MiSTer FPGA – Marble Madness / NES (Famicom)

My first clear for the NES version of Marble Madness! Wallpaper is by @WanyoDos on Twitter. Never owned this cart but played it at a friends’ house quite a bit. Got to play this on my new 32 inch Trintron (KV-32FS320) while recording. It was nice revisiting this classic to break it in.

It can be obtuse trying to navigate this Mark Cerny designed world, but the NES port here is one of the better home versions of the game. Tough value proposition when it was released considering the ~5 minutes of gameplay in this one. The two player mode is really the highlight here, and is something the entire game was designed for.

While there is no arcade core for this game yet on MiSTer, you can still play it with trackball controls in the Japanese Mega Drive release.

5x integer scaling/crop was also used for this video. Since the game has heavy black borders by default, this meant that nothing is cut out of the scene, just a larger portion of the screen can be used. The ending screen may be slightly affected where the bouncing balls fly around the screen, and have a couple rows cut off at the bottom.

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NES core 10-04-2021 build – Marble Madness
A.K.A: マーブルマッドネス

Filter: Gaussian Sharp 06 // Gamma: Off
Palette: Kitrinx26 // Hide Overscan: Off // Extra Sprites: Off

Played using an OEM NES controller via BlisSTer/LLAPI.

Settings: 5x Integer Scaling (-4 offset) @ 1080p // HDMI to Datapath e1s capture card

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|:=-Timestamps-=:|
00:00 – Settings
00:35 – Title
01:26 – Full Game

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Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/WalrusFPGA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalrusFPGA

=—————CONTRIBUTE—————=

None of this would be possible without the constant hard work of Sorgelig. It cannot be overstated how much he has done and continues to do for this project, since its beginning. You can support him either at his Patreon in the link below, or on Paypal, depending on your preference. MiSTer is a paradigm shift in how we can experience these classic games. This is a long-term preservation project that will continue to grow so that gamers today and in the future can experience these excellent systems as accurately and lag-free as possible. Donating what you can will help keep the updates coming. Thank you.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/FPGAMiSTer

PayPal: https://paypal.me/FPGAMiSTer

NOTE: I am not affiliated with Sorgelig and am only sharing these links as a fan of the project who wishes to see it continue to grow rapidly.

=—————–INFORM—————–=

SmokeMonster’s overview video of this core: https://youtu.be/6koHrtNQknU

Github link for this core: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiSTer

MiSTer Forum/Wiki/Github (source, guides and info): http://MiSTerFPGA.org

Official MiSTer Discord for live chat/help: https://discord.gg/4xKVg4XVYn
(Be respectful; this server is moderated. New users must be verified.)

=——————BUILD——————=

Worldwide list of sellers for MiSTer expansion boards: https://misterfpga.org/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=74e1c5e7dae1b99284789d93194cfa0b

I have personally ordered all my parts from https://www.MiSTerAddons.com and have been 100% satisfied with the quality and service there. (North American seller. If in a different region, check list linked above for best local shipping rates.)

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