Fighter pilots needed in sector wars, play Astro Blaster!

Segagee

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Fighter pilots needed in sector wars, play Astro Blaster!

Not sure how many of you guys and gals have heard of or even like this game, but I know everyone likes hearing about the latest finds, so here is my first of 2010.

Picked this up for $40 at an auction about a week and a half ago, just bought it on a whim because I didn't want to leave my first auction empty handed. The outside of the cabinet was very dusty and missing a few cosmetic things here and there. I plugged it in at the auction and the game was booting to nothing but a garbled mess, no sound or anything. Got the game home and had to drill the lock to get it open and couldn't believe how clean it was on the inside. Aside from minor dust on the bottom and a few random coffee stirrers, the game looked pristine. On a more exciting note I found two quarters and a Sega labeled bag with the original schematics inside, one of them labeled "company confidential."

Thanks to all my previous research and great repair advice on these forums, I figured the problem was either a voltage or PCB issue at worst. Got around to removing and cleaning the PCB tonight, and found extensive corrosion and dirt buildup on the headers that connect to the power supply Molex. Cleaned these with some contact cleaner, scraped them off, threw the PCB in and the graphics were still garbled, but moving. I did have sound, and when that synthesized speech came out of the speaker it about made me jump out of my pants. Hit the reset button, added a few credits, and she came right up. Monitor is bright and crisp, no burn or anything.

After the all of the fun involved in getting my Tron up and running, I couldn't believe how easy this fix was.

Game is a cocktail by the way, so it will make for a cool talking coffee table.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics and story.
 

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I love cheap, original games that are easy to fix! Congrats.

Scott C.
 
Thats a cool game too. Its one of those games that looks really easy but isnt...

Matt
 
That sir is an awesome game. I put tons of quarters in that beast back in the day. Loved the slo-mo and having to watch your fuel and also making sure your lasers didn't overheat. Shoot, I'm going to have to fire that up in MAME when I get all my crap unpacked. Thanks for that blast from the past. Enjoy it.
 
Not sure how many of you guys and gals have heard of or even like this game, but I know everyone likes hearing about the latest finds, so here is my first of 2010.

Picked this up for $40 at an auction about a week and a half ago, just bought it on a whim because I didn't want to leave my first auction empty handed. The outside of the cabinet was very dusty and missing a few cosmetic things here and there. I plugged it in at the auction and the game was booting to nothing but a garbled mess, no sound or anything. Got the game home and had to drill the lock to get it open and couldn't believe how clean it was on the inside. Aside from minor dust on the bottom and a few random coffee stirrers, the game looked pristine. On a more exciting note I found two quarters and a Sega labeled bag with the original schematics inside, one of them labeled "company confidential."

Thanks to all my previous research and great repair advice on these forums, I figured the problem was either a voltage or PCB issue at worst. Got around to removing and cleaning the PCB tonight, and found extensive corrosion and dirt buildup on the headers that connect to the power supply Molex. Cleaned these with some contact cleaner, scraped them off, threw the PCB in and the graphics were still garbled, but moving. I did have sound, and when that synthesized speech came out of the speaker it about made me jump out of my pants. Hit the reset button, added a few credits, and she came right up. Monitor is bright and crisp, no burn or anything.

After the all of the fun involved in getting my Tron up and running, I couldn't believe how easy this fix was.

Game is a cocktail by the way, so it will make for a cool talking coffee table.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics and story.

Sounds like a great deal... one of the hardest games I've ever played.

I have a boardset here I just posted about yesterday for information on the pinout to build an adapter to test them.
 
Astroblaster is one of those I played the crap out of BITD. I never see a machine (or boardset) for sale though. Did they all get converted and the boards thrown away?

Is it a boardset that would be pretty straightforward to adapt to Jamma? Or are there weird voltages/other things to consider?

I'm definitely looking for a working boardset.
 
That game has deep throaty bass when played in the upright 6 X 9 speaker.....I believe this was the first game to have secret bonuses too! Todd
 
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