The Processor Used In Pac-Man Is Being Discontinued, 48 Years After It Launched

This is quite huge, the Z80 is in so many arcade boards, many used them for sound like Capcom's CPS1 and Konami's TMNT board. Having new Z80s available has meant repairs have been quite easy, but if they start to become scarce that could be a problem.

@BulkSlash Multiple companies had licenses to make their own Z80's. Spectrum's, some MSX's, PC88s, and many other devices used NEC's μPD780C. Sharp's LH0080 series was also widely used in MSX's.

I don't know if anyone still actively produces them, but there isn't a shortage of spares any time soon.

Is this the same Z80 used in the Sega Master System (and later in the Genesis for sound iirc)?

I hope enthusiasts and retro repair people order large batches of these before they're discontinued and scumbag scalpers immediately start sending prices through the roof.

@PXAbstracftion Yeah, no, these aren't Voodoo cards. The Z80 could pretty easily be put back into manufacture, and there's tons of clones and licensed versions that do exist. This is an end of an era, but not a Z80 apocalypse. Scalpers are more interested in buying up PS1 games they can flip quickly than obscure (to the general public) computer chips.

It's a good thing we have projects like MAME to keep its legacy going another fifty, hundred years, well after its supported life ends.

I honestly can't believe a processor lasted this long on the commercial market.

Phasing it out was a long process.

In my opinion it’s more important for powering the Nintendo game boy, the best selling system of the entire 20th century.

Or was pac-man its first video game use or something?

@Soupbones yes, the same! And in the game gear, of course, and the game boy.

I’m trying to remember if it was used in any other systems…

I would never have even thought it would still be selling today anyway, so the news that it was is the most surprising thing for me.

With all the cheap FPGA's out there it should be easy to create a replacement.

@jesse_dylan The Game Boy's CPU wasn't a Z80, though I think it had some similarities. There was a ton of famous game hardware that used the actual Z80, though, including various Sega and arcade systems.

@smoreon apparently is a sharp LR35902 core based around a Zylog Z80… 4.19 MHz!