Namco 2x Systems: Namco System 21 / 22 / 23 games for PC

Namco arcade games from the 1990s, rebuilt so they run on a normal computer. You need your own copy of each game's files (the MAME versions); they are not included here. A ROM set from MAME 0.271 or later is supported; the chip unpacker also accepts a few older chip-name spellings where a MAME set has since renamed one (see docs/ROM_CHECKSUMS.md).

Are you running the same ROMs as the authors? The checksums of every ROM file the games use are in docs/ROM_CHECKSUMS.md, with a list in md5sum format for each game.

No extra BIOS file. Earlier instructions asked for c71.bin or MAME's namcoc71.zip (the DSP's BIOS). The games have it built in now, so you never need it; if you have it, ignore it.

Tokyo Wars:

Rave Racer:

Time Crisis:

Dirt Dash:

Ace Driver:

Cyber Commando:

Cyber Sled:

Time Crisis II:

Prop Cycle:

Tokyo Wars, the title screen:

Each release on the Releases page has ready-made packages. None of them contains game files: after installing, you put your own zips in a folder (the INSTALL.txt next to the packages says where).

On Linux, start a game from the applications menu (or type propcycle, raveracer, tokyowars, dirtdash, armadilloracing, timecrisis, acedriver, cybercommando, cybersled or timecrisis2). The first time, it makes the folder ~/.local/share/namco-2x-systems/<game>/roms, tells you which zip is missing and copies any it finds in ~/Downloads. To uninstall: sudo apt remove namco-2x-systems your game files, settings and scores stay in ~/.local/share/namco-2x-systems/. Upgrading from 0.6 or older: the package was called namco22; the new one replaces it, and the games keep using your old ~/.local/share/namco22/<game>/ folders (and namco22-data portable folders), so nothing has to be moved.

Steam Deck: download the AppImage of each game you want, put your ROM zips in ~/.local/share/namco-2x-systems/<game>/roms/ (Desktop Mode: Dolphin > Ctrl+H shows the hidden .local folder; zips in ~/Downloads are found automatically), then in Desktop Mode right-click the AppImage > Add to Steam (or Steam > Add a Non-Steam Game) and start it from Game Mode. The AppImages use the Deck's own SDL2, so Steam Input works: the menu opens with R3 or by holding Start for a second. Each AppImage uses the same folders as the .deb, so the ROMs and settings are shared. If an AppImage will not start, run it from a terminal (./DirtDash-x86_64.AppImage) and read the message; on a system without FUSE, --appimage-extract-and-run works.

The AppImage names carry no version number, so updating is overwriting the file and a Steam shortcut keeps working. ROM zips placed next to the AppImage (or in a roms folder beside it) are found too. Portable mode: make a folder named namco-2x-systems-data next to the AppImages and each game keeps everything there (namco-2x-systems-data/<game>/: its roms, the unpacked chips, settings, scores and recordings) instead of ~/.local/share/namco-2x-systems -- one disk, e.g. a microSD card, then works the same on a Steam Deck and another PC. The AppImage standard's own portable folder works too: a folder named after the AppImage plus .home (TimeCrisis-x86_64.AppImage.home, or TimeCrisis-x86_64.home) keeps that game's data inside it. The Windows zip is portable already (everything lives in its folder).

Each game's original program was taken apart with Ghidra (the NSA's free reverse-engineering tool) and checked, piece by piece, against the arcade machine running in MAME.

