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Thayer's Quest (set 1)

  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. Disks list
  12. Categories
  13. MAMEinfo
  14. History
Download thayers.zip (41 KB)
Snapshot

Game infos

Description Thayer's Quest (set 1)
Name thayers
Manufacturer RDI Video Systems
Year 1984
Runnable yes
System arcade /
Number of players ???
Added to MAME .118u2
Romset size 41 KB
Romset file 3 files
Romset zip 22 B
Language English
Genre Platform

Parent and clones

Parent This game is the parent

Sound infos

Sound_channels 2

Driver infos

Driver status preliminary
Driver emulation preliminary
Driver color good
Driver sound preliminary
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 2

Controls infos

type ways minimum maximum sensitivity keydelta reverse
keyboard no

Display infos

type rotate flipx width height refresh pixclock htotal hbend hbstart vtotal vbend vbstart
raster 0 no 704 480 59.940057 28636362 910 0 704 525 44 524

Dipswitchs

Roms list

console name bios size crc md5 merge sha1 region offset status optional
arcade tq_cop.bin 1024 6748e6b3 5d7d1ecb57c1501ef6a2d9691eecc9970586606b mcu 0 good no
arcade tq_u1.bin 8192 e8e7f566 df7b83ef465c65446c8418bc6007447693b75021 maincpu c000 good no
arcade tq_u33.bin 32768 82df5d89 58dfd62bf8c5a55d1eba397d2c284e99a4685a3f maincpu 0 good no

Chips list

name tag type clock
COP421 mcu cpu 2000000
Pioneer PR-7820 laserdisc audio
Speaker rspeaker audio
Z80 maincpu cpu 4000000

Disks list

name md5 sha1 merge region index status optional
thayers laserdisc 0 nodump no

Categories

MAMEinfo

0.118u2 [Andrew Gardner]


Artwork available


TODO:

* Dump Laserdisc


WIP:

- 0.183: Curt Coder fixed keyboard scanning and keyboard.

- 0.182: Fixed COP400 divisor. Keyboard WIP [Curt Coder].

- 0.174: Allow separate Thayer's Quest driver building [Miodrag Milanovic].

- 0.149u1: Modernized COP400 cpu core [Wilbert Pol].

- 0.144u6: Replaced 'Laserdisc Analog' sound with 'Pioneer PR-7820'.

- 0.143u4: Changed VSync to 59.940057 Hz.

- 0.141u4: Changed description to 'Thayer's Quest (set 1)' and clone (Alternate Set) to 'Thayer's Quest (set 2)'.

- 0.129u4: Changed 'Custom' sound to 'Laserdisc Analog'.

- 0.127u3: Added Custom sound.

- 0.127: Aaron Giles added DISK_REGIONS to all laserdisc drivers. Changed visible area to 704x480 and VSync to 59.940052.

- 0.125u5: Thayer's Quest changes [Curt Coder]: Cleaned up driver. Added LED layout from Dragon's Lair. Mapped keyboard and dips correctly. Added laser disc drive selection. Fixed Z80-COP communications. Figured out ports from disassembly. Added cart presence detection logic. Fixed SSI-263 timings, service mode works now. Changed to use COP421 (2MHz). Added dipswitches 'Service Mode' and 'Unused'.

- 0.125u4: COP4xx updates [Curt Coder]: Added HALT opcode and halt mode to the COP410. Added Microbus support, clock divisor selection and CKO mode selection to the COP420. Changed Thayer's Quest keyboard interface to at least slightly resemble the schematics. Aaron Giles fixed fatal Error crash in Thayer's Quest.

- 0.120u3: Atari Ace added static qualifiers and renamed symbols in MAME in an effort to further tidy up the global namespace. Generally generic names were targeted and some symbols that were both static and extern. Some specifics: Dead code in thayers driver was discovered and commented out.

- 30th September 2007: Mr. Do - A few months ago, Jcroach finished up the vector job for a Dragon's Lair scoreboard. I wasn't in too big of a hurry to release it, as the games still aren't working yet; plus I didn't have a speaker cover for it yet. Well, I finally got the speaker cover, so here it is. The games still aren't working, but at least you'll have the artwork when it's ready. The scoreboard is used in Dragon's Lair, Thayer's Quest, and for cabinets that were converted to Space Ace. (Still looking for a dedicated Space Ace scoreboard, btw. Let me know if you find one. You can see one here). Also included in Thayer's Quest is a scan of the keyboard, so you know what you're doing. And thanks to Ad_Enuff for that nice little graphic to finish off the speakers.

- 0.118u3: Andrew Gardner added clone Thayer's Quest (Alternate Set). Andrew Gardner added counter emulation to the COP420 CPU core. Hooked it up to Thayer's Quest and added an alternate set.

- 0.118u2: Andrew Gardner added 'Thayer's Quest' (RDI Video Systems 1983).

- 12th July 2004: 3D ARCADE - New 3D cabinet model for Thayer's Quest from Pariah.


Other Emulators:

* DAPHNE

History


Arcade Video game published 35 years ago:

Thayer's Quest (c) 1984 RDI Video Systems.

This is a fantasy title, and has unbelievable graphics (hand drawn animations pulled from a laserdisc). You guide young Thayer on a quest through the three kingdoms. You are supposed to defeat Sorsabal The Twisted at the end of the game. This game is far different from most laserdisc games. It is not a 'tweak' game, it works more like a 'Choose Your Own Adventure Story'. It doesn't always tell you all your available options, but you do not have to memorize complex, precisely timed movements like you do in "Dragon's Lair". Once you know what to do in a given Thayer's Quest scene then you will be able to do it every time. To make up for this ease of memorization the programmers decided to make the game automatically deduct a life every so often, to keep the player from being able to play forever on a single quarter (which was a big problem with "Dragon's Lair").

- TRIVIA -

This game was not finished! Thayer's Quest includes only 3 kingdoms ('Weigard', 'Illes' and 'Iscar') of the 5 Kingdoms ('Far Reaches' and 'Shadoan' are missing). The game was simultaneously produced for the RDI Halcyon home system in 1984. The Halcyon's Thayer's Quest laser disc is double sided and it contains a great deal of material not found on the coin-op version disc.

Thayer's Quest was released only as a conversion kit for "Dragon's Lair" and "Space Ace". The kit replaced a lot of the original hardware, and included new side graphics (which consisted of a huge RDI logo, they didn't mention the game on the side, because they planned to release a whole line of games on the Thayer's Quest hardware, but those other games were never made). This game does not have a joystick at all. Instead it uses a keyboard for control (This was the first arcade game ever to have a qwerty keyboard). In an effort to save several dollars per unit, RDI decided to use a membrane style keyboard instead of a more sturdy switch based one. That was a really bad decision, the keyboards on these games do not last, they are easily damaged, and are not of high enough quality to use in an industrial coin-op product. Thayer's Quest also used a laser disc player, it could use either the Pioneer PR-7820, or the Pioneer LD-V1000.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Humor : When prompted to type in your name, do nothing. After intervals of one minute or so, the game speaks out saying things like 'Do not be shy, enter your name', 'Have you gone to the toilet?', 'Do not be a stranger now, enter your name', 'Look lively now' and a whole host of other funny comments.

- SERIES -

1. Thayer's Quest (1984)
2. Kingdom - The Far Reaches (Sega 32X CD [Unreleased Prototype])

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
RDI Halcyon System (1984)
Sega CD [Unreleased Prototype]
Philips CD-I (1995, "Kingdom")
Panasonic 3DO

* COMPUTERS:
PC - 1995

- CONTRIBUTE -

Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=2879&o=2