Three years ago (2016), i tried out the BMP Viewer tool by Hap and made two pictures demo in SCHIP mode: one called "Internet Janitor" and the other "Jughead" just to see if i've properly made both pictures in SCHIP.
For those who doesn't know what is the "Octo-Jam", it a jam which is held once a year between October 1st to October 31 (Halloween). This year, the "Octo-Jam 6" was held on itch.io at this URL: https://itch.io/jam/octojam-6
But this year, only 13 Chip-8, Super Chip8 and XO-Chip entries were submitted. Here's the list of each categories:
Chip-8: * Patrick's Chip-8 Challenge, by Tobias V. Langhoff * Mini Light Out, by by Tobias V. Langhoff * Golf, by buffi * Octojam 6 greeting, by Internet Janitor (aka John Earnest) * Falling, by versimilitude
Super Chip-8: * Rule 30, Improved, by versimilitude * The Rude Street, by System Logoff * Flutter By, by Tom Rintjema
XO-chip: * An Evening to Die for, by Internet Janitor (aka John Earnest) * Pizza Topping Panic!, by Tom Rintjema * Bustin (demo), by Tom Rintjema * Duel of the F8s, by Chromatophore * Dump Trump, by mwales (aka Michael Wales)
Ad if you're curious to know about XO-Chip, it was created by John Earnest. Go HERE to take a peek! ;)
Sadly, we can't play any Schip or XO-Chip games on the RCA Studio II...well maybe Schip games with hardware modifications, but ta least we have four new Chip-8 games (and one demo) that we can play on a Studio II with a slight (or no) mod and a Chip8 interpreter.
So if we add these 5 new Chip-8 games with the 165 (approx) games i already have in my database (and this not includes hacks or different sizes) which makes about 170 different Chip-8 games.... i think that Flip will need to make a a new multicart for all these Chip8 game one day.
On April 08, 2019, i posted this: (http://discreteconsoles.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-sharp-kjs-tv-game-xg-102.html) and i wrote that i didn't have this console...well it was true until last week as i finally brought one (ARGH...COULD....NOT....RESIST...BUYING.....IT!!!...LOL!!!), so now i have one but still don't know where to put it as this thing is quite huge: 19 5/8" x 15 3/4" x 7 1/4" and weights about 16 pounds...now that's a big console!
Here's a few pictures of this beast:
100 Yens a game, which is the equivalent of $1 USD
Player 2 paddle
The main panel
Player 1 paddle and reset button
Sounds get out by a speaker which is behind the paddle of Player 1
So after i have received it, took some pictures of it and began to open it to see what was inside this thing:
Side panel, which contain the mechanical coin counter
Coin slot and counter and at the bottom, the coin tray
Left side on the console
Top of the console
Err...still haven't translated what's on the sticker.
The back on the console
VHF and UHF connectors...you don't see those on newer TV's and consoles! But could this console be able to play in Europe as the frequency is 50 or 60 Hertz ? Hummm....
VHF outpout with Channel select; L-CH is Channel 1 and H-CH is Channel 2. And if you want to play this console in North America (Canada, United States and Mexico), you need to select Channel 95 to be able to play.
Sweet! Can plug a TV or monitor if you ever have both wall plugs used.
After removing the back panel: the inside of the console!
That is only the power supply and the RF modulator, oh and also the timer once you inserted a 100 Yens coin because you have 8 minutes and 20 seconds before the console shuts itself down.
The RF modulator
The timer circuit and power supply
The board of the main panel (with the game module removed)
The back of the coin counter
Now the fun begins! Here's the game module and the dedicated chips it uses:
Front of the Game Module - And as you can see, on all the dedicated game chips, you have right after the General Instrument logo (GI), the year and month when a chip was fabricated so they all start with "78" which means 1978. So this console was either released by the end of 1978 or in the beginning of 1979.
Back of the Game Module
The AY-3-8610-1 dedicated game chip (or PC-501 - Supersportic)
The Football/Soccer game from the 8610 (Sports - Game 1)
The Basketball game from the 8610 (Sports - Game 2)
The AY-3-8606-1 dedicated game chip 9 (or PC-506 - Wipeout)
The "Break-In 1" game from the 8606 (Block - Game 1)
The "Break-In 2" game from the 8606 (Block - Game 2)
The AY-3-8603-1 dedicated game chip (or PC-504 - Grand Prix/Race Car)
The game for 1 player (Car Race - Game 1)
The game for 2 players (Car Race - Game 2)
And the AY-3-8615 Color Converter
So this makes a total of 6 games (not 5 like previously mentioned). But what is strange is that all the games have the same colors. The only game which has the right colors is the Car Race games as they are the same color displayed on a Bandai TV-Jack Add-On 5000, the rest uses different colors which are provided by the AY-3-8615. That will be another story for another time.
