Konami — 68000 beat'em ups (TMNT, Simpsons, X-Men)¶
Konami's beat'em up golden age (1989-1994): a 68000 + K052109 (tiles) / K051960 (sprites) customs hardware that ran TMNT, The Simpsons, X-Men (up to 6 players!), Sunset Riders… Big sprites, multiplayer, strong licenses.
PCB Konami (TMNT) — photo by Robivy64, domaine public (Wikimedia Commons).
Identification¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Konami |
| Years | 1989-1994 |
| CPU | Motorola 68000 (+ Z80 sound on some) |
| Players | 2 to 6 (X-Men, Simpsons) |
| Settings | DIP |
Architecture¶
| Block | Chip | Role |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Motorola 68000 | game logic |
| Video | K052109 (tilemaps) + K051960/K053245 (sprites) customs | big sprites, multiple layers |
| Sound | Z80 / 68000 + K053260 / YM2151 / K007232 | FM + samples |
This set of Konami customs (K052109/K051960…) is reused across the beat'em up range.
Some cabinets (X-Men, Simpsons) support 4 to 6 simultaneous players (even 2
monitors for the 6-player X-Men). Emulated in MAME (tmnt.cpp, simpsons.cpp,
xmen.cpp).
Notable games¶
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989), TMNT: Turtles in Time (1991), The Simpsons (1991), X-Men (1992), Sunset Riders, Vendetta, Bucky O'Hare, Asterix, Metamorphic Force, Violent Storm, Mystic Warriors, Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, Premier Soccer…
Common faults¶
| Symptom | Likely cause | Lead |
|---|---|---|
| Corrupt sprites/planes | K052109/K051960 customs / RAM | RAM test, contacts; rare customs |
| No/partial sound | K053260 / YM2151 / Z80 | Sound-stage diagnosis |
| One player unresponsive | multiplayer I/O / harness | Check player wiring |
| Lost settings | DIP | Check the DIP bank |
| No image | Power, 68000, harness | Base diagnosis |
Modernisation & mods¶
The common ground for every JAMMA board
Video, power, control panel and upscalers depend on the cabinet rather than the board: everything is centralised in Modernising a cabinet. To run the board outside a cabinet (at home, on a display): supergun.
- Storage 🟡: the game lives in EPROM/mask ROM on the board. Changing or restoring a game means reprogramming the EPROMs (and, for a mask ROM, using a pinout adapter) → EPROM method.
- Media preservation: replacing the original storage, multicarts, ODEs and modern options by family → PCB preservation hub.
- Scan rate 📺: ~15.62 kHz / 59.2 Hz — standard resolution, a classic 15 kHz chassis is fine — the most common JAMMA case → tri-sync and upscalers.
(Computed from the MAME sources —
konami/tmnt.cpp— pixel clock ÷ htotal.) - FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.
Repair (technician)¶
- Konami customs (K052109 tilemaps, K051960/K053245 sprites, K053260 sound): unobtainable new → corrupt sprites/planes = video RAM + buffers first, the custom last (donor). This custom set is shared across the range (cross-part swaps possible).
- Sound: Z80/68000 + K053260 / YM2151 / K007232 — diagnose the sound stage.
- Capacitors: recap sound + PSU filtering.
- Oxidised EPROM sockets: re-tin / turned-pin socket.
→ Methods: PCB fault-finding · Recap · EPROM · Traces & vias
Expected clocks — measurement table ✅¶
Values extracted from the MAME sources for this platform. On a scope or frequency counter, a clock that is missing or off-value points straight at the crystal, the divider or the chip at fault — the fastest starting point on a dead board.
| Component | Expected clock | Role |
|---|---|---|
| K007232 | 3.579545 MHz | Konami PCM |
| M68000 | 8 MHz | main CPU |
| MSM5205 | 384 kHz | ADPCM |
| YM2151 | 3.579545 MHz | FM (sound) |
| Z80 | 3.579545 MHz | sound CPU (usually) |
How to read this table
Several values for one component = several board variants in this family (or several instances of the chip clocked differently). These frequencies are those of the clock signal at the component's input, not of its original crystal — on many boards the clock is divided down from a single master crystal.
