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Taito F3 System

Taito's high-end 2D base (1992), cartridge-based (like the Neo-Geo): 68020 + Ensoniq ES5505/5510, gorgeous sprites and effects. Darius Gaiden, Ray Force, Kaiser Knuckle, Puzzle Bobble 2/3/4, Elevator Action Returns… No suicide: swapping games is trivial.

PCB Taito F3 (Puzzle Bobble 2)

PCB Taito F3 (Puzzle Bobble 2) — photo by Cyberjobe, domaine public (Wikimedia Commons).

Identification

Field Value
Manufacturer Taito
Year 1992
Type 16/32-bit 2D, cartridge-based
Media game cartridge (motherboard + cart)
Suicide? no (no battery-backed encryption)

Architecture

Block Chip Role
CPU Motorola 68EC020 game logic
Sound CPU Motorola 68000 drives the sound
Sound Ensoniq ES5505 (+ ES5510 ESP effects) sample playback + reverb/effects
Video Taito customs multiple layers, zoomed sprites, line-scroll, alpha — Taito's "rich" 2D

The F3 is Taito's 2D peak: fine-scrolling planes, tons of sprites, transparency effects — hence the look of Darius Gaiden or Ray Force. Emulated in MAME (taito/taito_f3.cpp).

Cartridge & conversion

The game is on a cartridge plugged into the F3 motherboard → trivial swap (like Neo-Geo/CPS-2, but no suicide). The lock is a dual region key (physical + region byte) → a bi-region conversion is possible. → Taito F3 converts (region, bi-region).

EPROM repair: 68020 program on 4 EPROMs (27C010/020/040 per game) → game-by-game EPROM table.

Notable games

Ray Force / Layer Section (Galactic Attack), Darius Gaiden (1994), Kaiser Knuckle, Grid Seeker, Bubble Bobble II / Bubble Symphony, Puzzle Bobble 2/3/4, Elevator Action Returns, Arkanoid Returns, Puchi Carat, Landmaker, Kirameki Star Road…

Common faults

Symptom Likely cause Lead
Cartridge not read / crash cartridge slot contacts Clean edge + slot
Corrupt sprites/planes Taito customs / RAM RAM test, contacts
No/partial sound ES5505/5510 Sound-stage diagnosis
Wrong region key / region byte See converts (bi-region)
No image Power, 68020, 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). ⚠️ On this platform, a dead battery does NOT kill the game — it is a leaking battery that corrodes traces. Check and replace it before it leaks → save batteries.
  • Storage 🟢: a cartridge system — the modern route is a multi-game cart / flashcart rather than reprogramming, where one exists for the platform → PCB preservation hub.
  • Scan rate 📺: ~15.44 kHz / 58.9 Hz — standard resolution, a classic 15 kHz chassis is fine — the most common JAMMA case → tri-sync and upscalers. (Computed from the MAME sources — taito/taito_f3.cpp — pixel clock ÷ htotal.)
  • FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.

Repair (technician)

  • No suicide (no battery-backed encryption) — a dead board is a real fault.
  • 68EC020 game + 68000 sound + Ensoniq ES5505 (+ ES5510 effects): silent sound / missing effects = the Ensoniq stage (ES5505/ES5510) + sample ROMs.
  • Taito customs (line-scroll, alpha): corrupt planes/sprites = RAM + buffers first.
  • Capacitors: recap sound + filtering. 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
M68EC020 16 MHz main CPU

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.

Emulation & FPGA

  • Emulation: MAME (taito/taito_f3.cpp).
  • FPGA / MiSTer: no confirmed dedicated core → MAME.

Lineage

After the B / F2 (wired) — the F3 moves to cartridge. Contemporary with the early 3D (Model 1, System 21).

Photos / assets

(To add: F3 motherboard, cartridge, ES5505.)

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.