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Sega System 32

Sega's high-end 2D arcade platform (1992): many sprites, scaling/rotation, a wide palette. Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder, Spider-Man, Arabian Fight, OutRunners, Rad Mobile… Multi 32 variant (dual screen).

PCB Sega (Mega) System 32

PCB Sega (Mega) System 32 — photo by Baz1521, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Sega
Year 1992
Variants System 32 · Multi 32 (dual screen)
Connector type JAMMA

Architecture

Block Chip Clock Role
CPU NEC V60 ~16 MHz game logic
Sound CPU Zilog Z80
Sound Yamaha YM3438 (OPN2C) + Sega MultiPCM (315-5560) FM + samples
Video Sega customs sprites with zoom/rotation (hardware scaling), tilemaps, wide palette (~8000+ colours), linescroll

The System 32 pushes 2D with pseudo-3D effects: hardware-scaled/rotated sprites, gradients, transparency — the peak of Sega 2D just before all-polygon (Model 1/2).

Multi 32 (V70, dual screen)

The Multi 32 variant replaces the V60 with a NEC V70 @ ~20 MHz and drives two monitors for dual-screen cabinets (OutRunners, Title Fight). More RAM/customs → Multi 32 ↔ System 32 conversion is non-trivial.

The "suicide"

Encrypted program + battery-backed key — but not on every game

Many System 32 games have an encrypted program whose key lives in a battery-backed security module: dead battery = key lost = silent board (like the CPS-2 / System 16 FD1094).

⚠️ But not every security module has a battery. Golden Axe II — The Revenge of Death Adder carries one — the 315-5533-02 — which is a relabelled NEC V25 executing its code from an onboard EPROM: there is no battery, and that board does not suicide. On it, a module failure is a real fault — corrupt EPROM or dead Fujitsu RAM — not a lost key. Identify your game before concluding. De-suicide means switching to decrypted ROMs (often one + one for the checksum), without the module. → System 32 de-suicide & conversion guide (decrypted ROMs, Big 18 / Small 20 ROM board).

Notable games

Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Spider-Man: The Videogame, Arabian Fight, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, OutRunners, Rad Mobile, Alien³: The Gun, Burning Rival, Dark Edge, Holosseum…

Preservation & emulation

  • Emulation: MAME emulates the System 32 / Multi 32 (reverse-engineered customs and encryption); all games have been patched/decrypted on the preservation side.
  • FPGA / MiSTer: no core (V60/V70 + customs too complex) → MAME.
  • De-suicide: see the link above (the real priority on these boards).
  • Targeted recap depending on age; rare Sega customs → mind the contacts and the power.

Common faults

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Black screen / stuck boot Suicide: dead battery-backed security module De-suicide (decrypted ROM) — see the link above
Corrupt sprites/planes video RAM, sprite customs RAM test, contacts
No sound MultiPCM (+ sound V60 / YM3438) Sound-stage diagnosis
2nd screen dead (Multi 32) dual-screen output/harness Check the 2nd video output
No image Power, V60/V70, contacts Base diagnosis

Priority: the suicide

On System 32, the security module battery can "suicide" the board (unreadable encrypted program). It's the fault to anticipate → see the de-suicide guide.

Repair: which EPROM to replace a blown chip?

Dump size → 27C EPROM to burn:

Size Density EPROM (8-bit) 16-bit / mask variant
64 KB 512 Kbit 27C512 —
128 KB 1 Mbit 27C010 —
256 KB 2 Mbit 27C020 —
512 KB 4 Mbit 27C040 27C400/27C4096
1 MB 8 Mbit 27C080/801 27C800
2 MB 16 Mbit — 27C160
  • epr- = reburnable EPROM · mpr- = factory mask ROM (pinout ≠ EPROM → often needs an adapter to replace).
  • Per-socket, game-by-game EPROM table (socket IC → EPROM), ROM board jumpers, and protected cases (Arabian Fight, Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder): → System 32 EPROM / jumpers / conversion guide

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.

  • Anti-suicide — the priority mod 🟠: this platform suicides (key/program held by a battery). Replacing the battery without cutting power only postpones the problem; the durable route is de-suiciding → conversions and de-suiciding → save batteries.
  • 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 📺: ~15.72 kHz / 60.0 Hz — standard resolution, a classic 15 kHz chassis is fine — the most common JAMMA case → tri-sync and upscalers. (Computed from the MAME sources — sega/segas32.cpp — pixel clock ÷ htotal.)
  • FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.

