Arcade-Darius_MiSTer

FPGA core for Darius (Taito Corporation, 1986) targeting the MiSTer FPGA platform (Terasic DE10-Nano).

Darius is a triple-screen horizontal shoot-'em-up running on a dual 68000 + Z80 × 2 board with two PC080SN tile layers, PC090OJ sprites, PC060HA master/slave communication, and YM2203 ×2 + MSM5205 audio. This core reimplements the hardware in SystemVerilog from MAME references and hardware observation on original PCBs.

Status

Current version: 1.1 (May 2026)

The core runs the full game end-to-end on all supported ROM sets and has been tested on real MiSTer hardware.

What's new in v1.1

• Pause overlay with project logo, scrolling supporters list (with tier colors: Bronze / Silver / Gold), and social links — your name in the credits if you support the project
• "Clean Pause" OSD option to bypass overlay (pause without dim/logo)
• Scale options refactored: Narrower HV-Integer (default), V-Integer, HV-Integer (Normal scaling removed — gave wrong results without precise user setup)
• HDMI_FREEZE removed (overlay rendered live, no scaler freeze)
• SignalTap probes removed (frees ~6 M10K)

Features

• Dual 68000 main/sub with shared RAM (FX68K core)
• Three horizontal panels composed into the 864-pixel virtual screen
• Sprite renderer with priority, flip, 16×16 4bpp tiles
• FG text/HUD layer with local BRAM text ROM
• Palette with MAME-verified byte order
• Audio: YM2203 ×2 (FM + PSG) + MSM5205 ADPCM with pan/volume routing
• PC060HA main/sub communication
• SDRAM arbitration for tile/sprite ROM and main/sub CPU fetch
• Inputs (coin, start, 8-way joystick) and full DIP switch support
• MiSTer OSD with video, pause and DIP options
• Pause overlay with supporters credits and social links

ROM sets supported

• Darius (World) — reference set
• Darius (US)
• Darius (Japan rev 1 — dariusj)
• Darius (Japan pure — dariuso)
• Darius Extra Version (dariuse)

Notes

• Audio pole filters currently bypassed (direct DC-removed signals to mixer)
• 15 kHz CRT output is not currently supported (non-standard 864×224 resolution incompatible with the analog I/O board)
• For HDMI use the HDMI output directly. For 31 kHz VGA monitors use an HDMI→VGA adapter — do not enable Direct Video

Screenshots

Title screen	Attract — Silver Hawk briefing
Zone C	Zone I
Zone S	Zone G

Hardware requirements

• Terasic DE10-Nano
• MiSTer I/O board (recommended)
• SDRAM module (32 MB or 64 MB)
• HDMI display (recommended), or HDMI→VGA adapter for 31 kHz VGA monitors

Note on video output: The core works on standard HDMI displays. For 31 kHz VGA monitors, use an HDMI→VGA adapter — do not enable Direct Video. 15 kHz CRT output is not currently supported because the 864×224 triple-panel resolution is incompatible with the MiSTer analog I/O board.

Build from source

Requires Quartus Prime Lite 17.0.x for Cyclone V (5CSEBA6U23I7).

cd Arcade-Darius_MiSTer
quartus_sh --flow compile Darius -c Darius

Output: output_files/Darius.rbf (~3.9 MB).

Running on MiSTer

The releases/ folder contains the pre-built bitstream and the parent MRA for the reference ROM set:

• Darius_YYYYMMDD.rbf — pre-built core bitstream
• Darius (World).mra — parent MRA (reference set)

Alternative ROM sets are provided in releases/alternatives/:

• Darius (US).mra
• Darius (Japan).mra
• Darius (Japan, rev 1).mra
• Darius Extra Version (Japan).mra

Following the MiSTer-devel convention, the alternative sets are also mirrored to the official MRA-Alternatives_MiSTer repository, where they are picked up automatically by Update_All.

Steps:

1. Copy the .rbf to _Arcade/cores/ on the MiSTer SD card.
2. Copy the desired .mra file(s) to _Arcade/ on the MiSTer SD card.
3. Provide your legally-owned Darius ROM files where each MRA expects them (usually in games/mame/).
4. For HDMI displays, no special setup is required. For 31 kHz VGA monitors, use an HDMI→VGA adapter (do not enable Direct Video). 15 kHz CRT output is not currently supported (see Hardware requirements).
5. The core OSD defaults to Narrower HV-Integer scale, which gives a proper integer-scaled image on modern HDMI displays. Other Scale options (V-Integer, HV-Integer) are available for custom setups.

ROMs are NOT included in this repository. You must provide them yourself.

Repository layout

Arcade-Darius_MiSTer/
├── rtl/
│   ├── darius/       Darius-specific core RTL (Umberto Parisi)
│   ├── fx68k/        M68000 core (Jorge Cwik)
│   ├── jt12/         YM2203 FM synth (Jose Tejada)
│   ├── jt5205/       MSM5205 ADPCM (Jose Tejada)
│   ├── jtframe/      JTFRAME framework modules (Jose Tejada)
│   ├── t80/          Z80 core
│   ├── pll/          Clock PLL
│   └── sdram.sv      SDRAM controller (Sorgelig)
├── sys/              MiSTer framework (Sorgelig / MiSTer-devel)
├── releases/         Pre-built .rbf + parent MRA
│   └── alternatives/ MRA files for alternate ROM sets
├── docs/             Screenshots
├── Darius.qpf        Quartus project
├── Darius.qsf        Quartus assignments
├── Template.sv       Top-level wrapper
├── Template.sdc      Timing constraints
├── files.qip         HDL file list
├── build_id.v        Build version stamp
├── LICENSE           GNU GPL v3
├── AUTHORS.md        Credits and third-party licenses
└── README.md         This file

License

Distributed under GNU General Public License v3 or later. See LICENSE and AUTHORS.md for credits and third-party licensing.

GPL-3 is chosen to stay compatible with upstream GPL-3 dependencies (JTFRAME, FX68K, Sorgelig's sdram and sys framework).

Support this project

If you enjoy this core and want to support its development:

• Ko-fi — one-time support
• Patreon — monthly support
• PayPal — one-time donation

Follow

• Twitch — live streams
• YouTube — playlists and videos

Credits

Built on top of work by:

• Jorge Cwik — FX68K (M68000 core)
• Jose Tejada / Jotego — JTFRAME, JT12, JT5205
• Sorgelig and the MiSTer-devel team — framework, SDRAM controller
• The MAME project — invaluable hardware reference

Full list in AUTHORS.md.

Original Darius arcade hardware © Taito Corporation, 1986.