One week ago we did find a german version of MOUSE TRAP near the Austrian-Czech border. So far nobody did know, that a german version of this game even exists. Luckily, the owner allowed us to dump it, so i did the nearly 300km roadtrip today to get the board dumped and preserved. Not only was this interesting because of the german version of the game, all other official MOUSE TRAP sets in MAME also have one bipolar prom marked as BAD DUMP, as it was used from an bootleg and not confirmed from an official board so far.
As it takes about 1,5hours of driving-time to the board, i started my trip at 08:00am. The streets were nearly empty this sunday at this time and while i was getting nearer and nearer to the czech border the adventure started to take off.
"Zacky", the owner, was a nice guy and shortly after my arriving, i had the board infront of me.
While this board is over 40 years old, it was in a pretty good shape! I took nearly my complete dumping-equipment with me, just to be sure to get everything dumped and preserved. Most work was finished after 30 minutes, i dumped all eproms and bproms at least 3 times and always checked that the CRC's matched between the dumps of each chip.
A quick romident in the newest MAME showed that 11 of the 17 roms did match the other MOUSE TRAP sets in MAME. The other 6 roms (marked "GMTL") had no match. I expected this already before i did the romident, as the G stands most likely for GERMAN.
Identifying mtrapde.zip....
GMTL-4.a10 NO MATCH
GMTL-4.a11 NO MATCH
MTA-1.5a = mta_5a.5a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_5a.5a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_5a.5a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_5a.5a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
MTA-1.6a = mta_6a.6a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_6a.6a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_6a.6a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_6a.6a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
MTA-1.7a = mta_7a.7a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_7a.7a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_7a.7a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_7a.7a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
MTA-1.d2 = mta_2a.2a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_2a.2a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_2a.2a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_2a.2a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= mta_2a.2a mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= ms2a.8d mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
MTA-1.d3 = mta_3a.3a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_3a.3a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_3a.3a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_3a.3a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= mta_3a.3a mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= ms3a.8e mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
MTA-1.d4 = mta_4a.4a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_4a.4a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_4a.4a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_4a.4a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= mta_4a.4a mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= ms4a.8f mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
MTA-1.d5 = mta_1a.1a mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mta_1a.1a mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mta_1a.1a mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mta_1a.1a mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= mta_1a.1a mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= ms5a.8h mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
MTL-1.d11 = mtl_11d.11d mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= mtl_11d.11d mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= mtl_11d.11d mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= mtl_11d.11d mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= 2516.j6 mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= ms11d.6j mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
742s97-VEL5C-1.c5 = vel5c_1.c5 mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= vel5c_1.c5 mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= vel5c_1.c5 mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= vel5c_1.c5 mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= 24s10n.1c mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= 24s10n.1c mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
= tt5c.129 teetert Teeter Torture (prototype)
= vel5c-1.c5 venture Venture (version 5 set 1)
= vel5c-1.c5 venture4 Venture (version 4)
= vel5c-1.c5 venture5a Venture (version 5 set 2)
7603-HRL6D-1.d6 = 74s288.d6 mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= 74s288.d6 mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= 74s288.d6 mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= 74s288.d6 mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= 74s288.3d mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= 74s288.3d mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
= (BAD) prom.6d spectar Spectar (revision 3)
= (BAD) prom.6d spectar1 Spectar (revision 1?)
= prom.6d spectarrf Spectar (revision 2, bootleg)
= stl_6d-1.6d targ Targ
= stl_6d-1.6d targc Targ (cocktail?)
= tt6d.123 teetert Teeter Torture (prototype)
= hrl6d-1.d6 venture Venture (version 5 set 1)
= hrl6d-1.d6 venture4 Venture (version 4)
= hrl6d-1.d6 venture5a Venture (version 5 set 2)
= sn74s288n.3d venture5b Venture (version 5 set 2, bootleg)
7603-HRL14H-1.h14 = fxl-11b fax FAX
= fxl-11b fax2 FAX 2
= (BAD) 74s288.h14 mtrap Mouse Trap (version 5)
= (BAD) 74s288.h14 mtrap2 Mouse Trap (version 2)
= (BAD) 74s288.h14 mtrap3 Mouse Trap (version 3)
= (BAD) 74s288.h14 mtrap4 Mouse Trap (version 4)
= (BAD) 74s288.6c mtrapb Mouse Trap (bootleg)
= 74s288.6c mtrapb2 Mouse Trap (version 4, bootleg)
= hrl14h-1.h14 pepper2 Pepper II (version 8)
= hrl14h-1.h14 pepper27 Pepper II (version 7)
= hrl14h-1.14h spectar Spectar (revision 3)
= hrl14h-1.14h spectar1 Spectar (revision 1?)
= hrl14h-1 spectarrf Spectar (revision 2, bootleg)
= hrl_14h-1.14h targ Targ
= hrl_14h-1.14h targc Targ (cocktail?)
= tt14h.123 teetert Teeter Torture (prototype)
= hrl14h-1.h14 venture Venture (version 5 set 1)
= hrl14h-1.h14 venture4 Venture (version 4)
= hrl14h-1.h14 venture5a Venture (version 5 set 2)
= sn74s288n.6c venture5b Venture (version 5 set 2, bootleg)
GMTL-4.a6 NO MATCH
GMTL-4.a7 NO MATCH
GMTL-4.a8 NO MATCH
GMTL-4.a9 NO MATCH
To get a quick confirmation that everything is dumped and good, i started the new roms as mtrap in MAME and quickly got a fully working german version of MOUSE TRAP up and running.
All three bprom's matched the existing bprom-dumps in MAME, so the BAD DUMP flag can get removed from all set's too.
With the new dumps on my laptop i started my 150km roadtrip back to my home, knowing that we now have a new version preserved and documented.
Summary:
Driven distance: 300km
Expenditure of time: ~5 hours
New preserved data: 24kb (6 roms with 4kb each)
Credits: team europe, rtw, f205v, darksoft, zacky
Amazing work! That's the real preservation spririt.
ReplyDeleteWe are all grateful, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI remember a similar trip to grab a bunch of 8751 MCUs which eventually made it to your hands for a successful round of dumping. The things we do for preservation :-)
Great story, and great job to preserve these EPROMs and this version of MT.
ReplyDeleteAs a big fan of these old Exidy games (and the current WR holder for Venture :)), would you be amenable to share the ROMs so I could burn a set to use on my original MT board?
FYI, I have an original Venture upright, and 2 sets of MT boards that are plug and play in the same cabinet (along with a control panel that I made an adapter for so it will work also in this cabinet).
Cheers,
Jonathan
the roms will be available everywhere in the next few days...
DeleteThanks for this ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat and I did not realize you are so close to Czech borders. Maybe we could meetup sometime?
ReplyDeleteCheers and thanks for all your hard work!
Awesome, thanks for doing this. I really enjoy German versions of games. Need to play some Berzerk (German) now :)
ReplyDeleteGreat job! Your efforts are not only helping to preserve the digital heritage, but also inspire others to do the same.
ReplyDelete