While checking the net (webpages, videos, blogs, etc...) sometime i stumble on Chip-8 games that i can't find to download anywhere. So when i was looking on Youtube, i have found this video:
Chip 8 Old Tech in a New Light
The professor's name is Wil Lindsay and he teaches many type of programming (old computer, OS, 3D, etc) and last year he gave a course of RCA Cosmac Chip-8 to his students. He made a presentation for the Vintage Computer Festival East 2020 which was a "virtual" event (damn pandemic) which was held on October 10th and 11th, 2020.
His students made some Chip-8 games which are:
Salem Witch (by Janet Dennis(?))
Lumber Jack (by Cody Lynch)
Duck Run (by V. Kreepmer(?))
8-Bit Operatives (by Vincent Nelson)
Pirates of Karl Bean (by Ray Osterman)
Sorry if i made mistakes in the authors names, hoping that one of them or Wil Lindsay will see this post and correct me.
This is five Chip-8 games that unfortunately we can't test/play them but maybe one day, these and surely others, will be available to enjoy (keeping my fingers crossed). ;)
Been quite a few weeks since the last post but today i have updated the Chip-8 Database with 35 new entries! All the entries from the Octojam 7 ( https://itch.io/jam/octojam-7 ) and a few more discovered on the net.
Here's what has been added:
* 14 Chip-8 Games
* 03 Chip-8 Progs/Demos
* 02 Schip Games
* 02 Schip Progs/Demos
* 14 XO-Chip Games
And with mostly with their manual on how to play each of them.
So check out the "Chip-8 Database" and download the updated check list and the update ZIP file.
I recently had a request from "lucius2018" (in Greece) who asked me how to mod a Bandai TV-Jack 1500 with Audio & Video output (A/V) as i am selling one and couldn't adjust the image on either channel 95 or 96. So what i did to take good pictures of some games, i just temporarily plugged alligator clips on the TV-Jack 1500 board.
First open up the console by removing the 6 screws in the back, then locate on the board the inscription "8615".
Then, go the the left and connect/solder a wire with the "ORANGE" wire - That's the VIDEO OUTPUT and not the one with the inscription on the board (i put an X on it). Now with my TV, the image and contrast are OK but on another monitor/TV, it may be darker so you will need a small amp circuit.
Now for the AUDIO, connect/solder a wire where the white alligator clip is, that's the AUDIO OUTPUT as it outputs from the AY-3-8600-1 pin #13. Don't try to connect from the speaker as the sound may be weaker or louder. Oh and don't forget to cut/desolder both white wires (near the edge of the board) because you are gonna hear the sounds is stereo (console and TV). ;P
As for the GROUND, the easiest place to connect/solder the GROUND is on the solder "J3" (aka the VSS). You will need that if you want the Audio & Video to work.
Now here is all three connections in one picture (Video, Audio and Ground). And if went well, then you'll get this on your TV or monitor (IF you don't need a video amp circuit):
Ahh! No more snow, RF lines, distortions, etc. So much nicer than the $%$&?% RF connector!
That's it folks, now have fun playing your TV-Jack 1500 with A/V output!
In the last post, i've talked about the two different models of the Terebikko, the Mattel See 'N' Say clone and the list of the games. But now, let's discuss about what's inside (the guts) of the Terebikko.
It somehow looks like a mix between a video phone alarm system (without the screen) and an ordinary phone at first glance, but made simple for the young ones as it has four major "choice" buttons identified as 1 (red), 2 (green), 3 (blue) and 4 (yellow) plus on ON/OFF switch (button-right corner) with a LED indicator (on top of the power switch) and the phone handle.
On the right side on the console, you have a speaker switch (A or B) as if you put the switch on the "A" position, you will hear the character talk to you through the handle receiver and is in the "B" position, you will hear the character talk through the speaker on top of the LED indicator.
This plug need to be inserted in the "Audio Input" jack in the rear of the video player, but you will need an adapter to be able to plug in an RCA jack.
As for power, it needs x4 "AA" type batteries (6 Volts DC) as it has no power supply input jack.
Now here comes the good part: the guts! (Mad scientist laugh !!)
Huh ??? There is not much to see...it is sssoooo simplistic! Great, will be so much easier to emulate it!
Here is the heart of the console: a TMP47C200AN - which is a CMOS 4-bit microcontroller with 2K builtin ROM (2K 8-bit ROM) and 128 byes 4-bit RAM! This could have existed by the end of the 70's!
And here the secong chip: a KIA75902P - which is simply a Quad Low Power OP Amp....really! So the major parts of the Terebikko is a 4-bit Microcontroller and a Quad Op Amp (plus resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc) - that's it! So for the MAME team to make a driver to emulate this console, they will need to extract the 2k ROM inside the TMP47C200 and VHS tape copies to CHD and voila (Easier said than done...mind you! ;P )
And in the cordless model (2nd model), it has more components as they are mostly needed for transmitting by radio frequency (RF) but in the end, it uses an TMP47C203M which is almost an exact copy of the TMP47C200 since they share the same specs (2K 8-bit ROM and 128 byes 4-Bit RAM).
So he Terebikko has an 4-bit Microcontroller and uses VHS tapes for games but did you know that it has a successor ? Really! Here's some hints: The successor was released by the same company, has an 8-bit Microprocessor and uses CD-Roms for games and was released the same year that the Terebikko was cancelled AND...has also quiz-type games...Sounds familiar ? If you've guessed the Bandai Playdia, you have guessed right!
