Namco System 12
Encyclopedia
The Namco System 12 is an arcade system board
released by Namco
in late 1996. In hardware, it is an upgrade from Sony
's PlayStation
-based System 11
, the MIPS
R3000A microprocessor
is 50% faster, and the C76 sound processor is replaced by the H8/3002. Like the System 11, the System 12 used surface-mounted
ROM
chips, meaning the boards were unique to each game.
Arcade system board
An arcade system board is a dedicated computer system created for the purpose of running video arcade games. Arcade system boards typically consist of a main system board with any number of supporting boards...
released by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
in late 1996. In hardware, it is an upgrade from Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
-based System 11
Namco System 11
The Namco System 11 is an arcade system board released by Namco in 1994. The actual hardware is based on the Sony PlayStation, and thus many games were ported to that console. The major difference between the two is that the System 11 used surface-mounted ROM chips to store the game data, whereas...
, the MIPS
MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...
R3000A microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
is 50% faster, and the C76 sound processor is replaced by the H8/3002. Like the System 11, the System 12 used surface-mounted
Surface-mount technology
Surface mount technology is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards . An electronic device so made is called a surface mount device...
ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
chips, meaning the boards were unique to each game.
System 12 specifications
- Main CPU: MIPS R3000A 32-bit32-bitThe range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
RISC processor, @ 50,8032 MHz, Operating performance - 45 MIPS, Instruction Cache - 4 KiB - BUS: 132 MB/s.
- OS ROM: 512 kibibyteKibibyteThe kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use...
s - Sound CPU: HitachiHitachi, Ltd.is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company is the parent of the Hitachi Group as part of the larger DKB Group companies...
H8/3002 @ 16.73735 MHz - Additional Sound Chip: Namco C352 sample playback
- Main RAMRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
: 2 megabytes - Video VRAM: 2 megabytes
- Sound RAMRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
: 512 kilobytes - Graphical Processor: 360,000 polygonPolygonIn geometry a polygon is a flat shape consisting of straight lines that are joined to form a closed chain orcircuit.A polygon is traditionally a plane figure that is bounded by a closed path, composed of a finite sequence of straight line segments...
s/s, spriteSprite (computer graphics)In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
/BG drawing, Adjustable framebufferFramebufferA framebuffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data.The information in the memory buffer typically consists of color values for every pixel on the screen...
, No line restriction, 4,000 8x8 pixel sprites with individual scaling and rotation, Simultaneous backgrounds (parallax scrollingParallax scrollingParallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
) - Sprite Effects: Rotation, Scaling up/down, Warping, Transparency, Fading, Priority, Vertical and horizontal line scroll
- Resolution: 256x224 - 640x480
- Colours: 16.7 million colors, Unlimited CLUTs (Color Look-Up Tables)
- Other Features: custom geometry engine, custom polygon engine, MJPEG decoder
List of System 12 games
- Aerosmith: Quest For FameQuest for FameQuest for Fame is a music video game developed by Virtual Music and distributed by IBM. They were eventually acquired by Namco to create karaoke machines....
(1999) - Aqua RushAqua RushAqua Rush is an upside down, Tetris-type arcade game released by Namco in 1999, set against aquatic backdrops. Aqua Rush differs from Tetris by adding to blocks, making them more difficult to place, if you want to change the shape of the block....
(1999) - Derby Quiz My Dream Horse (1998)
- EhrgeizEhrgeiz, fully titled Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, is a 3D fighting game developed by DreamFactory and published by Namco in 1998 for the arcade platform. It was first ported to the PlayStation and published by Square Co...
(1997) - Fighting LayerFighting Layeris a 3D fighting game developed by Arika and published by Namco. It released only in Japan in 1998 and has never been released overseas and was not ported to home consoles.-Gameplay:...
(1998) - Golgo 13Golgo 13is a manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine since January 1969. In 1976, the manga won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga...
(1999) - Golgo 13 - Juusei no ChinkonkaGolgo 13is a manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine since January 1969. In 1976, the manga won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga...
(2001) - Golgo 13 - Kiseki no DandouGolgo 13is a manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine since January 1969. In 1976, the manga won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga...
(2000) - Kaiun Quiz (1999)
- Kart Duel (2000)
- Libero GrandeLibero GrandeLibero Grande is a 1997 arcade game by Namco, released in 1998 for the Sony PlayStation.-Summary:A typical arcade football game in its nature, Libero Grande introduced a novelty factor: the ability to play as just one player, instead of controlling the whole team, always swapping for players nearer...
(1997) - Mr Driller (1999)
- Oh! Bakyuuun / Ghoul Panic (1999)
- Paca Paca Passion (1998)
- Paca Paca Passion Special (1999)
- Paca Paca Passion 2 (1999)
- Point Blank 2 / Gunbarl (1999)
- Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Toukon Retsuden 3WrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
(1997) - Soul CaliburSoul Caliburis a 3D, weapons-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and produced by Namco. It is the second game in the Soul series, preceeded by Soul Edge. It was released in arcades in 1998, and it ran on the Namco System 12 hardware. In 1999 it was ported to the Dreamcast with improved graphics and...
(1998) - Super World Stadium '98 (1998)
- Super World Stadium '99 (1999)
- Super World Stadium 2000 (2000)
- Super World Stadium 2001 (2001)
- Techno Drive (1998)
- Tekken 3Tekken 3Tekken 3 is the third installment in the popular Tekken fighting game series. It was released for Arcades in March 1997, and for the PlayStation in mid-1998. The original Arcade version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of Tekken 5s Arcade History mode...
(1997) - Tekken Tag TournamentTekken Tag Tournamentis the fourth installment in the popular Tekken fighting game series. It, however, is not canonical to the Tekken storyline. The game was originally available as an update kit for Tekken 3. Tekken Tag Tournament was originally released as an arcade game before it was ported to the PlayStation 2...
(1999) - TeknoWerk (1999)
- Tenkomori Shooting (1998)
- Truck Kyosokyoku (2000)
- Um Jammer Lammy (1999)