MyArcade Cabinet Customization: Difference between revisions

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== General introduction ==
== General introduction ==
 
[[File:CabinetGroupPhoto.jpg|thumb|Various MyArcade Cabinets]]
The DreamGear, now rebranded MyArcade, micro-player/mini-arcade/etc cabinets are a collection of NES game emulator toys. See [https://www.myarcadegaming.com/collections/mini-arcades The MyArcade Gaming web site]
The DreamGear, now rebranded MyArcade, micro-player/mini-arcade/etc cabinets are a collection of NES game emulator toys. See [https://www.myarcadegaming.com/collections/mini-arcades The MyArcade Gaming web site] where you can buy direct, or also via [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=myarcade Amazon]


There are a number of MyArcade cabinets, the micro player only play a single title and the mini player play multiple-titles.  At time of writing there were 14 different micro player cabinets which all boot to one game only, and two mini player cabinets which boot many titles from namco, or data east.  
There are a number of MyArcade cabinets, the micro player only play a single title and the mini player play multiple-titles.  At time of writing there were 14 different micro player cabinets which all boot to one game only, and two mini player cabinets which boot many titles from namco, or data east.  
Line 12: Line 12:


== Opening the Cabinet ==
== Opening the Cabinet ==
The cabinet has a sticker left and right of the back of the cabinet.  This sticker is best removed with a heat gun, or exacto blade down the seam, or alternatively puncture the screw heads.  See below
This section deals with getting into the cabinet.
 
=== Opening main cabinet unit ===
The cabinet has stickers on the left and right which conceal screws that hold on these thick side panels.  These stickers are best removed with a heat gun, Exacto blade down the seam, or alternatively puncture the screw heads and unscrew.  ''I didn't care so just ripped them off which bent them meaning they were hard to place back neatly.''
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|[[File:001.Remove Side Stickers.jpg|alt=Remove Side Stickers|none|thumb|Remove Side Stickers]]
|[[File:002a.Remove Side Screws.jpg|alt=Remove Side Screws|none|thumb|Remove Side Screws]]
|-
|[[File:002b.Pop Side Panels.jpg|alt=Pop Side Panels|none|thumb|Pop Side Panels]]
|[[File:002c.Sticker And Clips.jpg|alt=Sticker And Clips|none|thumb|Sticker And Clips]]
|-
|[[File:003a.Removed Panel.jpg|alt=Removed Panel|none|thumb|Removed Panel]]
|[[File:003b.Both Panels Removed.jpg|alt=Both Panels Removed|thumb|Both Panels Removed|none]]
|-
|[[File:004.MyArcade.Remove Top Sticker.jpg|alt=Remove Top Sticker|none|thumb|Remove Top Sticker]]
|
|}
 


<<PICTURE OF REMOVAL>>


== Removing the Joypad ==
Now you have the case open you need to disconnect the internal PCBs in order to get at the main board.  To do this you will need to remove the "'''USB power port / power/ speaker'''" distribution panel screwed into the back of the cabinet case.  This needs removing by unscrewing the two retaining screws. 


<<PICTURE HERE>>
Then to get at the main board front you will need to pop the mainboard off, and to make things easier also the power button at the bottom. 
 
Once you do this the display is then held in place by a plastic housing and rubber pads to the front plastic cover which is held on by screws and the outer cabinet sticker - so it will just drop out.
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|[[File:005.MyArcade.Remove Speaker Power.jpg|alt=Remove Speaker and Power Board|none|thumb|Remove Speaker and Power Board]][[File:005b.MyArcade.BackPlate.jpg|alt=Backplate view|none|thumb|Backplate view]]
|[[File:006.Remove Mainboard and Button.jpg|alt=Remove Mainboard and Power Button|none|thumb|Remove Mainboard and Power Button]]
|-
|[[File:007.Main Board Alignment Pin.jpg|alt=Main Board Alignment Pin|none|thumb|Main Board Alignment Pin]]
|[[File:008a.MyArcade.Display Dropped Out.jpg|alt=Display Dropped Out|none|thumb|Display Dropped Out]]
|-
|[[File:008b.MyArcade.Display Removed.jpg|alt=Display Removed|none|thumb|Display Removed]]
|[[File:010a.MyArcade.Display Sticker.jpg|alt=Display Sticker|none|thumb|Display Sticker]][[File:010b.MyArcade.Display Sticker.jpg|alt=Display Sticker|none|thumb|Display Sticker]][[File:010c.MyArcade.Display Panel Plastics.jpg|alt=Display Panel Plastics|none|thumb|Display Panel Plastics]]
|}
 
 
 
=== Removing the Joypad ===
The last remaining PCB is the button panel, which is not necessary and a little harder to remove.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
| colspan="2" |[[File:011.MyArcade.Button Draw Catch Technique.jpg|alt=Button Draw Catch Technique|thumb|Button Draw Catch Technique|center|530x530px]]
|-
|[[File:012.MyArcade.Push Button Tray Back on Rails.jpg|alt=Push Button Tray Back on Rails|none|thumb|Push Button Tray Back on Rails]]
|[[File:013.MyArcade.Button Tray Popped Out.jpg|alt=Button Tray Popped Out|none|thumb|Button Tray Popped Out]]
|}
 
