Anything I need to know about CPS2?

ArcadeRu

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Hi folks,

I'm purchasing my first arcade that is a CPS2. Looks like a big blue enclosed Capcom box as a PCB.

Is there anything I need to know about these machines? Do I need to replace batteries? Do's and Don'ts

Any help is appreciated.

Also can I easily swap out the CPS2 box with a Jamma PCB? or is there conversions involved?
 
Hi folks,

I'm purchasing my first arcade that is a CPS2. Looks like a big blue enclosed Capcom box as a PCB.

Is there anything I need to know about these machines? Do I need to replace batteries? Do's and Don'ts

Any help is appreciated.

Also can I easily swap out the CPS2 box with a Jamma PCB? or is there conversions involved?
CPS2 is JAMMA, so you can drop in another JAMMA game easily.

CPS2 has parts on the A board (CPU side) and B board (game side) that need to be replaced. the A board has a supercap that saves the settings, the failure symptom here is when you power the game on either the volume will be virtually inaudible or ear splitting level loud. the scotch tape and bubble gum fix is to press the Volume Down button while turning the game on which will reset the volume, but it will happen again.

the B board has a 3.6V battery that's used to keep the decryption code circuit alive while the game is turned off. Capcom created this encrypted rom scheme to prevent bootlegging and piracy and they did a good job of it for about 7-8 years before the MAME people cracked it and those games were emulated. when the battery dies the game will not boot and you'll be presented with a solid color screen (usually dark blue or dark green) because it can't run the program code. so it's highly encouraged that you replace this battery while it's still alive. otherwise you'll need a Darksoft CPS2 with keywriter capability or the ability to program 16-bit roms with decrypted code. (as I don't think Infinikeys are produced anymore, anyone is welcome to correct me here)

I actually have to replace the supercaps on all my CPS2 games, as they're all 25-30 some years old. they all have the volume irregularities now probably cause they've been stored away in a box for awhile now. I might just make tutorial videos for how to replace these parts in time.
 
How often do you recommend replacing the battery? Also is there a method to it? Like does the game need to be running, or can the game by powered off and unplugged during replacement.

I'm a newbie to all this sorry for the questions. I also have Mortal Kombat 3 and NBA Jam, do those need battery replacements and if battery does die on those, am I in big trouble too?
 
Also one more question. I also have a Street Fighter 2 CE. I don't want these games to die. I read conflicted stuff about a suicide battery. Does this game have a suicide battery? I attached a picture of my SF2 CE PCB board. Appreciate your help.
 

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Your sfce does not have a suicide battery. All cps2 B boards have suicide batteries, if that dies the game PCB dies (but is resurrectable with some effort). I replace mine every 5 years and I don't think I've ever had one NOT still be at full charge even when the PCB is in storage. So 5 years might be overkill. NBA Jam and mortal kombat have batteries to keep the cmos settings (not suicide), if those die you can simply replace them. They will give an error on boot up when those batteries die, but the game still plays.

Edit: Mk 1 & 2 have cmos batteries, haven't seen a mk3 recently not sure what they have
 
the B board has a 3.6V battery that's used to keep the decryption code circuit alive while the game is turned off. Capcom created this encrypted rom scheme to prevent bootlegging and piracy and they did a good job of it for about 7-8 years before the MAME people cracked it and those games were emulated. when the battery dies the game will not boot and you'll be presented with a solid color screen (usually dark blue or dark green) because it can't run the program code. so it's highly encouraged that you replace this battery while it's still alive. otherwise you'll need a Darksoft CPS2 with keywriter capability or the ability to program 16-bit roms with decrypted code. (as I don't think Infinikeys are produced anymore, anyone is welcome to correct me here)

There is an open source version of an infinikey available on GitHub. Can't remember what the repository name is, but there's a thread on arcade-projects.com.


Edit: https://github.com/jwestfall69/openkey-cps2
 
Remove the battery from your CPS2 boards before they leak (and they eventually will) and ruin your board. Buy a OpenKey for your CPS2 board and never worry about it again.

If you want to use a single CPS2 A+B board combo, buy a DarkSoft CPS2 multi kit which allows you to boot any CPS2 game without changing anything physically on the board when switching games.
 
If you're more interested in playing CPS2 games than collecting them, you might look into Darksoft. I own several CPS2 titles and it's become a bit of a pain maintaining them, the cheap plastic also starts to feel like owning children's toys after a while.

If you do buy more CPS2 titles, I'd recommend buying ones with the original seals intact. Others may be in pretty bad shape or bootlegs. It's easier and cheaper to revive an original board with a dead battery than to deal with some of the modified garbage out there.
 
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