MiSTer FPGA Taito F3 Core Makes Major Progress With RayForce and Elevator Action Returns

One of the biggest pieces of FPGA news on 6 September concerns Taito's F3 arcade hardware, which is now the subject of an actively developing MiSTer core.

One of the biggest pieces of FPGA news on 6 September concerns Taito's F3 arcade hardware, which is now the subject of an actively developing MiSTer core. RetroRGB's latest MiSTer roundup reports that several major games are already running at substantial levels of completion. RayForce in its US configuration is listed at roughly 90 percent, Gunlock and the Japanese RayForce build at around 85 percent, and Elevator Action Returns at approximately 65 percent. Those numbers make clear that the project is not yet finished, but they also show that one of the more interesting arcade platforms of the 1990s is moving significantly closer to accurate FPGA reproduction. The Taito F3 system appeared during a period when 2D arcade boards were becoming increasingly sophisticated, and its library contains the sort of sprite-heavy, effects-rich games that make accurate recreation particularly valuable. RayForce alone is a compelling target. Taito's vertical shooter became renowned for its layered visual presentation and lock-on mechanics, while Elevator Action Returns developed a long-standing reputation as one of the company's finest action games. MiSTer differs fundamentally from conventional software emulation because compatible cores attempt to reproduce the behaviour of original hardware using programmable logic. That does not automatically make every implementation perfect, but mature FPGA cores can offer timing and system behaviour extremely close to original boards while eliminating the practical burden of owning, powering and maintaining increasingly scarce arcade PCBs. Preservation is becoming especially important as custom chips age and replacement components become difficult to source. The development also demonstrates how far MiSTer has travelled beyond its early identity as a convenient way to recreate 8-bit and 16-bit home systems. Modern core development is pushing into increasingly complex arcade architectures. There is still work to be done before the F3 implementation can be considered complete, particularly with titles sitting well below full compatibility, but today's progress report is significant. For enthusiasts who have wanted accurate, low-latency access to Taito's mid-1990s arcade catalogue without assembling a room full of original boards, this is a core worth following closely.