Game & Watch Core

MrSniffles
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 11:11 am
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Game & Watch Core

Unread post by MrSniffles »

Looks like @pierco over on twitter has been working on a Game and Watch core!

User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

This is a nice preservation project, hopefully he pulls it off and is able to do the full library.
User avatar
LamerDeluxe
Top Contributor
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 798 times
Been thanked: 257 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by LamerDeluxe »

I saw that, that is really great. There are lots of LCD handhelds and VFD tabletops that are not going to work forever.
jumpbeatshoot
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:56 pm

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by jumpbeatshoot »

Excuse my ignorance, but how will it load games? Game & Watch doesn't have roms, right?
User avatar
LamerDeluxe
Top Contributor
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 798 times
Been thanked: 257 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by LamerDeluxe »

I guess it would be a core per game, like the arcade games, it might need its own category.
User avatar
Sigismond0
Posts: 339
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:21 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 66 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Sigismond0 »

MAME G&W ROMs of some sort, so they're out there. I'd expect the core to be similar. You'll likely have to supply the MAME ROM and background art for each game.
User avatar
wark91
Core Developer
Posts: 334
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 8:34 pm
Has thanked: 447 times
Been thanked: 94 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by wark91 »

in one of the creator twitter, it said it will propose a script to adapt games & watch datas from mame to use them of the core.
User avatar
Pierco
Core Developer
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 5:12 am
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 73 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Pierco »

Yes this is correct, I made a script that merges the ROM, background image and the mask for LCD segments. I was fixing some bugs with the MCU last week and I will now start working on sounds. It should be a straightforward task as the piezo buzzer signals are also generated by the MCU.
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

That's great news! Do you plan to support all the G&W games, and do you think the core could be developed to support other non-G&W LCD games?
User avatar
Pierco
Core Developer
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 5:12 am
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 73 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Pierco »

Only SM510 games are compatible so it should theoretically work with:

Turtle Bridge
Fire Attack
Snoopy Tennis
Oil Panic
Donkey Kong
Mickey & Donald
Green House
Donkey Kong II
Mario Bros
Rain Shower
Life Boat
... and other SM510 non-G&W games

I will try to implement the SM511 later.

BTW, audio is working now :)

My current problem is the joystick configuration. There's a layout of 3x4 possible keys so the only solution I've come up with is to encode the configuration into a few bytes in each game.
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

Nice one, good effort! Be nice to try the Zelda game down the line if that is possible in the future.

Seems people made some homebrew SM510 games
https://atariage.com/forums/topic/28257 ... ame-watch/
MrSniffles
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue May 26, 2020 11:11 am
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by MrSniffles »

First release is up... https://github.com/pcornier/GnW_MiSTer

Thanks Pierco!
rhester72
Top Contributor
Posts: 1107
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:31 am
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 169 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by rhester72 »

Erm...sorry for the newbie question, but where does one locate the necessary .bin files?
jca
Top Contributor
Posts: 1911
Joined: Wed May 27, 2020 1:59 pm
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 454 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by jca »

On Github if you go to tools instead of release you will find one sample bin file and a generator (without any explanation)
User avatar
kathleen
Top Contributor
Posts: 409
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:23 am
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 224 times
Been thanked: 131 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by kathleen »

This is an amazing news, thank you Pierco for your hard work, G&W is all my youth.

かすりん

User avatar
LamerDeluxe
Top Contributor
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 798 times
Been thanked: 257 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by LamerDeluxe »

Just tried it yesterday with the DKjr bin, which is my favorite G&W game. Really cool to be able to play these handheld games on MiSTer!

Is there a reason why the graphics have a low resolution? Can you get a higher resolution by creating your own bin?
The game seemed to respond sightly slowly and it sounded a bit different from a piezo speaker.

I'm really looking forward to be able to play the handheld games I like on MiSTer and try ones I've never played.
User avatar
Pierco
Core Developer
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 5:12 am
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 73 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Pierco »

Thank you, I'm glad to see you tested it!

About low res images, this is because of the LCD, which does not allow for a tile based approach for VRAM. Unfortunately, the limitation of block ram on MiSTer forced me to use low res images. Maybe a FPGA guru can jump in the discussion and help? Can I use the SDRAM to create a VRAM pixel based? Will it be fast enough? I'm not sure.

About sound, it has been quickly implemented. I compared with the original device and it's very different for now. I will try to fix it but the priority is the MCU, which still has bugs, for example in DKjr bats never appear.
mrtomato
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:47 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by mrtomato »

I have Romset with roms with *.mgw format - how to convert this for BIN?
ZigZag
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:05 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by ZigZag »

mrtomato wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:56 am I have Romset with roms with *.mgw format - how to convert this for BIN?
I haven't tested yet but it seems you can extract the mgw using 7z. The extracted file had no extension so would need renamed to *.bin I guess.
mrtomato
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:47 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by mrtomato »

ZigZag wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 7:43 am
mrtomato wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:56 am I have Romset with roms with *.mgw format - how to convert this for BIN?
I haven't tested yet but it seems you can extract the mgw using 7z. The extracted file had no extension so would need renamed to *.bin I guess.
I only tested only game provided with core, but also found there some tutorial for conversion, but only for Windows. Since I am not using Windows right now I have no idea what enter format roms should have for conversion to BIN. But i will test if simple renaming my roms to BIN work.
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

Hopefully a kind person will make a pack of the compatible rom files, I had a quick look and couldn't find any roms.
mrtomato
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:47 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by mrtomato »

Moondandy wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:12 pm Hopefully a kind person will make a pack of the compatible rom files, I had a quick look and couldn't find any roms.
I've donwloaded this romset https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ouABwh ... 86rko/view but games are in *.mgw format. I do not have any idea how to convert them to BIN.
User avatar
Sigismond0
Posts: 339
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:21 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 66 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Sigismond0 »

Once the core is complete and the conversion tool is documented, I'm sure someone will make that happen.
User avatar
eightbit
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2020 7:05 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by eightbit »

This is awesome news! I am really looking forward to this core for sure!
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

Thanks for the files Mr Tomato, what guide were you looking at?
mrtomato
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:47 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by mrtomato »

Moondandy wrote: Thu Jul 23, 2020 9:46 pm Thanks for the files Mr Tomato, what guide were you looking at?
I found that on GitHub page there is some html file to "port" games but, I am looking for clean way to convert roms from that pack that I posted to BIN files.

https://github.com/pcornier/GnW_MiSTer/ ... ster/tools

Also read me isn't completed yet for now how to use this, so core author posted one game that for now is playable by this core
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

Haven't seen any mention of this but Pierco released this core of Scramble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFq4X3c_DAc

https://github.com/pcornier/TomyScramble_MiSTer

Hopefully will be added to Main soon, would be the first real update in awhile.
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

rhester72
Top Contributor
Posts: 1107
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:31 am
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 169 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by rhester72 »

I assume there's no way to get it to display vertically on a horizontal HDMI display?
User avatar
Moondandy
Top Contributor
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 2:14 am
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: Game & Watch Core

Unread post by Moondandy »

That sounds like a good feature request.
Post Reply