Author Topic: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging  (Read 4269 times)

forgotusername

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Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« on: February 24, 2020, 07:53:17 PM »
I was going to post this on The Cutting Room Floor, but they're closed for renovations right now, so I'm putting it here before I inevitably lose it...

The dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X was just dumped in MAME. Its a VT368 system, so it likely won't be emulated for a while. Its one of the ones with these fancy ROM hacks (albeit at regular NES resolution): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl-esKKJ73M

For whatever reason, the entirety of the My Arcade Retro Machine (the predecessor to this console) is in the data, from address 02000000 to 02800000. However, two bytes were altered, making it only load F-22 instead. With the data extracted, at addresses 08000C-08000D, replacing 81 and E7 with C9 and EB will allow the menu to run. Roughly 150 games present here are unused and inaccessible in the main 300-in-1 menu.

Additionally, I can find data for several of the VT368 games which didn't appear on this system, including the Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man hacks. Its amusing seeing countless bootleg strings of "NAMCO" from the only company who currently sells their classic games officially...and also extremely sad...

Download attached of the extracted 200-in-1 (w/ the two bytes replaced), in case anyone wants to analyze it, as well as pictures of Pac-text strings.

forgotusername

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2020, 05:19:13 PM »
Here is another unused game from the Retro Arcade Machine X - VT03 Triple. Which is the same as the already dumped VT03 Bubbles, but believe it or not, the controls are actually tolerable now! The menu graphics are slightly glitchy, which means the mapper number is probably wrong. I guess bootleg Cinnamoroll Tetris was too risky for My Arcade/the other manufacturers?

(and before a certain someone asks, i have no updates on ripping/"fixing" anything else. i just got lucky when copying random code here)

kelvin donna

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2020, 09:21:46 AM »
i have found a Extremely unused game in this device's Rom - Xtreme Robot (Cube Tech's VT03 Hack of Thexder).
Here is the Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5q3YQUQ4Bo (Timemark: 17:40-19:25)
It hasn't even been used in the Previous Models AFAIK.
i ripped it straight from the Dreamgear300.bin and it doesn't work.
i wonder if someone could make this game functional.
i hate all media of the world, so i just moved to eurasia.

guyzis

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2020, 12:37:18 PM »
You're unbanned!?

Anyways, how'd find that?

kelvin donna

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2020, 12:45:49 PM »
You're unbanned!?

Anyways, how'd find that?
as it turns out, i was only for 2 weeks banned, kinda like a Rehab thing, rather than a punishment grounding.
Anyway, i downloaded the Rom, opened it up in yy-chr and found this thing.
i hate all media of the world, so i just moved to eurasia.

forgotusername

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2020, 03:51:44 PM »
Due to an occurrence I like to call "I woke up at 5 AM and I could never go back to sleep", I did a deeper analysis on this thing. Since Nintendulator now supports the VT369 format, I can view that format of games easier; and there is...a lot to unpack here. So much that I really can't even document all of it. But I thought I'd mention what's there, to the best of my ability.

Basically, it seems that every Cube Tech VT369 hack is in here. That includes ones like the Donkey Kong Jr./Jr. Math hacks, which were not on the My Arcade console, but appeared on some 230/240-in-1s from other manufacturers. But more interestingly, there are at least eight hacks that have appeared on some of the plug & plays (in 2x resolution), but I don't think any mini arcades (which are 1x resolution) with them have surfaced. Those eight hacks are of:

*Bokosuka Wars (seems broken...)
*Glommy Chess
*Hon Shougi
*Magic Bubble (Nice Code Tetris)
*Ms. Pac-Man (Tengen)
*Pac-Man
*Tetris (Tengen)
*Xiao Ma Li

There are multiple Cube Technology original games that go unused as well, including:

*Cube (puzzle game)
*Love's Arrow (shooting game, hit both hearts at once)
*Unknown table tennis game
*Unknown puzzle game, Zuma-ish
*Unknown music/rhythm game
*Unknown karate game, smash the objects

I was only able to rip games that were 256K or 512K in size; meaning there are possibly more unused, larger-sized ones that I couldn't access. But I'll save trying to find those for another sleepless night; for now, here are the ROMs of every game listed above.

kelvin donna

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2021, 03:47:57 PM »

*Unknown puzzle game, Zuma-ish

HEY! That is the OTHER Version of that Luxor Copy, i searched like a madman.
i'm glad, that i own it now.


I was only able to rip games that were 256K or 512K in size; meaning there are possibly more unused, larger-sized ones that I couldn't access. But I'll save trying to find those for another sleepless night; for now, here are the ROMs of every game listed above.
This will include the Super C Hack and this Unknown Strikers 1945 clone, i thougt.
i hate all media of the world, so i just moved to eurasia.

forgotusername

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Re: Retro Arcade Machine X debugging
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2021, 05:38:57 PM »
Sometimes you just overlook the simplest things...

I saw the user "DreamGear Fan" mentioned the other day that VT369 sprites can be viewed as SNES "Mode 7" graphics in YYCHR. I actually directly used YYCHR to help rip the previous files in this thread, but somehow just... never thought to check the Mode 7 graphic viewer. Because of that discovery though, I was able to do a full, 100-percent analysis of the system's code.

The main notable find - as I suspected was in there somewhere - is the VT369 Super Mario Bros. hack, somewhat based on Inventor's "Pandamar" hack. There were a few more surprises too, though - such as a VT03 Mach Rider hack titled "Gear Master", and a few more "unknown" games (including a ping-pong and a sorta-mowing game?) that don't seem to be on any variants of the console. I also found a test menu, which can be accessed by holding A and B while turning the system on.

Attached below are four ROMs (including the Mario hack) which I believe are unused, alongside the test menu. I have also attached a .txt documenting all of the games inside the code - used and unused - with their HEX addresses, file sizes, and any other notable information.