Dragon Ninja (beta), Fast Lane (public)
Important: jtbeta.zip has changed. Copy the new file to games/mame in your MiSTer SD folder. Or simply unzip the jtninja_20211015.zip to the root of your SD card.
Directors asked to get a top arcade title out next, so there you go: Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja!
This game does not require an introduction, but let me talk about the hardware a bit. It has an M68000 CPU for the main gameplay, but the sound is done by an M6502 (C64, NES). There is a third processor: the i8751 MCU, which seems to be used as a protection device.
There are three background layers, and all can scroll in rows and columns. That makes for interesting effects, like the score rows and the street lights in the first level are made in the same layer but only the street lights scroll. Check out this Megadrive rotation effect if you want to see another surprising use of row and column scroll.
Going back to the board, the sound subsystem has three different synthesizers: one YM2203 (like Ghosts'n Goblins), one YM3812 (similar to Bubble Bobble) and the same PCM chip found in CPS1. Noticing that the YM2203 also has a YM2149 inside, that adds up to 16 independent sound channels. Not too bad!
There are other games working on this system, like Heavy Barrel. Swapping the i8751 with a different CPU should enable Robocop, Hippodrome and Midnight Resistance too. We will get to them in the coming weeks.
Fast Lane has been promoted to public core. The source code is published too.
Enjoy!
ESPAÑOL
Importante: jtbeta.zip ha cambiado. Copie el nuevo archivo a games/mame en su carpeta MiSTer SD. O simplemente descomprima el archivo jtninja_20211015.zip en la raíz de su tarjeta SD.
Los directores pidieron un título de arcade popular, así que listo: ¡Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja!
Este juego no requiere presentación, pero permítanme hablar un poco sobre el hardware.
Tiene una CPU M68000 para el juego principal, pero el sonido lo hace un M6502 (C64, NES). Hay un tercer procesador: el i8751 MCU, que parece utilizarse como dispositivo de protección.
Hay tres capas de fondo y todas pueden desplazarse en filas y columnas. Eso hace que los efectos sean interesantes, como los marcadores y las farolas en el primer nivel están hechos en la misma capa pero solo las farolas se mueven. Echa un vistazo a este efecto de rotación Megadrive si quieres ver otro uso sorprendente del desplazamiento de filas y columnas.
Volviendo a esta placa, el subsistema de sonido tiene tres sintetizadores diferentes: un YM2203 (como Ghosts'n Goblins), un YM3812 (similar a Bubble Bobble) y el mismo chip PCM que se encuentra en CPS1. Observando que el YM2203 también tiene un YM2149 en su interior, que suma hasta 16 canales de sonido independientes. ¡No está mal!
Hay otros juegos que funcionan en este sistema, como Heavy Barrel. Cambiar el i8751 con una CPU diferente también debería habilitar Robocop, Hippodrome y Midnight Resistance. Los veremos en las próximas semanas.
Fast Lane ha sido ascendido a núcleo público. El código fuente también esta publicado.
¡A disfrutar!
Comments (52)
Actualizado firm y sigue igual, debe ser algo de sidi
Hola Jose, si el dragon ninja, es que me parecía muy raro lo de la pantalla inversa y que pasase con sidi
Hola buenas @jotego, ante todo muchas gracias por este core, acabo de probarlo en SiDi y me aparece rotado boca abajo, si activo el flip y le hago un reset sigue boca abajo. Será un problema de la rom que le he puesto o es un issue que le ha pasado a alguien más? Gracias. Buenas a mi me pasa lo mismo en Sidi, se soluciona?
Disculpa Pablo, ¿te refieres a Dragon Ninja?
Hola buenas @jotego, ante todo muchas gracias por este core, acabo de probarlo en SiDi y me aparece rotado boca abajo, si activo el flip y le hago un reset sigue boca abajo. Será un problema de la rom que le he puesto o es un issue que le ha pasado a alguien más? Gracias.
No consigo reproducir el problema. ¿Puedes comprobar que tienes la última versión del firmware instalada?
