TAITO F3 Might be Coming to the MiSTer FPGA

UPDATE 23.08.2025 – Although wickerwaka has a TAITO F3 Puzzle Bobble 3 board, it’s actually to work on Operation Wolf 3. As operation Wolf 3 has a TCO650FDA chip that is also present on F3 boards. Operation Wolf 3 is very similar to a the TAITO F2, so it’s a good game to implement given a lot of the ground work has already been done. In regard to the TAITO F3 system development, this is something core developer Raki is working on, and still maybe a long time away.

__________________________________________________

Let’s take this with a massive grain of salt and keep our expectations in check. Core developer wickerwaka recently shared an image of the TAITO F3 board on his work desk. Although this is likely far away, and hopefully the F3 system can fit within the MiSTer FPGA’s DE10 Nano. It’s always first steps like this that kickstart new projects. So naturally we are super excited.

Wickerwaka is already known on the MiSTer FPGA scene for his many excellent cores, ranging from the IREM 72, 92 to the most recent TAITO F2 core, and lots of stuff in-between.

Initially wickerwaka has stated that currently he is unable to get video sync out from the F3 board but audio is fine.

The TAITO F3 system host lots of games (full list below) including Elevator Action Returns, Darius Gaiden, Twin Cobra II and Bubble Symphony.

We hope that this does become an FPGA core. Oh btw, some of wickerwaka cores have also been ported over to the Analogue Pocket, thanks to Boogermann.

Here’s a full list of TAITO F3 games taken from System 16