Popeye Saves the Earth

Partial

Bally1994WPC-DCSbally.popeye-saves-the-earth.1994

OPDB IPDB bally/popeye-saves-the-earth-1994.mdbally/popeye-saves-the-earth-1994.json

Wire it up

what an authoring tool needs first
Bind this ROM
pop_lx5

6 ROM sets resolve to this machine. Clones share the definition unless a hardware difference is listed.

Controller platform
pinmame.wpc-dcs

PinMAME already reports logical active state. Do not invert again in the table — normally-closed is a physical fact recorded per switch, not a runtime transform.

Displays

No display inventory recorded yet.

Address space
Switches
13–86 (23)
Solenoids
3–13 (8)

Coverage

Partial

Real evidence exists, but authoring requirements are still missing or in conflict. Verify before shipping a table.

Completion19%

Progress is derived from the fixed author-readiness requirements. It helps rank unfinished work, but only a 100% author-ready definition passes the publication gate.

Catalog Identity
validated
Address Enumeration
unknown
Semantic Naming
unknown
Physical Wiring
unknown
Mechanisms
unknown
Variant Coverage
candidate
Recreation Knowledge
unknown
Still missing · 13
Driver MappingInput EnumerationInput SemanticsOutput EnumerationOutput SemanticsDisplay InventoryMechanism InventoryMechanism BehaviorPolarityVariant DifferencesRecreation NotesProvenanceSpatial Placement

Switches

The addresses PinMAME reports as closed. Numbers are the public API values, not matrix hardware pins.

23 addresses

Switch map

Column × row matrix — the address is column·row.

used unused
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
5
7
8
Hover or tap an address to identify it.
23 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
13
Start
switch.start candidate
14
Tilt
switch.tilt candidate
16
Left Jet
switch.left-jet candidate
17
Right Jet
switch.right-jet candidate
18
Center Jet
switch.center-jet candidate
21
Slam Tilt
switch.slam-tilt candidate
22
Coin Door
switch.coin-door candidate
23
Launch
switch.launch candidate
37
Wheel Exit
switch.wheel-exit candidate
51
Trough1
switch.trough1 candidate
52
Trough2
switch.trough2 candidate
53
Trough3
switch.trough3 candidate
54
Trough4
switch.trough4 candidate
55
Trough5
switch.trough5 candidate
56
Trough6
switch.trough6 candidate
57
Trough Jam
switch.trough-jam candidate
74
Left Outlane
switch.left-outlane candidate
75
Left Inlane
switch.left-inlane candidate
76
Left Sling
switch.left-sling candidate
77
Right Sling
switch.right-sling candidate
78
Right Inlane
switch.right-inlane candidate
85
Right Outlane
switch.right-outlane candidate
86
Shooter
switch.shooter candidate

Controlled devices

Everything the ROM can energise, grouped the way a table author builds it.

Coils, magnets & motors

8
8 shown
# Name Device ID Evidence
3
Launch
coil.launch candidate
5
Trough
coil.trough candidate
7
Knocker
coil.knocker candidate
9
Left Jet
coil.left-jet candidate
10
Right Jet
coil.right-jet candidate
11
Center Jet
coil.center-jet candidate
12
Left Sling
coil.left-sling candidate
13
Right Sling
coil.right-sling candidate

Recreation notes

Working knowledge that has no schema field yet — edition differences, tuning values, pitfalls.

Coverage: partial - machine identity plus candidate-only I/O attachments. Playfield devices, wiring, mechanisms, and behavior are evidenced only as unverified candidates.

This record was promoted from the generated catalog stub stub.pinmame.pop_lx5 by the catalog-wide identity pass of 2026-08-29. The promotion resolves machine identity and carries the catalog's residual driver grouping over unchanged, the platform and device attachments below were added by the 2026-08-29/30 candidate passes and assert nothing beyond candidate provenance. Every requirement in the definition's coverage.missing is genuinely outstanding.

Identity

  • PinMAME catalog: root driver pop_lx5, description "Popeye Saves The Earth (LX-5)", manufacturer "Bally", catalog year "1994".
  • OPDB record GR0lW-MJPVV (IPDB 1851) names this machine "Popeye Saves the Earth" (Bally, manufacture date 1994-02-01); the resolved identity rests on the agreement of the PinMAME catalog and this reviewed mapping.
  • The definition's driver list is exactly the clone tree PinMAME declares under pop_lx5; whether every listed driver really runs on this physical machine is unverified.

