Q*bert (US set 1)
The object of the Q*bert game is to change the color of the top of the cubes to the Destination color indicated at the upper-left of the screen (below Player 1's score) by hopping onto them. When all the cubes in the pyramid have been changed to the destination color, the screen will advance to the next Round, with the player-controlled Q*bert character starting back on the top cube. At the beginning of each Level, there will be a short demonstration cycle with Q*bert hopping around four cubes to explain to the player the play action of each Level. Each Level consists of four Rounds. The current Level number and Round number is displayed at the upper-right of the screen (below Player 2's score in a 2-player game).
The game play starts with Q*bert appearing at the top of the pyramid. The joystick will move Q*bert from cube to cube by hopping in any of four diagonal directions. Q*bert can move anywhere on the pyramid, but jumping off will kill him. Hopping on the rotating disk will take Q*bert back to the top of the pyramid. In the first two Rounds of play, Q*bert will have to avoid touching the red and purple balls. These deadly objects drop randomly onto the second-from-the-top level and bounce downwards. The red balls will fall off the bottom but the purple ball will stop at the bottom and hatch into Coily, the snake which chases Q*bert. To destroy Coily, lure him to the edge, then jump unto a disk. The disk will take Q*bert back to the top and Coily will fall off, awarding 500 points and clearing the board of all other 'nasty' characters.
Starting at the 3rd Round of play, other 'nasty' characters come into play. The green characters or objects are safe to hop onto and will award points. All other 'nasty' characters are deadly to touch. In the third Round the red balls will stop falling, but two purple characters named Ugg and Wrong Way will appear at the lower portion of the pyramid and travel sideways and upwards (Ugg is the one with the snout moving from right to left on the right sides of the cubes, and Wrong Way is the one with the big eyes moving from left to right on the left sides of the cubes). They will not chase Q*bert, but will move randomly to get in Q*bert's way. In the third Round and every Round after, based on an internal timer, a green ball will appear and bounce down from the top of the pyramid. Hopping Q*bert onto the green ball will award 100 points, and freeze all the characters on the screen for a few seconds, but 'Q*bert' will still be able to move to complete the color changes.
During the 4th Round of play, 2 green characters named Slick and Sam will appear, based on the internal timer (Slick is the one wearing shades; Sam does not wear shades, otherwise their function is identical). They will drop onto the second level from the top and hop randomly downwards. If they hop onto a cube that Q*bert has already changed the color of, the cube will change to a different color, to thwart Q*Bert. Hopping Q*Bert onto Slick or Sam will stop them and award 300 points.
Throughout the remaining Rounds, all the characters and objects will appear in random combinations with increasing speed.
To add variety to the game, the disks will change positions every Round, and in the higher Levels the number of disks will change.
During Level 2, the play action will increase in difficulty from changing the cubes to one color, to changing the color of the cubes twice. This mean: that each cube would have to be hopped on twice to change the pyramid to the destination color, completing the Round.
Starting at Level 3 and for all remaining Rounds, and Levels, the play action will become more difficult. The object remains to change the cubes to the designated color, but if Q*Bert hops on any cube, that cube will change color. So even if the cube has already been changed to the Destination color, it will change again.
Here is a rundown of how all the colors change :
Legend :
S - Starting Color
I - Intermediate Color
D - Destination color
LEVEL 1 : When Q*bert jumps on S or I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D (NOTE : In Round 4, when Slick/Sam jumps on D, it changes to I).
LEVEL 2 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D.
LEVEL 3 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert must start again.
LEVEL 4 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to I. Q*bert must start again.
LEVEL 5 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert must start again.
LEVELS 6-9 : Same color pattern as Level 5. The difference is the increased speed of Q*bert and the 'nasty' characters.
There are also Bonus points awarded at the end of each Round for successfully completing the Round. The Bonus for the completion of the First Round is 1,000 points. This Bonus will progressively increase each Round by 250 points to a maximum of 5,000 points at Level 5.
The game play starts with Q*bert appearing at the top of the pyramid. The joystick will move Q*bert from cube to cube by hopping in any of four diagonal directions. Q*bert can move anywhere on the pyramid, but jumping off will kill him. Hopping on the rotating disk will take Q*bert back to the top of the pyramid. In the first two Rounds of play, Q*bert will have to avoid touching the red and purple balls. These deadly objects drop randomly onto the second-from-the-top level and bounce downwards. The red balls will fall off the bottom but the purple ball will stop at the bottom and hatch into Coily, the snake which chases Q*bert. To destroy Coily, lure him to the edge, then jump unto a disk. The disk will take Q*bert back to the top and Coily will fall off, awarding 500 points and clearing the board of all other 'nasty' characters.
