Star Tech Journal
Issue: 1982-August - Vol 4 Issue 6 - Page 10
10
STARHECH JOURNAL/AUGUST 1982
A Regular Monthly Feature Technically Outlining a Newly Released Game
BALLY/MIDWAY'S
By Joe Connor, Active Amusement, Philadelphia, PA
"Tron" is Bally/Midway's latest video game, and is being released
concurrently with a movie of the same title by Walt Disney Productions.
The success of the game and the movie will probably be somewhat
related, as game play is designed to approximate the action in the movie
- a computer programmer trapped inside the deadly world of a video
game.
Striking cabinet design and spectacular graphics highlight the four
different game challenges. There are 22 levels of game play and 9
difficulty settings to help insure prolonged player appeal. The electronic
-system (MCR II) is projected as Midway's future universal system and
is almost identical (improved sound and CPU boards) to that found in
"Kickman".
displayed and the physical location of that image. The video generator
board uses that information to construct the actual images to be
displayed on the monitor.
BOARD SET
The MCRII system consists of four major components; a separate linear
power supply and a stacked 3-board logic set. This logic set includes a
super CPU board, a super sound board, and a video generator board.
The CPU board is the main board of the MCR II system. The other two
boards both rely on signals generated by the CPU to enable them to
operate. These signals and all necessary voltages are transmitted via five
24-pin paper ribbon cables which interconnect all three boards.
SUPER CPU BOARD - The central processing unit and the
background generator are the two principle sections of the CPU board.
The central processing unit includes the microprocessor, 28 K-bytes of
program memory and 2 K-bytes of program RAM. Additional elements
in this section include octal bus drivers, a watchdog reset circuit, and a
battery-powered CMOS RAM.
The background generator section of the CPU board is made up of a
32-byte block array. Each block contains 256 bits of display information.
The main function of this circuit is to take the background information
and multiplex it with the foreground information to determine which
video information is to be displayed.
SUPER SOUND 1/0 BOARD - The sound 1/0 board handles all
sound generation and game control inputs/outputs. The sound section, like
most recent video games, is comprised of a separate microprocessor with
its own 16 K-bytes of program memory and 1 K-byte of program RAM.
This processor dictates control over two programmable sound generators
which provide filtered square waves for all game sounds.
The 1/0 section contains the port decoding circuitry and the input
and output buffers for the main CPU. Information from control panel
switches and a dipswitch on the board are interfaced to the main CPU.
Outputs would include non-amplified audio and the coin counter drivers.
Staging RAM-2114
Object RAM- 93422
Buffer RAM- 93422
PictureROMs-2732
VIDEO GENERATOR BOARD - The video generator board
was designed to display video images on the monitor. It should not be
confused with the super CPU board which specifies which image is to be
BOARD-t-1 ARDWARE
Super CPU
Sound 1/0
Microprocessor - 280
Microprocessor - 280
Battery RAM-HM61164LP
ProgramROM-2532EPROM
Color RAM - N82S09N (94419)
Program RAM - M5872P-15
Background RAMs- 2 764 EPROM Sound Generators -A Y-3-8910
Background RAM - M58725P-15 (6116)
Video Generator
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT
PROGRAM ROMS ARE 64K EPROMS.
SYSTEM POWER
The system power ( see diagram) section is fairly similar to those of most
other video games. It can be broken down into three principle elements;
transformers, filter assembly and power supply. The game logic trans-
former is of special interest in that it is unique to the video game industry.
There are no taps or voltage selection blocks to compensate for a low or
high line voltage. It is a constant voltage transformer which adapts itself
automatically to line voltage variations and fluctuations. The output
voltages stay constant with line voltage variations from 100 to l 25vac @
60 Hz. This is accomplished with the aid of a separate resonance
winding across which an external 3.5 MFD capacitor is placed. The
outputs of this transformer are 8vac and l 5vac, both which input to the
filter assembly. The other transformer also provides two secondary
windings, one to provide isolated line voltage for the monitor and the
other ( 12vac) serves as an input to a bridge rectifier on the power supply.
FILTER ASSEMBLY -The filter assembly is nothing more than
two full wave rectifiers and two large filter capacitors. The 8vac and
15vac enter this assembly where they are each rectified by two large
power diodes (MR-1120). Filtering is provided by a 55,000 MFD
capacitor on the 8-volt line and by a 100,000 MFD capacitor on the 15-
volt line.
The resulting unregulated high current DC voltages are routed to the
power supply where they serve as inputs to the +5 and + 12-volt
regulator circuits.
