Lu

MiSTer FPGA News – Amstrad CPW & New Arcade Games, NES Mappers & More

Posted on by Lu

Zaparoo

Wizzo recently wrote a technical article on the Zaparoo website discussing some of the things he’s working on. An issue being resolved for Zaparoo, is the problem of making cards reliably launch the same game between different devices.

 

 

Taito F2

The Taito F2 core has added MRA’s for Euro Camp ‘92. It’s the same machine configuration as Football Champ.

Other updates to the core include:

  • Improvements to the sprite scaling accuracy 
  • Shadows in PuLiRuLa now shimmer correctly
  • Some things look worse than before, but it’s actually correct behavior which was confirmed through PCB videos

 

NES

The following updates have been implemented on the NES core

  • Added mappers 40, 81, 142, 144. Fixes for other mappers (Lain).
    • These mappers were all used in unlicensed games and hacks.
  • Fixes for mappers (greyrogue).
  • Major rework for PPU, fixes for CPU and others (Kitrinx).
  • Updated framework.

 

Zaparoo Video Launching

Wizzo posted an update on showing off some improvements to video launching on MiSTer. There is less page tearing on playback now and it now works a lot more like how a core seamlessly starts and stops. The CPU on the DE10 Nano is pretty weak so don’t expect to play high-res videos on it.

Taito F2

Martin Donlon updated the Taito F2 core to support 7 Japanese Quiz Games.

There are three other quiz games that are missing, and Martin is not planning to add them because they contain unique hardware and he does not want to further complicate the core for them. 

The first code commit was back in February and Martin has done an amazing job getting the core to this point.

Downloader 2.2.1

Version 2.2.1 of the Downloader script has been released. This version adds support for a custom HTTP proxy. This will allow you to routes all downloads through a proxy server. It’s an advanced feature that very few people will use, but it’s definitely nice to have.

D.D.Crew

Jotego has completed adding all games to the System 18 core. The latest core release includes:

  • D.D. Crew, a side scrolling beat em up game.
  • Hammer Away, a vertically scrolling shooter.

Konami’s Premier Soccer is planned to be included in the next update for the JTRIDERS beta core.

Work for CPS3 is also planned to start around Christmas.

 

Demon’s World

The Coin-Op Collection team have reworked the Toaplan V1 core and introduced some improvements starting with the game Demon’s World.  You can read a detailed list of improvements on the public patreon post.


Amstrad PCW Computer Core

On cpcwiki.eu, there is a forum post by user steddyman, where they talk about developing a PCW hardware emulator for the MiSTer FPGA.

The PCW is a personal computers by Amstrad that was targeted towards the word processing and home office markets, but did have some games developed.

At the moment steddyman has implemented the video, memory management mapping and disk subsystem recreated and can get the PCW to boot off the boot sector, then start to load CPM (or other disks).

Super Station One packaged game

It looks like the Super Station One might have packaged games included, so you will be ready to play it right out of the box. On bluesky, Takui Udon asked developers of games for consoles compatible with the Super Station One, to contact him about getting their game packaged with the system. The game can either be free or a demo version and Taki also mentioned offering to pack-in digital or physical versions.

MultiSystem DE9 Cart

The MultiSystem team have released a new SNAC cartridge for DE9 controllers. With this SNAC adapter you can connect various Atari, Commodore and Sega controllers and also mice to various cores in MiSTer.

This cart is compatible with any MiSTer setup and does NOT require a Multisystem.

SuperStation One Packaging

The packaging for the Founders Edition of the SuperStation one will have a similar look to the original Playstation’s NTSC launch packaging. This should provide many users’ nostalgic memories when their system arrives.


Other Misc Updates

And other miscellaneous MiSTer FPGA updates include.

MegaCD:
-Updated framework to fix audio distortion on some boards.

PCXT:
-update MCL86 to 10_4_2025 release, by @jsmolina