Barrier

Cinematronics (Vectorbeam license) · 1979

by Daniel Ferrer

Details

Original hardware

Cinematronics CCPU

Romset

roms/barrier.zip

Controls

The stick moves you around the grid (four ways); buttons 1, 2 and 3 are Skill A, B and C, the level a game starts at; button 4 inserts a coin and starts. On the web: Z, X, C, V and the arrow keys.

Analog controls

–

Last update

2026-11-08

Changelog

1. v1.22026-11-08
   • The romset can live in any folder of the card. The game looks in .roms/, then roms/, then searches the whole card, and remembers where it found it (.conf/<romset>.loc), so the next start goes straight there; if it is moved, it is searched for again.
   • Settings go in .conf/ and romsets in .roms/: the UVMC2's menu hides folders whose name starts with a dot, so the card shows only the games. A card set up before keeps everything: the old config/ and roms/ are still read, and nothing is written to them any more.
   • Without the romset on the card the screen says ROM FILE NOT FOUND and the name of the zip it wants.
2. v1.12026-11-06
   • Built with uvmc2-sdk v1.4.12, whose frame filler fits the refresh period: 1.0 overran every frame and ran at 36.3 fps of 38 (measured on the console); now 37.7-37.8.
3. v1.02026-11-04
   • First release.
   • Sound through the jack: the player's step, the enemies' step and the player's death. MAME has no samples for Barrier and the sets that circulate are empty, so they were cut out of a recording of the game and checked against it: the attract mode plays them in the same order and at the same moments.
   • All three Skill buttons work: Skill C was not wired, and A and B were labelled as fire and thrust.
   • Button 4 inserts a coin and then starts the game.
   • The cabinet's switches as it ships (MAME's defaults): three lives; they were read as all on, which gave five.
   • Centred and as tall as the screen; it sat to the right of centre and short of the top and bottom.
   • Runs at the arcade's own 38 Hz.
   • An options screen at start, after the Vectrex Studio intro: refresh, brightness, controls (the buttons can be remapped, and the choice is saved) and calibration.