• Prop Cycle: Ghidra's output was turned into C and fixed by hand.
• Rave Racer: the program is translated to C by a tool of this project (raverace/gen/rr_lifted.c is its output), and parts are being rewritten by hand.
• Tokyo Wars: the program is translated to C by the same tool (tokyowar/gen/tw_lifted.c); its master DSP and sound programs are turned into C when you build, from your own copy of the game files.
• Dirt Dash: the program is translated to C by the same tool (dirtdash/gen/dd_lifted.c); its master DSP and sound programs are turned into C when you build, from your own copy of the game files.
• Armadillo Racing: the program is translated to C by the same tool (adillor/gen/am_lifted_NN.c, 16 parts) and matches MAME instruction for instruction through the attract; its master DSP and sound programs are turned into C when you build (the sound notes match MAME's).
• Time Crisis: the program is translated to C by the same tool (timecris/gen/tc_lifted_NN.c, 16 parts); its master DSP and sound programs are turned into C when you build, from your own copy of the game files. It is the newest game here: the program's code was checked against MAME's own coverage of the real game, and the DSP and sound translations against the interpreters they were made from; it has not yet been compared with MAME frame by frame or note by note, so expect small differences.
• Ace Driver: the same board as Rave Racer, so it runs on Rave Racer's code with one table of its own (acedriver/src/ad_game.c); its program is translated by the same tool (acedriver/gen/rr_lifted.c), its master DSP and sound programs are turned into C when you build. Both translations were checked against the interpreters they were made from; the picture was checked against MAME's on MAME's own video state. The Debug page of its menu launches six developer screens the shipped game never reaches (object, sprite and character viewers, a results-screen test); they run while the test switch is on (F2 leaves).
• Cyber Commando: the Rave Racer board again, one table (cybrcomm/src/cc_game.c) plus a twin-stick mode in the shared code; its program (cybrcomm/gen/rr_lifted.c) was checked instruction by instruction against MAME over a whole played game (162 million instructions), and its DSP and sound translations against the interpreters they were made from.
• Cyber Sled: a Namco System 21 board (two 68000s, five C67 DSPs for the 3D, a 6809 sound CPU, a C68 I/O controller). Both 68000 programs are translated by the same tool (cybsled/gen/cm_lifted.c, cs_lifted.c) and were checked instruction by instruction against MAME's; the five DSP programs, the sound program and the I/O program are turned into C when you build, each checked against the interpreter it was made from. The sound chip (YM2151) is this project's own code. Online play links two cabinets the way the arcade's own cable did.
• Time Crisis II: a Namco System 23 board (a MIPS main CPU, an H8 sound / sub CPU, an H8 on the gun I/O board). The MIPS program is translated to C (tc2/gen/tc2_lifted_*.c) and was checked instruction by instruction against MAME's; the two H8 programs are turned into C when you build. The 3D chips, the text layer, the C352 sound chip and the JVS link are its own code (tc2/, a self-contained tree: see tc2/README.md).
• The sound programs of all the games are turned into C when you build, from your own copy of the game files.

This repository has only the code. It has no game files and no Ghidra project or tools. Everything the games show or play is read from your own zips.

• Your own copy of each game's zip (see the table at the top). They are needed while building, not only while playing: each game's sound program and DSP program is turned into C from them.
• Linux (64-bit): a C compiler (gcc), make, CMake, pkg-config, the SDL2, OpenGL (Mesa) and zlib development files, and Python 3 with numpy. ./install-deps.sh installs all of these on Debian / Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, Alpine, Void and Gentoo.
• Windows programs are built from Linux (./build-windows.sh): the MinGW-w64 cross compiler (x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc), CMake, make, curl, 7z (p7zip) and Python 3. The first run downloads SDL2, zlib and Mesa (the fallback OpenGL for computers with no graphics driver), so it needs the internet.
• Building the .deb, AppImages and Windows zip the way a release is made is done by the author with a script that is not part of this repository (it needs Podman for the Ubuntu container); you do not need it to build or play.

Open a terminal in this folder. First, once:

./install-deps.sh

This installs the tools the games need. It asks for your password.

Then build each game you have. Change the paths if your zips are somewhere else:

./build.sh ~/Downloads/propcycl.zip                                       # Prop Cycle
raverace/build.sh ~/Downloads/raverace.zip ~/Downloads/namcoc74.zip        # Rave Racer
tokyowar/build.sh ~/Downloads/tokyowar.zip                                 # Tokyo Wars
dirtdash/build.sh ~/Downloads/dirtdash.zip                                 # Dirt Dash
adillor/build.sh ~/Downloads/adillor.zip                                   # Armadillo Racing
timecris/build.sh ~/Downloads/timecris.zip                                 # Time Crisis
acedriver/build.sh ~/Downloads/acedrive.zip ~/Downloads/namcoc74.zip       # Ace Driver
cybrcomm/build.sh ~/Downloads/cybrcomm.zip ~/Downloads/namcoc74.zip        # Cyber Commando
cybsled/build.sh ~/Downloads/cybsled.zip ~/Downloads/namcoc67.zip ~/Downloads/namcoc68.zip   # Cyber Sled
tc2/build.sh ~/Downloads/timecrs2.zip                                                    # Time Crisis 2 (then tc2/launch.sh)