=== Final disassembly view ===
Here is what it looks like after complete removal.  The back plate has the speaker heat-melted into place, with the audio jack at the top with the volume buttons and the USB-power PCB at the bottom that run over the ribbon cable to the main board PCB.  The main board then has a LCD connector, power button/LED PCB, and joypad draw PCB.
[[File:016.MyArcade.Final Disassembly of All PCB.jpg|alt=Final Disassembly of All PCB|none|thumb|Final Disassembly of All PCB|border|682x682px]]
 
=== LCD Views ===
d
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|[[File:015a.MyArcade.LCD View A.jpg|alt=LCD View A|none|thumb|LCD View A]]
|[[File:015b.MyArcade.LCD View B.jpg|alt=LCD View B|none|thumb|LCD View B]]
|-
| colspan="2" |[[File:015c.MyArcade.LCD View C.jpg|alt=LCD View C|thumb|LCD View C|center]]
|}
 
=== PCB Views ===
x
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|[[File:014b.MyArcade.Main Board.jpg|alt=Main Board|none|thumb|Main Board]]
|
|-
|[[File:014c.MyArcade.USB Power Input.jpg|alt=USB Power Input|none|thumb|USB Power Input]]
|
|-
|[[File:014d.MyArcade.Audio Jack and Vol Buttons.jpg|alt=Audio Jack and Vol Buttons|none|thumb|Audio Jack and Vol Buttons]]
|
|}


== Main Circuit board ==
== Main Circuit board ==
Line 29: Line 101:
!Description
!Description
|-
|-
|
|U6
|chip-on-bard ASIC
|chip-on-board ASIC
|NES Emulator Chip
|NES Emulator Chip
|-
|-
Line 55: Line 127:




The chip-on-board ASIC, is something like the VT03, which is a complete NES emulator.  It includes a 6502 CPU, PPU Graphic Unit with LCD output, SPU Sound Unit, two internal 2KBytes SRAMs, SPI, and some General Purpose I/O controller.  It also contains a unique mapper that allows for mapping upto 1MB, maybe more into the small 65KB memory space.
 
The chip-on-board ASIC, is something like the VT03, which is a complete NES emulator.  It includes a 6502 CPU, PPU Graphic Unit with LCD output, SPU Sound Unit, two internal 2KBytes SRAMs, SPI, and some General Purpose I/O controller.  It also contains a unique mapper that allows for mapping up to 1MB, maybe more into the small 65KB memory space.


The GPIO comes out to the various joystick and game buttons.  Whilst the SPI is used to house various games that are mapped into the 6502 CPU's upper memory region $8000-$FFFF.  By selecting the mapping address its possible to load any number of games from the flash.
The GPIO comes out to the various joystick and game buttons.  Whilst the SPI is used to house various games that are mapped into the 6502 CPU's upper memory region $8000-$FFFF.  By selecting the mapping address its possible to load any number of games from the flash.
Line 61: Line 134:
<mapping graphic>
<mapping graphic>


== Dumping the ROM ==
== Main PCB SPI EEPROM ==
The SPI EEPROM can be a number of different types but is somewhere up to an 8Mbit SPI flash EEPROM.  For the single-game cabinets there is a lighter "startup routine", for the multi-title cabinets (and some of the single title cabinets) the IOB are read by the initial "startup routine" and a table the SPI EEPROM is read and a new program (the game) is mapped and started.
 
All cabinets map the SPI EEPROM 0x7_B000~0x7_FFFF into the m6502 CPU's memory at address XXXX ~ 0xFFFF with the m6502 resetting and running the instruction from 0xFFFC~0xFFFF.
 
=== IOB in Mappy Cabinet ===
IOB mapping on some of the Cabinets will read the ROM table if there are multiple titles and boot that title instead.
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
MSB... LSB
  IOB2 -- furthest from U3 chip
  IOB3
  IOB1 -- closest to U3 chip (overlap to legs area)
 
    000 - Rolling Thunder
    001 - PacMan
    010 - Galaga
    011 - Galaxian
    100 - Mappy
    101 - DigDug
    110 - Mappy
    111 - Rolling Thunder
</syntaxhighlight>Below is the picture of the area of IOB near the main ASIC U6, and next to U3 ASIC.
[[File:017.MyArcade.IOBs.jpg|alt=IOBs|none|thumb|IOBs]]
 
=== Dumping the ROM ===
The SPI ROM cannot have a programmer attached, and the ROM must be disconnected from the +V rail in order to run or boot.  Cutting the track and inserting a switch to toggle on the 5V rail works.
The SPI ROM cannot have a programmer attached, and the ROM must be disconnected from the +V rail in order to run or boot.  Cutting the track and inserting a switch to toggle on the 5V rail works.


Line 72: Line 170:
|Mappy
|Mappy
|XT25F08B
|XT25F08B
([http://www.xtxtech.com/products_detail/1/ Datasheet])
|d0a9ae89205fa078564a4fd6dc778cdcfc045386755e549f1110d7f5b5b4bf02
|d0a9ae89205fa078564a4fd6dc778cdcfc045386755e549f1110d7f5b5b4bf02
|Mappy, Pacman, Rolling Thunder, Galaga, Galaxian
|Mappy, Pacman, Rolling Thunder, Galaga, Galaxian
Line 91: Line 190:
The TILE and SQUARE mapping can be seen [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/916386-nes/faqs/2949 NES FAQ]
The TILE and SQUARE mapping can be seen [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/916386-nes/faqs/2949 NES FAQ]


== IOB in Mappy Cabinet ==
== Understanding the ASIC startup ==
The following sections deal with understanding how the cabinet goes from power on, thru CPU reset, initial startup routine, and then game start along with multi-page (multi-rom) games and how mapping is done. 


