Another version of Hitorikko has been dumped. The code is exactly the same, and only the sprites differ. Unfortunately, the decapping didn't go perfectly, so there may be errors in the dump.

The Hitorikko Chicken v-pet has been decapped and emulated. Since I don't have its original shell, I had to improvise its appearance a bit.
I've often encountered this type of die in late-90s games, so this dump opens the door to many more.
Thanks to @ksenia1923396 for the PCB!

2/2 I finally got around to full dumping one of these chips from some kind of "virtual pet". Inspired by @jumarmacato work, I asked Claude to independently figure out the MCU's architecture, peripheral registers, memory map, and other details. Here's what it came up with:

1/2 Cheap Chinese LCD games from the 2000s–2010s often use very similar chips, typically marked with just a year. Based on their appearance, their cores seem to be some variation of the 6502.
Here are some examples:

Спасибо за ролик! Купил после твоих стримов по Марио)

Added D-Tector emulation to BrickEmuPy. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

3/3 Digivice Ver. Revival – uses a Sonix MCU labeled "SLL86F8". Unfortunately, it appears to use flash memory, meaning the ROM cannot be read optically.
archive.org/details/digivi…

2/3 Pocket Pikachu Color – the ROM die has been fully photographed, but the microcontroller architecture is unfortunately unknown (assuming it's even a general-purpose microcontroller).
archive.org/details/pocket…

So, here are some findings:
1/3 D-Tector – uses a Sunplus SPL191 microcontroller (or something similar). The ROM die has been fully photographed.
archive.org/details/d-tect…

Received two packages today: a Pocket Pikachu Color and a Digivice Revival from @ElMadre6, and a D-Tector from @OKDecc. I’ll be working on these devices soon.

Puyolin (ぷよりん) LCD game has been dumped and emulated. It runs on a Holtek HT1190 4-bit microcontroller.

This is what the game looks like on a real watch: youtube.com/watch?v=gIUXOa…

I'm currently working on an Epson RC-20 emulator. The watch has two processors: a 4-bit one and an 8-bit Z84. I'll only emulate the Z84 program execution mode, as I won't decap the 4bit MCU of these rare watches to dump mask ROM. The video shows a Chrome T-Rex demake I once wrote

D-Power Digivice EU 1.01 has finally been dumped and emulated. Many thanks to @OKDecc for sending me the device to dump. He actually sent me two of them, because my first etching attempt wasn't successful.

Tamagotchi Mini 2017 has now been dumped and emulated. Most likely, the dump contains errors, so in the future I will try to dump another copy to verify this.

Yes, here is a close-up of the core:

Die photo of the microcontroller from a 2017 Tamagotchi Mini. The ROM image isn't good enough for automatic bit recognition, but since only ~12 kB of the 256 kB ROM is actually used, I think I can extract it entirely by hand.

I take a macro photo of an LCD display illuminated from behind, manually clean up the image, and then vectorize it using auto-tracing. Here's the result of each stage:

That's right. Here's a partial ROM of this game: dark squares are 1, and light ones are 0.

Nintendo Mini Classics Soccer (1998/2004) has now been dumped and emulated. As far as I know, this is the first Mini Classics game to be dumped. I hope I come across more games from this series. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Interestingly, there is no information on the die itself to identify the microcontroller, but fortunately, the manufacturer kindly indicated the part number on the PCB: Syntek STK55C324.

I've decapsulated another Nintendo Mini Classics game, this time Soccer from 2004. I managed to capture an image of the ROM, so it's only a matter of time before it's dumped and emulated.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5839…

An unknown microcontroller from the Littlest Pet Shop virtual pet (McDonald's Happy Meal, 2007). commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0704…

Bandai SD Gundam Gaiden II (1985) has now been dumped and emulated. Many thanks to @MilanSK46676000 for the ROM dump and reference photos used for vectorization. LCD game donated by MikeG.

Apollo Prince & Princess has now been dumped and emulated. This virtual pet is powered by a Sunplus SPLB20 microcontroller. Thanks to @ksenia1923396 for providing a copy for dumping.

I recorded a video of the IC decapsulation process. The hot air gun nozzle is visible in the top-left corner, with the temperature set to ~150°C. This method works great for small chips. On larger dies, some compound often remains in the center, which I remove by boiling in rosin

Now Digimon can communicate with each other too.

I also implemented serial communication in BrickEmuPy and used it in the Tamagotchi V3 emulation:

Tamagotchi Connection V3 (2006) has now been dumped and emulated. Since the ROM is a full 512 KB, dumping the firmware took quite a while, and I most likely haven't cleaned up all the errors yet. Overall though, it's working.

And it even works! Still a lot to do, though.