And finally (for today), here's a picture of how i hooked up the console with Video & Audio output:
For Audio, i just hook it up on one the the speaker terminals (which i usually never do this but the audio source on the game module is very weak) and for the video, just plug in in the video output of the game module, easy as pie!
And here's a video recorded with an Adesso AV-200 USB gizmo:
The colors are very bright and we see thin static lines, this is what is outputted on the video output of the game module. Next time, i'll go right to the video source (the AY-3-8615 pin #5)
The last update on the subject was on January 30, 2017 but the "Hello World" i have tried wasn't working properly and it always nagged me since then. After making research, i finally may have found the problem i have with "Hello World" as the author (Thomas Daley) of the Chip-8 emulator Kiwi8" find an interesting "Quirk" as he wrote this on his Github page: Shift Quirk: Shift instructions 0x8XY6 and 0x8XYE originally shift register VY and store results in register VX. Some Chip-8 programs incorrectly assume that the VX register is shifted by this instruction, and VY remains unmodified. Enabling this quirk cause VX to be shifted and VY remains untouched. So in the Kiwi8 and the Octo ....., both emulator makes the "Hello World" as a single row of garbage on the top of the screen but if you uses the "shift quirk", then you end up seeing the "Hello World" correctly. Go here: http://johnearnest.github.io/Octo/index.html?key=uOQJTu8Y and after you will see the "Hello World" program make it's garbage row. Then click on the big X in the left upper screen
And you will go to the "compiling/debugging" page (that's how i call it) and then click on "Toolbox" in the right upper corner:
and after, you will see the Toolbox:
and then, click on "Options" in the right-down corner:
and after, click/choose under compability:
and finally, click on "Run":
and you will see "Hello World" as it should be!
But my main problem is how the heck do i make it work on a real machine like the RCA Studio II or VIP ?? I may have found the problem but still haven't find the solution on how to correct it as i'm no programmer...sigh!
But...i know how to use an hex editor...go figure !! LOL!!!
Just to report that there is a new Microvision homebrew game available called "Tetris" by Azya52 and it's been done 11 months ago (August 2018). Here's a screenshot with the MVEM emulator:
The author "Azya52" also made two others games: Octopus and Micro Bird (aka Flappy Bird) but those aren't compiled as they are still in ASM and both were also done in August 2018 (no update since then).
You can download "Tetris" in BIN format and also the two other games in ASM. Get everything here: https://github.com/azya52/microvision. Note that you can play the game as the file is in the "TMS1xxx/Tetris" folder, there is a ZIP file called "MVEMwithTetris.zip" so you can play the Tetris homebrew right away.
If someone can compiled Octopus & Micro Bird, please send me a copy of the BIN's so i can add them here (Thanks in advanced!).
I am in the process of uploading all the game consoles manuals of the 1st generation that i have accumulated over the past 20 years (and more) all over the Internet on so many web sites that more than half are gone in the mist of time.
For today, i am just uploading any Pong game consoles sold in North America (about 26 for now) and later on i will upload Pong consoles from Japan, Europe and South America. And this is not counting the "Discrete" ones, Pong-Cartridge (GI 8600 game systems), Standalones and accessories.
Let's just say it will be the biggest repository/database of many 1st Generation game consoles and hoping that it will be helpful for many of you and that it will grow bigger with time.
And if you are on a quest of finding a game manual for a Wrist Watch Game (say Nelsonic Legend of Zelda) which i have also uploaded today more than 50 WWG's game manuals or in need of a service manual or electronic game manual, then i invite you to check out my library over on "Archive.org"
It's been 1 and a half year i haven't posted here...OMG that time flies!!!
I am in the process of uploading 55 Wrist Watch Game manuals like Nelsonic Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Casio, Star Trek, etc...that i either have/owned or found over various web site for the past 20 years.
I wanted to make the biggest database of Wrist Watch Games called "Slytronic Wristwatch Games Database" but never found the time to do it as i have as today (July 1st, 2019) over 50 Gigs of files regarding only Wrist Watch Games.
So i hope this repository will help anyone out there and if any of you have a copy of any manual not listed on Archive.org, please contact me so i can add new manuals to share with everyone.