Starting at the 3rd Round of play, other 'nasty' characters come into play. The green characters or objects are safe to hop onto and will award points. All other 'nasty' characters are deadly to touch. In the third Round the red balls will stop falling, but two purple characters named Ugg and Wrong Way will appear at the lower portion of the pyramid and travel sideways and upwards (Ugg is the one with the snout moving from right to left on the right sides of the cubes, and Wrong Way is the one with the big eyes moving from left to right on the left sides of the cubes). They will not chase Q*bert, but will move randomly to get in Q*bert's way. In the third Round and every Round after, based on an internal timer, a green ball will appear and bounce down from the top of the pyramid. Hopping Q*bert onto the green ball will award 100 points, and freeze all the characters on the screen for a few seconds, but 'Q*bert' will still be able to move to complete the color changes.
During the 4th Round of play, 2 green characters named Slick and Sam will appear, based on the internal timer (Slick is the one wearing shades; Sam does not wear shades, otherwise their function is identical). They will drop onto the second level from the top and hop randomly downwards. If they hop onto a cube that Q*bert has already changed the color of, the cube will change to a different color, to thwart Q*Bert. Hopping Q*Bert onto Slick or Sam will stop them and award 300 points.
Throughout the remaining Rounds, all the characters and objects will appear in random combinations with increasing speed.
To add variety to the game, the disks will change positions every Round, and in the higher Levels the number of disks will change.
During Level 2, the play action will increase in difficulty from changing the cubes to one color, to changing the color of the cubes twice. This mean: that each cube would have to be hopped on twice to change the pyramid to the destination color, completing the Round.
Starting at Level 3 and for all remaining Rounds, and Levels, the play action will become more difficult. The object remains to change the cubes to the designated color, but if Q*Bert hops on any cube, that cube will change color. So even if the cube has already been changed to the Destination color, it will change again.
Here is a rundown of how all the colors change :
Legend :
S - Starting Color
I - Intermediate Color
D - Destination color
LEVEL 1 : When Q*bert jumps on S or I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D (NOTE : In Round 4, when Slick/Sam jumps on D, it changes to I).
LEVEL 2 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it stays at D.
LEVEL 3 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert must start again.
LEVEL 4 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to I. Q*bert must start again.
LEVEL 5 : When Q*bert jumps on S, it changes to I. When he jumps on I, it changes to D. When he jumps on D, it changes back to S. Q*bert must start again.
LEVELS 6-9 : Same color pattern as Level 5. The difference is the increased speed of Q*bert and the 'nasty' characters.
There are also Bonus points awarded at the end of each Round for successfully completing the Round. The Bonus for the completion of the First Round is 1,000 points. This Bonus will progressively increase each Round by 250 points to a maximum of 5,000 points at Level 5.
Q*bert (US set 1)
Télécharger Q*bert (US set 1)
Contents of the ROM :
Technical
CPU
- maincpu 8088 (@ 5 Mhz)
- r1sound:audiocpu M6502 (@ 0 Mhz)
Chipset
- Gottlieb Sound rev. 1
- DAC
Display
- Orientation Tate
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 61.419025 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 2
- Number of buttons 0
- Kind of controler joy (8 ways)
Q*bert (US set 1) Screenshots
Clones of Q*bert (US set 1)
If you liked Q*bert (US set 1)
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Scoring for Q*bert (US set 1)
Changing a cube to the Intermediate color : 15 points.
Changing a cube to the Destination color : 25 points.
Catching the Green Ball : 100 points
Catching Slick/Sam : 300 points.
Luring Coily off pyramid : 500 points bonus.
Completing a round : 750 points + 250 points x round number.
End of round bonus : 50 points per teleport disc remaining.
Changing a cube to the Destination color : 25 points.
Catching the Green Ball : 100 points
Catching Slick/Sam : 300 points.
Luring Coily off pyramid : 500 points bonus.
Completing a round : 750 points + 250 points x round number.
End of round bonus : 50 points per teleport disc remaining.
Tips on Q*bert (US set 1)
* Control Panel Instructions :
Goal : Change the tops of all cubes to a new color by hopping onto them.
Joystick moves 'Q*bert' from cube to cube. Hopping onto a disk will take you back to the top.
All green objects are safe to hit. All other objects are deadly.
Destroy the snake by leading him to the edge, then jumping on a disk.
Stay on pyramid! Only jump off to use a disk.