Some progress

There's a lot of work ahead to refine the automatic recognition results, without guarantee of success. Meanwhile, you can take a look at the sprites stored in the ROM. Photos of the die and ROM can be found here archive.org/details/tamago…

I decapsulated the Tamagotchi Connection V3. The microcontroller is a Sunplus again, specifically an SPLB32. The etching went well, but there's a major issue: the ROM is a whopping 512KB. That's a lot, my previous maximum was 64KB.

Aside from some differences in the code, this virtual pet lets you select a 10th character (despite the "9 in 1" label on the shell). The Super Gyaoppi also has one, but it's not selectable due to a software limitation.

I've added emulations of two more late-90s virtual pets based on the same program: Super Gyaoppi 9-in-1 and its slightly modified version in a big cat head-shaped case (donated by @ksenia1923396). Both run on a Sunplus SPLB20 MCU.

Some areas of the ROM are completely unreadable, so creating a full dump isn't possible, but I was at least able to see the sprites stored in the ROM

Last summer, @OKDecc sent me a D-Power Digivice for decapsulation. I couldn't get good dash etching results back then, and I didn't have a proper lens for photography, so I've only just returned to it now. I published photos of the board, die, and ROM archive.org/details/bandai…

Good old German technology

Digimon Ver. 4 has now been dumped and emulated. Additionally, two alternative versions of Ver. 1 have also been dumped. This time I wasn't the one who took the chip photos (the source preferred to stay anonymous).

Just compare the ROM density to one of the earliest microcontroller supported by BrickEmuPy (photo at the same scale). In numbers, the difference is roughly 1:256.

McDonald's Chicken Nugget Tetris (2023) has now been dumped and emulated. This is a significant achievement for me, as the game's microcontroller is quite modern, and tackling something like this was beyond my reach until now.

While looking for information about this game, I came across its original Japanese advertisement:
youtube.com/watch?v=1VZzAt…

Popy Animest Space Cobra (1982) has now been dumped and emulated. ROM dump and reference photos for vectorization courtesy of @MilanSK46676000. Game donated by MikeG.

I once did a demake of the Chrome T-Rex game for the Epson RC-20. I haven't really revisited the platform since, but it'd be nice to dig into the hardware – maybe even write an emulator.
youtube.com/watch?v=gIUXOa…

Released in 1985 (1984), this watch is way ahead of the UC-2000, with an 8-bit Z-80-compatible CPU, a 42x32 graphical touchscreen, and serial communication with a PC. Opening this sandwich of PCBs was a little nerve-wracking, but it went smoothly.

I spent half the day today taking photos of another 80s smartwatch – the Epson RC-20:

This is how all the pixels on the display look when turned on

In addition to the UC-2000, other watches in the series are also emulated: the UC-3000/Memo Diary and the Spacetronic. These watches have some smart features, but they don't support running third-party programs.

Here are a few games that can run on this watch. I wrote the first one myself, it's what got me started on this emulator. The other two came on a cartridge with the Seiko UC-2200.

I've finally finished a full-fledged Seiko UC-2000 / DATA-2000 emulator. github.com/azya52/Emulato…
To be precise, I wrote it a few years ago, but only recently managed to dump the full firmware – thanks to @furrtek posting photos of the watch's MCU: x.com/furrtek/status…

Edla Game became the 50th LCD game to be emulated in BrickEmuPy. I'm not planning to stop yet, so follow along!

Edla Game Space Rescue has been dumped and emulated. In the late '80s and early '90s, many unnamed Hong Kong games with similar gameplay but slightly different music and graphics were on sale.

Spica D'Artagnan (SH-002B) has been dumped and emulated. ROM files and photos for vectorization provided by @MilanSK46676000.

I've published all the materials on Kunekunetchyo here: archive.org/details/koto-k…. By the way, the keychain uses a Samsung KS57C2504 microcontroller, from the same family as the Nano Puppy I dumped earlier.

There's a short video in which Gunpei Yokoi demonstrates Kunekunetchyo youtube.com/watch?v=SnRsh0…

Koto Laboratory & HIRO Kunekunetchyo (くねくねっちょ) has been dumped and emulated. This game is notable for having been developed by Koto during the period when it was led by Gunpei Yokoi. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Pocket Puppy has been dumped and emulated. It's a Nano Puppy clone with Japanese text. Both the Nano and Pocket Puppy run on the same Samsung KS57C21308 microcontroller, and I think their firmware is basically identical.

Photo of the 126-in-1's die, a Sunplus SPL02(B?). archive.org/details/apollo…

I added emulation of two Apollo talking brick games: 126-in-1 and 18-in-1. The 126-in-1 ROM was optically read, and I found a debug mode in its code, which I was later able to use to dump the 18-in-1 without decapsulation.

Runs on the original Apollo 18-in-1 hardware (Sunplus SPL03?, 6502 core), with a RP Pico 2 used for storage.
Video: 17×10, 3 shades of gray, 21 fps; audio: 5-bit, 22 kHz.

