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Reposted by El_isra

DiscoStarslayer @disco.camp · 15/09/2026

SPC970 Based MechaCon LIBeration testing is going well. Initially only V2 compatible, but now we have first V3 dump!! Still harsh on hardware, so careful dumping continues. Progress so far going well! Will share full write-up on how we got here soon!

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Because no one will get into it (IMO) and also, for ODE stuff, we would need to peek at the DSP chip more than the Mechacon, since that's the one actually interacting with the disc I/O, Mechacon only does the mechanics parts, hence it's codename

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

No, this is not the reason ODEs for PS2 haven't showed up

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Reposted by El_isra

DiscoStarslayer @disco.camp · 13/09/2026

After 4 years of effort, I'm happy to announce that one of the final secrets of the PS2 has been broken wide open! It's been a long process of decapping, optical dumping, and now at last a software solution. Thank you @libby.bsky.social for finding the exploit from our dirty optical dumps!

Dump date from the SPC970 based mechacon firmware

Photo of the SPC970 based mechacon from a COH-H31000

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Reposted by El_isra

DiscoStarslayer @disco.camp · 16/09/2026

Thanks to the helpful ps2 community and a very close call semi-brick of a rare variant, we now have verified dumps of every North American SPC970 mechacon 🎉 Any Australians willing to burn some life out of their eeprom for preservation let me know, lots of gaps there!

github.com

GitHub - spc970-dumper-union/spc970-dumps-public: Public index of dumpable SPC970 mechacons

Public index of dumpable SPC970 mechacons. Contribute to spc970-dumper-union/spc970-dumps-public development by creating an account on GitHub.

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Dealing with some of the card readers emulation on #PCSX2x6

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Thx to @gpbear4.bsky.social now I have the card reader kit for #namco #system256 With this: - PCSX2x6 card reader emu - homebrew app to cleanse usage counter from original IC CARDS - homebrew hack to make the games use an USB stick or memory card instead of real card reader system #SDBZ #TEKKEN5

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

No problem! the real makeshift deal is the Konami python2 They just put a retail PS2 inside and called it a day The console gets powered on with an IR blaster 😂

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Fortunately for us, the conquest card worked out of the box with the default Magicgate stub from official PCSX2 The mechanism that the conquest card uses to encrypt it's player data still remains a mistery

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

wasn't makeshift at all, the sys246 carries a PlayStation 2 COH-H model, a Sony official PS2 division based on the USA release model designed to be used on arcade creations It had a repurposed DEV9 interface (where network adapter connects on retail PS2) to serve as a generic expansion bus

COH-H31100 PS2 unit from the inside of a Namco system246 Rack B

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Reposted by El_isra

DiscoStarslayer @disco.camp · 30/07/2026

To finish this thread off for anyone who joined late. Every Python 1 title (except the mocap ones, for now) are finally fully playable through emulation on my pcsx2 fork: github.com/DiscoStarsla...

github.com

GitHub - DiscoStarslayer/pcsx2-reliquary: PCSX2 Reliquary - PS2 Emulator for the nerds

PCSX2 Reliquary - PS2 Emulator for the nerds. Contribute to DiscoStarslayer/pcsx2-reliquary development by creating an account on GitHub.

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Sys246 was not that hard to emulate If you take a look at the git changes at PCSX2x6 project, +90% of the changes in src are related to the Namco expansion pcb Sys246 uses a PlayStation 2 COH-H model as it's heart, so it's capable of the same things than a retail PS2 usa release model

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

That project is open source on GitHub yet it's sold at five bucks at Play store while of course hiding all reference to the GitHub repository (which has free DLs)

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Yeah, I don't use this too much due to the lack attention my posts get compared to Twitter Anyways, yes, I hate this kind of thing, a similar thing happened recently with the "PSX2" android emulator that copied the Pcsx2x6 emulation of the DEV9 board to emulate 2x6 games on Android +

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

He's going back to chihiro soon

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

#PCSX2 ( #PCSX2x6 ) running NAMCO SYSTEM246 game for the first time ever No MagicGate, no excuses... Soon first public Alfa will be available

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

After more than two months waiting. AliExpress finally delivered the MP07-IONA-US board I needed to run SoulCalibur2 on my system246 Let's see how long it takes to crack the conquest card 😁 #ps2 #system246 #system256 #namco #ps2_arcade #soulcalibur2 #sc2

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

SD2PSX finally supports the last MagicGate key missing, the second port of arcade PS2s Meaning that SD2PSX now works on all PS2s models and variants in existence #ps2 #system246 #system256 This feature will be necessary to emulate #soulcalibur2 conquest cards in the future

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

It IS a PS2 hooked to additional hardware The first 3 models of Namco sys246 use inside arcade PS2 units made by Sony directly. - COH-H30000 - COH-H31000 - COH-H31100 Respectively. Starting with 246 rack C they went to a all in one PCB design, still based on the same hw

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Modified the MMCEMAN module to also give it SIO2 monitoring capabilities. As soon as I get SoulCalibur2 running on my sys246 I'll hook this new driver along with other ones into the game IOPRP image so that it will log all the commands sent to the conquest card, so I can analyze them #soulcalibur2

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Yeah. It's pretty cool that they used recalled cards from the Japan launch XD. Downside is that it just made conquest cards more expensive lol

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El_isra @el-isra-ps2dev.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Thanks to kuze from arcade-projects.com I've finally got my hands on a SoulCalibur2 conquest card! The reverse engineering journey begins! All the progress will get logged in here israpps.github.io/blog/underst... #system246 #system256 #soulcalibur2 #soulcalibur #ps2

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