Skip to content

Namco System 10

Namco's last PlayStation generation (2000), dropping the ROM board for NAND flash: no cartridge, the game lives in flash on the board. Mr. Driller 2, Point Blank 3, the first Taiko no Tatsujin… Cheap and compact, before the move to PS2 (System 246).

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Namco
Year 2000
Base Sony PlayStation (PS1)
Media NAND flash (on the board) — no ROM board
Variants Type-1 · Type-2 (different protection/decryption)
I/O JAMMA / Namco / JVS per game

Architecture (≈ PS1)

Block Chip Role
CPU MIPS R3000A (PS1) game logic
GPU custom Sony (PS1) 2D/3D rendering
Sound PS1 base (SPU) / customs
Media NAND flash game data, often encrypted (Type-2)

The System 10 replaces the ROM board with NAND flash (embedded): more compact, cheaper. Type-2 boards add decryption of the NAND data (protection). Emulated in MAME (namco/namcos10.cpp).

Security & preservation

  • Type-1: fairly direct NAND.
  • Type-2: encrypted NAND data → you need the decryption (reverse-engineered for emulation) to read/image cleanly.
  • Priority: image the NAND while it still reads (flash ages). → Namco converts guide (incl. System 10 NAND).

Notable games

Mr. Driller 2 / Mr. Driller G, Gunbalina / Point Blank 3, Panicuru Panekuru, Star Trigon, Golgo 13 (arcade), Gamshara, Keriotosse, and the first Taiko no Tatsujin (drum)…

Common faults

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Won't boot corrupt NAND / decryption (Type-2) Image/reflash; protection diagnosis
Corrupt graphics video RAM / NAND RAM test, NAND dump
No sound SPU / customs Sound-stage diagnosis
Lost settings RTC/config battery Replace
No image Power, R3000A, contacts 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.

  • Battery 🟢: a save battery is fitted (settings/counters/RTC). A leaking battery corrodes traces — check and replace it before it leaks → save batteries.
  • Flash storage 🟡: data in flash/SIMM — reprogrammable, but a failed block is permanently lost: image it before working on it → PCB preservation hub.
  • Scan rate 📺: PlayStation-based (Sony GPU) → standard ~15 kHz output, a 15 kHz chassis is fine. (Derived from the platform documented above — the screen configuration lives in the GPU device rather than the driver, so it is not measured here.)
  • FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.

Repair (technician)

  • PS1 base (R3000A + Sony GPU): PS1 fault families (recap, GPU/RAM).
  • NAND flash + Type-1/Type-2 decryption: the program is in encrypted flash → without the right decryption it won't boot (per-game protection, not a hardware fault).
  • Sound: PS1 base (SPU) / customs — diagnose the sound stage.
  • Capacitors: recap PSU + audio (possible SMD electrolytics).

→ Methods: PCB fault-finding · Recap · Traces & vias

Emulation & FPGA

  • Emulation: MAME (namco/namcos10.cpp) — Type-2 NAND decryption included.
  • FPGA / MiSTer: no core (a full PS1 base).

Lineage

After the System 11 / System 12 (ROM board), Namco moves to NAND — before the System 246/256 (PS2).

Photos / assets

(To add: System 10 Type-1 vs Type-2 board, NAND flash.)

Sources & attribution

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.