Search and analyze rare NES software with little information on the net, and make it playable on the emulator
The NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL series released by Konami in the 1980s as learning software for family computers (NES) is a rare game software series designed for elementary school students. A Russian game enthusiast has acquired the software '5th grade elementary school math (top)' for studying math.
Collector unearths long-lost 8-bit Konami games, dumps them for emulation | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/collector-unearths-long-lost-8-bit-konami-games-dumps-them-for-emulation/
The “NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL” series is a game developed by a partnership between NHK and Konami, a Japanese public broadcasting station, and is not available for general sale. It seems that it was a rare software that could not.
The NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL game software uses a specially designed 40-pin cartridge that is different from the usual NES cartridge. In the case of the picture below, the
Konami 40-pin cartridges cannot be inserted into NES and played. To play, you need to use a special conversion cartridge called “Q Thick”.
Actually inserting a Q thick into an
Since the acquisition method is very limited and a special conversion cartridge is required, the software of the 'NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL' series is one of the rarest and most expensive game software in the collector market . In addition, there is very little detailed information on the Internet, combined with the peculiarity of adopting a unique memory mapper configuration, it seems that it could hardly be played with existing emulators.
Russian YouTuber Russian Geek got the software from the NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL series, which was difficult to play. Russian Geek searched for the software on multiple Japanese auction sites, acquired `` 5th grade elementary school math 5th grade '' and Q tai over tens of thousands of yen, so that it is possible to play the background and games He talks in Russian about how he worked.
Konami QTa Adapter и Space School для Nintendo Famicom // Extra Life-YouTube
Russian Geek collaborated with CaH4e3 , a famous hacker for analysis of NES software, etc. to decode the unique memory mapper used in the “NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL” series software.
The left is the “NHK Gakuen SPACE SCHOOL” series software internal board, and the right is the Q internal board. Q thick board is equipped with Konami VRC5 microchip. It seems that this VRC5 microchip was also used in “ Devil Castle Legend ”. The VRC5 microchip contains graphics that are displayed overlaid on the background.
The decoding procedure is to decode the hexadecimal code, test multiple response signals, and write a custom script. This has succeeded in
That's why the title screen of '5th grade elementary school math (top)' that can be played is here.
The opening video is as follows.
It seems that you can learn the calculation method in the game.
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