Minoru Kidooka (NES Driver)

Minoru Kiddoka

Released 1988-08-12 Programmers Minoru Kidooka Language 6502 Assembly

Minoru Kidooka (NES Driver) is an unofficial name of the driver used at Arc System Works.

It was programmed by Minoru Kidooka, who also founded Arc System Works.

Release History

The first game to use the driver was Arc's first Famicom title, Dokuganryu Masamune. Because Arc was developing games for Namco, Kidooka later implemented Namco's 163 sound technology into the sound driver. Interestingly enough, some games not published by Namco contain the N163 sound code, but only because Arc did games for other companies after they had implemented the N163 technology into their driver. The last game to use the driver was Great Battle Cyber, which did not take advantage of any additional audio chips.

Unfortunately, only one of their games made it outside of Japan and into the USA, Rolling Thunder. All the other games were exclusively released in Japan.

Output

The driver outputs to the RP2A03, as well as the Namco 163.

Games

Released	Title	Sample
1988-02-26	Replicart (FDS)
1988-05-04	Dokuganryu Masamune (FC)
1988-08-12	Final Lap (FC) (ファイナルラップ)
1989-03-17	Rolling Thunder (NES)	-
1989-12-22	Mappy Kids (FC) (マッピー キッズ)
1990-09-08	SD Sengoku Bushou Retsuden: Rekka no Gotoku Tenka o Nusure! (FC) (ＳＤ戦国武将列伝 烈火のごとく 天下を盗れ！)
1990-10-21	Shufflepuck Cafe (FC) (シャッフルパック・カフェ)
1990-12-07	Chiyonofuji no Ooichou (FC) (千代の富士の大銀杏)
1990-12-15	Hissatsu Shigoto Nin (FC) (必殺仕事人)
1991-08-09	Armadillo (FC) (アルマジロ)
1992-01-07	Pizza Pop! (FC) (ピザポップ)
1992-11-06	Kyouryuu Sentai Juuranger (FC) (恐竜戦隊ジュウレンジャー)
1992-12-25	Great Battle Cyber (FC) (グレイトバトルサイバー)

Technical

Frequency Registers

The game lists the high and low bytes for the frequencies separately, rather than together.

2A03

E-8 = 00
D#8 = 01
D-8 = 02
C#8 = 03
C-8 = 04
B-7 = 05
A#7 = 06
A-7 = 07
G#7 = 08
G-7 = 09
F#7 = 0A
F-7 = 0B
E-7 = 0C
D#7 = 0D
D-7 = 0E
C#7 = 0F
C-7 = 10
B-6 = 1B
A#6 = 1C
A-6 = 1E
G#6 = 20
G-6 = 22
F#6 = 24
F-6 = 27
E-6 = 29
D#6 = 2B
D-6 = 2E
C#6 = 31
C-6 = 34
B-5 = 37
A#5 = 3A
A-5 = 3E
G#5 = 42
G-5 = 46
F#5 = 4A
F-5 = 4F
E-5 = 53
D#5 = 58
D-5 = 5E
C#5 = 63
C-5 = 69
B-4 = 70
A#4 = 76
A-4 = 7E
G#4 = 85
G-4 = 8D
F#4 = 96
F-4 = 9F
E-4 = A8
D#4 = B2
D-4 = BD
C#4 = C8
C-4 = D4
B-3 = E1
A#3 = EE
A-3 = FD
G#3 = 10C
G-3 = 11C
F#3 = 12D
F-3 = 13F
E-3 = 152
D#3 = 167
D-3 = 17C
C#3 = 193
C-3 = 1AB
B-2 = 1C4
A#2 = 1DF
A-2 = 1FC
G#2 = 21A
G-2 = 23C
F#2 = 25C
F-2 = 280
E-2 = 2A6
D#2 = 2CF
D-2 = 2F9
C#2 = 327
C-2 = 357
B-1 = 389
A#1 = 3BF
A-1 = 3F8
G#1 = 435
G-1 = 475
F#1 = 4B9
F-1 = 501
E-1 = 54D
D#1 = 59E
D-1 = 5F3
C#1 = 64E
C-1 = 6AE

N163

Here, it is revealed the frequency data is different from the NES's 2A03. While frequency numbers decrease the higher the pitch for the 2A03, the N163 does the opposite, increasing numbers the higher the frequency. These higher frequencies take up 3 bytes.

G#A = E4307
G-A = D761D
F#A = CB4B2
F-A = BFE23
E-A = B51D3
D#A = AAF2E
D-A = A15AB
C#A = 984C5
C-A = 8FC01
B-9 = 87AEA
A#9 = 80112
A-9 = 78E10
G#9 = 72183
G-9 = 6BB0E
F#9 = 65A59
F-9 = 5FF11
E-9 = 5A8E9
D#9 = 55797
D-9 = 50AD5
C#9 = 4C262
C-9 = 47E00
B-8 = 43D75
A#8 = 40089
A-8 = 3C708
G#8 = 390C1
G-8 = 35D87
F#8 = 32D2C
F-8 = 2FF88
E-8 = 2D474
D#8 = 2ABCB
D-8 = 2856A
C#8 = 26131
C-8 = 23F00
B-7 = 21EBA
A#7 = 20044
A-7 = 1E384
G#7 = 1C860
G-7 = 1AEC3
F#7 = 19696
F-7 = 17FC4
E-7 = 16A3A
D#7 = 155E5
D-7 = 142B5
C#7 = 13098
C-7 = 11F80
B-6 = 10F5D
A#6 = 10022
A-6 = F1C2
G#6 = E430
G-6 = D761
F#6 = CB4B
F-6 = BFE2
E-6 = B51D
D#6 = AAF2
D-6 = A15A
C#6 = 984C
C-6 = 8FC0
B-5 = 87AE
A#5 = 8011
A-5 = 78E1
G#5 = 7218
G-5 = 6BB0
F#5 = 65A5
F-5 = 5FF1
E-5 = 5A8E
D#5 = 5579
D-5 = 50AD
C#5 = 4C26
C-5 = 47E0
B-4 = 43D7
A#4 = 4008
A-4 = 3C70
G#4 = 390C
G-4 = 35D8
F#4 = 32D2
F-4 = 2FF8
E-4 = 2D47
D#4 = 2ABC
D-4 = 2856
C#4 = 2613
C-4 = 23F0
B-3 = 21EB
A#3 = 2004
A-3 = 1E38
G#3 = 1C86
G-3 = 1AEC
F#3 = 1969
F-3 = 17FC
E-3 = 16A3
D#3 = 155E
D-3 = 142B
C#3 = 1309
C-3 = 11F8
B-2 = 10F5
A#2 = 1002
A-2 = F1C
G#2 = E43
G-2 = D76
F#2 = CB4
F-2 = BFE
E-2 = B51
D#2 = AAF
D-2 = A15
C#2 = 984
C-2 = 8FC
B-1 = 87A
A#1 = 801
A-1 = 78E
G#1 = 721
G-1 = 6BB
F#1 = 65A
F-1 = 5FF
E-1 = 5A8
D#1 = 557
D-1 = 50A
C#1 = 4C2
C-1 = 47E
B-0 = 43D
A#0 = 400
A-0 = 3C7