<<PICTURE HERE>>
=== SPI EEPROM ===
SPI EEPROMs use the SPI bus as a single bit bus with clocking allowing for simple interface for access to mass amounts of storage.  The SPI EEPROM appears to only use "Standard SPI" where SO/SI are used, but SPI EEPROMS are capable of doing Dual (2bit using DQ0/DQ1) and Quad (4 bit using DQ0/1/2/3) SPI for faster bulk data IO.
 
General package used in the cabinets looks like below
[[File:SPI EEPROM Package.jpg|alt=SPI EEPROM Package|none|thumb|SPI EEPROM Package]]
 
 
The meaning of each pin can be understood as below.
{| class="wikitable"
|+SPI EEPROM Pinout Descriptions
!Pin #
!Pin Name
!In/Out
!Description
|-
|1
|CS#
|In
|Chip Select; Active when Low, must NOT be left floating
|-
|2
|SO/DQ1
|In/Out
|Data Ouput / Data In-Out bit 1
|-
|3
|WP#/DQ2
|In/In-Out
|Write Protect Input / Data In-Out bit 2
|-
|4
|GND
|
|Ground pin
|-
|5
|SI/DQ0
|In/In-Out
|Data Input / Data In-Out bit 0
|-
|6
|SCLK
|In
|Serial Clock In
|-
|7
|HOLD#/DQ3
|In/In-Out
|Hold Input; Active when Low / Data In-Out bit 3
|-
|8
|VCC
|
|Power Supply Pin
|}


<syntaxhighlight>
=== Monitoring SPI Bus ===
MSB... LSB
You can understand a little more about SPI at [https://www.analog.com/en/analog-dialogue/articles/introduction-to-spi-interface.html Analog's website] or the [[wikipedia:Serial_Peripheral_Interface|Wiki page for SPI]].  A basic introduction sufficient to understand this cabinet can be had below.
  IOB2 -- furthest from chip
  IOB3
  IOB1 -- closest to chip (overlap to legs area)


    000 - Rolling Thunder
SCLK clocks data in/out of the chip.  The U6 ASIC will first send a command, such as "Read Block" on SI and then the blocks data will be read out on SO.  These data in/out will be "Single SPI", so although the command might be a single byte such as 0xE7 the SI pin will be clocked 8 times in serial with each bit.
    001 - PacMan
See the "Applications" section at the bottom of this article for a Tektronix TLA listing file decoder used in the live sniffing of EEPROM data.
    010 - Galaga
[[File:018.MyArcade.SPI Reading.jpg|alt=SPI Reading|none|thumb|SPI Reading]]
    011 - Galaxian
    100 - Mappy
    101 - DigDug
    110 - Mappy
    111 - Rolling Thunder
</syntaxhighlight>


== Monitoring SPI Bus ==
SPI protocol discussion;


- MOSI, multi-drop << WAVEFORM and wiring >>
- MOSI, multi-drop << WAVEFORM and wiring >>
Line 119: Line 262:


- Reason for decoder in python is size of data likely to be seen; not trying to make generic SPI but specific reader
- Reason for decoder in python is size of data likely to be seen; not trying to make generic SPI but specific reader


<WAVEFORM PICTURE>
<WAVEFORM PICTURE>
Line 126: Line 268:


  - sample E7h command + continuous read mode
  - sample E7h command + continuous read mode


NOTES;
NOTES;
Line 167: Line 308:
The above method was very useful in working out that the System-Test feature used 0x6_3000 for its CHR memory.
The above method was very useful in working out that the System-Test feature used 0x6_3000 for its CHR memory.


== SPI 1MB Flash layout ==
=== SPI 1MB Flash layout ===
 
The cabinet starts up with at first accesses to SPI at 0x1000, repeating until around XXXms. This then starts the [https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/CPU MOS 6502] which defaults to SPI address 0x7_XXXX. The MOS 6502 RESET vector can be seen as the first read at SPI address 0x7_FFFC and then of course instruction reads happen from the address read from 0x7_FFFC.
The cabinet starts up with at first accesses to SPI at 0x1000, repeating until around XXXms. This then starts the [https://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/CPU MOS 6502] which defaults to SPI address 0x7_XXXX. The MOS 6502 RESET vector can be seen as the first read at SPI address 0x7_FFFC and then of course instruction reads happen from the address read from 0x7_FFFC.


Line 175: Line 315:
* In the case of the Mappy/XX/YY/ZZ cabinet, it reads IOB pad values, copies code to low RAM which maps 1-of-6 titles, and this remaps the SPI to 0x?_???? then jumps to that ROM reset vector starting Bubble Bobble
* In the case of the Mappy/XX/YY/ZZ cabinet, it reads IOB pad values, copies code to low RAM which maps 1-of-6 titles, and this remaps the SPI to 0x?_???? then jumps to that ROM reset vector starting Bubble Bobble


=== Bubble Bobble Cabinet ROM ===
==== Bubble Bobble Cabinet ROM ====
<syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight>
0_0000 PRG: Bubble Bobble Game
0_0000 PRG: Bubble Bobble Game
Line 184: Line 324:


</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>
=== Mappy Cabinet ROM ===
 
==== Mappy Cabinet ROM ====
<syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight>
0_0000 PRG: "BANK0" string, per Rolling Thunder (ROLLING THUNDER : 8000-9FFF)
0_0000 PRG: "BANK0" string, per Rolling Thunder (ROLLING THUNDER : 8000-9FFF)
Line 269: Line 410:
</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


== Mapping NES Cartridge to SPI Memory ==
=== Mapping NES Cartridge to SPI Memory ===
If the ROM is 1 page then it maps to 0xF000, if its two then 0xE000, and so on until 0x8000.
If the ROM is 1 page then it maps to 0xF000, if its two then 0xE000, and so on until 0x8000.


