Here be four bits of dragons: the Mattel D&D Computer Game and the TMS1100 • Hacker News Board

Re: Here be four bits of dragons: the Mattel D&D Computer Game and the TMS1100

#11

Post by userbinator » Sun, Jan 29, 2023, 3:35 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #10

mmastrac wrote: post #3

Is it possible to read out the mask ROM on this chip without physically decapping it?

If it's metal mask, it might be possible with sufficiently high-resolution x-ray imaging.

Look at mask ROM design if you don't believe me. Metal shows up very contrastingly in x-ray images.

Re: Here be four bits of dragons: the Mattel D&D Computer Game and the TMS1100

#12

Post by StanislavPetrov » Sun, Jan 29, 2023, 4:05 AM UTC

WillPostForFood wrote: post #9

robgering wrote: post #5

I played the Intellivision D&D game (briefly mentioned in the article) when I was about six years old. Scared the bejeezus out of me. I’ve never forgotten the creepy synth “music”. Somehow the Dracula game, which was ostensibly scarier, didn’t bother me at all, but the D&D synths left me shook.

You can play the Intellivision D&D game at the Internet Archive. You need a keyboard with a number pad to emulate the Intellivision controller (you could possible remap in the emulator settings). The music is pretty creepy. https://archive.org/details/intv_Advanced_Dungeons_and_Drago...

The Intellivision controller was ahead of its time. The overlays it came with for different games really added to the gameplay.

Re: Here be four bits of dragons: the Mattel D&D Computer Game and the TMS1100

#13

Post by mmastrac » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 1:38 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #11

userbinator wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's metal mask, it might be possible with sufficiently high-resolution x-ray imaging.

Look at mask ROM design if you don't believe me. Metal shows up very contrastingly in x-ray images.

I'd love to figure out a shop that can do something like this for another chip I was hoping to read-out - one of the ones used for the old 1980's Casio keyboards.