Difference between revisions of "Amstrad Magnum Phaser"

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[[Image:Amstrad lightgun.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The Light Phaser gun from Amstrad]]
 
[[Image:Amstrad lightgun.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The Light Phaser gun from Amstrad]]
  
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== Technical ==
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Connects to expansion port 50pin edge connector. Reportedly it uses only 4
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pins: VCC, GND, LPEN, D7. Uh, that is, without decoding any address lines or
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/IORQ lines?
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  Trigger Button  ---> Request via output to Port FBFEh, then check CRTC input
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  Light Sensor    ---> CRTC Light Pen Input
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To read the Trigger button (to be done during vblank):
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  Port[BCxxh]=11h  ;select CRTC register 11h
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  old=Port[BFxxh]  ;-get old value
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  Port[FBFEh]=7Fh  ;\force an edge on the lpen input
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  Port[FBFEh]=80h  ;/(depending on whether button is pressed or not)
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  new=Port[BFxxh]  ;-get new value
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  if old=new then ... else ...
  
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== Supported Games ===
 
The Magnum Phazer was released later on in the Amstrads' life, and retailed for £24.99 in the UK. It came supplied with a cassette and a disk, both containing six games:
 
The Magnum Phazer was released later on in the Amstrads' life, and retailed for £24.99 in the UK. It came supplied with a cassette and a disk, both containing six games:
 
- Operation Wolf
 
- Operation Wolf

Revision as of 07:46, 3 January 2010

The Light Phaser gun from Amstrad
The Light Phaser gun from Amstrad

Technical

Connects to expansion port 50pin edge connector. Reportedly it uses only 4 pins: VCC, GND, LPEN, D7. Uh, that is, without decoding any address lines or /IORQ lines?

 Trigger Button  ---> Request via output to Port FBFEh, then check CRTC input
 Light Sensor    ---> CRTC Light Pen Input

To read the Trigger button (to be done during vblank):

 Port[BCxxh]=11h  ;select CRTC register 11h
 old=Port[BFxxh]  ;-get old value
 Port[FBFEh]=7Fh  ;\force an edge on the lpen input
 Port[FBFEh]=80h  ;/(depending on whether button is pressed or not)
 new=Port[BFxxh]  ;-get new value
 if old=new then ... else ...

Supported Games =

The Magnum Phazer was released later on in the Amstrads' life, and retailed for £24.99 in the UK. It came supplied with a cassette and a disk, both containing six games: - Operation Wolf - Bullseye - Missile Ground Zero - Rookie - Solar Invasion - Robot Attack

The main reason to buy this gun was for the excellent Amstrad conversion of Operation Wolf. Playing this with a light gun on your Arnold was the arcade experience people relished but rarely got back in the 80's. The other supplied games were fun for a while, but by far the high point was Operation Wolf.

Mastertronic released some more games with Magnum phaser support, but they were mostly budget type Spectrum ports, and were a poor relation to the mighty OperWolf!