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Namco System 2 PCB types

Darksoft

Darksoft

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I've been reading a lot of information about the PCBs that are available and I wanted to shed some light, so people can do repairs or get the right PCB for the games that they like.

Notice that the Multi that I made, only support the NS2 version for joystick games.

First of all, I have to clarify that Namco System 2 is made of 2 PCBs: Main PCB and Video PCB. The Main PCB is THE SAME for all games in this system. What changes is the Video PCB.
So I will only show the difference in VIDEO PCB

Joystick Games (Board number 8618961200)

Cosmo_Gang_Video_PCB.jpg

This is the Video PCB used by all joystick games. That means:
Assault
Assault Plus
Bubble Trouble - Golly! Ghost! 2
Burning Force
Cosmo Gang the Video
Dirt Fox
Dragon Saber
Finest Hour
Golly! Ghost!
Kyuukai Douchuuki
Marvel Land
Mirai Ninja
Ordyne
Phelios
Rolling Thunder 2
Super World Stadium
Super World Stadium '92
Super World Stadium '92 Gekitouban
Super World Stadium '93
Valkyrie no Densetsu

Steel Gunner 1&2 (8618961701)

Steel_Gunner_Video_PCB.webp
Suzuka 8h / Lucky&Wild ( 8618962_00 and 8618962_02 )

Lucky&Wild_1.jpeg

Final Lap 1, 2, 3 and Four Trax (8618961900 and 2272961200 - "V56 VIDEO" )

Final_Lap_3.jpeg IMG_2693.jpg
Metal Hawk (8618961301)

Metal_Hawk_2.jpeg

Thanks to @twistedsymphony for providing extra information.
 
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@Darksoft you rock.

Also if someone super talented wants to patch metal hawk for the joystick or any other video board...its kind of not available haha.
Or a repro. Just ideas.

Also before anyone gets their hopes up, suzuki lacks the roz chip namco 164 custom that lucky & wild has...@caius repro?

Anyone know if that is what metal hawk uses?
It also has roz roms.
 
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Metal Hawk uses 4x CUS172, which I'm not sure if they are on other boards. It also uses CUS169 which is available in other Namco games, but then it has a CUS170 that I havent seen anywhere else. Metal Hawk is a pretty unique PCB.

Also a conversion would be very difficult. It uses the same Sprites system as the joystick games, according to MAME, but the ROZ is different:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/namco/namcos2.cpp#L136
 
That is unfortunate.
So our only hope on that one probably is if someone has a dead metal hawk they are willing to donate to science to be decapped.
 
RepairGuy95 said:
That is unfortunate.
So our only hope on that one probably is if someone has a dead metal hawk they are willing to donate to science to be decapped.
Click to expand...
It's a lot of chips to decap and you also need to clone the PCB itself. I don't it's worth for just one game. Probably someone making a "lite" version of the game using less enhanced ROZ capabilities of the Joystick version.
 
A lite version beats no version.
I'd play that.

It would be a lot of work but cpu boards are dirt cheap. I think who ever would make it would have to package it as a matched set together making it near a standard desirable shmup price for an out of the box plug and play. Just add your own eproms of course/bare board.

Metal hawk og is so rare its actually viable.
 
Darksoft said:
Metal Hawk uses 4x CUS172, which I'm not sure if they are on other boards. It also uses CUS169 which is available in other Namco games, but then it has a CUS170 that I havent seen anywhere else. Metal Hawk is a pretty unique PCB.

Also a conversion would be very difficult. It uses the same Sprites system as the joystick games, according to MAME, but the ROZ is different:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/namco/namcos2.cpp#L136
Click to expand...
It has a 2 planes (clouds and ground) ROZ configuration unique just to this game. I believe it's simply 2 ROZ chips combined.
 
GF77 said:
It has a 2 planes (clouds and ground) ROZ configuration unique just to this game. I believe it's simply 2 ROZ chips combined.
Click to expand...
Are you refering to the CUS169 and CUS170 combined? or which part? It would be interesting to understand what it really does.
 
It might be also possible a future custom does both.
Might be able to find a donor that would port forward to a newer custom making a repro much easier.
 
Darksoft said:
Are you refering to the CUS169 and CUS170 combined? or which part? It would be interesting to understand what it really does.
Click to expand...
Can't remember where I read it up but it was simply stated that two chips or circuits were used for BG rotation/zoom.

I believe the ROZ functionality is a basic function, even Marvel Land is using it. Don't know if alrady known but basic graphics features are on the CPU board.

It would be interesting what 169 does. Or - what I think could be - the 170 is the the 2xROZ affair combined in one chip since it's totally unique in the System2 series.
 
Edit: Sorry I think I confused some things regarding basic graphics functions. The 2xROZ stands though. It must be since there are two BG planes that can do that.
 
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I feel like if we can figure out how it works we can figure out some sort of repro.
Whether that means bringing your own custom from a newer board or not.
 
Yep, on the standard video board the quad flat in the upper right is the ROZ chip . So the big quad on the MH Video must be the 2xROZ affair combined into one chip.
 
Awesome. So we potentially could use two 169 or, possibly port to the nb2 system.
Doesn't seem there is any cheap donors but compared to metal hawk, they are.
That thing would be a good triple multi...the nb2.
Lucky & wild might work but does it have the other 4x cus172?
 
Lol. Like I said. Even a repro in the multi cost range would do swell.
I suppose sacrificing a dead nb2 would be the most cost efficient.
Anyone want to donate a malfunctioning mach breakers or outfoxies to science?
 
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