Line 295: Line 436:
</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


== Controlling the Mapping ==
=== Controlling the Mapping ===
Discussion of the MMC, best left to the NESDEV wiki however the  
Discussion of the MMC, best left to the NESDEV wiki however the  


Line 313: Line 454:


All cabinets also support UP-JOY + SELECT for a test mode.
All cabinets also support UP-JOY + SELECT for a test mode.
[[File:MyArcade Testmode.jpg|border|none|thumb|MyArcade Testmode]]


<TEST MODE PICTURE>
<nowiki>https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/256806938774339584/634803550710661150/20191019_022217.jpg</nowiki>


IOB are read ($4147??) and this is used to select entry from table.
IOB are read ($4147??) and this is used to select entry from table.
Line 322: Line 461:
These are loaded into the MMC and the system is restarted.
These are loaded into the MMC and the system is restarted.


== Initial Reset Code, and Game Table Format ==
== M6502 CPU Code Analysis ==
 
=== Initial Reset Code, and Game Table Format ===
At reset the 0x7_B000 ~ 0x7_FFFF is mapped into the m6502 memory space and the RESET vector is taken.  The Mappy and bubble bobble cabinet have similar reset handler code.  It looks at the IOB values, uses this with a Game Table at 0x7_B000 to program the mapper and then boot that mapped game cartridge code.
At reset the 0x7_B000 ~ 0x7_FFFF is mapped into the m6502 memory space and the RESET vector is taken.  The Mappy and bubble bobble cabinet have similar reset handler code.  It looks at the IOB values, uses this with a Game Table at 0x7_B000 to program the mapper and then boot that mapped game cartridge code.


Line 363: Line 504:
</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


== MyArcade Custom Mapper Registers ==
=== MyArcade Custom Mapper Registers ===
<syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight>
   $4100,  Program Bank1, Video Bank2                  PA[24:21]VA[24:21]
   $4100,  Program Bank1, Video Bank2                  PA[24:21]VA[24:21]
Line 378: Line 519:




== MyArcade Custom Register Map ==


=== MyArcade Custom Register Map ===
<syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight>
     $2010/2011  / 2018
     $2010/2011  / 2018
Line 412: Line 553:


== Applications and Tools ==
== Applications and Tools ==
Hex Dump NES Application  
Hex Dump NES Application : https://github.com/lucienmp-nes/NesHexDumpTool
 
Tektronix TLA SPI EEPROM Listing file to data decoder : https://github.com/lucienmp-nes/TLAWaveformParser
 


* <nowiki>https://github.com/lucienmp-nes/NesHexDumpTool</nowiki>




Other Cabinet stuff
Other Cabinet stuff


<nowiki>*</nowiki> <nowiki>https://wrongbaud.github.io/MK-Teardown/</nowiki>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> https://wrongbaud.github.io/MK-Teardown/


<nowiki>*</nowiki> <nowiki>https://boards.dingoonity.org/other-game-systems/identify-myarcade-pacman-pocket-player-hardware/</nowiki>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> https://boards.dingoonity.org/other-game-systems/identify-myarcade-pacman-pocket-player-hardware/


== RANDOM LINKS ==
== RANDOM LINKS ==
Very close to the "Mapper 64: Tengen RAMBO-1 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, IRQ"
Very close to the "Mapper 64: Tengen RAMBO-1 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, IRQ"
Or : Mapper 4: MMC3 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, SRAM, IRQ
Or : Mapper 4: MMC3 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, SRAM, IRQ


http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Programming_mappers
* http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Programming_mappers
http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Mapper
* http://wiki.nesdev.com/w/index.php/Mapper
* Teardown of MyArcade Karate Champ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z56s-7UhYNo ( https://pcburn.com/data-east-karate-champ-my-arcade-teardown/ )
* Teardown of MyArcade Retro Machine Mini Arcade 200 games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsozsdxeNN4
*

Latest revision as of 03:19, 4 March 2023


General introduction

Various MyArcade Cabinets

The DreamGear, now rebranded MyArcade, micro-player/mini-arcade/etc cabinets are a collection of NES game emulator toys. See The MyArcade Gaming web site where you can buy direct, or also via Amazon

There are a number of MyArcade cabinets, the micro player only play a single title and the mini player play multiple-titles. At time of writing there were 14 different micro player cabinets which all boot to one game only, and two mini player cabinets which boot many titles from namco, or data east.

In reality some contain only one game title whilst others contain many but the power-on game title is determined by make/break pads inside the cabinet PCB.

These units also have a interchangeable no-button, one-button, and two-button game pad tray. This tray can be popped out with a little pressure.

Opening the Cabinet

This section deals with getting into the cabinet.

