MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - hap and company tossed MAME's car keys to Mattel 1970s led games fans user base *edited* (2024)

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What does Mattel 1970s era games led fans user base say besides "thanks" to hap?
Let tv show character Eric Foreman (That 70s Show) provide the appropriate comment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUeHGNiR5Aw

Bitchin!

Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey emulated as shown in source code updates.

==
Feb 14, 2021

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/147b5e72a401de8478df778a1f00d3a4c1be44f8

added MM5799 MCU emulation [hap]

New working machines
--
Basketball (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
QuizKid Speller [hap, Sean Riddle]

New working clones
--
QuizKid Racer (MM5799 version) [hap, Sean Riddle]

Feb 16, 2021

New working machines

--
Soccer (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Hockey (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/60402e505fe5ef594c10a3d1542ec689d60fabf2

==

-
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118642#Post118642

Here is Mattel Basketball [image], it was decapped by Sean a couple of years ago.
-

-
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118650#Post118650

Mattel Soccer and Hockey are added too
-

The Mattel page in case wanting to look at other Mattel led games.

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/index.html
=

Links to hap's old posts

--
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118642&page=368

hap
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118570#Post118570

Some of them are on PPS4/1 (Auto Race, Football games, and the newer VFD Football game too, this 1: https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/WCFB.htm). Missing MCU emulation, but might not be too hard to add to MAME since standard PPS4 is already emulated. Kevtris dumped the VFD game ages ago, older games are not dumped.

Basketball, Soccer, Hockey are on COPS I (COP400 is COPS II, COPS I is MM57xx series).

-

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https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118642#Post118642

The internal layout for Basketball's handheld artwork has been updated a bit more
and could be closer to matching the handheld game artwork.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/layout/mbaskb.lay

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/BasketB.htm

-
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118650#Post118650

Mattel Soccer and Hockey are added too
-

The Mattel page in case wanting to look at other Mattel led games.

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/index.html

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Good thing there is a chance the artwork component can be scanned and supported because good luck trying to play the game without any artwork support.

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https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118646#Post118646

Entex Black Knight, sent to Sean by Rik
-

Entex Black Knight Pinball https://handheldmuseum.com/Entex/BlackKnight.htm

Seeing many of the led games using extraneous artwork playfields, good luck to those willing to work on supporting internal layout files unless the playfield component can be scanned and supported as an external artwork file.

Entex https://handheldmuseum.com/Entex/index.html

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Heh forgot about that mattel basketball game. I think all that is left from my childhood are those casio databank watches and that nelsonic pac-man watch. At that point I think MAME has emulated most of the electronic junk I had when I was a kid. Eeek the price for those on ebay, gawd.

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> forgot about that mattel basketball game.

Maybe not as memorable compared to Football, but still holds its own when being compared to Football. Basketball was my second pick after Football. I liked it compared to other Mattel led games I had such as auto Racing, Baseball, Armor Battle, Sub Chase.

*nevermind*

Here is an excerpt from my old message to someone of my guess.

--
hap
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118570#Post118570

Some of them are on PPS4/1 (Auto Race, Football games, and the newer VFD Football game too, this 1: https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/WCFB.htm). Missing MCU emulation, but might not be too hard to add to MAME since standard PPS4 is already emulated. Kevtris dumped the VFD game ages ago, older games are not dumped.

(COP400 is COPS II,
Basketball 2, Soccer 2 are dual-COP421. Sean has these, but not dumped yet.
--

Specific support for 421 type hardware will happen with the section while games data
is/are copied from handhelds.

National Semiconductor COP421 /COP421 disassembler
"cpu/cop400/cop421ds.cpp"

src/devices/cpu/cop400
src/devices/cpu/cop400/cop424ds.cpp

My guess is the games such as "Basketball 2, Soccer 2 are dual-COP421 COP400 is COPS II" are next items to be supported including Mattel's Look Alive! Football (1980) which looks like an awesome game itself.

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/LAFB.htm
==

I was surprised the PPS-4/1 MCU hardware with its games was emulated before COPS II
hardware was worked on.

For folks curious about remaining Mattel led games to be worked on.

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/index.html

>I think all that is left from my childhood are those casio databank watches and
> that nelsonic pac-man watch. At that point I think MAME has emulated most of the
> electronic junk I had when I was a kid.

Microvision being emulated to fully working last year was a big deal to me since I had that myself. The Mattel led games being emulated will complete the electronic games I had as a teenager then.

> Eeek the price for those on ebay, gawd.

Fortunately a fair amount of the handhelds is accounted for or emulated before speculators arrived to drive prices upwards of many of the games.

