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Jaleco Mega System 32 cart conversions??

Derick2k

Derick2k

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Are Jaleco Mega System 32 cart conversions possible???

I have been purchasing a few carts lately and while they are not expensive, some carts just seem to be unavailable for purchase anywhere, so was wondering if conversions would be possible.

Mega link to Cart/PCB Pics:

https://mega.nz/#F!KpcCibYD!H5lDQBNyWr8LwGWVqCvrlg
 
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Derick2k said:
Are Jaleco Mega System 32 cart conversions possible???

I have been purchasing a few carts lately and while they are not expensive, some carts just seem to be unavailable for purchase anywhere, so was wondering if conversions would be possible.
Click to expand...
Everything is possible, but to be honest, I never tried on this system. Maybe some of our members can shed some light here:
@cpsystem3 @ekorz @Apocalypse
 
I just won an YAJ auction for one with Game Paradise and Tetris Plus. there are a few cool looking shmups and puzzle games on this platform. it reminds me a lot of the Taito F3 in terms of the cart setup.

They're actually not all that expensive (~$120 for a main board and the Tetris carts can go for ~$50)

This hardware isn't on System16.com but Games in MAME include:
Shmup:
Desert War / Wangan Sensou
The Game Paradise - Master of Shooting! / Game Tengoku - The Game Paradise
P-47 Aces
Gratia - Second Earth (2 ROM versions)

Puzzle:
Tetris Plus
Tetris Plus 2 (there is a version of this game not on this platform as well)

Sports:
Best Bout Boxing
World PK Soccer V2

Mahjong:
Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai II (2 ROM versions)
Mahjong Angel Kiss
Ryuusei Janshi Kirara Star
Vs. Janshi Brandnew Stars (there is a version of this game on a different platform as well)

Quiz:
Hayaoshi Quiz Grand Champion Taikai
Hayaoshi Quiz Nettou Namahousou


The Tetris games and the The Game Pradise seem reasonably priced and readily available. Desert War and P-47 seem to fetch around $450-$500 based on prices I've seen. I've not seen a Gratia for sale but I haven't been looking very long either.

If nothing else it'd be nice to be able to convert some of the Mahjong, Quiz, or Tetris carts to Desert War, P-47, or Gratia.

-----------
it is in MAME: https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/ms32.cpp
There seems to be a lot of really good notes in the MAME driver... the most relevant to conversions is this:


MAME said:
MS32 Cartridge
--------------
Game Roms + Custom Chip
The Custom chip provides the encryption
Desert War - Custom chip: JALECO SS91022-10 (144 pin PQFP) (located on small plug-in board with) (ID: SE93139 EB91022-30056)
Game Paradise - Custom chip: JALECO SS91022-10 9515EV 420201 06441
Tetris Plus 2 - Custom chip: JALECO SS91022-10 9513EV 370121 06441
Tetris Plus - Custom chip: JALECO SS92046-01 9412EV 450891 06441
kirarast - Custom chip: JALECO SS92047-01 9425EV 367821 06441
Gratia (set 1) - Custom chip: JALECO SS92047-01 9423EV 450891 06441
Gratia (set 2) - Custom chip: JALECO SS91022-10
P47-Aces Custom chip: JALECO SS92048-01 9410EV 436091 06441
Angel Kiss - Custom chip: JALECO SS92047-01
others are unknown
Notes
-----
Some of the roms for each game are encrypted.
The only difference between the two Gratia sets is in the encrypted ROMs (they use
different custom chips). The program is the same.
16x16x8 'Scroll' Tiles (Non-Roz BG Layer)
8x8x8 'Ascii' Tiles (FG Layer)
Click to expand...
Based on the custom chips it doesn't really seem that any 2 games share the same customs, and Desert war apparently has a sub-board. I suppose it depends on what those customs actually do and if the ROMs can be worked around them.

The only exception is Gratia set 2 and an Angel Kiss which seem to each only use 1 custom so maybe you could convert TO these from a game that used that chip plus other, different customs? I guess we'd need some PCB picture to see if there are ROM board differences.
 
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twistedsymphony said:
Based on the custom chips it doesn't really seem that any 2 games share the same customs, and Desert war apparently has a sub-board. I suppose it depends on what those customs actually do and if the ROMs can be worked around them.