Opening main cabinet unit

The cabinet has stickers on the left and right which conceal screws that hold on these thick side panels. These stickers are best removed with a heat gun, Exacto blade down the seam, or alternatively puncture the screw heads and unscrew. I didn't care so just ripped them off which bent them meaning they were hard to place back neatly.

Remove Side Stickers
Remove Side Stickers
Remove Side Screws
Remove Side Screws
Pop Side Panels
Pop Side Panels
Sticker And Clips
Sticker And Clips
Removed Panel
Removed Panel
Both Panels Removed
Both Panels Removed
Remove Top Sticker
Remove Top Sticker


Now you have the case open you need to disconnect the internal PCBs in order to get at the main board. To do this you will need to remove the "USB power port / power/ speaker" distribution panel screwed into the back of the cabinet case. This needs removing by unscrewing the two retaining screws.

Then to get at the main board front you will need to pop the mainboard off, and to make things easier also the power button at the bottom.

Once you do this the display is then held in place by a plastic housing and rubber pads to the front plastic cover which is held on by screws and the outer cabinet sticker - so it will just drop out.

Remove Speaker and Power Board
Remove Speaker and Power Board
Backplate view
Backplate view
Remove Mainboard and Power Button
Remove Mainboard and Power Button
Main Board Alignment Pin
Main Board Alignment Pin
Display Dropped Out
Display Dropped Out
Display Removed
Display Removed
Display Sticker
Display Sticker
Display Sticker
Display Sticker
Display Panel Plastics
Display Panel Plastics


Removing the Joypad

The last remaining PCB is the button panel, which is not necessary and a little harder to remove.

Button Draw Catch Technique
Button Draw Catch Technique
Push Button Tray Back on Rails
Push Button Tray Back on Rails
Button Tray Popped Out
Button Tray Popped Out

Final disassembly view

Here is what it looks like after complete removal. The back plate has the speaker heat-melted into place, with the audio jack at the top with the volume buttons and the USB-power PCB at the bottom that run over the ribbon cable to the main board PCB. The main board then has a LCD connector, power button/LED PCB, and joypad draw PCB.

Final Disassembly of All PCB
Final Disassembly of All PCB

LCD Views

d

LCD View A
LCD View A
LCD View B
LCD View B
LCD View C
LCD View C

PCB Views

x

Main Board
Main Board
USB Power Input
USB Power Input
Audio Jack and Vol Buttons
Audio Jack and Vol Buttons

Main Circuit board

The main board consists of an emulator chip-on-board ( aka Chip-On-Board or Glob/Blob-top​ ) , SPI flash chip of 8Mbits (1Mbyte), a PWM speaker driver, and an unknown ASIC.

Main Board Components
Silk Screen ID Chip Designation Description
U6 chip-on-board ASIC NES Emulator Chip
U2 SC662K-3.3V 3.3V LDO
U3 GD25Q80C / XT25F08B 8Mbit SPI Flash
Q1 S8550 PNP (2TY)
U7 NO-MARKING PWM FB1/FB2 back buttons
U8 ST3157 PWM SOUND Switch


The chip-on-board ASIC, is something like the VT03, which is a complete NES emulator. It includes a 6502 CPU, PPU Graphic Unit with LCD output, SPU Sound Unit, two internal 2KBytes SRAMs, SPI, and some General Purpose I/O controller.  It also contains a unique mapper that allows for mapping up to 1MB, maybe more into the small 65KB memory space.

The GPIO comes out to the various joystick and game buttons.  Whilst the SPI is used to house various games that are mapped into the 6502 CPU's upper memory region $8000-$FFFF.  By selecting the mapping address its possible to load any number of games from the flash.

<mapping graphic>

Main PCB SPI EEPROM

The SPI EEPROM can be a number of different types but is somewhere up to an 8Mbit SPI flash EEPROM. For the single-game cabinets there is a lighter "startup routine", for the multi-title cabinets (and some of the single title cabinets) the IOB are read by the initial "startup routine" and a table the SPI EEPROM is read and a new program (the game) is mapped and started.

All cabinets map the SPI EEPROM 0x7_B000~0x7_FFFF into the m6502 CPU's memory at address XXXX ~ 0xFFFF with the m6502 resetting and running the instruction from 0xFFFC~0xFFFF.

IOB in Mappy Cabinet

IOB mapping on some of the Cabinets will read the ROM table if there are multiple titles and boot that title instead. 

MSB... LSB
   IOB2 -- furthest from U3 chip
   IOB3
   IOB1 -- closest to U3 chip (overlap to legs area)

    000 - Rolling Thunder
    001 - PacMan
    010 - Galaga
    011 - Galaxian
    100 - Mappy
    101 - DigDug
    110 - Mappy
    111 - Rolling Thunder

Below is the picture of the area of IOB near the main ASIC U6, and next to U3 ASIC.

IOBs
IOBs

Dumping the ROM

The SPI ROM cannot have a programmer attached, and the ROM must be disconnected from the +V rail in order to run or boot. Cutting the track and inserting a switch to toggle on the 5V rail works.

