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Circus / Acrobat TV

  1. Game infos
  2. Parent and Clones
  3. Sound
  4. Driver
  5. Inputs
  6. Controls
  7. Display
  8. Dipswitchs
  9. Roms list
  10. Chips list
  11. Samples list
  12. Categories
  13. MAMEinfo
  14. History
  15. High scores
Download circus.zip (7 KB)
Snapshot

Game infos

Description Circus / Acrobat TV
Name circus
Manufacturer Exidy / Taito
Year 1977
Runnable yes
System arcade /
Number of players 2P alt
Added to MAME .030
Romset size 7 KB
Romset file 13 files
Romset zip 5 B
Language English
Evaluation 70 to 80 (Good)
Genre Ball & Paddle

Parent and clones

Parent This game is the parent

Sound infos

Sound_channels 1

Driver infos

Driver status imperfect
Driver emulation good
Driver color good
Driver sound imperfect
Driver graphic good
Driver cocktail
Driver protection
Driver savestate yes

Inputs infos

Input service no
Input tilt no
Input players 1
Input buttons
Input coins 1

Controls infos

type ways minimum maximum sensitivity keydelta reverse
paddle 64 167 30 10 no

Display infos

type rotate flipx width height refresh pixclock htotal hbend hbstart vtotal vbend vbstart
raster 0 no 248 256 57

Dipswitchs

Roms list

console name bios size crc md5 merge sha1 region offset status optional
arcade 9000.1c 512 1f954bb3 62a958b48078caa639b96f62a690583a1c8e83f5 gfx1 600 good no
arcade 9001.2c 512 361da7ee 6e6fe5b37ccb4c11aa4abbd9b7df772953abfe7e gfx1 400 good no
arcade 9002.3c 512 30d72ef5 45fc8285e213bf3906a26205a8c0b22f311fd6c3 gfx1 200 good no
arcade 9003.4c 512 6efc315a d5a4a64a901853fff56df3c65512afea8336aad2 gfx1 0 good no
arcade 9004.1a 512 7654ea75 fa29417618157002b8ecb21f4c15104c8145a742 maincpu 1000 good no
arcade 9005.2a 512 b8acdbc5 634bb11089f7a57a316b6829954cc4da4523f267 maincpu 1200 good no
arcade 9006.3a 512 901dfff6 c1f48845456e88d54981608afd00ddb92d97da99 maincpu 1400 good no
arcade 9007.5a 512 9dfdae38 dc59a5f90a5a49fa071aada67eda768d3ecef010 maincpu 1600 good no
arcade 9008.6a 512 c8681cf6 681cfea75bee8a86f9f4645e6c6b94b44762dae9 maincpu 1800 good no
arcade 9009.7a 512 585f633e 46133409f42e8cbc095dde576ce07d97b235972d maincpu 1a00 good no
arcade 9010.8a 512 69cc409f b77289e62313e8535ce40686df7238aa9c0035bc maincpu 1c00 good no
arcade 9011.9a 512 aff835eb d6d95510d4a046f48358fef01103bcc760eb71ed maincpu 1 good no
arcade 9012.14d 512 2fde3930 a21e2d342f16a39a07edf4bea8d698a52216ecba gfx2 0 good no

Chips list

name tag type clock
DISCRETE discrete audio
M6502 maincpu cpu 705562
Samples samples audio
Speaker mono audio

Samples list

name
bounce
miss
pop

Categories

MAMEinfo

0.30 [Mike Coates]


Artwork available

Samples required


NOTE:

- The original ROM images for Circus (c) 1977 Exidy have been made available for free, non-commercial use. Authorization from H.R. Kaufmann, president of Xidy.


Bugs:

- Audio samples retrigger when they shouldn't. Zaphod (ID 05778)


WIP:

- 0.147u2: Make Circus overlay colors same saturation as Clowns overlay [hap].

- 28th May 2012: Mr. Do - Nightvoice added control panel for Circus.

- 0.145u8: Thanks for gregF for pointing out the numerous sources which list "Springboard" as the game name and an obvious bootleg of circus (http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=2600&image=1) [Tafoid]. Changed description of clone 'Circus (Sub-Electro bootleg)' to 'Springboard (bootleg of Circus)'. Renamed (circusse) to (springbd).

- 0.145u1: hap tweaked layout in Circus.

- 0.141u3: hap improved interrupt handling: Circus generates them the same way as Ripcord (based on sprite-bg collision), Robot Bowl doesn't generate interrupts at all. Fixed invisible walls during the game and demo, lined up with the edges of the platforms where the guy. Fixed when you first time run a game your jumper float to the upper edge of screen.

- 7th November 2010: Twisty - New Circus Samples available. This was recently recorded from an authentic Circus machine by Jun Kitamura. Jun Kitamura: Hello. I recorded the sound effects of "circus" from game machine at "Natsukashi-Yokocyou" in Japan (http://homepage2.nifty.com/totochan/y-natsuyoko2.html).

- 0.129: MooglyGuy added savestate support to Circus.

- 0.126u4: Fabio Priuli added DIP locations for 'Circus / Acrobat TV'.