Repair (technician) — diagnosis

  • Suicide (see the dedicated section): a dead board may be a protection/battery, not a fault — check before desoldering (backup batteries).
  • V60 CPU + Z80 sound: a freeze = CPU / its RAM. Sound: YM3438 + MultiPCM (315-5560) — silent samples = MultiPCM / sound ROM.
  • Customs (sprite zoom/rotation): corrupt = RAM + buffers first, the custom next.
  • Capacitors: recap PSU + audio filtering. Oxidised EPROM sockets: 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
MULTIPCM 10 MHz Sega PCM
RF5C68 12.5 MHz PCM
V60 16.10795 MHz main CPU
V70 20 MHz main CPU
YM3438 8.053975 MHz FM (sound)
Z80 8.053975 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.

→ Full catalogue: service manuals, wiring & game manuals

DIP settings ✅

3 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 kokoroj2
Setting Position Options (default in bold)
CD & Printer SW1:4 Off · On
DIP settings — MAME set radr
Setting Position Options (default in bold)
Transmission SW1:4 Manual · Automatic
DIP settings — MAME set slipstrm
Setting Position Options (default in bold)
Freeze Frame SW1:3 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

Procedure — a dead board, step by step ✅

What this adds

The general method lives in PCB diagnosis. This is its application to this platform: the same order, but with the values actually expected here, so you do not have to go back and forth.

Tools: multimeter, oscilloscope (or frequency counter), current-limited bench supply, desoldering braid. → Tooling

If the board is still in a cabinet

A CRT holds its charge with the machine unplugged. → CRT safety

1. Inspection, power off. Corrosion, cut tracks, oxidised EPROM legs, leaking SMD capacitors, dubious earlier repairs. On this platform the battery is the first suspect: its leakage eats tracks under the holder, and the damage is often hidden by the battery itself. Lift it to look.

2. The connector, before anything else. A large share of "dead boards" are a contact problem, not a fault. Clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and reseat — not with an abrasive eraser on a gold edge, which takes the plating off and brings the problem back worse. It costs two minutes and settles the question.

3. Power, measured on the board. Aim for +5.0 V measured as close as possible to where power reaches the board — not at the PSU output: the drop is in the loom, and that is exactly what makes a board boot on the bench and not in the cabinet. Where you probe depends on this board's connector — JAMMA edge, JVS loom or a proprietary harness — plenty of makers kept one long after JAMMA arrived — see Identification above. → Wiring Check −5 V and +12 V too if the sound stage uses them. Suspected short: bring it up current-limited and find the hot spot.

4. /RESET. It must release after power-up. Held low = the CPU never starts. A 1–2 Hz loop is not the reset circuit, it is the watchdog: the CPU is crashing at boot, so look at the bus, not at the reset.

5. Clocks — the values expected on this platform.

  • MULTIPCM → 10 MHz (Sega PCM)
  • RF5C68 → 12.5 MHz (PCM)
  • V60 → 16.10795 MHz (Main CPU)
  • V70 → 20 MHz (Main CPU)
  • YM3438 → 8.053975 MHz (FM (sound))
  • Z80 → 8.053975 MHz (Sound CPU (usually))

No clock on the V60 (16.10795 MHz) and there is no point measuring anything else: the fault is the crystal, the divider, or the chip itself. That single measurement splits a dead board in two.

6. Bus. Activity on the main CPU's address lines tells you whether it is running or frozen. Frozen with good clocks and good reset → work RAM, bus buffers, ROMs.

7. It boots but the picture or the sound is wrong — that is another job: see Common faults on this page, then signal tracing.

Procedure — replacing the battery without losing the key ✅

Not every board in this family is concerned

Check on this page whether your game is one of the encrypted ones before touching anything. On the others the battery only holds settings, and losing it costs nothing but a re-setup.

The order is the whole procedure

The decryption key of the security chip lives in SRAM held up by that battery. Cutting the old cell before the new one is soldered erases it, instantly and for good: the board goes silent and only a de-suicide brings the game back. So the new cell goes in first, in parallel.

  1. Board powered off, old battery left in place.
  2. Measure the old cell in circuit and note it (a CR2032 is 3 V nominal). This is what tells you whether you are ahead of the failure or already behind it.
  3. Solder the new cell in parallel with the old one — piggyback — watching polarity. A reversed cell discharges the old one through itself and erases the key just as surely.
  4. Re-measure at the holder: the voltage must have come back up. Do not go on before it has.
  5. Only now, remove the old cell.
  6. Power up and check the game boots.

→ Backup batteries

Already dead? This procedure will not bring it back — the key is gone. → de-suicide

Photos / assets

(To add: System 32 board, customs.)

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.