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alphaone: MAME ROM Information.


History:

Alpha One (c) 1983 Atari.


- TECHNICAL -


Main CPU : M6502 (@ 2.5 Mhz)

Sound Chips : (2x) POKEY (@ 1.25 Mhz)


Screen orientation : Horizontal


Players : 1

Control : dial

Buttons : 1


- TRIVIA -


This was the second prototype of "Major Havoc", the first was called "Tollian's Web".


- UPDATES -


Differences with the final game :

* There is no music in Alpha One.

* The story of the Vaxxian is much different. Notice the Catastro-fighter has a different name, as does the vaxxian home planet.

* There isn't any enemy scoring on the 'story' screen.

* Many of the sounds are different. These include the player firing sound and the enemy explosions. The sound of Rex 'frying' is missing.

* Some graphics are different, such as the Space station explosions.

* Many other small differences and the overall unfinished feel of the game.


- TIPS AND TRICKS -


* Warp Codes : It's possible to warp to higher levels in Alpha One from the start of the game by using certain codes. This is useful to not only be able to get through the game more quickly, but each warp also gives a fairly hefty bonus for carrying it out. This is done by playing the 'mini-Breakout' game at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen when the game starts. The game will have a phrase such as, 'Enter Red Warp 00' at the bottom of the screen. What you do is use the controls to 'dial in' the first digit of the appropriate code given below, then press fire to serve the ball and repeat as necessary. The codes are :

Red code - 23, 250,000 pts, Level 4.

Yellow code - 46, 600,000 pts, Level 8.

Green code - 51, 700,000 pts, Level 9.


Note that you can only enter the codes in the order they're given - it's not possible to enter, say, the red warp code followed directly by the green warp code.


- STAFF -


Designed and programmed by : Owen Rubin


- SOURCES -


Game's rom.

Machine's picture.




MAME Info:

0.30 [Michael Appolo, Brad Oliver, Neil Bradley, Aaron Giles, Bernd Wiebelt]


Bugs:

- [possible] Some graphics appear out of place. Smitdogg (ID 01142)

- mhavocp: [possible] Increasing slowdown in Test Mode. Tafoid (ID 04117)

- mhavocp: [possible] One of your men just floats when you start a game and enter the ship. qapo (ID 01141)


WIP:

- 0.146: Couriersud improved sound emulation for POKEY chip. Changed audio emulation to emulate borrow 3 clock delay and proper channel reset. New frequency only becomes effective after the counter hits 0. Emulation also treats counters as 8 bit counters which are linked now instead of monolytic 16 bit counters. Fixed high pass filters for POKEY. Added POKEYN device based on modern device. Fixed random lfsr generation. Consolidated polynom code. Removed legacy left overs from pokey code. Added a internal pokey_channel class. Convert all remaining drivers to use the modern pokey device.

- 0.133u1: Renamed (alphaona) to (alphaonea).

- 0.129u5: Couriersud added save state support to Major Havoc.

- 0.127u1: Changed 8-way Joystick to Dial.

- 0.126u4: Aaron Giles fixed access violation and all graphics are missing in Major Havoc.

- 0.115u1: Changed region proms to user1.

- 0.111u5: Mathis Rosenhauer added state saving to Major Havoc. Also fixed sparkling vectors so slowdowns and vector list overflows can be expected. It looks much nicer, though.

- 0.110u2: Mathis Rosenhauer added missing x-flipping support in Major Havoc.

- 0.109u2: Jess Askey connected TMS5220 speech support to the clone 'Major Havoc (Return to Vax)', added TMS5220 (555555 Hz) sound and changed manufacturer from 'hack' to 'JMA'.

- 0.108u5: Mathis Rosenhauer rewrote the Atari vector generators, using the schematics and actual state machine PROMs. The state machine is now emulated so timing should be much more realistic. Clipping hardware in bzone and others is emulated instead of hardcoded. Improved accuracy of clocks and various other bits of cleanup. Added prom ($0 - AVG PROM).

- 0.80: Alex Eddy fixed vector clipping in Major Havoc.

- 0.58: Added clones Alpha One (prototype, 3 lives) and (prototype, 5 lives). Changed palettesize from 256 to 32768 colors.

- 1st February 2002: Aaron Giles added another Alpha One prototype ROM set to the Major Havoc driver.

- 30th January 2002: Aaron Giles added better vector sparkle effect emulation as used in Major Havoc and Tempest.

- 25th January 2002: Aaron Giles sent in a driver for Alpha One, a single-CPU prototype version of Major Havoc.

- 22nd April 2001: Bart Puype fixed Major Havoc from crashing in MAME32.

- 0.36RC1: Removed 3rd player.

- 0.35RC1: Brad Oliver added clone Major Havoc (prototype).

- 2nd May 1999: Juergen Buchmueller modified Major Havoc music speed to be more correct.