STARHECH JOURNAL/AUGUST 1982
A Regular Monthly Feature Technically Outlining a Newly Released Game
BALLY/MIDWAY'S
By Joe Connor, Active Amusement, Philadelphia, PA
"Tron" is Bally/Midway's latest video game, and is being released
concurrently with a movie of the same title by Walt Disney Productions.
The success of the game and the movie will probably be somewhat
related, as game play is designed to approximate the action in the movie
- a computer programmer trapped inside the deadly world of a video
game.
Striking cabinet design and spectacular graphics highlight the four
different game challenges. There are 22 levels of game play and 9
difficulty settings to help insure prolonged player appeal. The electronic
-system (MCR II) is projected as Midway's future universal system and
is almost identical (improved sound and CPU boards) to that found in
"Kickman".
displayed and the physical location of that image. The video generator
board uses that information to construct the actual images to be
displayed on the monitor.
BOARD SET
The MCRII system consists of four major components; a separate linear
power supply and a stacked 3-board logic set. This logic set includes a
super CPU board, a super sound board, and a video generator board.
The CPU board is the main board of the MCR II system. The other two
boards both rely on signals generated by the CPU to enable them to
operate. These signals and all necessary voltages are transmitted via five
24-pin paper ribbon cables which interconnect all three boards.
SUPER CPU BOARD - The central processing unit and the
background generator are the two principle sections of the CPU board.
The central processing unit includes the microprocessor, 28 K-bytes of
program memory and 2 K-bytes of program RAM. Additional elements
in this section include octal bus drivers, a watchdog reset circuit, and a
battery-powered CMOS RAM.
The background generator section of the CPU board is made up of a
32-byte block array. Each block contains 256 bits of display information.
The main function of this circuit is to take the background information
and multiplex it with the foreground information to determine which
video information is to be displayed.
SUPER SOUND 1/0 BOARD - The sound 1/0 board handles all
sound generation and game control inputs/outputs. The sound section, like
most recent video games, is comprised of a separate microprocessor with
its own 16 K-bytes of program memory and 1 K-byte of program RAM.
This processor dictates control over two programmable sound generators
which provide filtered square waves for all game sounds.
The 1/0 section contains the port decoding circuitry and the input
and output buffers for the main CPU. Information from control panel
switches and a dipswitch on the board are interfaced to the main CPU.
Outputs would include non-amplified audio and the coin counter drivers.
Staging RAM-2114
Object RAM- 93422
Buffer RAM- 93422
PictureROMs-2732
VIDEO GENERATOR BOARD - The video generator board
was designed to display video images on the monitor. It should not be
confused with the super CPU board which specifies which image is to be
BOARD-t-1 ARDWARE
Super CPU
Sound 1/0
Microprocessor - 280
Microprocessor - 280
Battery RAM-HM61164LP
ProgramROM-2532EPROM
Color RAM - N82S09N (94419)
Program RAM - M5872P-15
Background RAMs- 2 764 EPROM Sound Generators -A Y-3-8910
Background RAM - M58725P-15 (6116)
Video Generator
PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT
PROGRAM ROMS ARE 64K EPROMS.
SYSTEM POWER
The system power ( see diagram) section is fairly similar to those of most
other video games. It can be broken down into three principle elements;
transformers, filter assembly and power supply. The game logic trans-
former is of special interest in that it is unique to the video game industry.
There are no taps or voltage selection blocks to compensate for a low or
high line voltage. It is a constant voltage transformer which adapts itself
automatically to line voltage variations and fluctuations. The output
voltages stay constant with line voltage variations from 100 to l 25vac @
60 Hz. This is accomplished with the aid of a separate resonance
winding across which an external 3.5 MFD capacitor is placed. The
outputs of this transformer are 8vac and l 5vac, both which input to the
filter assembly. The other transformer also provides two secondary
windings, one to provide isolated line voltage for the monitor and the
other ( 12vac) serves as an input to a bridge rectifier on the power supply.
FILTER ASSEMBLY -The filter assembly is nothing more than
two full wave rectifiers and two large filter capacitors. The 8vac and
15vac enter this assembly where they are each rectified by two large
power diodes (MR-1120). Filtering is provided by a 55,000 MFD
capacitor on the 8-volt line and by a 100,000 MFD capacitor on the 15-
volt line.
The resulting unregulated high current DC voltages are routed to the
power supply where they serve as inputs to the +5 and + 12-volt
regulator circuits.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).