Nichibutsu serial numbers

vibri2001

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I picked up my first "true" arcade game yesterday ( I already have an Ultimate Arcade machine by Chicago Gaming Company). I picked up a Crazy Climber cocktail. Everything appears to be working (monitor, both sets of controls, speaker, I have tried the coin mech yet as it is currently set to free play). I have a lot of work to do to clean up the inside. It has a consistent layer of dust throughout the inside. I joined KLOV and listed my game, however, I am having trouble figuring out the serial number, much of the plate is in Japanese. One number is very clear 95-1836, but I imagine that is the model or part number. It appears the serial number was not stamped but merely printed on the plate. Nearly all of that ink has worn off. I can see bits and pieces of the numbers but not knowing what the font looks like it's tough deciphering the 3's, 0's and 8's.

Does anyone have pictures or links to some other games by Nichibutsu? Maybe if I can see what other plates by the same company look like I could figure out what mine is.
 
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Here are the pictures I can get. Luckily I found out that my camera does have a macro setting. I'm assuming the serial number if the open area where all the numbers have disappeared from.

The third picture is just of the dirt/dust inside. What is the best way to clean this out without breaking anything? I know I need to steer clear of the monitor, what about the power supply? Anything else? I would like to restore this machine. Are there things I shouldn't do?
 

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Your first game is a working crazy climber cocktail. FOR $25. Nice score. Don't go messing that thing up.

EDIT: You should have posted this in general arcade, not repair. I won't flame ya but some people around here will
 
Here are the pictures I can get. Luckily I found out that my camera does have a macro setting. I'm assuming the serial number if the open area where all the numbers have disappeared from.

The third picture is just of the dirt/dust inside. What is the best way to clean this out without breaking anything? I know I need to steer clear of the monitor, what about the power supply? Anything else? I would like to restore this machine. Are there things I shouldn't do?

The first line on the plate says Nihonbutsu - which is a different way to spell Nichibutsu (common thing do to with Kanji)

The middle section, first line just says Voltage
Second is Wattage
Third is ....yep..Herz,

The last line says Serial Number..but sadly that's illegible

hope this helps,
 
Thanks for the translation. I was hoping to be able to make out the serial number to input it into KLOV. It doesn't appear many people do that though as I didn;t see any other games with serial numbers listed.

Is there a beginner/newbie guide to restoring arcade games? I would like to fix this machine up, but I don't want to break anything. Are the components inside any more fragile than parts in a PC? I've worked in many of my PC without ever breaking anything but I'm not sure of the insides of the arcade.

Everything seemed to work fine when I tried it at the yard sale. However now the sound comes and goes and the joysticks seem a little wonky.
 
The most fragile part of the game is probably the monitor, more specifically the "neck" (narrow end) of the monitor tube. Typically, these have minimal protection and can easily break if you are not careful when removing the monitor or when working around it. If the tube breaks, its "Game Over" and you will have to locate a new tube. The PCBs are fairly hard to damage. I know when I first got into the hobby I was very worried about static and stuff but after receiving a few boards from eBay… well, lets just say the PCBs can survive extremely rough handling. Remember, arcade games were built for the "street" so for the most part they are sort of hard to break.

It may help to look over your game's manual: http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Manuals_and_Schematics/Crazy%20Climber%20(Nichibutsu).pdf

I would bet your joystick problems are just because of dirt or wear. I do not know much about Nichibutsu stuff but I would guess your sound issue could be from a bad volume control potentiometer, bad cap(s) in the audio amp portion of the PCB, or maybe a bad speaker. Maybe someone else can give you a few better suggestions.

Sometimes the serial number appears on the PCB. Some manufactures matched the board s/n to the cabinet s/n but this is not always the case. It sort of looks like you may have a few stickers on your PCB so you may just get lucky if you can match one to the writing on the cabinet s/n plate.
 
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Thanks for the translation. I was hoping to be able to make out the serial number to input it into KLOV. It doesn't appear many people do that though as I didn;t see any other games with serial numbers listed.

Is there a beginner/newbie guide to restoring arcade games? I would like to fix this machine up, but I don't want to break anything. Are the components inside any more fragile than parts in a PC? I've worked in many of my PC without ever breaking anything but I'm not sure of the insides of the arcade.

Everything seemed to work fine when I tried it at the yard sale. However now the sound comes and goes and the joysticks seem a little wonky.

hai daijobu desuyo (yep no worries!)

If you can take a macro shot (super close up) with your digital camera...with and without a flash, i could see if can extrapolate what the number should be...
 
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