The only exception is Gratia set 2 and an Angel Kiss which seem to each only use 1 custom so maybe you could convert TO these from a game that used that chip plus other, different customs? I guess we'd need some PCB picture to see if there are ROM board differences.
Click to expand...
I'll take pics of the carts I have on hand and the others that are on the way, at least we'll know what each has.
 
twistedsymphony said:
Derick2k said:
I'll take pics of the carts I have on hand and the others that are on the way
Click to expand...
out of curiosity what do you have and what are you looking for?
Click to expand...
So far have these on hand or on the way:
2x - The Game Paradise
2x - Tetris Plus
Desert War
Gratia
Best Bout Boxing
Hayaoshi Quiz Nettou Namahousou
Mahjong: Angel Kiss
Mahjong: Idol Janshi Su-chie-Pai II

I want to get:
P47 Aces
Tetris Plus 2
Super Strong Warriors

I would not mind converting a tetris plus or the mahjong carts to the others I am missing.
 
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Derick2k said:
Super Strong Warriors
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I don't think that game is even dumped. I don't see it in MAME.

Looking at the undumped list I also see Shutoko Red Zone/Super Circuit Red Zone as being undumped as well.
 
While we're on topic there are a couple of other things I wanted to bring up.

1. Region Swapping
Does anyone know how this system handles regions. From what I can tell, at least the Tetris Games were released in English Language Regions, and The Game Paradise has different names in English and Japanese, but in MAME there appears to only be 1 ROM for each of these games.

Is region based on the main board bios? or is there something else that determines region? It'd be nice if I could swap these games I'm bringing in from Japan to English.

2. High Score Saving
Searching around for info on the Mega System 32 I found some topics on KLOV and elsewhere with people complaining that high scores aren't saved between shut downs. I'm curious if there is maybe an on-board battery somewhere that could be dead or if these boards really have no way to save high scores... (seems ridiculous for such a modern system)
 
twistedsymphony said:
1. Region Swapping
Click to expand...
There are dip switches on the mb that control language on Game Paradise, so I guess its the same thing for the other games
twistedsymphony said:
2. High Score Saving
Click to expand...
The motherboards have a a button cell battery socket, not 100% if its for accounting data and/or high score saves. I need to get fresh batteries and test this out.
 
twistedsymphony said:
Based on the custom chips it doesn't really seem that any 2 games share the same customs, and Desert war apparently has a sub-board. I suppose it depends on what those customs actually do and if the ROMs can be worked around them.


The only exception is Gratia set 2 and an Angel Kiss which seem to each only use 1 custom so maybe you could convert TO these from a game that used that chip plus other, different customs? I guess we'd need some PCB picture to see if there are ROM board differences.
Click to expand...
I seem to recall my Desert War does not have any sub-board, though it is Wangan Sensou (JP version). Gratia is pretty straightforward.

Conversion (or a multi) should be extremely easy, just decrypt the graphics of the target, then re-encrypt with the donor cart. I believe the only encryption is on graphics ROMs.

I'd actually considered writing software for it since it's so trivial to make a cart or whatever, but the CPU is a bit too esoteric for me to do it for fun.
 
I have almost a complete set of carts for this system, so I am documenting all the pcbs. I will post a mega link to all the pics when I get a chance. Agree that Desert wat does. It have a sub board as mame indicates.

While conversions would be great, a multi would be best. I’m running out of storage space :)

If you would be willing to do some work on this system I would be able to find something. Just not sure how much. Already putting up $1K for the cps1.5 to cps2 conversions. So kinda maxing out my yearly support $$ towards projects :D

If anyone wants to donate some $$ for Trap15 to work on this let us know ;)
 
I'd leave a project like this to darksoft, I'm quite sure he could do it. :) I'm pretty maxed out on projects anyways, the CPS1.5 stuff will likely take a while anyways.
 
trap15 said:
I seem to recall my Desert War does not have any sub-board, though it is Wangan Sensou (JP version).
Click to expand...
According to MAME source there is only 1 version of this game, unless there is another version that hasn't been dumped yet. Having seen the PCB of Derick2k's cart it didn't have a sub board, though it may have been a conversion as it was missing the label. I have what is supposedly an original cart coming to me so I'll see how it compares.

trap15 said:
Conversion (or a multi) should be extremely easy, just decrypt the graphics of the target, then re-encrypt with the donor cart. I believe the only encryption is on graphics ROMs.
Click to expand...
While I'd definitely buy a multi I don't know how useful one would be since there are really only 6 games I think people would be interested in: the 4 shmups and the 2 Tetris games. having a tool, to properly convert ROMs from mame for an appropriate donor cart would be super useful though. Tetris and mahjong carts are fairly cheap and common so being able to convert them to P-47Aces/Gratia/Desert War/etc would be useful.
 
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