And finally, the Terebikko has another kind of successor, it called the "Terebi Denwa Video Phone" (てれびでんわ) arcades. The arcades are released by Banpresto and uses either arcade boards or CD-Roms (can't be specific as i have never seen the inside of one of these arcades). But you can see that it uses a phone handle and has a 12 button keyboard but only 3 keys are highlighted (1, 2 and 3). The major difference is that the graphics uses pixels and when the game is over, it spits out a holographic card as a reward.
And here's some link to videos on Youtube (not mines):
I love Japanese video games in all it's forms but it also gives me a headache! LOL!!
Hope that you had fun reading this post as well as the previous one and if you have any comment(s), don't hesitate to post! =)
Anyone of you known or heard about the Bandai Terebikko ? If you say yes then you're like me, love obscure video game consoles! And if you answer no then it's time to learn about it.
The Bandai Terebikko (バンダイてれびっこ) was released in Japan in 1988. This game console is designed for young kids (and sometimes grown-ups! ;P) as all the "games" are quiz-type games. The video phone (err....let's call it this way) is an interactive game console which you need to plug it on an VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) in the Audio Out jack.
(1st model)
All the games are in video tape VHS format so that's why you need to plug it to a VCR. When you have inserted a tape in the VCR and pressed "play", then you need to follow the instruction on the screen (in Japanese of course) and when a character picks up the phone, you hear the video phone ringing and then you pick the the phone handle and listen to the question the character will ask and then you need to press either 1, 2, 3 or 4 on the phone which represents the answer with the number associated, like in the next image (example):
And then, you continue to view the tape and answer all the other questions. Simple don't you think ?
But even this game console was simple to use (remember this was for young kids), it didn't gain much popularity even it it had a 6 years span (1988 to 1994). They are two models that was released for the Terebikko, the first model (shown previously) and the "cordless" (2nd model) unit.
(1st model on the left and 2nd model on the right)
And to the "avid" collector who collects any kind of variations, the first model was released in two different boxes:
(the 1988 edition)
And the other box which is more typical (easier) to find:
(the 1990 version)
And here's the box of the cordless version (2nd model):
Or simply go here: https://archive.org/details/bandai-terebikko and browse the files by clicking "SHOW ALL" in the download options. I have uploaded the games list, the manual of the 2nd Terebikko model, the 1994 game flyer, 5 game tape covers and labels + the label of the Sample Video tape.
If you wanna collect all the game tapes, the hardest one to find is called: まさ子おれえさんとあそばう1 : たのしい動物ひろば (aka Masako Let's play with me 1 : Fun animal open space) as i ever saw one copy in 10 years and the last game to came out was: 美少女戦士セーラームーンS こたえてムーンコール (aka Sailor Moon S: Answer Moon Call) which was released in 1994 and the only title too to be released in 1994 as Bandai wanted to cash-in on Sailor Moon so they made the cordless version unit and if you check the flyer, they also wanted to re-release some titles with the 2nd model pictured in the bottom-right corner. And Bandai also advertised the 2nd model in their 1994 catalog:
What i find fascinating is that Bandai made specials "episodes" just for the Terebikko like Super Mario World, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Anpanman, etc...as these anime series were popular at that time, all the games for the Terebikko are outside the anime series. Many collectors (anime/games) call these "lost episodes". Even if Bandai has the rights to produce/sells toys based on the animes, the producers made special episodes which sometime features the Terebikko and with the original voice casts of the respected anime series...now that, you won't see this in the US.!
Even if the Terebikko is obscure to the general public, did you know that there is a "clone" released in the United States ? Yep! No kidding! It is called the "See 'N' Say Video Phone" released by Mattel in 1989.
Since Bandai and Mattel has a long relationship between them, Mattel wanted to cash-in on their "See 'N Say" toy series and made (only) four tapes for the unit. As you can see, it is the same mold as the Terebokko accept it's red as the Bat-phone in the 1966 Batman TV series! LOL!!!
Huh ??? Is it me or does the puppet in the ad looks like Howard Philips ????
What's even weird is that Mattel was distributing the NES in Canada during the 80's! That's a mystery i won't even try to solve! LOL!!! OK so the next post i will talk about the specs of the Terebikko since this one is not emulated in MAME.
Been quite a time i have posted. Just to announced that i have uploaded 4 new manuals to my Archive.org library, which are: the Nintendo Kousenju SP Rifle and the Electro Roulette (both in Japanese and English - many thanks to Chris Kohler for the English scans!)
And the 2 other manuals are: Shiggles Club Jenna Jameson Strip Poker (Yep....the only Plug & Play for adults and it's emulated in MAME/MESS) and the Arcade Cocktail 118-in-1 (manual in Japanese and the screenshots sheet of all 118 games with the English names).
Just click ***HERE*** to download any of these manuals. =)
I'm glad to announced that the "Chip-8 Database" is now available to anyone to download and it is the "BIGGEST" chip-8 archive on the net (i'm not joking here).
As of September 01, 2020, there is in the Database:
* x174 Chip-8 Games (and missing x213 not yet typed)
* x146 Chip-8 Demos/Progs
* x10 Chip-8X (with Hybrids)
* x53 Super Chip-8 Games
* x50 Super Chip-8 Demos/Progs
* x25 XO-Chip Games
* x28 XO-Chip Demos/Progs
* x22 Machine Languages Games (and missing x46 not typed)
* x41 Machine Language Demos/Progs
* x09 Chip-8 Hires (64x64)
* x05 MegaChip files
As you can see, the Chip-8 Database contain a lot more than anyone expects. Hoping this will help numerous programmers and gamers. I will also put in due time, all the missing Chip-8 games that aren't typed yet (listing) and a program to help type these which was made by Revival Studios so hoping that some few fellows will help out expanding the Chip-8 library.
For now, enjoy all there is by clicking on this link: Chip-8 Database.