* A big part of the game is waiting to see where 'nasty' characters are going to jump. You need to make sure you always time a jump at the same time the 'nasty' characters jump, so you can always have a clear path to a new square.
* Since the game only has 9 levels, if you can master level 9 then you should be able to play indefinitely since level 9 repeats once you reach it and the game doesn't get any harder.
Goal : Change the tops of all cubes to a new color by hopping onto them.
Joystick moves 'Q*bert' from cube to cube. Hopping onto a disk will take you back to the top.
All green objects are safe to hit. All other objects are deadly.
Destroy the snake by leading him to the edge, then jumping on a disk.
Stay on pyramid! Only jump off to use a disk.
* A big part of the game is waiting to see where 'nasty' characters are going to jump. You need to make sure you always time a jump at the same time the 'nasty' characters jump, so you can always have a clear path to a new square.
* Since the game only has 9 levels, if you can master level 9 then you should be able to play indefinitely since level 9 repeats once you reach it and the game doesn't get any harder.
Q*bert (US set 1) and M.A.M.E.
0.17 [Fabrice Frances]
Artwork available
Samples required
SETUP:
- The first time you run the game, you should go into service mode, select 4. Options/Parameters with key F1, reset the High Score Table to have the high score table properly initialized.
- To enter your name in the high score list, use 1 or 2.
- When the Auto Round Advance dipswitch is On, use 1 or 2 to advance to the following round. You also get infinite lives.
WIP:
- 0.147u2: Re-added support for optional Q*bert knocker sound sample. Q*bert knocker obviously shouldn't be routed to main mono speaker [hap]. Added 2nd sound channel, 2nd Samples and 2nd Speaker.
- 0.143u8: Tafoid changed Q*bert and Q*bert's Qubes joystick layout to 8-Way to allow for diagonals to be not only be mapped but used if desired.
- 0.142u2: Robbbert fixed missing speech 'Hello. I'm turned on.' in Q*bert and clones.
- 0.133u1: Renamed (qbertjp) to (qbertj).
- 0.127: Aaron Giles fixed misplaced graphics in Q*bert and clones.
- 0.125u3: Added dipswitches 'SW5', 'SW7' and 'SW8'.
- 0.125u2: Added new cpu2 roms to clone Mello Yello Q*bert.
- 21st January 2008: Mr. Do - I went back and revisited Q*Bert, as it's another of those that has bugged me for awhile; the colors were pretty off on the previous version. I found a real bezel and some good pics to compare too, so that I could fix the existing vector that is floating around; no gray, the same shade of each color throughout the whole bezel like it should be, and those black specks on Berty don't belong there (I'm guessing the original source was flaking a bit).
- 0.122u5: Zsolt Vasvari fixed the missing "Hello, I'm turned on" playing in Q*bert. Fixed cpu2 roms addresses.
- 0.118u3: Aaron Giles fixed Q*bert's input mapping.
- 0.107u4: Aaron Giles modified the Q*Bert driver to signal a "knocker0" output when the knocker is triggered.
- 0.101u1: Kevin Jonas fixed Q*bert knocker sample connection.
- 0.82u3: Added clone 'Q*bert Board Input Test Rom'.
- 0.78u1: Smitdogg added clone Q*bert (US set 2). Changed parent description to 'Q*bert (US set 1)'.
- 0.76: Peter Rittwage added clone Q*bert (early test version).
- 14th October 2003: Peter Rittwage submitted an addition of Q*bert test ROMs.
- 0.68: David Haywood added clone Mello Yello Q*bert.
- 7th April 2003: David Haywood added Mello Yello Q*bert to the Gottlieb driver.
- 15th April 2001: Nicola Salmoria fixed an i8086 CPU core bug which broke the high score screen in Q*Bert.
- 0.37b7: Added samples (knocker.wav, fx_17a - fx_36.wav).
- 0.36b12: Andrea Mazzoleni added the possibility to use a multiple keys or joysticks sequence to drive a generic action. This can be handy with consoles or cabinets with a limited number of buttons, to reuse all buttons with only one extra button, like a shift key. For example the COIN1 action can be mapped to the "Player 1 Fire" plus the "Extra Shift Button". It can also be used to map Q*Bert movements to joystick diagonals (since the orginal used a joystick rotate 45 degrees).
- 0.36b2: Support for new samples in Q*Bert [Fabrice Frances]. Added samples (fx_17a-fx_36.wav and knocker.wav).
- 0.35RC1: Added dipswitches 'Demo Sounds' and 'Cabinet'.
