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| Pro Monaco GP (Sega 1980) - Confused by the Bezel [SOLVED] |
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| Dr. Morbis:
I don't own a smartphone, but I've got friends who do, so I'll see if I can upload a video of me playing at some point. As for the insides, it's very similar to the cockpit Monaco, but my machine has AA batteries in the bottom on the power supply to save scores, which I think is a very cool feature for them to have included that far back, and it's got a real working tachometer to the right of the steering wheel; it's almost like this was a deluxe version of a favourite game and they wanted to pull out all the stops. It's also interesting that the gas pedal is optical - I can't think of another racing game that handles the pedal that way other than Turbo, which is Monaco's little brother and basically the exact same game but from a third person perspective (and not nearly as fast or fun). The only manual I've found online is the Japanese one, which makes me think it is a Jap-only release. There's no mention of Gremlin anywhere in the manual or on the cabinet, and it's got the power switch on the lower right side like Sega's other Japanese games of that era. As for your CRT rant, I recently capped the monitor and the picture now is unbelievable; I totally agree that MAME images on a computer - and especially on an LCD - will never be able to replicate the real thing (and that goes double for discrete logic games). What kills me personally is when you look up a game on klov and all the screen shots are MAME, I mean come on, this is supposed to be a database of the real actual games! Worst of all, CRT pixels were not square, so the aspect ratio is *always* wrong in MAME screenshots. Anyway, that's enough of a rant from me... |
| geecab:
--- Quote from: Dr. Morbis on July 31, 2014, 09:16:09 pm ---1. There is no 16th led; there are 15 leds per row, hence why the bonuses cap out at 15. On the top row, passing 15 cars lights up the 15 lights, and passing the 16th car gives you the bonus while resetting the 15 lights (making them all go dark). 2. Only 15 lights per row - see above. 3. Yes. 4. No. The beeps for the cars leading up to the 16th car are the same beep as the extended beep, but just one beep instead of several, and the final beep for passing the 16th car and earning the bonus is just one short beep in a lower tone. The "+200" only flashes once very briefly for the same length of time as one flash of the "Extended Play" message. --- End quote --- Excellent thanks for clearing those things up, I really get it now :) Like Xiaou2 says, about uploading a video of your Pro Monaco GP in action would be very cool indeed. I can honestly say I have repeatedly watched every Monaco GP related youtube clip there is (I need to get out more), and I guarantee you would be the first person in the world to upload clips of "Pro Monaco GP" in action!! Additionally, a video clip would mean I could really get my head around the correct timings and sounds of everything before I start coding it into my remake. No pressure though, I'm just so happy you decided to post and help us out in the first place! :O) It seems to me as if Sega were trying out a few ideas in Pro Monaco GP that would eventually play a big part in Turbo (With its beeping as you pass cars as you pass them). Here is the best Pro Monaco GP manual I could find on the web, it has lots of interesting circuit schematics. I compared the differences with the schamtics in the Monaco GP manual when I was trying to workout how many overtake Leds there were, obviously I guessed wrong :OP https://archive.org/details/promonacogp420-0525 Interesting CRT rant. I can't help thinking the colors I have chosen for my remake don't actually match those of the arcade. The red car in particular, I have chosen the brightest Red possible, but from all the arcade Monaco GP screen shots I've seen, the car looks to be a deeper red (Then again, the colors of everything else looks deeper as well). I just put it down to these CRTs being old and the colors fading/dimming, but I'm not totally convinced the colors I have chosen are correct.. Finally, would it be possible to provide a screen shot of the bezel when those overtake Leds are illuminated, so that I can get a good idea of how they look (size and spacing in between each Led). Would also be good if the screen shot also showed the what that Trophy Wreath symbol looks like (The bezel pictures I found on the net (on ebay) are the best I could find but they are so blurry)? Many thanks once again :) |
| Xiaou2:
--- Quote ---Interesting CRT rant. I can't help thinking the colors I have chosen for my remake don't actually match those of the arcade. The red car in particular, I have chosen the brightest Red possible, but from all the arcade Monaco GP screen shots I've seen, the car looks to be a deeper red (Then again, the colors of everything else looks deeper as well). I just put it down to these CRTs being old and the colors fading/dimming, but I'm not totally convinced the colors I have chosen are correct.. --- End quote --- Arcade monitors are quite robust. Ive got a very old arcade monitor, and it has quite accurate colors. As said, a lot of it is due to the way the larger shadow mask lines interact with the overall output of the light. They also help to give the games a certain texture... like an oil painting. This texture helps to hide the low resolution... as large areas of a single color, are now textured instead of a flat single color. It also helps to blend lines and colors, so that there are less jagged edges visible. Also note.. that your colors may in fact Turn arcade accurate, IF you output them through an original Monaco GP spec monitor. It would be a great option, for those who cant do this... is a way to use their lcd or pc crt monitor... and get the approximate end result. Maybe some sort of tweaked color switch option... and or even a custom color adjustment slider set. If you have ever messed with certain modern tv CRTs, they do have color range options. My Sony widescreen has various modes, and it drastically alters the look thats output. You can then further tweak the settings, using the sliders. However.. you cant make one Mode look like the other... no matter how you adjust the sliders. I imagine that certain arcade monitors have a certain spec of color ranges. Partially dependent on the phosphor colors in the mask... and partially dependent on the actual circuitry. (monitor driver boards) Additionally, there is a voltage and focus setting on the monitor boards. They often come hot-glued in place... but over time, they work loose. Ive often wondered, if many of the classics were sent out brand new, slightly out of focus, to create an even better shading and edge smoothing effect. The voltage setting could also be used to amp up a dimming display. Though, I believe I was warned against messing with it... as it could damage the monitor if it got too high. Its also possible the monitors were adjusted with slightly off convergence... again, making the image blend better. But regardless, by the time they got to the players.. they often were out of whack anyways. Shipping, transit, and dolly-ing vibrations.. as well as the shaking and pounding from players. Another thought... is that many of the older games may have shipped with an older monitor with a larger dot pitch... and has been replaced long ago, with a different low-res monitor... one that does have a higher dot pitch shadowmask. Which would create a very different look.. and not one that the designers had intended. The final part being the dust collected between the monitor glass and the monitor screen. After a while, it sort of created a fuzzy hazy glow. Removing the monitor glass wasnt always easy... and Ops tended to let things slide for some time, especially if it wasnt a critical issue. This can be good and or bad... depending on your view, and to the amount of dust that was collected. |
| Dr. Morbis:
--- Quote from: geecab on August 03, 2014, 05:08:37 am ---Finally, would it be possible to provide a screen shot of the bezel when those overtake Leds are illuminated, so that I can get a good idea of how they look (size and spacing in between each Led). Would also be good if the screen shot also showed the what that Trophy Wreath symbol looks like (The bezel pictures I found on the net (on ebay) are the best I could find but they are so blurry)? Many thanks once again :) --- End quote --- Give me a couple of days and I'll try and get a photo... |
| geecab:
Great stuff, thanks for your help on this :) |
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