Gracias @jotego por tu trabajo, dedicación y perfección. No suelo comentarte nada, pero viendo algunos comentarios no puedo hacer otra cosa que darte de nuevo las gracias. No hagas caso de comentarios negativos y quédate con la felicidad que nos proporcionas a la gran mayoría. Enhorabuena 👏🏻👏🏻
Muchas gracias Jawler :-)
This game is a staple from the arcades in the late 80´s. This one was a no brainer, really happy to see it come through. Thx Jose ;)
For me it makes me feel like a child again, good memories from my childhood with this pcb plugged inside a Super Video Sonic cabinet on a nearby bar. Thank you Jose.
I remember playing this on holidays as a kid and it basically stealing all my money :D (I was just bad at it haha) Great work!
Did a full playthrough today. Saved Reagan, and then shot myself.
Thank you Jotego. Your continued work and development in the MiSTer is truly appreciated.
The amount of positive posts seems less than normal. Let’s be real here. Not many actually care about fast lane. I would rather see longer dev periods and end up with games that matter (MK1/2. Tmnt 1 and turtles in time. Simpsons/xmen). These are throw away titles that weren’t really all that popular even then. I’ve been a backer since before cps1. But not sure why I am currently. There’s been nothing worth while for quite some time. I always said I would support even if nothing was out for extended periods but - these releases are garbage. Sorry.
Not many arcade games have YouTube videos with 700k views, like Dragon Ninja. A lot of people asked for it. I am sorry it disappoints you.
Impresionante. Muchas gracias :-)
Bravo !!!
awesome!!
Sweet! Does this mean a Robocop release is imminent?
Yes, it will come home soon
One again - thanks! :)
Thank you once again Jose for making this an AWESOME start to the weekend :-)
Great hardware breakdown, can't wait to play. ❤️💚💙🇦🇺😁👍
thank you jt massive pleasure to play it.
more Data East Arcade Games?, yes please.
Excelente, como siempre!muchismas gracias!
One of my lasting arcade memories was of me and my buddy spending our last 20p on a game of Bad Dudes, then as we were walking home penniless we found a quid on the floor and both looked at each other then ran back to arcade to play it again. What a game.
Good story!
Hippodrome was in one arcade I used to frequent, not many people I know knew that one but I loved it. Was bloody hard though.
Bad Dudes, Robocop, Hippodrome OH MY GOD YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kick-arse! Thanks so much JT! And Heavy Barrel is possible?!? How are you planning on handling the rotary joystick controller input? I have made a controller using one on them and an Arduino board to plug in via USB for use with MAME on PC.
I am going to try using the dual stick too as a general option. But, I want to look into rotary controllers connected to MiSTer too, yes.
Thank you very much 🙏🏻🥷🏼
Best way to start the weekend :)
Pocos juegos de Data East hay en MiSTer, así que hay que agradecer que aparezca uno tan icónico como Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon ninja. Y lo que promete de fondo es aún más brutal: Heavy Barrel, Robocop, Hippodrome y Midnight Resistance. Ya decías que octubre iba a venir bien cargadito. Como siempre muchas gracias don José y un saludo.
My, oh, my, so many ninjas! 😲💗
Fantastic, so glad I joined how could I not great work ! Data east glory days
today is a good day - gracias jose!
THANK YOU!
Very nice surprise, thank you!
I´m seeing some layers totally black. For instance, just when game starts, I only see the streetlight and menu info (points, lives...), rest of the screen is black. And in title screen, the background is totally black also. Anyone with same issue??
I think you need to copy again the ROM files. It looks like something got corrupted in your setup.
Thanks JT, great work! I think RoboCop was my favourite in this era of Data East games so looking forward to a future JTFriday!
Te has ganado el cielo
Brutal Jotego....Voy a estar jugando a este juego hasta navidades o hasta que saques el Robocop. Muchísimas gracias
I loved playing this at the Arcade, but I always mistakenly believed it was the Dragon Ninja and the enemies were the Bad Dudes :) That’s Jose! And excited to hear that Robocop runs on similar hardware. That’s a favourite of mine. And I’m not sure why, but it often runs too slow under emulation for me.
Muuuuuuchas gracias.
I'M BAD! Mil gracias, maestro.
You are making all my PCB useless!!!! Thanks!
🔥👊
Thank you for such awesome work! I look forward to every post :-)
Thanks!