- 0.33b7: Changed description to 'Major Havoc (rev 3)' and clone '(alternate version)' to '(rev 2)'.

- 0.31: Al Kossow fixed aspect ratio in Major Havoc. Aaron Giles and Bernd Wiebelt improved handling of vector games. Battlezone and Major Havoc now do correct clipping.

- 0.30: Mike Appolo added Major Havoc (Atari 1983) and clones (alternate version) and (Return to Vax).

- 8th December 1992: Dumped Major Havoc (rev 3).


STORY:

- You are Major Havoc, the leader of a brave litter of clones. You are them, they are you, all from one, one from all, fighting for humanity... Eons ago the evil Vaxxian Empire overran the galaxy. Most of your ancestors were enslaved and taken to the Vaxxian homeworld of Maynard. Only a few scientists escaped. Today, their empire is all but vanished. Yet, Vaxxian space stations controlled and defended by robots, still patrol the galaxy and keep your people prisoner. The small band of scientists cloned you, Major Havoc to fly your catastrofighter through a wormhole in space and lead your clone army against the dreaded Vaxxian robot armada. Destroy the enemy space stations and land on the planet of Vaxx to free your people.


PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:

- Use tact scan for warping and information

- Destroy mothership defenses

- Land on white platform of defeated mothership

- In maze, find the reactoid and touch it

- Exit maze before reactoid blows up

- Hold jump button for higher jumps


Other Emulators:

* AAE

* Retrocade


Recommended Games (Planet Force):

Cosmic Chasm

Major Havoc

Galivan - Cosmo Police

Guardian

Metroid (PlayChoice-10)

Xain'd Sleena

Xybots

Psycho-Nics Oscar

S.O.S.

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters

Finest Hour

Out Zone

Surprise Attack

SD Gundam Psycho Salamander no Kyoui

Bucky O'Hare

FixEight

Steel Force

Action Hollywood (Galaxy War)


Romset: 121 kb / 9 files / 66.9 zip




MAME XML Output:

       <game name="alphaone" sourcefile="mhavoc.c" cloneof="mhavoc" romof="mhavoc">
              <description>Alpha One (prototype, 3 lives)</description>
              <year>1983</year>
              <manufacturer>Atari</manufacturer>
              <rom name="vec5000.tw" size="4096" crc="2a4c149f" sha1="b60a0b29958bee9b5f7c1d88163680b626bb76dd" region="alpha" offset="5000"/>
              <rom name="8000.tw" size="8192" crc="962d4da2" sha1="2299f850aed7470a80a21526143f7b412a879cb1" region="alpha" offset="8000"/>
              <rom name="a000.tw" size="8192" crc="f739a791" sha1="1e70e446fc7dd27683ad71e768ebb2bc1d4fedd3" region="alpha" offset="a000"/>
              <rom name="twjk1.bin" size="8192" crc="1ead0b34" sha1="085e05526d029bcff7c8ae050cde73f52ee13846" region="alpha" offset="c000"/>
              <rom name="e000.tw" size="4096" crc="6b1d7d2b" sha1="36ac8b53e2fe01ed281c94afec02484ef676ddad" region="alpha" offset="e000"/>
              <rom name="page01.tw" size="16384" crc="cbf3b05a" sha1="1dfaf9300a252c9c921f06167160a59cdf329726" region="alpha" offset="10000"/>
              <rom name="vec_pg01.tw" size="16384" crc="e392a94d" sha1="b5843da97d7aa5767c87c29660115efc5ad9ad54" region="alpha" offset="18000"/>
              <rom name="vec_pg23.tw" size="16384" crc="1ff74292" sha1="90e61c48544c62d905e207bba5c67ae7694e86a5" region="alpha" offset="1c000"/>
              <rom name="036408-01.b1" merge="036408-01.b1" size="256" crc="5903af03" sha1="24bc0366f394ad0ec486919212e38be0f08d0239" status="baddump" region="user1" offset="0"/>
              <chip type="cpu" tag="alpha" name="M6502" clock="2500000"/>
              <chip type="audio" tag="mono" name="Speaker"/>
              <chip type="audio" tag="pokey1" name="POKEYN" clock="1250000"/>
              <chip type="audio" tag="pokey2" name="POKEYN" clock="1250000"/>
              <display tag="screen" type="vector" rotate="0" refresh="50.000000" />
              <sound channels="1"/>
              <input players="1" buttons="1" coins="3">
                     <control type="dial" minimum="0" maximum="255" sensitivity="100" keydelta="40" reverse="yes"/>
              </input>
              <dipswitch name="Service Mode" tag="IN1" mask="16">
                     <dipvalue name="Off" value="16" default="yes"/>
                     <dipvalue name="On" value="0"/>
              </dipswitch>
              <driver status="good" emulation="good" color="good" sound="good" graphic="good" savestate="supported" palettesize="0"/>
       </game>
 
 


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