PC Engine tech found in Act-Francer

Mathius · 09/22/2014, 01:01 AM

I was strolling around System 16's website (http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=942) and as I came upon Act Fracer's listing I noticed that Data East used the Hu6280 in the arcade game's design. Full design spec:

Main Processor: HuC6280 @ 7.159066 MHz
Sound: M6502 @ 1.5 MHz, YM2203 @ 1.5 MHz, YM3812 @ 3 MHz), OKI6295 @ 7.759 kHz
Video Resolution: 256x240

You'll notice the clock speed is almost identical the PCE's 7.16 MHz. I can only dream at what a port of this game would look like on the PC Engine. I had always pegged Act Francer as 68000 based.

I thought this was really interesting. If I am late to the party on this info my apologies. At least we'll get a new discussion out of it.

P.S. Trio the Punch looks to use the same hardware as well. Odd little game.

shubibiman · 09/22/2014, 01:34 AM

Wow, I didn't know that game and it looks quite nice. Data East also used the HuC6280 for Bloody Wolf too.

CrackTiger · 09/22/2014, 01:42 AM

The HuC6280 is actually used in many arcade boards, although I believe it's usually for sound.

Bloody Wolf has an extra one just to manage the sound and it still runs at half the framerate of the PCE version.

esteban · 09/22/2014, 06:50 PM

Can we get a reliable list of games that used HuC6280 for "sound only" vs. "Everything"

Mathius · 09/22/2014, 07:37 PM

Hudson created the "Hu" family of processors from the ground up correct? So this means they licensed it out?

Though I find the inclusion of these chips that were used as a main CPU more interesting, knowing that they were put to work for sound is pretty cool. Were they used as controller chips in tandem with FM synth and PSG sound chips, or as primary sound chips?

Mathius · 09/22/2014, 07:49 PM

Looks like Data East likes Hudson's little chip. Their 32-Bit hardware based on the ARM6 uses the Hu6280 for sound.

ARM6 Hardware Game's List
Captain America and The Avengers (1991)
Dragon Gun (1992)
Fighter's History (1993)
Locked'N Loaded / Gun Hard (1994)
Night Slashers (1993)
Tattoo Assassins (1994)

Heh Gun Hard.

It appears that there is a Yamaha YM2151 FM Chip at work here so the Hu6280 must be its CPU.

CrackTiger · 09/22/2014, 07:58 PM

Quote from: Mathius on 09/22/2014, 07:37 PMHudson created the "Hu" family of processors from the ground up correct? So this means they licensed it out?

Though I find the inclusion of these chips that were used as a main CPU more interesting, knowing that they were put to work for sound is pretty cool. Were they used as controller chips in tandem with FM synth and PSG sound chips, or as primary sound chips?

They're not from the ground up. Here's wikipedia for what it's worth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Soft_HuC6280

QuoteCan we get a reliable list of games that used HuC6280 for "sound only" vs. "Everything"

I believe that its use for sound was normally as a controller of various FM sound chips.

Mathius · 09/22/2014, 08:27 PM

Looks like I need to brush up on my PC Engine history.

pulstar · 09/24/2014, 04:47 PM

Data East used the HuC6280 for loads of arcade games, but as said above mainly for sound. In addition to the games listed above they used it on their Caveman Ninja-based games, as on this page http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=944.

There are more on the page at System 16. Not sure if any other company used it on their boards.

Mathius · 09/24/2014, 09:08 PM

Quote from: pulstar on 09/24/2014, 04:47 PMData East used the HuC6280 for loads of arcade games, but as said above mainly for sound. In addition to the games listed above they used it on their Caveman Ninja-based games, as on this page http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=944.

There are more on the page at System 16. Not sure if any other company used it on their boards.

I haven't found any other company that has used the chip.

spenoza · 09/24/2014, 09:33 PM

MAME can list games by hardware. You might be able to use MAME to determine all the various titles that rely on this chip.

Even better, plug this search string into Google and read through all the results. Data East used the HuC6280 pretty widely, sometimes as a sound CPU, sometimes as a co-CPU, at least so it seems.

"huC6280" site:system16.com

Keith Courage · 09/25/2014, 01:25 AM

Quote from: Mathius on 09/22/2014, 01:01 AMI was strolling around System 16's website (http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=942) and as I came upon Act Fracer's listing I noticed that Data East used the Hu6280 in the arcade game's design. Full design spec:

Main Processor: HuC6280 @ 7.159066 MHz
Sound: M6502 @ 1.5 MHz, YM2203 @ 1.5 MHz, YM3812 @ 3 MHz), OKI6295 @ 7.759 kHz
Video Resolution: 256x240

You'll notice the clock speed is almost identical the PCE's 7.16 MHz. I can only dream at what a port of this game would look like on the PC Engine. I had always pegged Act Francer as 68000 based.

I thought this was really interesting. If I am late to the party on this info my apologies. At least we'll get a new discussion out of it.

P.S. Trio the Punch looks to use the same hardware as well. Odd little game.

Looks like that should be the next game to be ported to the pc engine. (Wishful thinking)