Problems with making mvs conversion game

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Cloud

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Hello everybody :),

This is my first post at the forum and unfortunately I need to ask you people for help. I've been trying to make a reproduction cartridge of Ninja Commando of Puzzle Bobble. Before I get stigmatized I'd like to tell you that Puzzle Bobble itself was probably a reproduction because, one - boards are from different sets and, two - there were just 3 out of 8 original chips intact. The rest were the UV eproms.

First of all I checked if the board numbers of Ninja Commando matches the numbers of Puzzle Bobble. For that purpose I checked these sites:

https://www.mvs-scans.com/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/mvsboardcodes.html

I picked up a roms dump from other website and checked if the roms numbers matches and what are the sizes of the roms. C1, C2, C3, C4, V1 and P1 were 1 MB so programmed them on M27C800 eproms using MiniPro programmer with the adaptor. Similarly I used M27C400 for V2 which is 0,5 MB and M27C010 for M1 and S1 which are 0,125 MB.

Next I changed the jumper configuration on PRG board according to the picture of Ninja Commando from mvs-scans.com.

Unfortunately the picture I get from the game is totally glitched and screwed :(. Some graphics are displayed correctly but vast majority is not (even the neogeo logo on the startup). Sound works fine though).

I tried to ruled out all the possible problems so I:
- Checked the tracks with continuity test;
- Tested different jumper configuration;
- Checked the soldering on the pins and reloaded them again;
- Cleaned the connector pins on the boards;
- Cleaned the boards themselves to ensure there is no random wire causing shortage;
- And of course before I unsoldered the Puzzle Bobble chips I checked if the game works (it worked perfectly).

Here is the link to how does the boards look like and what pictures do I get:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=142uPtm_1t1vdpf4TJ4wDY6ZVdoA2UWkX

At the moment I'm completely clueless what I do wrong. Please help :(!
Is there something that I missed? I would appreciate any suggestions. Anything that may help really.
Thank you in advance.
 
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GutsDozer

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Wtf does you people mean????? This is a dumbass post. First off conversions are generally frowned upon and you're asking for help and haven't even made an introduction post or anything else for that matter. Maybe back up and try again Chet.
 

BIG BEAR

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I'm a fan of that game.
I didn't get a chance to view the link because it won't load for me but assuming you are using the exact pcb's it looks like your S1 should be a 27c1000 or HN27c301 and you will need a JEDEC to NON JEDEC adaptor to program it or you can use the 010 and pull the pin 2 leg up and run it to pin 24 and vice versa.
Here is an example
look at the s1 chip
BB
 

DanAdamKOF

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Wtf does you people mean????? This is a dumbass post. First off conversions are generally frowned upon and you're asking for help and haven't even made an introduction post or anything else for that matter. Maybe back up and try again Chet.
LOL since when are newbs disallowed from using the tech forum? Also the dude is converting an MVS bootleg to a (cheap) game for himself, I don't think anyone cares about that here.
 

GutsDozer

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Well if everyone is cool with it I'll retract my statement.
 

Neo Alec

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I was gonna say this game is cheap, but I checked ebay, and it isn't.
 

Cloud

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Hello All!

Thank you for your answers. Please let me address them in order they were given.

Wtf does you people mean????? This is a dumbass post. First off conversions are generally frowned upon and you're asking for help and haven't even made an introduction post or anything else for that matter. Maybe back up and try again Chet.
Thanks for the rough welcome GutsDozer :). Honestly - I knew there is a custom to make a welcome post on the forum but I forgot about it. Partially because I was so worried about my game and partially because this is actually the first forum I joined ever. Honestly I never felt I want to be a part of any community and this one is an exception so of course I will make up for what I did wrong.
And as for the repros - they are just for my own amusement and I'm just using the game that was a repro already and for my own amusement. I sort of inherited some carts and as we speak I'm having 11 Puzzle Bobble cartridges and except for a donor cart I can't see any purpose for them. Also to preserve the game I'm storing the old original chips so someone may in future use them again.
I hope it cleans a bad blood a little bit ;).