- 0.35b13: Changed parent and clone descriptions to 'Q*bert'.
- 26th March 1999: Juergen Buchmueller fixed the Gottlieb games (Q*Bert, Reactor).
- 0.33b7: Changed description to 'Q*Bert (US)' and clone '(Japanese version)' to '(Japan)'.
- 0.31: John Butler and Howie Cohen added back speech sample support to Q*Bert. The first time you play Q*Bert, the high scores are automatically initialized to the default. Note: your old high scores will be lost, sorry [Nicola Salmoria].
- 0.28: Fabrice Frances added *emulated* sound to Q*Bert, Reactor, Krull and Mad Planets. The samples are no longer needed and may be removed. Please do not complain because there is no speech in Q*Bert. We are aware of that. Added sound roms (qb-snd1.bin, qb-snd2.bin).
- 0.27: Changed description of 'Q*Bert' to 'Q*Bert (US version)' and clone 'Q*Bert Japanese' to 'Q*Bert (Japanese version)'.
- 0.25: Control: F1 = Test mode and F2 = Select.
- 0.20: Fabrice Frances fixed some bugs in Q*Bert.
- 0.19: Fabrice Frances fixed the Qbert driver.
- 0.18: Fabrice Frances submitted a much faster version of the 8086 emulation. Q*Bert now runs at full speed with -frameskip 1 on my 486/100. Rotated the controls for Q*Bert [Nicola Salmoria]. Control: Arrows = Move around. To enter your name in the high score list, use 1 or 2.
- 0.17: Added Q*Bert (Gottlieb 1982) and clone 'Q*Bert Japanese'. Fabrice Frances submitted a massive contribution: An 8086 CPU emulator, and drivers for Q*Bert. They run quite slowly on my 486/100 (~25 fps) but are playable [Nicola Salmoria]. Q*Bert has sound too (with samples). Control: Arrows = Move around. Note: The Intel 8086 CPU emulator comes from David Hedley's IBM PC Emulator (pcemu), heavily modified in order to allow memory-mapped I/O and interfaced to MAME by Fabrice Frances. Fabrice Frances used his own 6502 emulator in order to compute the digital effects because the clock emulation is much more precise and allows to put timestamps on amplitude DAC writes. MAME doesn't allow to compute the digital effects in real time like Euphoric so the effects are provided as precomputed samples (some of them are quite big, he should convert them to 22kHz).
PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
- Jump on squares to change them to the target color.
- Stay on playfield! Jumping off results in a fatal plumment unless a disk is there.
- Avoid all objects and creatures that are not green.
- Use spinning disks to lure snake to his death.
- Extra life at 8000 and each additional 14000.
ARCADE RELEASE: Q*bert (Konami distributed it in Japan) - 1983/Feb
LEVELS: 9 (endless)
Romset: 68 kb / 11 files / 24.8 zip
Artwork available
Samples required
SETUP:
- The first time you run the game, you should go into service mode, select 4. Options/Parameters with key F1, reset the High Score Table to have the high score table properly initialized.
- To enter your name in the high score list, use 1 or 2.
- When the Auto Round Advance dipswitch is On, use 1 or 2 to advance to the following round. You also get infinite lives.
WIP:
- 0.147u2: Re-added support for optional Q*bert knocker sound sample. Q*bert knocker obviously shouldn't be routed to main mono speaker [hap]. Added 2nd sound channel, 2nd Samples and 2nd Speaker.
- 0.143u8: Tafoid changed Q*bert and Q*bert's Qubes joystick layout to 8-Way to allow for diagonals to be not only be mapped but used if desired.
- 0.142u2: Robbbert fixed missing speech 'Hello. I'm turned on.' in Q*bert and clones.
- 0.133u1: Renamed (qbertjp) to (qbertj).
- 0.127: Aaron Giles fixed misplaced graphics in Q*bert and clones.
- 0.125u3: Added dipswitches 'SW5', 'SW7' and 'SW8'.
- 0.125u2: Added new cpu2 roms to clone Mello Yello Q*bert.
- 21st January 2008: Mr. Do - I went back and revisited Q*Bert, as it's another of those that has bugged me for awhile; the colors were pretty off on the previous version. I found a real bezel and some good pics to compare too, so that I could fix the existing vector that is floating around; no gray, the same shade of each color throughout the whole bezel like it should be, and those black specks on Berty don't belong there (I'm guessing the original source was flaking a bit).
- 0.122u5: Zsolt Vasvari fixed the missing "Hello, I'm turned on" playing in Q*bert. Fixed cpu2 roms addresses.
