Coin-Op Collection Update: T.M.N.T - Turtles In Time (Konami TMNT2) / Analogue Pocket Release

It has been two months since our last release, and we are excited to share that our framework for the Analogue Pocket is now complete! The K3-Pocket framework is compatible with K3-MiSTer, and in the coming weeks we will be bringing its improvements over to K3-MiSTer as well.We have also begun work on Midway’s T-Unit platform, with the first entry, NBA Jam, slated for release at the beginning of November. The Midway Z-Unit and Y-Unit platforms will be revamped and see significant improvements thanks to the modules we have worked on throughout the year and the framework we have been developing over the past eight weeks.Later this month we'll see another Cave 68000 entry, share a status update, and go over where we stand with other announced projects while giving a clear look at the way ahead. The team thanks you for your patience and continued support throughout the year as we worked through these major tasks.

TMNT2 Development Update:

All known and reported issues for T.M.N.T - Turtles in Time have been resolved in today's release for both Pocket and MiSTer users. The last outstanding graphical glitch has been resolved, audio output significantly improved, and the overall stability for the MiSTer core has improved from Pocket development changes.Once our PCB is repaired, we'll validate the audio mixing and gains against original hardware. We've socketed over 70% of the board so far to find which logic chip has failed. Unfortunately the PCB is currently stuck in a watchdog reset. Currently, our FPGA emulation is still the closest representation of original hardware to date.

In attract mode, the opening scene displayed jitter (seen below), which we traced to a typo outside the scaler. The original hardware uses a non-linear fractional scaler on top of the normal linear scaler of the 53245 chip. This was added to support finer zoom levels than the 53245 could handle on its own.

2025/04/22 - Broken

The chip itself is not really a protection device but rather a fractional adjuster for the linear scaler. On original hardware multiple tables exist, each matched to a zoom level, with conversions applied as needed.Our original design also used multiple tables, but after further investigation we consolidated everything into a single mapped table that preserves the same level of precision. Every object in the game was thoroughly analyzed and carefully mapped to the behavior of the original board.This is how we fixed the Razhar issue along with the Splinter sprite problem. In some emulators, April O’Neil appears noticeably squished at the end, leaving her face in the wrong aspect ratio compared to the real hardware.

2025/04/22 - Fixed

Analogue Pocket Controls/Features:

Variant support has been added to the K3-Pocket framework, cheats function on a per-game basis. The core’s features are self-explanatory and mirror those of the MiSTer core, with the addition of one new option: “Write Protect NV (Pocket) / EEPROM Write (MiSTer)”.

Variant Support - MAME .271 merged or higher recommended

Pocket Controls

USB-HID Keyboard support up to four players, follows MAME keyboard mapping.

Test Switch - press and hold the coin (select) button and then press attack (A).

Service Switch - press and hold the start button and then press attack (A).

If you enter the service menu, enable "Write Protect NV" after entry. You will not be able to enter the service menu with "Write Protect NV" enabled. On MiSTer, you can enable "EEPROM Write" at anytime, ensure you leave it on after exiting the service menu.

This will ensure the high score table is not corrupted and high scores will load correctly. The original hardware did not save high scores when being powered down.

Audio Controls

Stereo support is enabled by default in the service menu and audio output defaults to stereo. If you'd like mono audio, just change the toggle.

Player Select / Multi-Player Controls

Cheat Support

For ROM generation, use mra.exe, the provided .mra files, and your legally acquired ROM files. You can find these tools located here, the source for the mra.exe tool is located here. I've pushed updates for the MiSTer core available update_all and to pupdate / openfpga library give it some time for all of them to refresh and they are attached below.Update: If you experience green lines in the attract mode for the MiSTer core, remove all of your settings. More information can be found here. If you hear audio popping on the Pocket, grab the files again. I accidently uploaded the wrong build. The core has been updated on pupdate and below.Disclaimer: All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. "Analogue", "Analogue Pocket", "OpenFPGA", "MAME", "MiSTer", "MiSTerFPGA", "Konami", "Midway", "Cave" and all derivative works are trademarks, registered trademarks, or copyrighted materials of their respective holders. Use of these names does not imply endorsement or association with this post. All rights reserved to their respective owners. This post is for educational and research purposes only.