[Feb/26/99]

created: 1999-02-22
updated: 1999-02-26 22:48 TT

This document describes the 1986 TAITO board: Halley's Comet

Gametype
--------

Vertical shooter.

Overview
--------

There are 4 PCB's layered like this:

. J1100021A    
. J1100018A
. J1100020A
. J1100019A

Board J1100021A (Sound Daughterboard)
-------------------------------------

. 1 Zilog Z80400APS/Z80CPU, Crystal 6MHz
. 3 YAMAHA 2149F
. Connector E which goes to board J1100018A 
. A62_13, EPROM 2764-30
. A62_14, EPROM 2764-30

Board J1100018A (Main Board)
----------------------------

. 1 MC68B09EP/T6R8139, Crystal 19.968Mhz 
. 1 YAMAHA 2149F
. SW1 with 6 DIP switches
. SW2, SW3 & SW4 with 8 DIP switches
. 2 connectors S & R which go to board J1100020A
. Connector E which goes to board J1100021A 
. Connector H
       1 through 4 -- ground
       5 through 7 -- +5v
       8 -- -5v
       9 -- +13v
       10 -- key
       11 through 12 -- +12v
. Connector G
     Component Side       Solder Side
       Ground          1A    Ground
       not used        2B    not used
       not used        3C    not used
       not used        4D    not used
       Sound out       5E    Sound out (other speaker term,not specified as +/-)
       Key             6F    Key
       not used        7H    power on reset - not used
       Coin Sw A       8J    Coin Sw B
       Coin Meter A    9K    Coin Meter B
       Coin Lockout A 10L    Coin Lockout B
       Service Switch 11M    Tilt Switch
       Select 1       12N    Select 2
       1P Up          13P    2P Up
       1P Down        14R    2P Down
       1P Right       15S    2P Right
       1P Left        16T    2P Left
       not used       17U    not used
       not used       18V    not used
       not used       19W    not used
       not used       20X    not used
       1P Fire        21Y    2P Fire
       1P Warp        22Z    2P Warp

. 4 EPROMS 27128
. EPROM layout

         +-----++-----+
         | A62 || A62 |
         |  01 ||  02 |
         |     ||     |
         |     ||     |
         +-----++-----+
  +-----+       +-----+
  | A62 |       | A62 |
  |  04 |       |  03 |
  |     |       |     |
  |     |       |     |
  +-----+       +-----+

Board J1100020A (Graphics Controller)
-------------------------------------

. 2 connectors S & R which go to board J1100018A
. 2 connectors Q & P which go to board J1100019A
. 1 connector U (Power supply)

Board J1100019A (Sprites/Tile)
------------------------------

. 2 connectors Q & P which go to board J1100020A
. Connector U (Power supply)
. Connector T (Video out)
     Component Side        Solder Side
       ground          1A     ground
       ground          2B     ground
       ground          3C     ground
       ground*         4D     ground*
       Video ground    5E     Video ground*
       Video sync      6F     Video sync*
       Key             7H     Key
       Video Red       8J     Video Red*
       Video Green     9K     Video Green*
       Video Blue     10L     Video Blue*
       -5V*           11M     -5V*
       -5V            12N     -5V*
       +12V*          13P    +12V*
       +12V           14R    +12V
       +5V*           15S    +5V*
       +5V            16T    +5V
       +5V            17U    +5V
       +5V*           18V    +5V*

. 8 EPROMS 27128 - 25 (A62_05 - 12)
. 3 MMI63S080N read as National Semiconductor DM74S188A (A26_13)
. EPROM layout

  Connector T at this end

  +---+    +---+    +---+
  |A26|    |A26|    |A26|
  |13 |    |13 |    |13 |
  |   |    |   |    |   |
  |   |    |   |    |   |
  +---+    +---+    +---+
  (111)    (110)    (109)    <- Board positions

  +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+
  | A62 | | A62 | | A62 | | A62 |
  |  07 | |  05 | |  11 | |  09 |
  |     | |     | |     | |     |
  |     | |     | |     | |     |
  +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+
  +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+
  | A62 | | A62 | | A62 | | A62 |
  |  08 | |  06 | |  12 | |  10 |
  |     | |     | |     | |     |
  |     | |     | |     | |     |
  +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+





[May/09/1999]
                                 HALLEY'S COMET
                                   Taito 1986

                          Pinout and DIP switch settings

NOTE: I had to guess the meaning of some Japanese text concerning the DIP 
      switch settings, but I think I got it right.