- 0.117u1: Changed description to 'Circus / Acrobat TV'.

- 0.113u1: Fixed rom names.

- 17th February 2007: Aaron Giles - I've got some exciting news. In addition to allowing the free distribution of Teeter Torture from this site, H. R. Kauffman, the president of Xidy, Inc. (formerly Exidy), has agreed to allow us to distribute many of the older released Exidy games here as well! So, over the next few weeks, we will be featuring many games from the Exidy lineup here on the site. The first of these is the classic game Circus, released in 1977. Look for more games to appear shortly. Ultimately, it would be awesome if some of the bigger companies would recognize the historical significance of some of their older titles and allow them to be enjoyed by a wider audience in this manner.

- 0.111u2: David Haywood added clone Circus (Sub-Electro bootleg).

- 12th February 2006: f205v dumped Circus (Sub-Electro bootleg). Update 20070301: f205v just found another blister with the same set of PROMs, but including also GFX PROMs, they are the same as in MAME.

- 0.94u2: Replaced DAC sound with Discrete.

- 0.69: Added new accurate samples. Derrick Renaud removed GAME_IMPERFECT_SOUND flag from Circus.

- 0.66: Added Samples sound (pop, miss and bounce.wav).

- 1st March 2003: Keith Wilkins and Derrick Renaud submitted a large update to the discrete sound system, adding discrete sound to Canyon Bomber, Polaris, Sprint, Sprint 2, Ultra Tank and samples to Circus, Clowns and Sea Wolf.

- 21st January 2003: Derrick Renaud adding sample sounds (that are not yet recorded) to the Circus, Clowns and Seawolf.

- 0.61: Added Artwork Overlay. Changed palettesize from 33022 to 2 colors.

- 0.37b3: Changed palettesize from 254 to 33022 colors.

- 0.36RC2: Added 'Unknown' dipswitch.

- 0.36b4: Changed VSync to 57Hz.

- 0.35b6: Changed palettesize from 6 to 254 colors.

- 10th March 1999: Mike Balfour has changed Circus and Super Breakout to use the artwork functions instead of their own custom ones.

- 0.31: Proper overlay emulation in Circus [Zsolt Vasvari].

- 0.30: Mike Coates added 'Circus' (Exidy 1977).


PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:

- Move empty side of spring board under man for continued play pop all blue balloons for bonus jump.


Recommended Games (Circus):

Cannonball

Circus

Clowns

Dead Eye

Gypsy Juggler

Space Walk

Kick

Manhattan (DECO Cassette)

Wall Street

Circus Charlie

Konami 80's AC Special (Circus Charlie)

Cycle Maabou

Plump Pop

Jumping Pop (Nics, Korean hack of Plump Pop)

Angel Kids

Crazzy Clownz

Jump Jump

History


Arcade Video game published 42 years ago:

Circus (c) 1977 Exidy.

POP! POP! POP! Pop the balloons and score points. A wall of yellow, green and blue balloons will appear at the top of the screen. You must pop balloons by catching a clown on the teeter-totter and bouncing him up to the balloons.

- TECHNICAL -

Circus came in an upright dedicated cabinet, and may have also been available in a cocktail configuration as well. Circus machines had white sides with red painted sideart of several balloons in flight. The front of the machine was decorated with a large ornate monitor bezel that also doubled as a marquee (or nameplate), this bezel showed several clowns in a circus scene and had the game title spelled out with multicolored balloons. The control panel was unadorned, save for an analog spinner and a start button. The whole machine was finished off in black t-molding. Once inside the machine, you can see that it uses a black and white monitor with a colored overlay (to make the balloons have color).

Main CPU : MOS Technology M6502 (@ 705.562 Khz)
Sound Chips : Discrete circuitry

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 248 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 57.00 Hz
Palette colors : 2

Players : 2
Control : paddle

- TRIVIA -

Released in January 1977, Circus was one of the first games produced by Exidy that used a CPU (6502) to control the game logic instead of hand-crafted hard-coded logic circuits.

At least 13,000 units, possibly as many as 20,000, were produced.

A bootleg was made by Sub-Electro.

- SCORING -

Successful jump : 10 points
Popping Yellow Balloon : 20 points
Popping Green Balloon : 50 points
Popping Blue Balloon : 100 points
Bonus for Clearing Yellow Balloon Row : 200 points
Bonus for Clearing Green Balloon Row : 500 points
Bonus for Clearing Blue Balloon Row : 1,000 points plus free jump

- STAFF -

Designed and programmed by : Edward Valeau, Howell Ivy

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
Atari 2600 (1978)

* COMPUTERS:
VTech Laser-VZ
Tandy Color Computer (1982, "Clowns & Balloons")
Commodore C64
Vic-20

- CONTRIBUTE -

Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=464&o=2

High scores

MAMESCORE records : 02/04/2017 13:01

warlike________________________20.140
mr_white_______________________17.370
lorddraakh_____________________15.940
ballyballo_____________________14.930
sawys__________________________10.810
thegamer________________________5.350
hulkiii_________________________4.900