Interesting Proto & Rare PCB finds at Unigame

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Some info on the system:

Looks like it was a shared mobo for all games, with enhanced audio etc.

From System16

Notes : In 1985 Konami decided that it was going to experiment with a 
new state of the art program storage system to replaced ROMs. This was 
called "Bubble Software".

Other manufacturers had already operated magnetic media (disks and 
tapes) instead of roms with some success, so Konami decided to make a 
modified version of their own new G400 BIOS system.

Bubble memory is non volatile electromagnetic writing/readable 
memory and was thought to be, at its inception, as a direct a quick 
replacement for floppy disks.

Unfortunately Bubble Memory proved to be extremely susceptible to 
electromagnetic fields (not great for something in a arcade enviroment) 
and were also more expensive than standard ROM based boards. For this 
reason the project never got beyond its first couple of games.

Anyone who still has one of these systems in their possession and still has it working today is incredibly lucky...

You can tell bubble soft games by the startscreen "wait while system
 heating up", because the BM needs to be heated up to between 30-40 
degrees to work properly.

From Wikipedia
The Bubble System is an arcade system board designed by Konami and used across many arcade games in the early eighties.
The Bubble System was supposed to have a unique new form of data storage for arcade-style video games. It used bubble memory cartridges, a sort of non-mechanical magnetic storage system. It was said to have a higher reliability than mechanical diskette or tape drives.
Konami used their new G400 BIOS for this project, and modified it a bit. The main CPU was a Motorola 68000 at 10 MHz. There was a separate Zilog Z80 for sound control, which drove two AY-3-8910s, a custom Konami SCC (K005289), and a VLM5030 speech synthesizer. It had a Scramble wiring harness.
A Bubble Memory game can be identified by its booting
 sequence. It displays a "warming up" screen, accompanied with a 
countdown timer and a small musical tune (called "Morning Music"). The 
reason this was implemented was because Bubble Memory had to be heated 
to around 30-40°C for it to work properly.
Bubble Memory was not a fully developed technology by the time it was
 used in the Bubble System, and as a result it is currently very rare to
 find a working Bubble System. The system proved to be unpopular because
 it had a high sensitivity to magnetic fields (which was not suitable 
for an arcade environment, with unshielded speakers and degauss coils), and were also considerably more expensive than ROM chip-based boards. Most games on this system were eventually ported to standard ROM chips, and the system was discontinued.
Still, Konami has made homages to the Bubble System in two recent games; with Morning Music being one of the playable tracks in Keyboardmania.[1], and the intro of Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits featuring the song too.

Edited by muddymusic - 17 September 2013 at 11:12am

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