Codex Gamicus
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File:Sys22 point rom pcb 01.jpg

SYSTEM22 POINT ROM PCB

The Namco System 22 is the successor to the Namco System 21 arcade system board. It debuted in 1992 with Sim Drive in Japan,[1] followed by a worldwide debut in 1993 with Ridge Racer.

Overview[ | ]

The System 22 was designed by Namco with assistance from graphics & simulation company Evans & Sutherland. While the System 21 hardware design had the main CPU provide a scene description to a bank of DSP chips which perform all necessary 3D calculations, much of the graphics in the System 22 is now handled by the Evans & Sutherland 'TR3' (Texture Mapping, Real-Time, Real-Visual, Rendering System) GPU chipset.[2]

It was the first arcade system board to feature texture mapping,[3][4] and it could handle Gouraud shading, transparency effects, and depth cueing,[5] as well as anti-aliasing.[6]

According to Namco America, the twin seat Ridge Racer arcade unit sold to distribution for $11995.00 in 1993, equivalent to $19649 in 2024. In Europe, the Ridge Racer Full Scale deluxe unit cost £150000 for arcade operators upon release,[7] equivalent to £269061 or $413290 in 2024.

A variant of the system, called the Super System 22, was released in 1995. The hardware was largely similar to the System 22, but with a higher polygon rate and more special effects possible. Both were contemporaneous with rival Sega's Model 1 and Model 2 arcade boards.

Both the System 22 and Super System 22 can render significantly better graphics, more polygons with sharper texture-mapping, running in higher resolution and at a higher frame rate, compared to the graphics capabilities of the original Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 video game systems, but much less than what the Dreamcast can produce.

System 22 Specifications[ | ]

Graphics[ | ]

  • 2D GPU: Namco Custom Video chipset (C300, C304, C305 Palette, C335)[8]
  • 3D GPU: Evans & Sutherland TR3[6][2] (Texture Mapping, Real-Time, Real-Visual, Rendering System)[2]
    • Performance: 400 MFLOPS[6][2]
    • 3D capabilities: Texture mapping, Gouraud shading, translucency effects, depth-cueing, fog effects, tiled rendering, T&L (transform, clipping, lighting), Z-buffering,[5] anti-aliasing,[6] translucency effects, high-resolution textures
  • 3D DSP: 2× Texas Instruments TMS32025 @ 49.152 MHz (exact number of DSPs may vary)[5]
    • Fixed-point arithmetic: 16-bit & 32-bit instructions[9] @ 49.152 MIPS (24.576 MIPS per DSP, 0.5 MIPS per MHz[10])
    • Floating-point arithmetic: 16-bit & 32-bit operations[9] @ 504,103 FLOPS (252,051.5 FLOPS per DSP, 5128 FLOPS per MHz[9])
    • Note: Exact number of DSP processors may vary
  • Geometric performance: More than 240,000 quad polygons per second[5] (with texture mapping and Gouraud shading) (higher with Super System 22)

Sound[ | ]

  • Sound CPU:
    • System 22: 2× Namco C74 (16-bit Mitsubishi M37702)[5] @ 16.4 MHz
    • Super System 22: Mitsubishi M37710 @ 16.4 MHz
  • Sound chip: Namco C352[5] @ 16.4 MHz
    • Capabilities: 32 channels, 42 kHz sampling rate, 8-bit linear PCM, 8-bit muLaw PCM
  • Audio output: Stereo (standard), 4-channel Bose surround (deluxe)

Super System 22 Specifications[ | ]

The Namco Super System 22, released in 1995, includes the following upgrades:[11]

  • 3D capabilities: More special effects
  • Geometric performance: More than 240,000 quad polygons per second[5] (with texture mapping and Gouraud shading)
  • 2D sprite layer: Zooming & rotation
  • Sound CPU: Mitsubishi M37710 (16-bit MCU) @ 16.384 MHz

List of System 22 Games[ | ]

List of Super System 22 Games[ | ]

External Links[ | ]

References[ | ]

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