Out Zone Prototype? What do you think?

[_rm_]

I just found a super rare "Aut Zoon" prototype, this is even before the game was named Out Zone

Now on a serious note:

I bought this game as a non working PCB. At a first look, i thought it had some strange repair job, but after closer inspection i realised that the majority of components are in different places. Even the mask roms on the "additional" pcb are original.

Is this some kind of prototype, early release,a different revision i missed on my google search, or what?

I already dumped the 3 eproms and they don't match any of the eproms available in mame.

If this really is something "special", i won't even dare to try to repair it, i will just send it to someone with experience.

As i did before when me and other friend discovered the Hammer Away prototype, i can share the eproms with system11 or other respected members if you would like to take a look.

Here are a couple of pics:

[emphatic]

W00T, interesting find!

[atro]

W00T, interesting find!

Will certainly be more interesting when he can finally be able to pump it up and play that hell of a game!
This is my favorite Toaplan by miles. Dogyuun comes close.

[JBC]

This is very interesting. I wonder what the differences are.

[system11]

If you're able to dump everything I can get it into MAME for you.

It could actually be a prototype too, that board is closer to Demons World than Outzone, with minor changes.

[jepjepjep]

Fellow member 'arcade game' had an Outzone that looked like that. IIRC, it was a Zero Wing pcb (TP-015 silkscreen) and it had a sub-board like that for roms. I think his version was the harder version from mame that started with the loop 2 difficulty. Our guess was a factory conversion from zero wing (maybe leftover stock pcb that was repurposed since Outzone came out the following year). It was too clean to be an aftermarket conversion.

I noticed that your pcb has sub-015 silkscreened on it and it looks to be the same layout as ZW. Does your main PCB have the TP-015? It should be under the white label near the Toaplan Co Ltd marking.

[arcade game]

Yeah,jepjepjep
That is exactly what i had,this version is way harder than the regular version ,even at the beginning of the game,super hard

To clean to be a conversion,most likely a factory one

[system11]

Oh it's definitely factory. Interestingly the main MAME set is actually from a board like that, and all the other versions are incorrectly based on it.

Are you sure the code roms don't match these:

tp018_7.bin 131072 0C2AC02D
tp018_8.bin 131072 CA7E48AA

[_rm_]

Does your main PCB have the TP-015? It should be under the white label near the Toaplan Co Ltd marking.

I have that zone covered with a white paint, now i know why,lol. It's definitely a factory conversion.

@system11 - can you point me a link to download the exact roms you are refering? I've tried several different rom types, but i might have missed those...

[_rm_]

Today i cleaned the PCB a little bit and found another interesting thing:
It has a stamp with some "japanese symbols and a 2.II.I" on it.

Will try to get a decent pic to post.

[Ed Oscuro]

Portugal delivers once again! Yes, even if it's not a prototype, the pictures will be helpful. I don't know of another photo of this version.

Does anybody have an idea where the AUT ZOON comes from? Is this just the reseller's phonetic approximation of the title? Is that something you might expect in Portugal?

[system11]

Hm. I tried plugging them into MAME and it just crashes, there's something weird going on. Are the dumps verified?

Any chance you could dump the two mask roms too and the 4 along the back?

[_rm_]

Does anybody have an idea where the AUT ZOON comes from? Is this just the reseller's phonetic approximation of the title? Is that something you might expect in Portugal?

That's right, no doubt about it.

Regarding the other maskroms:
I've sent the PCB yesterday to a friend so that he could take a look. I will ask him to dump the other masks because i really had no time to even properly look at the board.

Although i couldn't take a decent picture of the stamp, here it is (it says 2.II.I and has two symbols on the bottom and 1 on the top):

[system11]

That's just a factory batch stamp.

[casebres]

I've dump the gfx1 mask roms (5 & 6).

They match:





I did a quick test by changing the prg roms from my out zone pcb with this one, but no change, board still dead.

I'm going to dump the other gfx2 masks, but since these are 1Mbit 28 pin, i have to change pins so my programmer can read them, it may take a while.
I'm going to check the CPU and work ram asap.

[_rm_]

I'm going to dump the other gfx2 masks, but since these are 1Mbit 28 pin, i have to change pins so my programmer can read them, it may take a while.
I'm going to check the CPU and work ram asap.

[_rm_]

Necrobump for help:

I got this PCB fixed but as i was expecting, this is the BRUTAL version,lol, the game is so hard that's totally not funny.

I've tried the dipswitches to at least set it to Easy but nothing seems to match online info, not even the Zero Wing version.