Rave Racer's, Tokyo Wars', Dirt Dash's, Armadillo Racing's, Time Crisis', Ace Driver's, Cyber Commando's and Cyber Sled's first builds take a few minutes (Cyber Commando's needs about 4.5 GB of free memory).

Then play:

./launch.sh prop      # Prop Cycle
./launch.sh rave      # Rave Racer
./launch.sh tokyo     # Tokyo Wars
./launch.sh dirt      # Dirt Dash (`./launch.sh dirt jungle` starts in a stage: city, jungle, hill, mountain, snow)
./launch.sh armadillo # Armadillo Racing (the mouse is the trackball)
./launch.sh tc        # Time Crisis (the mouse is the gun)
./launch.sh ad        # Ace Driver
./launch.sh cc        # Cyber Commando
./launch.sh cs        # Cyber Sled
./launch.sh           # the list of games and options

All the games run on Windows. The Windows version is built from Linux. Type:

./build-windows.sh

This makes a windows-release folder. Copy it to the Windows computer. Put the game files in its roms folder: propcycl.zip for Prop Cycle, raverace.zip and namcoc74.zip for Rave Racer, tokyowar.zip for Tokyo Wars, dirtdash.zip for Dirt Dash, adillor.zip for Armadillo Racing, timecris.zip for Time Crisis, acedrive.zip and namcoc74.zip for Ace Driver, cybrcomm.zip and namcoc74.zip for Cyber Commando, cybsled.zip, namcoc67.zip and namcoc68.zip for Cyber Sled. Then double-click PropCycle.exe, RaveRacer.exe, TokyoWars.exe, DirtDash.exe, ArmadilloRacing.exe, TimeCrisis.exe, AceDriver.exe, CyberCommando.exe or CyberSled.exe.

Building on Windows itself, and what in the code is there for Windows only: docs/WINDOWS.md.

Prop Cycle. You fly a pedal-powered glider and pop balloons.

Rave Racer. A street race against the clock.

Playing online (Rave Racer, Cyber Sled). Up to eight players can race together in Rave Racer (two in Cyber Sled: the arcade linked two cabinets), each on their own computer. Open the menu with Esc and go to the Online page, then Host / join a game...:

• Local LAN: one player picks Host a LAN game; everyone else picks Find LAN games and clicks the game it finds.
• Internet game: type the address of a server (host or host:port, UDP 27750 by default) and Connect. Anyone can run such a server on a machine that is always on: server/ (nmn-server) is a small Rust program for exactly this, one server for every game's online play (see its README; the wire protocol is docs/NETPLAY.md). It still accepts older Rave Racer releases.

Everyone in the lobby then picks Ready, and anyone can start the race once all players are ready. When the race begins the game turns free play on for you and gives everyone a moment to step on the gas; choose your car and wait for the others at the course select. Your name on the Online page is what the other players see.

Tokyo Wars. You command a tank in a city battle.

Dirt Dash. An off-road race against the clock.

A game controller works in all the games. In Rave Racer the keys can be changed in raverace/rr_controls.cfg; in Tokyo Wars and Dirt Dash, in the menu (Controls) or in tokyowar/tw_controls.cfg / dirtdash/dd_controls.cfg.

Armadillo Racing. Roll the trackball to run. The mouse is the trackball: it is captured while you play (Esc releases it), and a USB trackball is a mouse, so it works as is. The arrow keys and a pad's left stick / D-pad roll the ball too. 5 coin (a game costs four), left click / 1 / Enter start, 9 service, F2 test mode, Esc menu. Controls has the trackball sensitivity and orientation (natural or direct). Settings live in adillor/am_controls.cfg.

