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vulcan: MAME ROM Information.

History:

Vulcan Venture (c) 1988 Konami.

The third game in Konami's renowned "Gradius" series; the prequel being "Gradius" (known as "Nemesis" in Europe) and a spinoff called "Salamander" (also known as "Life Force"). Vulcan Venture strictly adheres to the shoot-em-up template set out by its hugely successful predecessor, the game eschews the sideways/vertical scrolling alternate levels of "Salamander" and opts instead for "Gradius" sideways scrolling-only mechanic. Vulcan Venture is rightly considered to be one of the most demanding and difficult shoot-em-ups ever released.

- TECHNICAL -

Game ID : GX785

Main CPU : (2x) 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)

Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)

Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 3.57958 Mhz), K007232 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), UPD7759 (@ 640 Khz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal

Video resolution : 320 x 224 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette colors : 1024

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Released in March 1988.

This game is known in Japan as "Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou".

The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed to 'ASO'.

Apollon Music released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Space Odyssey, Gradius II - Gofer no yabou - BY30-5202) on 21/07/1988.

- UPDATES -

The main differences between Vulcan Venture and "Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou" are :

* Different title screen.

* Multiple is called Option in "Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou".

* No continue available in "Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou".

* Pulse Laser is called Ripple Laser in "Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou".

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Power meters:

1) Option 1: Nemesis

- Missile: Falls to the ground, then slides along it until it hits something.

- Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.

- Laser: Replaces your bullets with a blue beam.

2) Option 2: Mega-Destruction

- Spread Bomb: Large explosion of death.

- Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.

- Laser: The infamous Toothpaste Laser.

3) Option 3: The Third Way

- Photon Torpedo: Similar to standard missile, but goes straight through enemies.

- Double: Fires a bullet at 45 degrees up as well as forward.

- Pulse: Salamander's ripple laser.

4) Option 4: Salamander

- 2-Way: Bombs fall up and down.

- Tail Gun: Fires backwards as well as forwards.

- Pulse: Salamander's ripple laser, in a nice shade of red.

- SERIES -

1. Nemesis (1985)

2. Lifeforce (1986)

3. Gradius 2 (1987, MSX)

4. Vulcan Venture (1988)

5. Nemesis 3 - The Eve of Destruction (1988, MSX)

6. Gradius III (1989)

7. Gradius - The Interstellar Assault (1991, Nintendo Game Boy)

8. Nemesis '90 Kai (1993, Sharp X68000)

9. Salamander 2 (1996)

10. Solar Assault - Gradius (1997)

11. Solar Assault - Revisited (1997)

12. Gradius Gaiden (1997, Sony PlayStation)

13. Gradius IV - Fukkatsu (1999)

14. Gradius Generation (2002, Nintendo Game Boy Advance)

15. Gradius V (2003, Sony PlayStation 2)

- STAFF -

Game programmers : Toshiaki Takatori, K. Tsutsui, T. Horimoto, A. Suzuki, Takehiko Fujii

Graphic designers : Miki Yoshikata, H. Ashida, Michiko Iwamoto, A. Nonami, Kuniaki Kakuwa

Sound editors : S. Tasaka, Motoaki Furukawa, K. Matsubara, S. Hukami

Engineer : K. Hashima

Title designers : F. Shinuya, J. Tanaka

- SOURCES -

Game's rom.

MAME Info:

0.36b8 [Phil Stroffolino, Nao, Dave Spicer]

0.36b5 [Phil Stroffolino]

Artwork available

Bugs:

- gradius2, gradius2a, gradius2b, vulcan, vulcana, vulcanb: Title screen demo plays the stages in the wrong order. gamestone (ID 03759)

- vulcan, gradius2, gradius2a, gradius2b: Sprite-background priority is wrong. Kanikani (ID 02523)

WIP:

- 0.143u8: Kanikani fixed DIPSW and added DIP locations to clones Gradius II.