Model SPI ROM Part # ROM SHA256 Games Contained
Mappy XT25F08B

(Datasheet)

d0a9ae89205fa078564a4fd6dc778cdcfc045386755e549f1110d7f5b5b4bf02 Mappy, Pacman, Rolling Thunder, Galaga, Galaxian
Bubble Bobble GD25Q08C-SIG (Datasheet) 0136a88ae8a7bee3a2cbcc196a33a4c284291be18050debb90fa73faef740f5a Bubble Bobble


Useful for checking NES images are the CHR rom editors such as NES Sprite Editor. The CHR ROM are hard to spot visually but do have a tendency to contain 00s and "3" characters because of the way the planar data is recorded

A deeper discussion for graphics can be seen at DustMop.io

The TILE and SQUARE mapping can be seen NES FAQ

Understanding the ASIC startup

The following sections deal with understanding how the cabinet goes from power on, thru CPU reset, initial startup routine, and then game start along with multi-page (multi-rom) games and how mapping is done.

SPI EEPROM

SPI EEPROMs use the SPI bus as a single bit bus with clocking allowing for simple interface for access to mass amounts of storage. The SPI EEPROM appears to only use "Standard SPI" where SO/SI are used, but SPI EEPROMS are capable of doing Dual (2bit using DQ0/DQ1) and Quad (4 bit using DQ0/1/2/3) SPI for faster bulk data IO.

General package used in the cabinets looks like below

SPI EEPROM Package
SPI EEPROM Package


The meaning of each pin can be understood as below.

SPI EEPROM Pinout Descriptions
Pin # Pin Name In/Out Description
1 CS# In Chip Select; Active when Low, must NOT be left floating
2 SO/DQ1 In/Out Data Ouput / Data In-Out bit 1
3 WP#/DQ2 In/In-Out Write Protect Input / Data In-Out bit 2
4 GND Ground pin
5 SI/DQ0 In/In-Out Data Input / Data In-Out bit 0
6 SCLK In Serial Clock In
7 HOLD#/DQ3 In/In-Out Hold Input; Active when Low / Data In-Out bit 3
8 VCC Power Supply Pin

Monitoring SPI Bus

You can understand a little more about SPI at Analog's website or the Wiki page for SPI. A basic introduction sufficient to understand this cabinet can be had below.

SCLK clocks data in/out of the chip. The U6 ASIC will first send a command, such as "Read Block" on SI and then the blocks data will be read out on SO. These data in/out will be "Single SPI", so although the command might be a single byte such as 0xE7 the SI pin will be clocked 8 times in serial with each bit. See the "Applications" section at the bottom of this article for a Tektronix TLA listing file decoder used in the live sniffing of EEPROM data.

SPI Reading
SPI Reading


- MOSI, multi-drop << WAVEFORM and wiring >>

- QUAD mode << WAVEFORM inc. E7h command >>

- Reason for decoder in python is size of data likely to be seen; not trying to make generic SPI but specific reader

<WAVEFORM PICTURE>

  - 100MHZ? FIXME

  - sample E7h command + continuous read mode

NOTES;

  • Multiple accesses to same memory location, appears to have zero caching
  • Other random low-memory accesses to 0x0000 - 0x1FFF
  • Accesses are WORD aligned so access to read 0x00F1 means 0x00F0 gets read, then 0x00F2

Decoding the SPI for a simple boot session can look like the following, part way through.

 line# 14110198 READ:* 0x7effe(mode=0xa5): 0xf120
 line# 14110212 READ:* 0x7effe(mode=0xa5): 0xf120
 line# 14110226 READ:* 0x7effe(mode=0xa5): 0xf120
 line# 14110240 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110254 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110268 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110282 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110296 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110310 READ:* 0x7f000(mode=0xa5): 0x0df1
 line# 14110408 READ:* 0x7f10c(mode=0xa5): 0x608a
 line# 14110422 READ:* 0x7f10c(mode=0xa5): 0x608a
 line# 14110436 READ:* 0x7f10c(mode=0xa5): 0x608a

This fits perfectly with the ROM disassembly for this memory location, assuming 0x7_E000 is mapped to m6502 CPU memory at 0xE000.

ROM:EFF4 09 04                                   ORA     #4
ROM:EFF6 8D 4B 41                                STA     byte_414B
ROM:EFF9 20 0D F1                                JSR     xsub_F10D_Delay
ROM:EFFC 20 0D F1                                JSR     xsub_F10D_Delay
ROM:EFFF 20 0D F1                                JSR     xsub_F10D_Delay <--- here
ROM:F002 20 0D F1                                JSR     xsub_F10D_Delay
ROM:F005 20 0D F1                                JSR     xsub_F10D_Delay
ROM:F008 60                                      RTS
ROM:F008                         ; End of function xsub_EF83_CART_DoSomething

ROM:F10C 60                                      RTS
ROM:F10D                         xsub_F10D_Delay:
ROM:F10D 8A                                      TXA


The above method was very useful in working out that the System-Test feature used 0x6_3000 for its CHR memory.

SPI 1MB Flash layout

The cabinet starts up with at first accesses to SPI at 0x1000, repeating until around XXXms. This then starts the MOS 6502 which defaults to SPI address 0x7_XXXX. The MOS 6502 RESET vector can be seen as the first read at SPI address 0x7_FFFC and then of course instruction reads happen from the address read from 0x7_FFFC.

The code at 0x7_XXXX ~ 0x7_FFFF is a custom NES Emulator ASIC initialization routine setting various custom values.

