Notorious Game Problems

ArcadeTechGW

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Donor 5 years: 2012, 2022-2025
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I just saw a thread where someone said "game x is notorious for having y problem."

I looked around, and I didn't find a "Notorious Game Problem" thread. So, here is a thread (moderators -feel free to kill this if it already exists) to document the known issues with games.

I'll start with Bally MPU boards on the non-EM games. The boards had three NiCad cels soldered directly on the boards. If they aren't removed and remotely connected, the batteries leak, and then the corrosion eats up the MPU board.

I think it's safe to say that the Bally boards are notorious for these problems.

What is your "notorious" issue, with which game or games?
 
Galaga: Bad sockets & resistor packs. Tarnished pins on custom ICs

Pac Man (Ms. Pac, Pac Jr retrofit, and Pac Man Plus): Burned edge connectors. Bent pins on the daughter cards. Bad sockets & tarnished pins on Mask ROMs.

Pole Position: Battery leakage damages boards. Burned edge connectors and wiring harness connectors. Damaged resistors on the AR boards.

Neo Geo: Battery leakage damages boards. Dirty carts/slots cause glitches.

Galaxian: Tarnished pins on Mask ROMs. Bad sockets.

Konami boards: Bad (leaky) caps on sound hybrids.

Konami boards: Timekeeper SRAMs that die and leave games with the -11p error.

Namco boards: (Neumann Athletics, Classics Vol 1 and 2) leaking caps that cause video streaking and sound issues.

MCR boardsets: inter board connectors that fall apart.

The list goes on and on.
 
Atari post-vector era: Power leads overrun the wiring harness and PCB traces

TRON/DOT: Pretty much take your pick, two of the fussiest sets of hardware out there

Capcom CPS2: Suicide battery

Star Wars: flyback xformer

Gauntlet: screen burn of much greater magnitude than most software
 
Mylstar/Goettlib - Qbert/Reactor etc, Battery leaks down side of board.
 
Any PC based game, especially Raw Thrills ...
 
Gottlieb System 80 pins: bad filter cap in cabinet; crummy IDC connectors; design issue on power supply board (current limiting resistor in zener regulator circuit); design issues on pop-bumper driver boards

OutRun: smaller plastic steering gear broken (steel repro gears have been made).

Battlezone: main/aux PCB interconnect wiring & headers.

B&W vector monitors: cracked solder joints at headers.

G08 vector monitors: reputation for catching fire.

Early 80s Ataris: burned up fuse blocks, because 20-30A is just too much for a clip-in fuse.

Capcom, Sega, etc: "suicide" batteries (most are resurrectable now).

NBA Jam: spontaneous generation of an "s" on the end.

Many Japanese early-to-mid 80s PCBs: bad Fujitsu TTL ICs.

Williams 6809 games: bad 4116 RAM; bad interconnects; battery leaks.
 
Late 80's Konami- Bad Fujitsu logic
CPS1- Z80 failures
STV- lifted pins on SH-2
Konami-cracked custom modules
Double Dragon-broken pins on that odd +5/ground bar
Technos- high RGB output levels/ washed out
 
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Tempest - Monitor failures, board interconnect.

Most 1980s Ataris - SENSE circuit: Burnt R29, burned edge connectors, melted harness wire insulation.
 
Pacman... fuse holder causing hum bar.
Zaxxon.... sounds fadeout, 2.2uf caps on sound section
Pole positon.... 5volt sense causing. Resistors and edg connector to burn up
 
Any board with the gloss black bodied TMM2015, TMM2016 or TMM2018, TMM2063 SRAMs. The earlier versions and the later matte finished chips are much more reliable. Have a jar full of dead glossies, fat or thin they are flakey. Have met numerous boards where every single 2063 is dead.
 
op wolf- every fucking thing.

Bad soundboards-(no sound)

bad mainboards-(boots to garbage)

Gun does not register shots- (opto issues, lens issues, wiring issues, power supply issues, sometimes just does not like the monitor even if pic is good.)

Gun recoil- gears strip out alot, most ops just cut wires to it.

Gun bushings- wears out, gun hits plexi bezel causing scratches and missed shots
 
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