Original manuals for games on this platform ✅¶
Manufacturer manuals for games running on this board. Beyond the instructions, they very often carry the full DIP settings, the connector pinout, the test procedure, the parts list and the expected voltages.
- Metamorphic Force — original manual (PDF)
→ Full catalogue: service manuals, wiring & game manuals
DIP settings ✅¶
4 games on this platform, settings extracted from the MAME sources (INPUT_PORTS_START blocks). The Position column gives the switch's physical reference on the board (SW2:!3,!4 = bank SW2, levers 3 and 4) — which is what lets you set it up without the paper manual. Games are sorted by MAME set name.
DIP settings — MAME set cuebrick
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet | SW2:3 | Upright · Cocktail |
| Machine Name | SW2:4,5 | None · Lewis · Johnson · George |
| Difficulty | SW2:6,7 | Easy · Normal · Difficult · Very Difficult |
| Demo Sounds | SW2:8 | Off · On |
| Flip Screen | SW3:1 | Off · On |
| Upright Controls | SW3:2 | Single · Dual |
DIP settings — MAME set mia
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Lives | SW2:1,2 | 2 · 3 · 5 · 7 |
| Bonus Life | SW2:4,5 | 30K, Every 80K · 50K, Every 100K · 50K Only · 100K Only |
| Difficulty | SW2:6,7 | Easy · Normal · Difficult · Very Difficult |
| Demo Sounds | SW2:8 | Off · On |
| Flip Screen | SW3:1 | Off · On |
| VRAM Character Check | SW3:2 | Off · On |
DIP settings — MAME set tmnt
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Coinage | SW1:1,2,3,4 | 5C 1C · 4C 1C · 3C 1C · 2C 1C · 3C 2C · 4C 3C · 1C 1C · 3C 4C · 2C 3C · 1C 2C … |
| Lives | SW2:1,2 | 1 · 2 · 3 · 5 |
| Difficulty | SW2:6,7 | Easy · Normal · Difficult · Very Difficult |
| Demo Sounds | SW2:8 | Off · On |
| Flip Screen | SW3:1 | Off · On |
DIP settings — MAME set tmnt2p
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Lives | SW2:1,2 | 1 · 2 · 3 · 5 |
| Difficulty | SW2:6,7 | Easy · Normal · Difficult · Very Difficult |
| Demo Sounds | SW2:8 | Off · On |
| Flip Screen | SW3:1 | Off · On |
Check against your own board
These settings apply to the game and revision described by MAME. One title may have several DIP sets depending on region or revision, and some systems use soft-dips (settings in memory, via the test menu) rather than physical switches. In case of a discrepancy, the board's silkscreen and the test menu are authoritative.
See also: DIP reference · game manuals
Emulation & FPGA¶
- Emulation: MAME (
konami/tmnt.cpp,simpsons.cpp,xmen.cpp). - FPGA / MiSTer: cores available for several titles (TMNT, Simpsons…).
EPROM repair¶
68000 program in 27C512 / 27C010. Examples (MAME konami/tmnt.cpp): TMNT =
2× 27C010 + 2× 27C512 · M.I.A. = 2× 27C010 · Cue Brick = 2× 27C512. The graphics
(051960/052109 customs) are mask ROMs. Some games add an MCU/custom protection.
Lineage¶
Contemporary with the Gradius/Twin16; the customs evolve into the GX (1994, 68EC020).
Photos / assets¶
(To add: TMNT/X-Men board, K052109/K051960 customs.)
Sources & attribution¶
-
Photo PCB Konami (TMNT) — Robivy64, domaine public, Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tmntpcb.jpg
-
MAME —
konami/tmnt.cpp,simpsons.cpp,xmen.cpp(68000, K052109/K051960, K053260, games, 6 players) — https://github.com/mamedev/mame - Wikipedia — TMNT (arcade) / X-Men (arcade) — CC-BY-SA — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_(1992_video_game)
Review & corrections
How this space is used
Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.
Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.