So earlier this week I got in a new game: Mawasunda (aka: "Turn it Around").
Thanks to Hammy for pointing out the listing on YAJ, Also thanks to rtw and Ekorz for helping me secure the board for dumping!
This game has been high on my WTB list for a number of years. Partially because it's a weird title with weird controls (and I like those kinds of games) and partially because it's undumped and unplayable anywhere.
Until this auction listing the only information I could find online about this game was on System-16 as part of the G-Net game list: http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=672&page=2#1447
Here's a picture of the board all assembled:
and I have a google album with detailed pictures of all the parts: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cUxgpZKZtgEiyfYP8
I also took a video of the game playing:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQR3-MolTyA
this is designed for "spinners" but surprisingly the menus and some of the mini games worked with joystick and buttons
THIS IS NOT A NORMAL G-NET
There are a lot of weird things going on:
Instead of a ZN-2 Mobo, it uses a ZN-1 mobo
The BIOS sticker on the mobo lists it as "COH-1002T" which seems to be unique to this game; its different from normal G-Net and different from other Taito ZN games
The CAT702 Security Chip on the Mobo is a "TT01" which is the same chip used on Taito FX-1A and FX-1B games
The CAT702 Security Chip on the Daughter-Board is a "TT99" which is NOT the same as the normal G-Net and appears to be unique to this game.
the game id sticker on the daughter-board says "Mawasunda" rather than "G-Net", further implying that this is different than a normal G-Net
High-Scores and game settings are saved but there is no "back-up" board present, so it's possible that this information is stored on the CF card itself
Also interestingly is that the connectors for the backup board and some of the other connectors on the Daughter-board aren't even populated, so you couldn't even plug-in a backup board if you wanted to.
The Unique Daughter-board security chip and use of a ZN-1 Mobo with a unique BIOS leads us to suspect that the Daughter-board itself also has a unique bios.
There is a very long boot sequence every time the game starts, it's unclear to me what it's doing but it seems to be AFTER the screen where the game loads off of the CF card and into memory.
Then of course there are the additional IO boards.
The "T" harness that connects the mobo to the filter board just integrates that "trackball" connector and some power leads. This is because the game is played with 2 giant spinners (as can be seen in the system-16 cab image).
The huge ribbon cables and additional IO boards are for the "lamps" of which this game supports 16 lamps according to the test menu! As well as the "weight" of the spinners. Which I'm guessing adds resistance or force feedback on the spinners to make the games more challenging.
The game seems to have no issues playing without this extra IO equipment connected as can be seen in my video, which is good as it's one less thing to worry about when trying to get it to play on a normal GNet
dumping
With rtw's help I'll be attempting to dump the CF card this weekend
I've heard there is a brute force dumper for the CAT207 so hopefully I can get a hold of that and dump that chip as well as a next step
I think for the BIOS images on the Mobo and Daughterboard the Flash chips will need to be removed and dumped so we'll save that for last.
Thanks to Hammy for pointing out the listing on YAJ, Also thanks to rtw and Ekorz for helping me secure the board for dumping!
This game has been high on my WTB list for a number of years. Partially because it's a weird title with weird controls (and I like those kinds of games) and partially because it's undumped and unplayable anywhere.
Until this auction listing the only information I could find online about this game was on System-16 as part of the G-Net game list: http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=672&page=2#1447
Here's a picture of the board all assembled:
and I have a google album with detailed pictures of all the parts: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cUxgpZKZtgEiyfYP8
I also took a video of the game playing:
this is designed for "spinners" but surprisingly the menus and some of the mini games worked with joystick and buttons
THIS IS NOT A NORMAL G-NET
There are a lot of weird things going on:
Instead of a ZN-2 Mobo, it uses a ZN-1 mobo
The BIOS sticker on the mobo lists it as "COH-1002T" which seems to be unique to this game; its different from normal G-Net and different from other Taito ZN games
The CAT702 Security Chip on the Mobo is a "TT01" which is the same chip used on Taito FX-1A and FX-1B games
The CAT702 Security Chip on the Daughter-Board is a "TT99" which is NOT the same as the normal G-Net and appears to be unique to this game.
the game id sticker on the daughter-board says "Mawasunda" rather than "G-Net", further implying that this is different than a normal G-Net
High-Scores and game settings are saved but there is no "back-up" board present, so it's possible that this information is stored on the CF card itself
Also interestingly is that the connectors for the backup board and some of the other connectors on the Daughter-board aren't even populated, so you couldn't even plug-in a backup board if you wanted to.
The Unique Daughter-board security chip and use of a ZN-1 Mobo with a unique BIOS leads us to suspect that the Daughter-board itself also has a unique bios.
There is a very long boot sequence every time the game starts, it's unclear to me what it's doing but it seems to be AFTER the screen where the game loads off of the CF card and into memory.
Then of course there are the additional IO boards.
The "T" harness that connects the mobo to the filter board just integrates that "trackball" connector and some power leads. This is because the game is played with 2 giant spinners (as can be seen in the system-16 cab image).
The huge ribbon cables and additional IO boards are for the "lamps" of which this game supports 16 lamps according to the test menu! As well as the "weight" of the spinners. Which I'm guessing adds resistance or force feedback on the spinners to make the games more challenging.
The game seems to have no issues playing without this extra IO equipment connected as can be seen in my video, which is good as it's one less thing to worry about when trying to get it to play on a normal GNet
dumping
With rtw's help I'll be attempting to dump the CF card this weekend
I've heard there is a brute force dumper for the CAT207 so hopefully I can get a hold of that and dump that chip as well as a next step
I think for the BIOS images on the Mobo and Daughterboard the Flash chips will need to be removed and dumped so we'll save that for last.
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