ShootTheCore

I posted a detailed writeup about the Cave Guwange #arcade board I recently repaired. Ultimately, it only needed the solder on several parts redone, but it was an interesting adventure nevertheless. jammarcade.net/cave-guwange...

I was feeling pretty good about repairing this Cave Guwange #arcade board that had lines through the sprites. After reflowing the 013 custom, line buffer RAM chips, and sprite ROMs, it was looking clean. But … there’s still an addressing issue with some background tiles! 😑

Playing some Mushihimesma Futari for a monthly high score competition. As the Gradius announcer likes to say “You need some practice!” 😅 #arcade #shmup

OMG! It came with a manual!!

Here’s another update on this faulty Namco System 2 board - this time with far too many details on diagnosing TTL logic parts and a bit of ROM hacking. shootthecore.tech/repair/namco...

More light reading for arcade repair fans! In-progress report on a Namco System 2 where 11 games run perfectly, but 3 hang at startup. Isolated the fault to the Video board, ruled out socketed chips, and spent way too much time chasing a GAL red herring! tinyurl.com/sat8hhf5

Repaired a Cave CV1000 #arcade board with faulty color amps, resulting in a dim picture with a yellow tinge. Thankfully, the amps are off-the-shelf parts, and one swap later, now the image is bright, colorful and tinge-free. Detailed write up at jammarcade.net/cave-cv1000-...

Yuck-battery guts! Glad it didn’t spread to the board…

<sigh> It’s so aggravating when a microscopic leg randomly snaps off of a TSOP-48 SMD flash chip when soldering it to a board. Fortunately I have a spare handy but it takes hours to flash with my current NAND programmer. 😅

Random Game Saturday! Find him before he finds you. 💀

I fixed up an Arika Fighting Layer #arcade board running on Namco System 12 hardware this weekend. It started up with a scary FIRST POWER ON DATA ERROR message, but replacing the RTC chip sorted it out. Full writeup at jammarcade.net/fighting-layer

I radically improved arcadeRTFM.com this week. It's now a fully indexed archive of arcade repair/operator manuals plus schematics. It has details for 7,800+ arcade machines and 2,400+ manuals. You can search by game, manufacturer, year or even chip! Share it wherever you think it might be useful.

Just in time for #marchintosh , this Powerbook 1400cs was just gifted to me. Featuring a 233 Mhz PowerPC CPU, 64 MB RAM, 800 MB hard drive, Zip 100 drive, and 28.8k baud modem, this time capsule is in really nice shape! Now I need to figure out how to load some games onto it. 😎

A CPS3 #arcade cart came in for service after suiciding due to a dead battery. It wouldn’t work after flashing the Darksoft UltraBIOS. I noticed missing solder next to the clock crystal, so I addressed that and now the cart works great! I wish all repairs went this smoothly. 😁

I’m taking a short break from repairing #arcade boards to actually *play games* on them once in a while. Currently drilling Deathsmiles MBL, Dogyuun and Viewpoint for a monthly #shmup score competition.

#RandomGameSaturday this time is Zelda Four Swords Adventures. Four players each link a GBA to a GameCube console to embark on a unique adventure where the TV screen is a shared space but each player can split from the group to explore separately on their own screen. A peak couch co-op experience!

I finally sorted out the remaining issues with the sound on this Golden Axe 2 Revenge of Death Adder #arcade board. Detailed writeup at jammarcade.net/golden-axe-i...

I helped a friend calibrate his Sony KV-36FV16 CRT today. The greypoint range dialed in nicely except for a tiny blip in the 0-10% IRE that barely matters. The geometry is also surprisingly good for a flat screen Sony!

Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers.

I just published a detailed writeup of this repair on JammaArcade. jammarcade.net/seibu-kaihat...

A busy evening tonight repairing both a Seibu Kaihatsu SPI #arcade board and Raiden Fighters 2 cart. SPI Revive by Trap15 brought the SPI board back, and reflowing the solder on several SMD ROMs fixed the jailbar graphic corruption in RF2.

I thought I was done with this Sega System 32 #arcade board but playtesting revealed that it would still freeze up periodically. It seems that another TTL clock buffer just to the left of the one I just replaced is bad as well - I even cross-tested it with two testers to be sure. Very strange. 😑

I got a dead Sega System 32 #arcade board up and running again yesterday. Culprit was a dead TTL clock buffer chip. Full writeup on the diagnosis coming soon.

For this #RandomGameSarurday it’s Landstalker on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. Isometric adventure games are one of my favorite genres and this is a shining example of one, with a sprawling world, clever puzzles and excellent presentation. Some of the jumps are very difficult to pull off though.

For this #RandomGameSaturday I have Capcom’s Cadillacs & Dinosaurs. An excellent beat-em-up based on an obscure comic book and TV show, it’s much, much better than its Sega CD cousin. Plus - Q Sound audio! 😁

If anyone likes hearing me lecture on arcade boards, I just posted a 45 minute tutorial video on installing the new Darksoft Namco System 2 Multi kit. youtu.be/x3UTDccPb5g?...

In for servicing is a Neo Geo 6 Slot MVS board. The audio used to fade out shortly after power on but a full capacitor replacement sorted that out. I swapped the old clock battery for a rechargeable coin cell too. These boards are large and in charge! 😎

It’s very Xexex in my workroom tonight. #arcade #shmup

Repaired a UPL Black Heart #arcade #shmup board this evening. The NMK 902 custom chip used for rendering the FIX layer for the title screen and HUD failed. Swapped in a replacement from a Thunder Dragon donor and now it works great.

I'm getting back to work on backlogged arcade board repairs. Latest is an Irem M92 with bent pins on the GA22 chip. It took 20 minutes under the microscope with sewing needles and desoldering braid to straighten the legs. Resoldered legs to pads, confirmed connections, and the board works perfectly.

Playing Batsugun tonight. #shmup

Just traded some JAMMA boards for an Exa-Arcadia setup. There’s enough here to keep me busy for a long time! #arcade #shmup

Another Last Second Save for Random Game Saturday! This time it’s the Famicom/NES shmup Gun-Nac. Developed by Compile, it’s no surprise that it’s a quality game, but more importantly you pilot a robotic rabbit, which places it in a Hall of Honor alongside Jumping Flash and Rabio Lepus.

For my Random Game Saturday, it’s the PC Engine port of Taito’s Jigoku Meguri - aka Bonze Adventure. Play a priest battling your way through haunted graveyards to take on a demon king. Overall, it plays a bit like Ghosts N Goblins and the PCE port is quality.

I’m going to try my hand at BGA reballing. This should be interesting…

Now that the Irem M92 #arcade Multi is complete and starting to ship, I’m selling off several of my spare M92 game boards that I used in testing. Each one gets a fresh capacitor replacement and jumpers installed where the Multi requires different settings for future-proofing. 😎

I’m pleased to report that the #arcade CPS3 adapter for the Open Source Cartridge Reader developed by herzmx is the real deal. I can now erase and reprogram a CPS3 security cartridge in 2 minutes! I wish I had this thing years ago. 😁

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