So, what exact system is my Metal Black??? Taito F1/F2? A/B??? I am confuse... Options?

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    • So, what exact system is my Metal Black??? Taito F1/F2? A/B??? I am confuse... Options?

      I see a lot of Rom boards for Taito F2 out there.
      Runark/Growl
      Ninja Kids
      Dino Rex
      Dead Connection
      Majestic Twelve
      etc.

      Example...


      So I got this Metal Black.


      I was under the assumption it was a Taito F1 platform board, but it's 2 pieces.
      System 16 doesn't really explain what it is outside of the fact its shown as 1 board.

      So is my Metal Black technically an F2 or an F1?
      Can I buy those above rom boards, and just plug em in to the mother board and they'll work or do they need PALs or something?
      Thanks for any help you folks can provide.
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    • oneleaf86 wrote:

      That's definitely a F2 motherboard, the "long" variant to be exact. There's also a shorter more compact version.

      You should be able to attach any F2 rom board :)
      I trust this is the "Short board" mated with a "Dead connection"


      I assume the variants of the Long vs the Short have certain differences?
      Is one better than the other for certain games over the other???

      Thanks for the knowledge on this.
      Videogame Historian
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    • AFAIK there's no difference between F1 and F2. while the system 16 website separates the games the MAME driver lists them all as "Taito F2"
      github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/m…mame/drivers/taito_f2.cpp

      I own several of the games on System16 F1 and F2 lists and can tell you the mobo is the same.

      there are two variants, the long and short as oneleaf stated, but they're functionally identical.

      a lot of these games also came as single board versions, essentially the mobo and game board rolled into one. I've started to collect the single board versions, since the mobos seem extremely difficult to track down. and they're a lot more compact.


      And before anyone asks about conversion... it's really not all that viable. nearly every "ROM board" and single board version is unique.

      There are a few games that use "very similar" PCBs but even those would require PCB modifications and additional chips to make a conversion work.

      I've played around with trying to convert Football Champ to Dead Connection, I think it's possible but it requires some 74-series logic ICS and adding wires for extra address lines. without access to a real Dead Connection PCB to see how it differs in routing I couldn't get very far.

      For this same reason I don't know that a Multi would really be viable on this platform either, there are a lot of different custom chips that are only used by one or two games each.

      psykom1 wrote:

      Can I buy those above rom boards, and just plug em in to the mother board and they'll work or do they need PALs or something?

      yeah, if you wanted to you could just buy those ROM boards, plug them into the mobo on your Metal Black and go, nothing else special needs to be done.

      if you have any other questions I own the following:
      Ah Eikou no Koshien - ROM Board Version (x2)
      Cameltry - EU Single Board version
      Dino Rex - JP ROM Board Version
      Euro Football Champ - EU Single Board Version
      Growl - EU Single Board Version
      Hat Trick Hero - JP ROM Board Version (x2)
      Majestic 12 - JP ROM board Version
      Majestic 12 - US Single Board Version
      Mega Blast - JP ROM board Version

      3x Long Mobos
      3x Short Mobos

      I get the impression that most JP releases were the ROM board/Mobo combo and most International releases were Single board versions. At least my own collection seems split along those lines.
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      The post was edited 4 times, last by twistedsymphony ().

    • twistedsymphony wrote:

      *WORDS*
      Ok that makes sense.
      I was seeing a lot of the single boards and were just trying to put my finger on why, and what.

      There's not been a lot of clarity on the F1/F2 platform.
      I was confused when seeing a single Metal Black board, and wondering if I have a specific variant.
      In my case it worked out OK since I have a split board for other games.

      I've been wanting a Growl, Dead Connection, and potentially DinoRex (for it's super cheese)
      Too bad there's only a limited number of titles were released on the F1/F2, but some of the titles are sure worth tracking down.

      Thank you for the detailed explanation.
      Videogame Historian
      Bench : M92 Conversion|Z-back Naomi Multi Cabinet
      WANT : EPROMs, Taito F2 Rom Boards
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