The MA-55 was used in Panthera, Spiderman, Circus, CounterForce, StarRace, James Bond 007, Time Line, Force II, Pink Panther, and the export versions of Volcano, Black Hole, Devil’s Dare, and Eclipse.
This code works as-is on the cheap Alterra Cyclone II dev boards available on eBay for $20 or so. Hook up a PS/2 keyboard to it and you can trigger the sounds with it. Disable/remove the PS/2 code and this should plug straight in to one of the real machines listed above.
https://github.com/FPGA-Code/Gottlieb-MA-55
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Hi there, I was wondering if you can tell me how this works, and if there is somewhere I can see the process for making it work. I am trying to get the sound on my Gottlieb Panthera working, and through many hours of searching I came across this site.
Thanks in advance
Jason M
Enter your comments here…
It’s a bit involved to explain in a comment but if you search for Grant Searle’s Multicomp project he has a nice writeup using the same hardware I used here. The MA-55 is such a simple piece of hardware though that surely it can’t be very hard to repair. Building an adapter to wire up the FPGA board in a pinball machine wouldn’t be all that hard either but it’s beyond the scope of this project.
I’ve also got a 1980 Panthera that needs a sound board replaced. Have ya’ll had any luck with getting a replacement to work? If so can you provide me with guidance “for dummies” lol step by step procedure…
Hey Brett, See James’s comment. I would be more inclined to try to fix the original hardware if possible. Only real reason to use this project would maybe be if you bought a machine where the soundboard is missing entirely. What are the symptoms you are dealing with? Maybe one of us can give you some pointers there to help you diagnose and fix it.