "arkbl2" bootleg set doesn't work. Since it doesn't have to emulate the 68705, the Tayto bootleg is faster than the other versions. Dual paddle in cocktail mode is not supported. 6805 emulator, needed by Arkanoid [Aaron Giles]. Known issues: Due to a missing image for the 68705 microcontroller, the BETA bootleg doesn't work. Due to features of the 68705 not emulated yet, the "arkbl2" bootleg set doesn't work. Since it doesn't have to emulate the 68705, the Tayto bootleg is faster than the other versions. Dual paddle in cocktail mode is not supported. Added MCU rom arkanoid.uc (8k) to Arkanoid and clone Arkanoid (U.S. Romstar).

- 0.30: Brad Oliver added Arkanoid (Taito 1986) and clone (U.S. Romstar). Not playable.

LEVELS: 33

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* CottAGE

* FB Alpha

* HiVE

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* Raine

* Retrocade

* Sparcade

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Wink

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Tournament Arkanoid

Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH

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Romset: 170 kb / 12 files / 68.5 zip

MAME XML Output:

<description>Block (Game Corporation bootleg, set 2)</description>

<manufacturer>bootleg (Game Corporation)</manufacturer>

</input>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</dipswitch>

</game>

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