- 0.134u2: Irongiant added clone Vulcan Venture (Old). Changed description to 'Vulcan Venture (New)' and clone 'Vulcan Venture (Older Ver.)' to 'Vulcan Venture (Oldest)'. Renamed (vulcana) to (vulcanb).

- 0.134u1: Brian Troha and Dumping Union added clone Vulcan Venture (Older Ver.).

- 0.133u2: hap fixed sprite lag in clone Gradius II. Reverted Gradius II sprite-background priority hack, this fixes severe priority problems in Devil World, but reintroduces bugs on gradius2 level 7 and ending. Also lowered the K007232 volume, this fixed defective sound in Vulcan Venture.

- 0.133u1: Renamed (grdius2a) to (gradius2a) and (grdius2b) to (gradius2b).

- 0.128u6: Robiza updated clone Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou (Japan New Ver.) to use proper gfx2 roms (same values of vulcan but byteswapped).

- 29th July 2008: Corrado Tomaselli dumped Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou (Japan New Ver.).

- 0.124u2: Changed clock speed of the 2x 68000 to 9216000 Hz.

- 0.110u2: Robiza and Mamesick fixed video hardware (draw_sprites, tilemap_draw etc.) in Vulcan Venture.

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

- 0.102u5: Pierpaolo Prazzoli fixed sprite drawing in Vulcan Venture.

- 0.99u4: Pierpaolo Prazzoli fixed background/sprites priority in the stage 7 of Vulcan Venture.

- 0.76u2: Changed description of the clones to 'Gradius II - GOFER no Yabou'.

- 0.62: Bryan McPhail fixed priority problems in Vulcan Venture.

- 0.56: Changed description of clones '(Japan set 1)' to '(Japan New Ver.)', '(Japan set 2)' to '(Japan Old Ver.)' and '(Japan set 3)' to '(Japan Older Ver.)'. Fixed rom names.

- 6th October 2001: Chack'n fixed the dipswitch settings in clone Gradius 2.

- 0.36b10: Changed Z80 CPU1 clock speed to 3579545 Hz.

- 0.36b8: Phil Stroffolino, Nao and Dave Spicer added Vulcan Venture (Konami 1988) and clones 'Gradius II - Gofer no Yabou (Japan set 1)', (Japan set 2) and (Japan set 3).

- 27th October 1999: Takahiro Nogi fixed UPD7759 problems in Vulcan Venture.

- 26th October 1999: Phil Stroffolino got collision detection working in Vulcan Venture with help from Dave Spicer and Nao.

- 21st October 1999: Phil Stroffolino sent in a Twin16 update, with Hard Puncher / Final Round being completely playable, but Vulcan Venture is still missing the collisions.

- 0.36b6: Phil Stroffolino added clone Gradius II - Gofer no Yabou (Japan) (Testdriver).

- 0.36b5: Phil Stroffolino added Vulcan Venture (Testdriver).

- 9th October 1999: Phil Stroffolino sent in a Twin16 update with working sprites in Vulcan Venture (but collisions are missing), and Final Round is also playable now.

- 8th September 1999: Phil Stroffolino sent in a very preliminary Konami Twin16 driver (Vulcan Venture for example), but nothing works yet.

ARCADE RELEASE: Gradius II (Konami) - 1988/Mar/24

LEVELS: 7 (gradius2)

Other Emulators:

* FB Alpha

* Sparcade

Recommended Games (R-Type):

Gradius / Nemesis

Gradius (PlayChoice-10)

Vs. Gradius

Gradius II / Vulcan Venture

Gradius III

Gradius 4: Fukkatsu

Salamander

Salamander 2

R-Type

R-Type II

R-Type Leo

Heavy Unit

Turtle Ship

Hellfire

X Multiply

Zero Wing

Raiga - Strato Fighter

Rezon

Blaze On

Hyper Duel

Super Spacefortress Macross II

Romset: 2864 kb / 16 files / 854.9 zip

MAME XML Output:

<description>Vulcan Venture (New)</description>

<manufacturer>Konami</manufacturer>