      * = default settings


              T                                       G
    PARTS          SOLDER                  PARTS              SOLDER
----------------------------------    ---------------------------------------
       GND   1 A   GND                         GND   1 A   GND
       GND   2 B   GND                               2 B
       GND   3 C   GND                               3 C
       GND   4 D   GND                               4 D
 Video GND   5 E   Video GND            Sound out+   5 E   Sound Out -
Video sync   6 F   Video sync                 Post   6 F   Post
      Post   7 H   Post                              7 H   Power on reset
   Video R   8 J   Video R               Coin sw A   8 J   Coin sw B
   Video G   9 K   Video G          Coin counter A   9 K   Coin counter B
   Video B  10 L   Video B          Coin lockout A  10 L   Coin lockout B
       -5V  11 M   -5V                  Service sw  11 M   Tilt sw
       -5V  12 N   -5V                    Select 1  12 N   Select 2
      +12V  13 P   +12V                      1P up  13 P   2P up
      +12V  14 R   +12V                    1P down  14 R   2P down
       +5V  15 S   +5V                    1P right  15 S   2P right
       +5V  16 T   +5V                     1P left  16 T   2P left
       +5V  17 U   +5V                              17 U
       +5V  18 V   +5V                              18 V
                                                    19 W
                                                    20 X
      H                                   1P shoot  21 Y   2p shoot
   --------                          1P hyperspace  22 Z   2P hyperspace
    1  GND                      
    2  GND                                                  
    3  GND
    4  GND
    5  +5V
    6  +5V
    7  +5V
    8  -5V
    9  +13V (a typo?)            DIP switch 1                Option    1-5   6
    10  Post                     ----------------------------------------------
    11  +12V                     (single/dual controls?)    *1-way     off  on
    12  +12V                                                 2-way          off


                                           
DIP switch 2      Option            1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free play         *off             off  off                 off       off
                   on                   on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start round        *1                        off  off  off
                    4                        on
                    7                        off  on
                   10                        on
                   13                        off  off  on
                   16                        on
                   19                        off  on
                   22                        on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Collision         Normal                                        off
detection         No hit                                         on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------




DIP switch 3      Option            1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Difficulty           B             off  off                      off  off
                     A             on
                    *C             off  on
                     D             on   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus ships  20000/60000/680000              off  off
             20000/80000/840000              on
            *20000/100000/920000             off  on
             10000/50000/560000              on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ships at start      *3                                 off  off
                     2                                 on 
                     4                                 off  on
                     4 with no bonus ships             on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                    
DIP switch 4      Option            1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cabinet type      Table            off
                  Upright          on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Screen flip                             off
                                        on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test mode                                    off
                                             on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Demo sound                                        off
                                                  on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coin A           1 coin / 1 credit                     off  off
                 1 coin / 2 credits                    on
                 2 coins / 1 credit                    off  on
                 2 coins / 3 credits                   on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coin B           1 coin / 1 credit                               off  off
                 1 coin / 2 credits                              on
                 2 coins / 1 credit                              off  on
                 2 coins / 3 credits                             on
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------




[Aug/02/2001]

Halley's Comet, Taito 1987
Dumped 11/1/2001

Top Board (Sound)
IC4	a62_14.bin
IC5	a62_13.bin

Second Board (Sound?)
IC30	a62_01.bin
IC31	a62_02.bin
IC50	a62_04.bin
IC52	a62_15.bin

Third Board (Program and graphics)
IC77	a62_10.bin
IC78	a62_12.bin
IC79	a62_16.bin
IC80	a62_08.bin
IC88	a62_09.bin
IC89	a62_11.bin
IC90	a62_05.bin
IC91	a62_07.bin

Additional info:
Top board is definitely sound. Contains three Yamaha YM2149F chips, a Z80,  2 ROMS, and
a single RAM chip.  A few logic chips are here as well. The ROMs are 2764's

The second board contains all the DIP switches, another Yamaha YM2149F, a 68B09 processor,
lots of logic, a couple of RAM chips, and the audio amplifier chip. The ROMs are 27128's

The third board is almost all logic chips, 8 ROMS, plus three small (16 pin DIP) chips that
are socketed. They look like PALs, but I'm not sure. They are all stamped with the
designation "A26-13" as well as the chip type which looks to be 68s080n.
The manufacturer is MMI. I could not find these in my dumping software. The ROMs are 27128's.

The fourth board has a large bank of RAM, a large number of logic chips, and four processors,
labelled MB15510 (x2), MB15511, and MB15512. They are either made by Fujitsu or Fairchild,
they have an "F" between two horizontal lines as the manufacturer.



[Feb/04/2000]

HALLEY'S COMET (JPN Ver.)
(c)1986 TAITO

J1100018A

CPU:	6809 Z80A(SOUND)
Sound:	YM2149*4
OSC:	19.968MHz 6MHz

MAIN PRG
 A62_01.30
 A62_02.31
 A62_03.52	(JAPAN)
 A62_04.50

CHR
 A62_05.90
 A62_06.79
 A62_07.91
 A62_08.80
 A62_09.88
 A62_10.77
 A62_11.89
 A62_12.78

SOUND
 A62_13.5
 A62_14.4

COLOR?
 A62-13.R
 A62-13.G
 A62-13.B

Dumped 02/04/2000


[Jul/05/98]

Halley's Comet 1986 Taito

CPU: 6809, Z80
Sound: YM2149 (x4)

Looks like Jungle King but with a 6809



[UNMAMED]

This shooting game was similar to Galaga but with more intelligent
enemies. Graphics emulation is "missing a lot of things" and
emulation crashes after a few seconds into the game.
Why it's not emulated (Stroff):
It was encrypted until relatively recently. It uses a funky
blitter/coprocessor, with two-way communication via shared RAM.

-