Thunder Cross II, Rainbow Islands
Rainbow Islands
We added this game to the JTRASTAN core with contributions from Andrea, Fulvio, Furrtek, Skutis and IkaMusume. The core has a very solid base on reverse engineering of chips and PCB. The tilemap chip is the only piece derived from the MAME documentation, but it seems to be a simple chip, shared by Rastan and Operation Wolf. So we have very high confidence on the accuracy of this core.
I will not go into details about the gameplay. Just to say that if you don't know this one, don't miss it because the design is so well thought out that it is pure delight.
On a personal note, I only played it on my Amstrad CPC and the conversion was spectacular. One thing that helped home computers about this title was to use vertical scroll, which was easier for bit-plane based computers. Have a look at the 8-bit versions of the game on YouTube, you'll be surprised!
Thunder Cross II
This was a surprise contribution by NikNakNikNak. This is an extension to the JTTMNT core. Although he derived it from MAME, as it is only a small extension to the TMNT core, it leverages all the existing chips and connections in it, for which we have solid reverse engineering work, so I am very confident on its accuracy.
Other Updates
Final Round sprite bug at end scene fixed.
Caliber 50 random crashing fixed.
Support for OutRun hack (look for in in the alternatives folder)
Support for new SF2 versions (alternatives folder)
Arkanoid 2 coin overflow bug fixed.
Ghosts'n Goblins rare crash fixed.
Higher Priority to GitHub Issues on JTBETA
Some Patreon subscribers have a GitHub account too. A while back, Patreon and GitHub got to an agreement to share information. If you link your accounts, you should receive an invitation automatically to a GitHub repository called "jotego/jtbeta".
Many people have accepted the invitation already. Others ignored it and I think most of you subscribed before that Patreon-GitHub link existed. For those of you who have a GitHub account, please post issues on the "jotego/jtbeta" repository instead of "jotego/jtcores". That way, I know that it comes from a Patreon backer and I can give it more priority.
I cannot add you directly to the jtbeta repository. It has to be through the Patreon-GitHub account link, as it happens with the Discord server.
That's all for this week!