Ace Driver. The keys are Rave Racer's: 5 coin (a game costs two), X / Up gas, Z / Down brake, Left / Right steer, A / S shift down / up, V view change, F2 test mode, Esc menu. A force-feedback wheel works as in Rave Racer (Controls: FFB strength and direction). Holding Service (9) while switching test mode on opens the hidden ADJUST MODE (wheel and pedal calibration). Game Options > SOUND IN ATTRACT is why the attract plays sound only part of the time. Settings live in acedriver/ad_controls.cfg.

Cyber Commando. Mech battles with two sticks, and the same keys as Cyber Sled: 5 coin (a game costs two), the arrow keys drive (both sticks: Up / Down forward / back, Left / Right turn, Shift + Left / Right strafe), E / D / S / F and I / K / J / L move the left and right stick on their own, Z gun, X missile, C view, F2 test mode, Esc menu. On a pad the two sticks are the cabinet's two sticks, A gun, B missile, Y view. The buttons can be changed in the menu (Controls); settings live in cybrcomm/cc_controls.cfg.

Cyber Sled. A tank battle with two levers. 5 coin, 1 / Enter start, the arrow keys drive (both levers: Up / Down forward / back, Left / Right turn on the spot, Shift + Left / Right strafe), E / D / S / F and I / K / J / L move the left and right lever on their own, Z gun, X missile, C view, F2 test mode, Esc menu. On a pad the two sticks are the two levers, A gun, B missile, Y view. The keys cannot be changed yet. Online (Esc -> Online): host or find a LAN game, or connect to a server, then Ready / Start battle in the lobby -- the two machines restart linked, with free play on, and the game's own VS mode takes over ("WAITING FOR YOUR OPPONENT"); T opens the chat during play. Settings live in cybsled/cs21_controls.cfg, the operator settings and high scores in cybsled/cs21.nv.

Time Crisis. A light-gun shooter. The mouse is the gun.

Light guns. A gun that acts as an absolute mouse (Sinden, Gun4IR, OpenFIRE, Reaper, AimTrak) works as it is: aim at the screen and shoot. To reload, aim a little OFF the screen and shoot (the pointer sits on the window's edge, which the game reads as "off screen"), or hold R or the gun's side button. The widescreen picture keeps the game's 4:3 aiming area in the middle. Guns with their own calibration need it done once in their own software. Not tested here: any real light gun hardware.

Choosing a stage. --stage 1, --stage 2 or --stage 3 on the command line starts the game's own Timed Game at stage 1, 2 or 3 (unlimited lives, a best time per stage): the coins are put in and the choices made for you, then the gun is yours. It works from the attract screens, not during a game. No crosshair: Esc > Display > Crosshair turns the red aiming cross off (a real light gun needs none).

For testing (environment variables, set before starting the game): TC_INF_TIME=1 keeps the clock from running out and TC_INF_LIFE=1 gives back every life lost, so a test can reach the later scenes of any stage. They act only during a game.

Steering with the stick (Tokyo Wars and Dirt Dash): Esc > Controls > Stick steering sets how the stick turns the wheel. Medium (the default) is gentle near the centre and still reaches full lock at the edge; Smooth and Very smooth are gentler still; Linear turns the wheel in step with the stick.

On a game pad or a Steam Deck (no keyboard): the menu opens with R3 (click the right stick) or by holding Start for a second (a quick tap is still the game's own Start). The cabinet's Test mode (the service switch, F2 on a keyboard) and Service button are in the menu too -- the File page in Rave Racer and Prop Cycle, the Controls page in Tokyo Wars and Dirt Dash. Test mode is a switch: turn it on to enter the operator menu (its screen says which controls choose, enter and change a value), turn it off from the menu to leave. A hint on the screen says how to open the menu for the first few seconds after the game starts, when a pad is connected.

Press Esc and open Display. Your choices are saved by themselves.

• Widescreen: turn it on to fill a wide screen. You see more of the world at the sides, not a stretched picture. The time and score gauges move out to the corners.
• Window mode: a window, or full screen.
• Resolution: how many pixels the game draws. It is scaled to fit the window, so a smaller number runs faster on a slow computer.
• Aspect ratio (when widescreen is off): 4:3 like the arcade screen, or stretched to fill the window.
• Frame rate (all five games, Rave Racer included): how many pictures a second are shown. Auto (the default) follows your display -- 60 on a 60 Hz screen, with vsync -- or pick a fixed 24, 30, 50, 60, 75, 90, 120, 144, 165 or 240. The game itself always runs at the arcade's speed (just under 60 frames a second), whatever you pick and whatever your graphics driver's vsync setting is: a lower number shows fewer pictures, a higher one shows each picture more than once for a smoother picture on a fast monitor.

• "not installed": run ./install-deps.sh again.
• "can't be used": the zip is the wrong game or version (compare your files with docs/ROM_CHECKSUMS.md). Prop Cycle needs the one called propcycl; Rave Racer needs raverace and namcoc74; Tokyo Wars needs tokyowar; Dirt Dash needs dirtdash; Armadillo Racing needs adillor (World, AM2 Ver.A); Time Crisis needs timecris (World, TS2 Ver.B); Ace Driver needs acedrive (World, AD2) and namcoc74; Cyber Commando needs cybrcomm (Japan, CY1) and namcoc74; Cyber Sled needs cybsled (World, CY2), namcoc67 and namcoc68.
• "still missing dt2vera.1" (Dirt Dash): the program chips dt2vera.1 and dt2vera.2 were not found in dirtdash.zip. They can be at the top of the zip, in a dirtdasha/ folder or in any other folder, or in a separate dirtdasha.zip beside it. If the message says the chip "cannot be used", it says why (wrong size, damaged zip, or a compression method that is not Deflate or Store).
• "c71.bin is missing": that message is from an older version. The DSP's BIOS is built in now, so c71.bin and namcoc71.zip are not needed; update to a current build.
• Black or white screen: update your graphics driver.
• Slow, or the picture stutters. Open the game's log (raveracer.log, tokyowar.log, dirtdash.log, adillor.log, timecris.log, acedriver.log, cybrcomm.log, propcycl.log beside the .exe on Windows; the terminal window on Linux) and look at these lines:
  • [HOST] OpenGL: ... (Prop Cycle: OpenGL: ...) names the graphics chip the game is using. It should be your graphics card, for example NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. If a laptop with two graphics chips shows the weaker one (AMD Radeon Graphics, Intel ...), the game is on the wrong chip. If it says llvmpipe, GDI Generic or Microsoft Basic Render Driver, it is drawing in software: install the graphics driver.
  • [HOST] display N Hz, vsync or timer-paced, and every 600 frames [PACE] ... interval mean 16.7 ms. Interval near 16.7 ms with few frames over 20 ms is a steady 60 fps. [POST] final colour stage: GLSL is the fast path; pixel map (slow) is not: please send us that log.
  • Laptops with two graphics chips, Windows: the newest builds ask Windows for the fast chip themselves. If yours still uses the other one, set it by hand: Settings > System > Display > Graphics, add the game's .exe, Options > High performance (or NVIDIA Control Panel > Manage 3D settings > Program settings).
  • Linux, two graphics chips: __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia ./launch.sh dirt (or prime-run ./launch.sh dirt); with AMD or Intel drivers DRI_PRIME=1 ./launch.sh dirt.
  • Plug the laptop in and pick a Best performance power mode. On a 120/144/165 Hz screen the games still run at the arcade's 60 Hz, which looks uneven; a 60 Hz screen mode is smoothest. A lower Esc > Display > Resolution also helps.

More about the game files: docs/ROM_SETUP.md

The code in this repository is released under the MIT License.

• The games themselves (their programs, graphics, sound and music) belong to Namco / Bandai Namco. This repository has no game files and the MIT License does not cover them; the files under */gen/ that are translated from the games' programs are derived from Namco's code, and the license covers this project's own work, not theirs.
• Other people's code keeps its own license: Nuklear (third_party/, MIT / public domain). The Windows programs also contain SDL2 and zlib (both under the zlib license), and the mesa folder of the Windows download is Mesa (MIT and other licenses).