Very cool! Does this potentially open the door to the other Nintendo-branded watches from Nelsonic, assuming they use the same architecture and are equally readable in decaps?
For the overlays? ranger_lennier did that in 2011 for all 12 games, res size around 1200x2500 for each.
Where are these at? I've only seen the images in Raph Koster's emulator... they all seem like they were tilted a bit when scanned. And did RL scan with just the overlay? Or with the Microvision header and bottom controller also attached? (It would be better if it was just the overlay).
Originally Posted by Al Kossow
Someone just gave me a MicroVision with a half-dozen games Is there any need for high resolution shots of them?
Depending on what the other scans look like... might not hurt?
(BTW... I'm not gone... just that normal job has consumed me... I haven't touched any artwork in almost 16 months, which has made me really sad.) (Hoping to get back in the swing of things "sometime this year.")
RELAX and just have fun. Remember, it's all about the games.
"Microvision header and bottom controller": the cartridges are huge and AFAIK the overlays are stuck in them, you don't slide them in like on some other consoles. If it's difficult to take apart (eg. glued), you might have to break the cartridges if you want just a scan of the overlays.
Was anyone here crazy about these sound effect toys as a kid?
I for one... no not at all. Either I was too old by then and uninfluenced by the fad and/or these were not popular in west Europe. The extra sound chip in Nelsonic Star Fox is likely the same chip. Possibly even the same rom. If someone's interested in the chip, or even write emulation for it, Sean uploaded all the info he has: http://www.seanriddle.com/hmc/
A lot of kid's toys today are this kind of 'Sound Effects module' I've even seen modern ones targetted at adults with soundbites from popular shows / movies. To me this doesn't even seem like a dated product.
Not the kind of product I could ever imagine wanting, but still a product with a huge market.
An even more modern incarnation of this type of thing are the more recent 'Basic Fun' devices, which have short movie clips; I do wonder if they're on the same tech as some of the mini-arcades. Pointless, mindless and nothing but trash, but there will always be an audience.
Yes, those sound effects toys were a briefly popular fad in my corner of the UK! Back in September, I found ours in the attic and posted it to Sean Riddle who kindly decapped it last Autumn. Unfortunately he found there was no microcontroller and nothing to dump/emulate, but it could potentially be reverse engineered. So he forwarded the die shots and details on to someone who wanted to have a go at doing that.
I have an Echo Keyller keychain here which I was given back in 1994 by a friend who ran the battery out and had no idea how to change it. as far as I know it still works... Sean, do you want this one?
LN
"When life gives you zombies... *CHA-CHIK!* ...you make zombie-ade!"
The classic sound engine (monophonic squarewave with grainy pitch glissando envelope+shift register noise) did sounds like falling bomb, various sirens, laser, machine gun, digital phone ring, police car, ambulance etc. It was very popular in late 1980th, so the same kind of chip existed for effect sounds in monophonic Bontempi toy keyboards (e.g. "Disney Band" red/white with Mickey Mouse picture), toy DJ consoles (with internal cassette recorder), toy laser guns etc. Also the sound core of monophonic "Brick Game" LCD games may be related.
I remember that my keychain toy made sound variations (faster siren speed etc.) when pressing multiple sound buttons at once. The block diagram in HT2884 datasheet suggests that it is gate logic with a little rom (envelope speed control and possible melody sequencer) instead of a complete MCU. AFAIK the keychain toys existed with at least 8 (up to 16?) sound buttons. (Mine had only 5?)
