MiSTercade Pre-Order, Firmware Update, and Pre-configured Input Mappings!

MiSTercade V2 Pre-order

I'm currently running a pre-order for MiSTercade V2.1 lite and full kits, with the target arrival date in late April. The changes from V2.0 to V2.1 include the removal of the OLED display, and fixes for video amplification stage. Get yours here: https://misteraddons.com/products/mistercade-v2-kit-mister-fpga-jamma-arcade-kit

MiSTercade V1 Firmware update

A recent change to Jotego's JTFrame caused an issue with all versions of MiSTercade V1 (referred to as V1.X). This came to my attention after a few users experienced ghost inputs between the player joysticks. 

To explain a bit further, with MiSTercade V1.X, I connected player 2 joystick inputs to extra buttons on the player 1 control side. This allowed for native twin-stick mapping in several arcade cores, which don't have an option in the OSD menu to map player 2 joystick as extra inputs. I didn't enable the same functionality in MiSTercade V2.X. The games that lack OSD twin stick option are 

• Crazy Climber 2
• Inferno (has a "move with fire" option)
• Star Guards

Bootsector was kind enough to remove the player 2 joystick inputs from the player 1 controls in a new firmware update.

This firmware update also fixes a USB connection bug that affects some V1.0, V1.1, and V1.2 users. If you've ever experienced no input from MiSTercade, this is for you. Note: you must first get a good USB connection to apply the firmware update. Once applied, the problem is permanently solved.

If you enjoy Jotego's cores on MiSTercade V1.X you'll need to update your firmware.

1. Download the new MiSTercade V1.X firmware here. 
2. Extract zip file to Scripts folder of the MiSTer micro SD card
3. (Optional) Add MiSTercade mapping entry to your downloader.ini file (See next section)
4. Connect USB keyboard or controller
5. Remove MiSTercade top plate, and position a pin jumper on the "STM32 DFU" 2 pin header
6. Boot MiSTer, and navigate to the Scripts/MiSTercade_V1-2025 folder using your keyboard or controller
7. Select the "mistercade_firmware_updater-local.sh" script
8. After script completes, power off MiSTer, move the pin jumper back to its original location, and replace top plate
9. Boot MiSTer and run your downloader/updater script to acquire adjusted mappings

Unfortunately, every time firmware changes, the MiSTer input mappings do as well. To this end, I've added a new batch of input mappings for the new firmware (called 2025).

MiSTercade Mappings

If you're one of the many MiSTercade users that aren't using the MiSTer pre-configured input mappings, you really should. It's one of the biggest perks of MiSTercade. I have 6 different mapping repositories. The "Freeplay" mappings assign the Start button as a secondary input for the Coin switch, so every time you press start, you're also pressing coin. There are exclusions for the console cores, to avoid the Start button activating the Select button. To get started, add one of the following sections of text to your micro SD card's Downloader.ini file and run your updater. If you don't have a Downloader.ini file already, open a text editor, copy and paste the selection, and save it to your micro SD card's main folder as "Downloader.ini".

• V1.X Legacy (Pre-2025)

[misteraddons/mistercade_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_mappings/db/db.json.zip

• V1.X Legacy Freeplay (Pre-2025)

[misteraddons/mistercade_freeplay_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_freeplay_mappings/db/db.json.zip

• V1.X Non-Twinstick (2025)

[misteraddons/mistercade_v1_2025_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_v1_2025_mappings/db/db.json.zip

• V1.X Non-Twinstick Freeplay (2025)

[misteraddons/mistercade_v1_2025_freeplay_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_v1_2025_freeplay_mappings/db/db.json.zip

• V2.X

[misteraddons/mistercade_v2_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_v2_mappings/db/db.json.zip

• V2.X Freeplay

[misteraddons/mistercade_v2_freeplay_mappings]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misteraddons/mistercade_v2_freeplay_mappings/db/db.json.zip

Conclusion

If you have any issues at all with MiSTercade firmware update or pre-configured mappings, please create a Github issue so I can track it. There are thousands of arcade games (including the alternative versions) so there may be mistakes with mapping files. I will continue to support all versions of MiSTercade now, and in the future.

Thanks for playing,

Porkchop