  • In the case of the bubble bobble cabinet, it copies code to low RAM and this remaps the SPI to 0x?_???? then jumps to that ROM reset vector starting Bubble Bobble
  • In the case of the Mappy/XX/YY/ZZ cabinet, it reads IOB pad values, copies code to low RAM which maps 1-of-6 titles, and this remaps the SPI to 0x?_???? then jumps to that ROM reset vector starting Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble Cabinet ROM

0_0000 PRG: Bubble Bobble Game

7_B000 Game Entry Table

7_C000 Initial Reset Handler Code

Mappy Cabinet ROM

0_0000 PRG: "BANK0" string, per Rolling Thunder	 	(ROLLING THUNDER : 8000-9FFF)
0_2000 PRG:                              		 	(ROLLING THUNDER : A000-BFFF)

0_4000 ???:                              			(ROLLING THUNDER : [ Title Screen texts here ] ) 
0_8000 ???: "BANK2" string, per Rolling Thunder		...
0_A000 ???: More data								...
0_C000 ???: "BANK3" string, per Rolling Thunder		...
0_E000 ???: More data
1_0000 ???: More data
1_2000 ???: More data
1_4000 ???: More data
1_6000 ???: More data
1_8000 ???: More data
1_A000 ???: More data								...
1_A000 ???: More data								(ROLLING THUNDER : Unknown data)

1_C000 PRG: ROLLING THUNDER (B000-DFFF)
1_E000 PRG: ROLLING THUNDER (E000-FFFF)

2_0000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_2000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_4000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_6000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_8000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_A000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_C000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
2_E000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_0000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_2000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_4000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_6000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_8000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_A000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_C000 CHR: Rolling Thunder
3_E000 CHR: Rolling Thunder

4_0000 PRG: PACMAN
4_2000 PRG: PACMAN
4_4000 CHR: PACMAN

4_6000 CHR: MAPPY
4_8000 PRG: MAPPY
4_A000 PRG: MAPPY

4_C000 PRG: DIGDUG
4_E000 PRG: DIGDUG
5_0000 CHR: DIGDUG

5_2000 CHR: GALAGA
5_4000 PRG: GALAGA?????
5_6000 PRG: GALAGA?????

5_8000 PRG: GALAXIAN
5_A000 PRG: GALAXIAN
5_C000 CHR: GALAXIAN  (Weird: Contains strings "MISSION" "DESTROY" "CONVOY" "CHARGER" "READY" "PAUSE" "START" "GALAXIA" )

5_E000 FF..FF..FF..
6_0000 CHR: "4in1" / "PAC-MAN" / "FROGGER" / ???? title names
6_2000 CHR: "4in1" and "380in1" / FONTS / ASTEROID / QBERT / PAC-MAN / ICONS for Qbert/PAC-MAN
6_4000 CHR: "GAMES LIST" / "ENGLiSH/JAPANESE"

7_0000 PRG:  Not sure what this applicaiton is, but its a program; mapped to 0x8000
7_2000 ???:	 Not sure (Up to 7_54D0)

7_5800 ???:  Some data

7_A000 ???:  Some table	
7_A400 ???:  Some other table


7_B000 Game Image Mapper Table (See below)

7_C000 Inital boot rom
			00: 06 <number of games in cabinet> ....
			10: ZERO terminated list of game names
		
7_F000 Initial boot rom (exec at 7_FFFC as reset vector)

8_0000 FF FF ...
F_FFFF FF FF

Mapping NES Cartridge to SPI Memory

If the ROM is 1 page then it maps to 0xF000, if its two then 0xE000, and so on until 0x8000.

After this the FIRST two pages map to 0x8000 and 0xA0000 respectfully, and the LAST two pages map to

0xC000, and 0xE000

<< Rollercoster thingy ROM example >>

<< PICTURE side by side .... >> 

 * NES expects
 *    0x8000 = PAGE0 : Your Code
 *    0xA000 = PAGE1 : Your Code
 *    0xC000 = PAGE2 : Your Code
 *    0xE000 = PAGE3 : Code + Reset Vectors
 *      0xFFF4 COP
 *      0xFFF6 N/A
 *      0xFFF8 ABORT
 *      0xFFFA NMI
 *      0xFFFC RESET
 *      0xFFFE IRQ/BRK

Controlling the Mapping

Discussion of the MMC, best left to the NESDEV wiki however the

and then discussion of the table at 7_B000.

At reset the ASIC mapps 0x8000-0xAFFF to RAM.

And 0xB000-0xFFFF to SPI Flash at 7_B000-7_FFFF.

In the Mappy/Pacman/Digdug/Galaga/Galaxian/Rolling Thunder cabinet

this section is a rom switcher.  It will setup the ASIC correctly,

then  will jump to the right game based on IOB shorting.

In BubbleBobble its just a system setup program, and will only jump to the game.

All cabinets also support UP-JOY + SELECT for a test mode.

MyArcade Testmode


IOB are read ($4147??) and this is used to select entry from table.

These are loaded into the MMC and the system is restarted.

M6502 CPU Code Analysis

Initial Reset Code, and Game Table Format

At reset the 0x7_B000 ~ 0x7_FFFF is mapped into the m6502 memory space and the RESET vector is taken. The Mappy and bubble bobble cabinet have similar reset handler code. It looks at the IOB values, uses this with a Game Table at 0x7_B000 to program the mapper and then boot that mapped game cartridge code.

The values from the Game Table are 9 bytes long and represent mapper registers that will be loaded for that game.