- 0.118u3: Aaron Giles fixed Q*bert's input mapping.
- 0.107u4: Aaron Giles modified the Q*Bert driver to signal a "knocker0" output when the knocker is triggered.
- 0.101u1: Kevin Jonas fixed Q*bert knocker sample connection.
- 0.82u3: Added clone 'Q*bert Board Input Test Rom'.
- 0.78u1: Smitdogg added clone Q*bert (US set 2). Changed parent description to 'Q*bert (US set 1)'.
- 0.76: Peter Rittwage added clone Q*bert (early test version).
- 14th October 2003: Peter Rittwage submitted an addition of Q*bert test ROMs.
- 0.68: David Haywood added clone Mello Yello Q*bert.
- 7th April 2003: David Haywood added Mello Yello Q*bert to the Gottlieb driver.
- 15th April 2001: Nicola Salmoria fixed an i8086 CPU core bug which broke the high score screen in Q*Bert.
- 0.37b7: Added samples (knocker.wav, fx_17a - fx_36.wav).
- 0.36b12: Andrea Mazzoleni added the possibility to use a multiple keys or joysticks sequence to drive a generic action. This can be handy with consoles or cabinets with a limited number of buttons, to reuse all buttons with only one extra button, like a shift key. For example the COIN1 action can be mapped to the "Player 1 Fire" plus the "Extra Shift Button". It can also be used to map Q*Bert movements to joystick diagonals (since the orginal used a joystick rotate 45 degrees).
- 0.36b2: Support for new samples in Q*Bert [Fabrice Frances]. Added samples (fx_17a-fx_36.wav and knocker.wav).
- 0.35RC1: Added dipswitches 'Demo Sounds' and 'Cabinet'.
- 0.35b13: Changed parent and clone descriptions to 'Q*bert'.
- 26th March 1999: Juergen Buchmueller fixed the Gottlieb games (Q*Bert, Reactor).
- 0.33b7: Changed description to 'Q*Bert (US)' and clone '(Japanese version)' to '(Japan)'.
- 0.31: John Butler and Howie Cohen added back speech sample support to Q*Bert. The first time you play Q*Bert, the high scores are automatically initialized to the default. Note: your old high scores will be lost, sorry [Nicola Salmoria].
- 0.28: Fabrice Frances added *emulated* sound to Q*Bert, Reactor, Krull and Mad Planets. The samples are no longer needed and may be removed. Please do not complain because there is no speech in Q*Bert. We are aware of that. Added sound roms (qb-snd1.bin, qb-snd2.bin).
- 0.27: Changed description of 'Q*Bert' to 'Q*Bert (US version)' and clone 'Q*Bert Japanese' to 'Q*Bert (Japanese version)'.
- 0.25: Control: F1 = Test mode and F2 = Select.
- 0.20: Fabrice Frances fixed some bugs in Q*Bert.
- 0.19: Fabrice Frances fixed the Qbert driver.
- 0.18: Fabrice Frances submitted a much faster version of the 8086 emulation. Q*Bert now runs at full speed with -frameskip 1 on my 486/100. Rotated the controls for Q*Bert [Nicola Salmoria]. Control: Arrows = Move around. To enter your name in the high score list, use 1 or 2.
- 0.17: Added Q*Bert (Gottlieb 1982) and clone 'Q*Bert Japanese'. Fabrice Frances submitted a massive contribution: An 8086 CPU emulator, and drivers for Q*Bert. They run quite slowly on my 486/100 (~25 fps) but are playable [Nicola Salmoria]. Q*Bert has sound too (with samples). Control: Arrows = Move around. Note: The Intel 8086 CPU emulator comes from David Hedley's IBM PC Emulator (pcemu), heavily modified in order to allow memory-mapped I/O and interfaced to MAME by Fabrice Frances. Fabrice Frances used his own 6502 emulator in order to compute the digital effects because the clock emulation is much more precise and allows to put timestamps on amplitude DAC writes. MAME doesn't allow to compute the digital effects in real time like Euphoric so the effects are provided as precomputed samples (some of them are quite big, he should convert them to 22kHz).
PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
- Jump on squares to change them to the target color.
- Stay on playfield! Jumping off results in a fatal plumment unless a disk is there.
- Avoid all objects and creatures that are not green.
- Use spinning disks to lure snake to his death.
- Extra life at 8000 and each additional 14000.
ARCADE RELEASE: Q*bert (Konami distributed it in Japan) - 1983/Feb
LEVELS: 9 (endless)
Romset: 68 kb / 11 files / 24.8 zip
