Tetris version of NEC's word processor 'Bungo mini5' made more than 30 years ago is finally archived by overseas enthusiasts
NEC's Tetris Processor | Leaded Solder
https://www.leadedsolder.com/2022/10/20/mini5-tetris-dump.html
Mr. Leaded Solder had been checking the inventory at Surugaya, which sells used games, in order to get Tetris for Bungo mini5, but he couldn't find it. However, one day, he finally discovered that it was being sold as a set with Bungo mini5 SX on Mercari, so he bought it immediately. Since this 'Tetris' can only be played on the Bungo mini5 R, Bungo mini5 RD, Bungo mini5 RG, Bungo mini5 RX, Bungo mini5 RS/RC, and Bungo mini5 SX, Mr. Leaded Solder has purchased the Bungo mini5 SX that arrived with Tetris. has been repaired to a usable condition.
The Case of the Dead Mini5SX | Leaded Solder
https://www.leadedsolder.com/2022/10/15/pwp50sx-nec-mini5-psu-repair-pickup.html
Below is the Tetris floppy disk (FD) that arrived with Bungo mini5 SX. The label says ``Not for Sale'' and also includes the license notation ``© 1987 ELORG MOSCOW, USSR.'' According to leaded solder, the code suggests that it was developed in August 1991, just before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union was decided, and the last Tetris to be licensed by ELORG as a 'Soviet company' was It has been suggested that this may be the Bungo mini5 version of Tetris. You can also see that Tokyo System House is the company that obtained the license and ported Tetris to the Bungo mini5.
And the manual looks like this. It seems to be a 'purchase souvenir' that was included when you purchased the Bungo mini5 series.
The manual also included notes written by the previous owner.
When leaded solder created an image of a Tetris FD using NEC's FD drive 'FD1231H' and Greaseweazle V4 , an image of about 40MB was created in SuperCard Pro (SCP) format.
According to lead solder, the reason why a 3.5-inch FD (2DD) image file with a maximum capacity of 1MB has become relatively large at 40MB is because the SCP format is a file that directly images the transition of magnetic data on the FD. This is because of the format. By imaging the entire magnetic data transition, rather than interpreting it into a computer-readable block image, it remains stable even if the original disk's creator shifted the phase of sectors or wrote bits weakly. It seems that it is possible to make backups. Leaded solder says that this Bungo mini 5 version Tetris FD has a copy protection function, and that it is especially required to image it in SCP format.
The image of Bungo mini5 version Tetris actually checked with
Now that I have a magnetic image of the FD, I write it to an FD formatted in FAT12 format and insert it into Bungo mini5 SX. I thought I could play with this, but a screen saying 'Please insert an auxiliary floppy' appeared. I inserted the auxiliary floppy as instructed, pressed the requested key, warm-booted the Bungo mini5 SX, started the main menu, and inserted the disk again. Although the disk was read at startup, the data was not saved. It seems that it was not possible to read it.
So I looked at the manual and found that it was written to start while holding down 'Function 1' and 'Function 2'. If you follow the instructions, Tetris will start successfully.
License display
title screen
Play screen. In addition to displaying blocks and scores, the background, which is reminiscent of Soviet farmland, is clearly displayed with fine dots. 'Playing Tetris on a word processor is crazy,' says leaded solder.
According to lead solder, the file structure of this Bungo mini5 version of Tetris is special, and there are some parts that are still unknown. In particular, it is not known whether the program TETORIS.COM inside is a CP/M executable file or an MS-DOS executable file, and leaded solder says that he would like to investigate further in the future.
Mr. leaded solder has archived the dumped image files and scanned images of the manual in the Internet Archive. However, in order to actually play it, you need to write the image file to a FD and prepare a corresponding Bungo mini5 series movable device.
NEC Bungo mini5 (Bungo mini5) Tetris by Tokyo System House : Tokyo System House : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/mini5-tetris
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