I'm a fan of that game.
I didn't get a chance to view the link because it won't load for me but assuming you are using the exact pcb's it looks like your S1 should be a 27c1000 or HN27c301 and you will need a JEDEC to NON JEDEC adaptor to program it or you can use the 010 and pull the pin 2 leg up and run it to pin 24 and vice versa.
Here is an example
look at the s1 chip
BB

Thank you for the advice! I totally omitted this on my initial checks of the game. It haven't helped a lot but I see progress. The screen is still a mess but much more graphics are displayed correctly now.
I don't know what is about with those google drive links so I'm uploading them again on mega upload.

This is before I took your advice:
https://mega.nz/#F!uvpEDY6Y!k0NQEnX0BDrk0o4cjT-WMQ

And this is after:
https://mega.nz/#F!uvwCAKhS!_HsQuo0sdoR_zBSTQ49iBg

Still we miss something :/. I don't think this is a bad pinout again cause M1 is marked 27C1001 which is as far as I know synonymous for M27C010 and M27C800 has the same pinout as HN62408 series.
As a side note - the jumper at the back of the board is because the person who originally made the Puzzle Bobble repo thought it would be a good idea to bend like 10 pins or so on each eprom to hold it on place while soldering so while I was unbending them I accidently pulled out one soldering field :(.

I was gonna say this game is cheap, but I checked ebay, and it isn't.

I only want to make repros of the games that are not very cheap and/or impossible to get. The choice of Ninja Commando was somewhat forced on me by the kinds of boards I own and I'm willing to sacrifice for the conversion sake. Honestly if we take the amount of work and the price of the eproms used for the task then is easier just to just pick the game from ebay if they are in reasonable prices. And as for the money - well it is complicated in my case. I live In Poland. Average income in USA is about 5000. In Poland it is the same - about 5000. But PLN instead of USD and the exchange rate is roughly 4:1 meaning that average Pole earns something like 1250 USD. That is why I'm trying to be cheap :p.
Sorry for the long post :)
 

JoeAwesome

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Average income in the USA is 5000? Jeez, I’m being screwed.
 

GohanX

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Just buy a NeoSD and stop thinking about murdering other games. This is one of the reasons any cheap common game that shares pcbs with an expensive game is no longer cheap or common. However you want to justify it to yourself is bullshit.
 

Cloud

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Just buy a NeoSD and stop thinking about murdering other games. This is one of the reasons any cheap common game that shares pcbs with an expensive game is no longer cheap or common. However you want to justify it to yourself is bullshit.

And it has completely nothing to do with more and more people in the hobby ;).
 

BIG BEAR

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It's loading up now. My bad... I will check it out.
BB
 
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BIG BEAR

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one or more of the C roms is bad
Re-write the C1 first and see what that yields.
BB
 
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Neo Alec

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Just buy a NeoSD and stop thinking about murdering other games. This is one of the reasons any cheap common game that shares pcbs with an expensive game is no longer cheap or common. However you want to justify it to yourself is bullshit.
Yep, this. Or just buy a Ninja Commando cart. It's not especially rare.
 

RAZO

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Another cheap option is the 161 in 1 cart. That has Ninja commando.

Really don't care much about this sort of thing but why even bother unless you're just bored or have alot of time on your hands.
 

Cloud

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Thank you all for your answers and suggestions. I've managed to fix the game with a help.
Take care :)!
 

Neo Alec

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And that's the story of the world's first bootleg Ninja Commando cart.
 

NexusX

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Another cheap option is the 161 in 1 cart. That has Ninja commando.

Really don't care much about this sort of thing but why even bother unless you're just bored or have alot of time on your hands.

This.
A 161 in 1 will solve most of your problems that you are interested in.
 
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wyo

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Just buy a NeoSD and stop thinking about murdering other games. This is one of the reasons any cheap common game that shares pcbs with an expensive game is no longer cheap or common. However you want to justify it to yourself is bullshit.

Stop trying to fuck up my retirement plan!
 

ForeverSublime

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LOL since when are newbs disallowed from using the tech forum? Also the dude is converting an MVS bootleg to a (cheap) game for himself, I don't think anyone cares about that here.

People tend to not start off practicing with the expensive games.

He's in the "harming animals" phase of his psychosis.
 

Razoola

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No need for this thread to continue.
 
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