Texas Instruments SN76477
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SN76477 "complex sound generator" is a sound chip produced by Texas Instruments. The chip came to market in 1978. A compatible version is identified as ICS76477.
SN76477 in a 28-pin DIP package
Musical organ
Siren / phasor
Barking dog
Space Invaders
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Space Invaders is a 1978 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Taito for arcades. Taito released it in Japan in July 1978 and overseas through a partnership with Midway Manufacturing lat
Texas Instruments SN76477
…keypress. The chip was used as a sound effects generator in arcade games and toys and for hobby projects. Among its better-known uses is the arcade game Space Invaders. More recently, it has been used as a hobbyist system for building simple analog synthesizers, using it with various external controllers. In 1979, TI…
Japanese arcade flyer
Tomohiro Nishikado (shown in 2011) designed Space Invaders' gameplay as well as the arcade cabinet's custom computing hardware.
Nishikado adopted the Intel 8080 microprocessor (pictured) into development in order to display improved graphics and animation.
Michiyuki Kamei used the 556 timer IC (pictured), which he used previously in Super Speed Race, to generate the sound of the invaders' movement.