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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

The System 32's program is encrypted; the key lives in a battery-backed security module. Dead battery = key lost = silent board (like the CPS-2 / System 16 FD1094). 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

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.