Gaplus Save High-Score


Gaplus !  The follow up to Galaga, a lot faster and harder. In my very biased opinion it's nice, but it's not Galaga.  The boardset is a quite a compact multi-layered board so I WOULD NOT ADVISE DESOLDERING THE RAM CHIP unless you're really good at desoldering. Just cut the legs off the thing, desolder the remaining pins one at a time and solder in a new socket.You wouldnt want to damage the boardset !

There's also a hack for Galaga 3, which was the Midway license of Gaplus, but I dont have a boardset so I've got no idea WHICH RAM is the one to replace ? If anyone can shed any light on the subject let me know.

All three ROMs need to be changed to save the high-score table.

Strange fact... if the default high-scores are set to zero, then the demo mode actually clocks up points ! I guess this is a 'bug' of sorts in the original game, this is why the default score is set to 10,000 points ( which is really pretty easy to get ). I've set the default scores at 5000 points.

Game Enhancements

1.    Save high-score

Known issues

1. None
2. Scores start at 5,000pts.

Upgrading

The image below shows the location of the ROM and RAM to be changed

Gaplus Board

 

You will need, 1 x 24pin socket, 3 x 2764 EPROMs, 1 x DS1220AB static RAM  or M48Z02

  1. Remove RAM at location L10, if not socketed then de-solder and put in a socket.
    Note: if you're not a good desolderer just cut the legs off the RAM and desolder the remaining pins !

  2. Replace the RAM at location L10 with the non-volatile SRAM.
  3. Burn the new program ROMs onto EPROMs using the three supplied images below and replace the ROMs at 8D, 8C & 8B.
  4. Power up the game and hey presto, high-scores are all zero to start with and will not be lost after powerdown.

Download Modified Program ROMs

Replacement ROMs Click to DOWNLOAD


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