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>
> > I think all that is left from my childhood are those casio databank watches and
> > that nelsonic pac-man watch. At that point I think MAME has emulated most of the
> > electronic junk I had when I was a kid.
>
> Microvision being emulated to fully working last year was a big deal to me since I
> had that myself. The Mattel led games being emulated will complete the electronic
> games I had as a teenager then.
>

ooo off to play some block buster.

>
> > Eeek the price for those on ebay, gawd.
>
> Fortunately a fair amount of the handhelds is accounted for or emulated before
> speculators arrived to drive prices upwards of many of the games.

Friend of mine reminded me most are totally ragged out. Just stay away from the 'collectable' ones and the price would probably be ok. Still saw one for 300 bucks. yikes.

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When reading these source code comments, I was guessing PPS 4/1 was going to be concluded for time being after Horoscope was added.

---
src/devices/cpu/pps41/mm78la.h

For B8000 (I call it MM77LA), no documentation is known, pinout might not be accurate.

src/devices/cpu/pps41/pps41base.cpp

no known documentation exists for MM77LA, mcu name is guessed
--

And then hap comes through with his update getting Football 2 in working shape.

--
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118795#Post118795

Mattel Football 2

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/dc0fe9c309c736326267429d6c597ff087bbf2fb

New working machines
--
Football 2 (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]

src/mame/drivers/hh_pps41.cpp

Mattel Football 2 (model 1050)
* PCB label: MATTEL, 1050-4369D
* MM77LA MCU (label B8000-12, die label B8000)
* 7 7seg leds, 30 other leds, 2-bit sound

CONS( 1978, mfootb2, 0, 0, mfootb2, mfootb2, mfootb2_state, empty_init, "Mattel", "Football 2 (Mattel)", MACHINE_SUPPORTS_SAVE )
--

Thanks hap for making the Mattel led sports games being playable in 2021.

For those wondering about other Mattel led games not yet emulated...here is hap's post.

hap
03/23/21
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118797#Post118797

FWIW, no other PPS4/1 handheld games in Sean's vault, but I'm sure a few others exist.
The older Mattel sports games are on similar Rockwell calculator MCU's from before they designed PPS4/1.

Other known devices with PPS4/1:
- Mattel Las Vegas (home pinball machine): MM77
- Brunswick home pinball machines probably have a MM76
- Bearcat BC300 supposedly has a MM76D
- Zoom Telephonics Demon Dialer has a MM77 IIRC. Sean has it, but there's not much to emulate if MAME doesn't simulate a telephone/phone line.
-

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/index.html

Unsure about Baseball, but I am going with Sean's old post (further below). Football and Auto Racing use Rockwell's earlier mcu which is another different mcu core needing to be assembled which could also include other Mattel led games as hap mentioned in his old post.

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/BaseB.htm

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm CPU: Rockwell B6100-15 (modified calculator chip)

https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/AutoRace.htm

-
hap
03/11/21
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118754#Post118754

Mattel Missile Attack MCU label is B6001, same as Battlestar Galactica which is already decapped.
-

An old post from seanriddle of the other Mattel led games that are not yet emulated.

--
seanriddle
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118576#Post118576

I think I've acquired all the Mattel LED handhelds. I've dumped the COPS I Basketball visually and have Soccer and Hockey. Basketball 2 and Soccer 2 have a metal layer over the ROM area to obscure the bits, but I should be able to dump those electronically. The original games (Auto Race, Football, Baseball) use a modified Rockwell calculator chip that is very similar to the PPS-4/1 microcontrollers, and some later games (mostly non-sports) use PPS-4/1 chips. There's also a set of (non-sports) LED games that use Hitachi calculator chips. There are also some LCD re-releases- I think I have Classic Football and Classic Baseball.
-

Some of them yet to be emulated that might be hh_cops1.cpp or maybe hh_cop400.cpp file in the future.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/hh_cops1.cpp

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/hh_cop400.cpp

--
Mattel's Basketball 2 https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/BasketB2.htm

Mattel's Ski Slalom https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/SkiSlalom.htm

Mattel's Soccer 2 https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Soccer2.htm

Mattel's Armor Battle https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/ArmorBattle.htm

Mattel's Sub Chase https://handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Sub.htm
--

Reply

Before Mattel led emulation happened earlier...with PPS 4/1 finally happening...