The perfect scenario would be to burn the "regular eproms" and use them in this PCB, but i've been told by the guy who repaired the game that's not possible because this version uses "especilaly adapted eproms" for this hardware. In order to use the regular eproms, they would have to be adapted aswell.

Can anybody give me a hint on this matter?

[Mantrox]

I cant give any hints, but i would love to play that version.

I remember fumbling around with many versions in mame before getting the board and there were some where i didn't see much out of the ordinary, but when it came to the bosses, the f*ckers just wouldn't die!
It took forever to kill them.

[_rm_]

I cant give any hints, but i would love to play that version.

Trust me, it's tough as nails and has nothing to do with the version we've played last time at my house

[caius]

I'm the guy who repaired this Out Zone conversion on 'TP-015' Zero Wing hardware.I can confirm this board use totally different program code than regular Out Zone on 'TP-018' hardware.This is obvious since the game runs on an hardware which is not its native one so code has been hacked to target this different hardware so any attempt to use code from TP-018 hardware will fail on this board.But I think that it's possible to prepare a ROM set for this board by comparing its code with the Zero Wing one and inserting the changes into code of an easier version in order to target it into the 'TP-015' hardware.The main difference between Out Zone and Zero WIng is that memory map is different so this is where the coder should work on.

The user '_rm_' didn't mention that it's pretty easy to revert the modification on this converted Out Zone and play Zero Wing again or coexist both games (a ROM swap is needed, obviously), I have done it on my and his board and it worsk fine.

[caius]

I'm the guy who repaired this Out Zone conversion on 'TP-015' Zero Wing hardware.I can confirm this board use totally different program code than regular Out Zone on 'TP-018' hardware.This is obvious since the game runs on an hardware which is not its native one so code has been hacked to target this different hardware so any attempt to use code from TP-018 hardware will fail on this board.But I think that it's possible to prepare a ROM set for this board by comparing its code with the Zero Wing one and inserting the changes into code of an easier version in order to target it into the 'TP-015' hardware.The main difference between Out Zone and Zero Wing is that memory map is different so this is where the coder should work on.

The user '_rm_' didn't mention that it's pretty easy to revert the modification on this converted Out Zone and play Zero Wing again or coexist both games (a ROM swap is needed, obviously), I have done it on my and his board and it worsk fine.

[Mantrox]

Would love to see a video of this version in motion just to see what's different.

[_rm_]

The main difference is that enemies shoot more bullets and i think they are faster too.
it's very hard at the beginning but once you get the hang of it and power up it's much more accessible.

Other than that i'm not sure because i've only played the game once, and you were present.

I can make a video if you insist

EDIT - I would say it's pretty much the "standard" 2nd loop. Whatch the first 1.30 minutes and then between 18m00 to 18m25 and you get the picture.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HaEj32wmcQ

[emphatic]

Awesome video, thanks! Is it just me, or is the "platform ride" with the dragonflies longer in this version of the game?


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[Jman]

The main difference is that enemies shoot more bullets and i think they are faster too.
it's very hard at the beginning but once you get the hang of it and power up it's much more accessible.

Other than that i'm not sure because i've only played the game once, and you were present.

I can make a video if you insist

EDIT - I would say it's pretty much the "standard" 2nd loop. Whatch the first 1.30 minutes and then between 18m00 to 18m25 and you get the picture.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HaEj32wmcQ

Like a Bozz

Sendt fra min SM-T320 med Tapatalk

[sabravof]

hi guys. Sorry for bump this old threat, but after reading all, i have a doubt. It is possible to convert a toaplan with the same board to another game reprogramming the eproms?. I have a Pipi & Bibis / Whoopee!! pcb and it would be great to have the chance to convert it to another game.

[aerobert]

Does anybody have an idea where the AUT ZOON comes from? Is this just the reseller's phonetic approximation of the title? Is that something you might expect in Portugal?

That's right, no doubt about it.

Regarding the other maskroms:
I've sent the PCB yesterday to a friend so that he could take a look. I will ask him to dump the other masks because i really had no time to even properly look at the board.

Although i couldn't take a decent picture of the stamp, here it is (it says 2.II.I and has two symbols on the bottom and 1 on the top):

Necrobumping this thread because I'm trying to identify which romset my PCB has as well. (it's not a factory conversion though but a proper Outzone pcb). I think mine is the harder since the first cyborg fire immediately.

That stamp, if you want some clarification, is just a manufacturing stamp. "2" means year 2 in Heisei era (1990). The other I'm not sure if its month and day, but the game was released in August that year.