This is a hacky way to experience Paprium (WaterMelon) on MiSTer — not a faithful reproduction of the cartridge. Paprium's custom DATENMEISTER chipset is not reproduced. This port takes the same approach as the EverDrive Pro workaround: it runs the mega-ppm replacement MCU firmware and uses MD+ CDDA for the music instead of the original DT128M16VA1LT chipset. Think of it as "Paprium, EverDrive-Pro style, on MiSTer."
With that understood, it is hardware-verified on DE10-Nano: it boots, renders correctly, plays CDDA background music, and plays the full per-channel cartridge sound effects. The SVP chip (Virtua Racing) is retained. (managed to make it all fit)
You need to boot the game once and select "Save back up ram" in the OSD the first time you play - Then hit reset in the OSD to get the REAL version of paprium to boot
How it works
Console vs MCU split. The 68000 / VDP-DMA / Z80 use the core's stock cartridge path on SDRAM port 1. The Paprium MCU (NEORV32) uses SDRAM port 2 (normally the SVP's). They share one writable SDRAM-backed 8 MiB ROM plus a 2 MiB decompression workspace; the 68000↔MCU mailbox and MCU work RAM are on-chip.
Decompression / graphics. The MCU decompresses graphics into the workspace; the 68000/VDP read them back through the streaming window via an auto-incrementing pointer.
Background music (CDDA). The MCU's native MD+ commands are bridged to the core's MD+ engine and CDDA mixer by paprium_mdp_adapter.sv, with an EverDrive-FIFO stub so mdp_init() completes. No ROM audio conversion is required.
Sound effects. Paprium's own self-contained cartridge PCM engine (eight channels, each with a FIFO and per-channel sample-rate / pitch / pan / volume) is ported as audio_sfx.sv and mixed with FM/PSG and CDDA at the top level.
ROM and WAV assets are not included. Bring your own Paprium dump and audio files.
If only there were some kind of archive on the internet...
Required Files
Create this folder on your MiSTer SD card:
/media/fat/games/MegaDrive/Paprium/
Place the ROM and WAV files there:
├── Paprium.md
├── paprium.cue
├── 01 Theme of Paprium.wav
├── 02 90's Acid Dub Character Select.wav
├── 03 Bone Crusher.wav
├── 04 Drumbass Boss.wav
├── 05 Asian Chill.wav
├── ...
└── 52 Waterfront Beat.wav
Load Paprium.md from the Mega Drive Paprium core.