==
2021-02-26

added MM76 disassembler and preliminary PPS-4/1 MCU core [hap]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING
--
Electronic Master Mind (Invicta) [hap, Sean Riddle]

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/2f02c96baffbe8a628ab2d4bbc325efe945100d7

2021-02-14

added MM5799 MCU emulation [hap]

New working machines
--
Basketball (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
QuizKid Speller [hap, Sean Riddle]

New working clones
------------------
QuizKid Racer (MM5799 version) [hap, Sean Riddle]

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/147b5e72a401de8478df778a1f00d3a4c1be44f8
=

....Juergen Buchmueller had written a cpu core for the Rockwell cpu earlier.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/tree/master/src/devices/cpu/pps4

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/devices/cpu/pps4/pps4.cpp

I was curious about the cpu since my interest was towards the Mattel led games
that used processor and this was about the time some of the led games were starting to be emulated just a year before lcd hardware games were then being emulated.

I asked Stiletto about PPS 4/1 and Mattel led games in 2014. Another great example of why
I enjoy reading some of the stuff Stiletto mentions from years earlier and this is
why I wanted to post this now that PPS 4/1 has happened and in MAME source code and will be in next official release.

--
Re: Mattel Electronics handheld games
From: Stiletto
12/15/14

> After reading hap's post, I am looking forward to seeing if this gets any of the
> Mattel games closer to being emulated. I hope the cpu support pps4.c that Juergen had
> added for other hardware games is what helps start emulation of any of the Mattel
> games even though I figure some update might be needed for the cpu code first before
> a driver is created.

Yes, the motivating factor here was not more handheld simulation (although that would be cool). Basically, Juergen recently randomly rewrote the PPS-4 emulation core to match the original documentation archived by Bitsavers. (The previous core was what Micko had originally imported from PinMAME around 2008 or so, plus another round of modernization in 2010 or so.)

The reason Juergen rewrote the core was that some German had got in touch with him regarding a rare unemulated German computer (don't look at me, I've never heard of it) that used the Rockwell PPS-4 as its main CPU. But after Juergen's modernization this required him to touch the Gottlieb System 1 emulation to ensure it still worked. Juergen has yet to submit his German computer driver to MESS, but it's coming. Hey, I'm happy any time Juergen takes another stab at MAME/MESS, no matter what he wants to work on.

But it reminded me that back in 2008 when Micko was copying and updating CPU/video/audio cores from PinMAME (Intel 4004, Rockwell PPS-4, a few others) that he'd got in touch with me to see if I could track down other systems (arcade/console/computer/handheld/other) that used these CPUs, possibly even ROMs, so that he could further test these cores on more than just pinball ROMs. So this time, I dug my notes up and dug out the PPS-4 notes and gave them a second pass/update and posted it to the group rather than just Micko. No ROMs, but I saw that I'd made a note about the Mattel handhelds. hap caught onto that right away and thought to bring it to Sean's attention. And here we are.

Yes, I'm thinking that the Rockwell B6000 series must be related to the Rockwell PPS-4 series. I guess someday we will find out how.

- Stiletto
--

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUeHGNiR5Aw

That 1970s tv show clip that keeps on giving.
My thanks to hap and Sean for more progress in 2022 of led games.

The Mattel Electronics progress is outstanding.

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=97003&page=391

Mattel Electronics Look Alive! Football

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=120388#Post120388

Mattel Electronics Basketball 2 and Mattel Electronics Soccer 2

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=120440#Post120440

The few remaining Mattel Electronics led games, not yet emulated, are mentioned in detail on other
posts in this forum thread.

Bandai TC7 is what I vaguely recall being mentioned by a former coworker while working
a temporary job in mid 1990s.

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=120563#Post120563

https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Bandai/AirTraffic.htm

The temporary coworker recalled the game name, but did not remember which
company made the TC7 game. Iirc a different coworker had brought in a PSX disc
and explained that the disc ran some classic Namco arcade titles on the PlayStation.

That reminded the coworker about his TC7 game and how he wishes it were possible to play that
again. This was just about time that community emulation was just getting started.

The coworker retells how he bought the TC7 product in early 1980s to self train to be an
airplane traffic controller in order to become one by late 1980s in which he did and briefly worked at a
small airport in a Midwest town for a couple years.

Before he bought a computer and some simulator programs for the computer, the TC7 product was
first training equipment. He was laughing while mentioning his girlfriend at the time was embarrassed about
him using the TC7 item while practicing to be a controller. She refused to be around him whenever he was
practicing with the item in their apartment.