Example Table Entry
	ROM TABLE $B000
		ROM:B000 00       .BYTE   0               ; CHR Bank MSB; Always 0
		ROM:B001 00       .BYTE   0               ; CHR Bank Mid; 0 / $10 / $20
		ROM:B002 81       .BYTE $81               ; CHR Bank LSB; 
		ROM:B003 02       .BYTE   2               ; MMC mapper (2,4: Four ROM Banks or 5: Two Rom Banks )
		ROM:B004 00       .BYTE   0               ; PRG Bank0 x 2
		ROM:B005 01       .BYTE   1               ; PRG Bank1 x 2
		ROM:B006 0E       .BYTE  $E               ; PRG Bank2 x 2
		ROM:B007 0F       .BYTE  $F               ; PRG Bank3 x 2
		ROM:B008 00       .BYTE   0               ; Mirrored / Vertical - A000h


All Entries for Mappy Cabinet

	RT ROM:B000 00 00 81 02 00 01 0E 0F+                struc_RomTable <0, $00, $81 20 10, 2, $00, $01, $0E, $0F, 0>
	PM ROM:B009 00 00 10 16 05 20 21 20+                struc_RomTable <0, $10, $16  5  2, 5, $20, $21, $20, $21, 1>
	MA ROM:B012 21 01 00 10 1E 05 24 25+                struc_RomTable <0, $10, $1E  7  3, 5, $24, $25, $24, $25, 0>
	DD ROM:B01B 24 25 00 00 10 46 05 26+                struc_RomTable <0, $10, $46 11  8, 5, $26, $27, $26, $27, 1>
	GL ROM:B024 27 26 27 01 00 10 4E 05+                struc_RomTable <0, $10, $4E 13  9, 5, $2A, $2B, $2A, $2B, 1>
	GA ROM:B02D 2A 2B 2A 2B 01 00 10 76+                struc_RomTable <0, $10, $76 1D  E, 5, $2C, $2D, $2C, $2D, 1>

So calculating the CHR/PRG mapping for the Mappy cabinet looks something like the following

	Case ($201A & 0x07) => Video Mode and affects MASK value.
		 Normal Video Modes:   ($4100&0x0F)<<21+($2018&0x70)<<14+(($201A&0xF8)|(VBANK&0x07))<<10 
		 Enhanced Video Modes: ($4100&0x0F)<<21+(($201A&0xF8&MASK)|(VBANK&0x07))<<13+EVA<<10
									76543210
	ROLLING  CHR> 2_0000		81	10000001	10000 001	10	1	0x10 * 0x2000 -> 2_0000
	PACMAN   CHR> 4_4000		16	00010110	00010 110	 2	6	0x02 * 0x2000 -> 0_4000
	MAPPY    CHR> 4_6000		1E  00011110	00011 110	 3	6	0x03 * 0x2000 -> 0_6000
	DigDug   CHR> 5_0000		46  01000110	01000 110	 8	6	0x08 * 0x2000 -> 1_0000
	GALAGA   CHR> 5_2000		4E  01001110	01001 110	 9	6	0x09 * 0x2000 -> 1_2000
	GALAXIAN CHR> 5_C000 		76  01110110	01110 110	 E	6	0x0E * 0x2000 -> 1_C000

MyArcade Custom Mapper Registers

   $4100,  Program Bank1, Video Bank2                   PA[24:21]VA[24:21]
   $2018,  Video Bank1 register, BKPAGE, Video RW Bank  X|VA[20:18]|BKPAGE|VRWB[2:0]                   
			Write $00/10/20 ( Intermediate CHR Bank number; PPU $0000-$1FFF: Selected by register $2018 bits 4-6 (VA18-20). )
   $201A,  Video Bank0 register6, Video Bank0 selector  RV6[7:3]VB0S[2:0]
   $410B,  MMC mapper (2,4: Four ROM Banks or 5: Two Rom Banks )
   $4107,  PRG ROM Bank0: $8000 or $8000
   $4108,  PRG ROM Bank1: $A000 .. $C000
   $4109,  PRG ROM Bank2: $C000    $8000
   $410A,  PRG ROM Bank3: $E000    $C000
   $A000


MyArcade Custom Register Map

    $2010/2011  / 2018

    $4105    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $410B    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    
    $4144    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $4146    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    
    $4147,  IOB/GPIO
    
    $4148    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $414A    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $414C    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $414E    SEEN: Bubblebobble
   
    $414F    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    
    $4155    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $4157    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $415A    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $415B    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    
    $41E4    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $41E6    SEEN: Bubblebobble
    $41E8    SEEN: Bubblebobble

https://problemkaputt.de/everynes.htm#mapper4mmc3prg8kvrom2k1kntsramirq
    $8000 / 8001 :

Applications and Tools

Hex Dump NES Application : https://github.com/lucienmp-nes/NesHexDumpTool

Tektronix TLA SPI EEPROM Listing file to data decoder : https://github.com/lucienmp-nes/TLAWaveformParser



Other Cabinet stuff

* https://wrongbaud.github.io/MK-Teardown/

* https://boards.dingoonity.org/other-game-systems/identify-myarcade-pacman-pocket-player-hardware/

RANDOM LINKS

Very close to the "Mapper 64: Tengen RAMBO-1 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, IRQ"

Or : Mapper 4: MMC3 - PRG/8K, VROM/2K/1K, NT, SRAM, IRQ

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