Drivers this record holds

  • pop_dx5 (1994, Bally, clone of pop_lx5).
  • pop_la4 (1994, Bally, clone of pop_lx5).
  • pop_lx4 (1994, Bally, clone of pop_lx5).
  • pop_lx5 (1994, Bally).
  • pop_pa3 (1993, Bally, clone of pop_lx5).
  • pop_pa4 (1993, Bally, clone of pop_lx5).

PinMAME source contract (candidate)

  • The pinned PinMAME source declares pop_lx5 at src/wpc/sims/wpc/prelim/pop.c:280 with machine module wpc_mDCSS; the definition declares controller platform pinmame.wpc-dcs from it.
  • The driver source's named switch/solenoid symbols are carried as 31 candidate devices in the definition.

What a curator must establish next

Full input, output, and display enumeration with semantic names; physical wiring and polarity; mechanism inventory and behavior; variant differences across the clone tree; recreation knowledge from a manual, schematic, or known-working table; runtime provenance; and a normalized spatial placement for every physical device. No manual, schematic, or runtime-harness evidence is retained for this machine yet; the candidate sections above are the only retained I/O evidence so far.

ROM sets

Every driver that resolves to this physical machine.

ROM set Description Year Parent Hardware
pop_lx5Popeye Saves The Earth (LX-5) 1994——
pop_lx4Popeye Saves The Earth (LX-4) 1994pop_lx5—
pop_la4Popeye Saves The Earth (LA-4) 1994pop_lx5—
pop_dx5Popeye Saves The Earth (DX-5 LED Ghost Fix) 1994pop_lx5—
pop_pa4Popeye Saves The Earth (PA-4 LED Ghost Fix) 1993pop_lx5—
pop_pa3Popeye Saves The Earth (PA-3 Prototype) 1993pop_lx5—

Parent set: pop_lx5 — clones share this definition unless a hardware difference is noted.

Pinball memory maps

External source LGPL-3.0-only2 maps

RAM layouts published by an independent project and mirrored here at a pinned commit. They are not part of this machine’s definition: nothing below was used as evidence for the definition, and none of it counts towards coverage. Check claims against the upstream project.

Upstream
tomlogic/pinball-memory-maps
Commit
d8693b9

This program makes use of content from the Pinball Memory Maps project.

pop_lx5.map.json

williams-wpc-12Kv5format 0.8

maps/williams/wpc/pop_lx5.map.json

Applies to ROMs
pop_dx5pop_la4pop_lx4pop_lx5
Sections
auditschecksum16checksum8game_statehigh_scoreslast_playedmode_champions
Map JSONMap sourcePlatform JSONPlatform source

williams-wpc-12K defines the RAM layout this map’s offsets are read against — the map is not interpretable without it.

pop_pa4.map.json

williams-wpc-12Kv5format 0.8

maps/williams/wpc/pop_pa4.map.json

Applies to ROMs
pop_pa3pop_pa4
Sections
auditschecksum16checksum8game_statehigh_scoreslast_played
Map JSONMap sourcePlatform JSONPlatform source

williams-wpc-12K defines the RAM layout this map’s offsets are read against — the map is not interpretable without it.

Evidence

Every claim above traces to one of these. When they disagree: a known-working VPX script wins on controller addresses and causality, the manual wins on wiring and construction, pinned PinMAME wins on emulator routing and display layout.

  • PinMAME catalog

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.catalog.8371478a7640

    PinmameGetGames

    8371478a7640
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640

  • PinMAME source

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.core.8371478a7640

    src/wpc/sims/wpc/prelim/pop.c:280 (machine module wpc_mDCSS)

    src/wpc/sims/wpc/prelim/pop.c
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640

  • PinMAME source

    BSD-3-Clause

    pinmame.driver.pop

    src/wpc/sims/wpc/prelim/pop.c switch/solenoid #define block

    src/wpc/sims/wpc/prelim/pop.c
    by
    PinMAME contributors
    rev
    8371478a7640
    sha256
    2b52e8698a12…

Something wrong or missing?

This definition still has 13 unmet requirements, listed under Coverage above. Fixes belong in the definition itself — editing on GitHub forks it for you and opens the pull request.

Cite a source for anything you change — a manual page, a line in a working VPX script, PinMAME source, or a reading from the machine's own service menu. Claims without provenance cannot be validated.

Edit the definition Edit the note Report a problem
Before you startCONTRIBUTING.mdschemas/machine.schema.jsondocs/MACHINE_DEFINITIONS_PLAN.md How to read a definition

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