They eventually separated and she broke some of his belongings including the TC7 product.
The guy was glad he got some of his other stuff out of there such as his computers and Mattel Intellivision and
other belongings. He mentioned that the TC7 product was partly useful for traffic control practice, but he missed it for the novelty factor. If MAME as it is today were around then, he would be first person to come to mind that
would be thankful that Bandai TC7 is emulated in MAME

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Wow. My thanks to Sean and hap. I am impressed with ongoing progress from adding cpu support to
supporting the specific games and getting them playable within a couple weeks.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/e2769abca916da18c114ee9db3c5dc44f682eded

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING
--
Auto Race [hap, Sean Riddle]
Missile Attack (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Football (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Baseball (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Gravity (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]

The best update of the recent Mattel led updates.

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/8f0042a609ff6ee6fa0500e5c178fe1d1a482175

Machines promoted to working

--
Auto Race [hap, Sean Riddle]
Missile Attack (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Football (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Baseball (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]
Gravity (Mattel) [hap, Sean Riddle]

See hap’s post on Bannister’s site

https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=120641#Post120641

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Sean put up an informative page providing details of some of the products that run on the
particular Rockwell cpu.

https://www.seanriddle.com/firstmattelledgames.html

It is interesting with descriptions of how it became possible to emulate
the games and get them working in MAME. One event that helped make
emulation possible was the Auto Race developer contributed hardware notes in which
provided insights of the details of how the game and opcodes work as Sean’s page explains.

With that and Sean’s work and hap’s coding, it became possible to emulate the specific Rockwell cpu
run games.

The one remaining led game that is also believed to be using a Rockwell brand cpu is Mattel Electronics Ski Slalom.

https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/SkiSlalom.htm

After that Mattel Electronics led game, there are a couple other
Mattel Electronics led games that use a Hitachi brand mcu that
is yet to be emulated.

https://www.seanriddle.com/decap.html

https://www.seanriddle.com/decapwork.txt

Mattel, Sub Chase, Hitachi, HD38132, 28 DIP
Mattel, Armor Battle, Hitachi, HD38133, 28 DIP
Bandai Electronics, Autorennen, Hitachi, HD38134, 28 DIP
Tandy, Golf, Hitachi, HD38135, 28 DIP
Tandy, Space Shot, Hitachi, HD38136, 28 DIP

Armor Battle https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/ArmorBattle.htm

Sub Chase https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Sub.htm

See other Mattel products from the Mattel page

https://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/index.html

There are alternate versions of games yet to be emulated.

Sears, Auto Race, Unknown, Unknown, 28 DIP
Mattel, Classic Football 2, Unknown, Unknown, glob

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The tanks only pointing up. So far I only seen this version and the dots version.

==========================================================

Edited: There is another one that is called Combat. By Bandai Electronic. I ran into this here. https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/f1022609121/ The screen artwork is different.

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Back up just in case they take it down from the site.

"K286 [Operation confirmed] Bandai LSI portable game machine Combat"

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I played the heck out of my Armor Battle handheld and wound up damaging the game to
where it quit working. That game seemed more fragile compared to the other Mattel handheld games.

One time my Mattel Football was thrown about 75 yards across a mall parking lot and was still in playable
working condition although the plastic case had lots of damage. The Football handheld could have starred in
one of those 1970s era tv commercials where Samsonite luggage suitcase is thrown around inside a cage with
a gorilla trying to break the suit case. If a Mattel Football led game can withstand a bratty teenager throwing the game 75 yards away, it probably has a fighting chance against a gorilla.

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…..thanks to Sean and hap’s work.

Grab .242 or newer builds of MAME, then the rom file and type

MAME mfootb and one is good to go.

—

ROM_START( mfootb )
ROM_REGION( 0x400, "maincpu", ROMREGION_ERASE00 )
ROM_LOAD( "b6100eb", 0x000, 0x300, CRC(5b27620f) SHA1(667ff6cabced89ef4ad848b73d66a06526edc5e6) )
ROM_CONTINUE( 0x380, 0x080 )
ROM_END

CONS( 1977, mfootb, 0, 0, mfootb, mfootb, mfootb_state, empty_init, "Mattel Electronics", "Football (Mattel)", MACHINE_SUPPORTS_SAVE )

—

I don’t know why, but this episode was amusing compared to other episodes made that season. It’s odd that
in real life Michael Richards got in trouble while on tv episode he was scolding Jerry. I know the political correctness attitude would pull the plug on this episode regardless, but it is simply a show that relies on innuendo
just like other previous shows such as BBC’s comedy tv show Coupling (2000 to 2003) which was more damn risqué imo. European and Canadien folks understand comedy humor better compared to pc crowd in USA.

Jerry Drugs Celia To Play With Her Toy Collection | The Merv Griffin Show | Seinfeld
53K views · 3 months ago

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L6K6zEN4-Rk

Season 3, 4, and 5 were the better episodes because that was when Larry David was involved in the production at the time.