It's time for some serious stuff :)

New dump by @MilanSK46676000, "Animest Dr. Slump Arale Ncha! Bycha" (1982) is now in BrickEmuPy.

Gakken Tom & Jerry Prank (1983) is now dumped and emulated. Huge thanks to @MilanSK46676000 for the ROM dump and the photos I traced for the case and LCD segments.

Here’s a GIF of my tiny old demo for the MB Microvision, celebrating 40 years of Super Mario!

Popy (Bandai) Animest Isoge! Doraemon (1983) has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Popy (Bandai) Animest Parman Dai-Pinch (1983) has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Along with Dorayaki House, I bought two more games from the Animest series, which I'll be adding to the emulator soon too.

Popy (Bandai) Animest Dorayaki House (1983) has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

There is a jumper on the circuit board which, when shorted, accelerates the Tamagotchi's growth. This fast mode is demonstrated in the video above.

I've had a Yasashii ROM on hand for a while (not my dump), and @ksenia1923396 was kind enough to send me photos. I just never got around to drawing the case, but now that's finally done, and Yasashii has been added to BrickEmuPy.

I dumped the ROM for this game from the General Radi-Game RG-2. Internally, it's identical to Gakken Soccer – just housed in a case with an AM receiver. I uploaded detailed photos here: archive.org/details/genera…

Gakken Soccer LCD Card Game (1981) has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Added another game to BrickEmuPy – Bandai Power Fishing (1984), which I mentioned earlier. Of course, to fully replicate the gameplay, the emulator would need a crank and an accelerometer… and I happen to know one little handheld that has both :)

Another game using this chip has been added to BrickEmuPy: Gakken Jumping Boy (aka Pyonkichi / Lansay La Traversée). ROM dumped by Milan Galcik septimus.sk/KB1013dbg/inde…

This is my first emulation where the game survived because I dumped it via the microcontroller's test mode rather than decapsulation. So I bothered to retrobright it. Here are a couple of before and after photos.

Bandai Pengo has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

Thanks to Sean Riddle’s high-quality scan and trace of the Super Mario Nelsonic watch display, the complete emulation is now ready. You can play it at the link brickemu.pages.dev/?core=brickemu…

Unfortunately, the etching of the Pak-Pak Man was unsuccessful. Once again, that frustrating uneven result. In the first image, the dark areas came out fine, but the lighter ones were not etched enough. After further etching, the light areas just peeled off and became unreadable.

Kong after meeting Mario :)

Epoch Monster Panic has been dumped and emulated. github.com/azya52/BrickEm…

I decapsulated Monster Panic. The bits were, as expected, invisible, but after Dash etch, I managed to take photos from which it might be possible to extract the firmware.

I picked up three more early LCD games to dump: Epoch Pak-Pak Man, Monster Panic, and Bandai Crazy Karasu. All three use the NEC D7502G.

Dumped another similar microcontroller — the Toshiba 7790 from the Bandai Power Fishing game. This time via test mode. Its instruction set is slightly different from the T6770S, which makes emulating this game problematic without decapsulation.

Another LCD game: Casio CG-40 Sea Bear with a Hitachi HD43591 microcontroller. Once again, without any documentation. archive.org/details/casio-…

I've wanted to try restoring the instruction set from a die photo for a long time, but I doubted I could do it. The undocumented Toshiba microcontroller from Gundam 3 in 1 kept nagging at me, so I finally decided to analyze its circuitry — and I succeeded!

I'm currently fully absorbed in porting to Libretro (and the process is very slow), but if you decide to port it to Pebble as well, that would be great! By the way, if a watch has a browser, the emulator can be launched on it :) Although, of course, in this form, it's impractical

Some progress on porting to Libretro (runs in a browser on Android). Of course, it's still rough, but you can try it here: brickemu.pages.dev/?core=brickemu…

Bought and decapsulated Bandai Gundam Space Combat 3in1. ROM is readable, but unfortunately I couldn't identify the microcontroller. Judging by the 10bit word size, I assumed it might belong to the Hitachi HMCS40/400 series, but so far, the extracted ROM data doesn’t look like it

Started porting BrickEmuPy to the Libretro. This will allow running all games from BrickEmuPy on a variety of devices (for example, in the video, the Anbernic RG35XX). So far, only two cores are ready, segments are displayed without a background, and there is no sound.

Hiro Pocket Boy No.2 LCD game has been dumped and emulated. To support this game, I added a new core to BrickEmuPy: Sanyo LC5732.

Added Tamagotchi Genjintch support to BrickEmuPy

In parallel with debugging the firmware, I am vectorizing the LCD display. Due to the large number of unique segments, this is a rather long and tedious process. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to vectorize displays from something like Tiger games.

I still managed to take a photos with sufficient bit contrast and obtain a generally working dump, although there are still a few errors to be found. Here are two versions of the photos I used to restore the ROM: