08093: talbot: missing DIP switch settings

ID	Category [?]	Severity [?]	Reproducibility	Date Submitted	Last Update
08093	Documentation	Trivial	Always	Sep 28, 2021, 03:17	Sep 29, 2021, 12:46

Tester	jkburks	View Status	Public	Platform	MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To	jkburks	Resolution	Fixed	OS	Windows 10 (64-bit)
Status [?]	Resolved			Driver	alpha/champbas.cpp
Version	0.235	Fixed in Version	0.237	Build	64-bit
		Fixed in Git Commit	2c92e03	Github Pull Request #

Summary	08093: talbot: missing DIP switch settings
Description	The 2 unknown DIP switches control the minimum number of rabbits the player must capture and return to his cages to advance to the next pattern. The player must reach this number before the CPU opponent (or player 2 in head-to-head cocktail matches) in order to win the round. ON ON = 4 Rabbits OFF ON = 5 Rabbits ON OFF = 6 Rabbits OFF OFF = 8 Rabbits
Steps To Reproduce	Set the DIP switches. Shift + F3 to reset the game. Start 1 player game. Catch rabbits one at a time (even though you can carry multiple). Return them to the cages at the bottom of the screen. The round will end when you reach the number of rabbits listed above. These settings are easy to verify with cheats. The speed cheat is the most useful in this regard.
Additional Information
Github Commit

Flags
Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems	talbot

Attached Files	talbot_dip.jpg (102,999 bytes) Sep 28, 2021, 03:35 Uploaded by jkburks Talbot DIP Minimum Rabbits

No.19289 Steve Coomber Tester Sep 28, 2021, 12:02	Good spot. This issue is confirmed.
No.19296 jkburks Tester Sep 29, 2021, 09:20 edited on: Sep 29, 2021, 09:38	The default DIP switch setting for Talbot should be OFF OFF - 8 rabbits. There is a description of Talbot in Game Machine No. 196 - Sept. 15, 1982. The text describes the release version of the game, which is a different ROM set than the one available in MAME. In fact, there are at least 4 released versions of this game, not counting the failed location tests and prototypes. The relevant text from Game Machine reads: プレイヤーはレバーで狩人を動かし、画面内に七匹（切替可能）いるウサギを一匹ずつ捕まえてオリに入れていく。 Translated to English as: The player moves the hunter with the lever and catches 7 rabbits (switchable) in the screen one by one and puts them in the cage. This was the description that prompted me to test the unknown switches and make this report. Note that it says 7, whereas the MAME set does not have a setting for 7 rabbits. Hardware videos of other versions of Talbot show the round ending with 8 rabbits. It can get confusing because the player can carry up to 4 rabbits at a time, whereas the CPU only ever picks up single rabbits. https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8221676 See the above video at 5:38 where the CPU wins a round with 8 rabbits. Earlier in the video the player wins a round, but overshoots the minimum because he cages multiple rabbits at once, to end the round with 9. At the very least, this video shows a board set to 8. And all OFF is a common enough default, but not universal. Having the default set to 4 makes the rounds end much too quickly. The above niconico video starts with an alternate Talbot ROM set - Volt Electronics license. Different player character, + Fruit + Red Cocktail powerups that stop the enemies from attacking. at 5:57 the video switches to a different board with Talbot Part 2 - Alpha copyright. This game was advertised a few months after Talbot because Talbot was a sales failure. They redesigned the game, changed the ROMs in the unsold boards, and tried to sell them as a new game, which was also a failure. The text of the advertisements says: "The game becomes easier to understand." In this version they removed the Talbot (the dog). and instead gave the trap ability to the Hunter, but made it cost fuel to use. Since the Dog was used to attack the enemies in Talbot, they gave the hunter a stone throwing attack in Part 2 that stuns the enemies. This video shows the attract mode of the Alpha copyright Talbot. I am fairly certain that this is the original Japan release of the game. Note that none of the ROMs in these video show the pointy-hat player character seen in MAME. Talbot was supposedly developed to use twin 4-way levers. One lever controls the Dog, one lever controls the hunter. This is likely the meaning behind the attract mode sequence. You use the dog and hunter to trap the rabbit in a pincer move, or drive the rabbit to the hunter with the Talbot, or block the path with the Talbot and chase the rabbit down with the hunter....
No.19298 Steve Coomber Tester Sep 29, 2021, 10:45	Some great information there thanks. PR has been merged to master with default set to 8 rabbits.
No.19299 Steve Coomber Tester Sep 29, 2021, 11:20 edited on: Sep 29, 2021, 11:25	On your video link below, I noticed the player needs to capture at least 9 rabbits to complete the level (jump to 11:48): https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8221676 Player has captured 8 rabbits but level doesn't finish so it looks like the player has to capture at least 9 rabbits! This is definitely a different version as you have mentioned!
No.19300 jkburks Tester Sep 29, 2021, 11:55 edited on: Sep 29, 2021, 11:55	Yes, but that portion of the video is Talbot Part 2, which would be listed as a different game in MAME, rather than a clone of Talbot, so the rules of that version don't apply. The collector who posted that video edited 2 board videos together. Note how there is no Talbot (dog) on the screen. I do have extensive research completed on Talbot, and may post it somewhere, but without access to these ROM variants it is really difficult to pin down the difference between sets. I know how the MAME version works, and understand the rules of this game, because I have spent many hours play testing it against the information from my sources. But I still have no idea where this set came from. I don't know which market or country Volt Electronics operated in. What is clear, is that this game went through development hell, and probably should have been canceled. For some reason they kept reworking the game and re-releasing it. I think Alpha Denshi was surviving on the money from Shougi and Shougi Part II, which they licensed to Tehkan, and which came out around the same time as Talbot, and often shared the same advertisements. So at least 3 more more sets remain to be dumped. I have the right-hand instruction card from Talbot, but not the left-hand card. I have a single instruction card from Talbot Part 2 (labeled Talbot Part II), which may be missing a second card, or just half of a matching set, which was common. I also have translations of the game description from Game Machine, and advertisements from Talbot and Talbot Part 2 with game details listed. The flyers for both games are missing. I only have a thumbnail image of the top half of the Talbot flyer, which sold in a 2016 auction for over 200 dollars. The image is so low resolution that I can't read the text. My source on the prototype version comes from a blog post from a Japanese fan who visited the Alpha Denshi offices in the late 80s and asked them about the game.
No.19301 Steve Coomber Tester Sep 29, 2021, 12:46	I find this sort of information really interesting especially anything related to bootlegs, clones and variants. Thank you very much for covering this in so much detail. I think it would be useful to submit some of this information to arcade history: https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=talbot&page=detail&id=2828 What do you think?