OK. I came back home to clean up the FF and swap out the ARII for a known working one. The first ARII I tried didnt have sound at all...the second one gave me power behind the sound. It still sounds tinny to me. I guess i need to fire up MAME to see how this is supposed to sound. Its been a very long time since I have actually played FF.
Back to the FF. I am beginning to think it wasnt home use only. The counter does indeed read 0000002 but the board doesnt match the cab serial. The cab is UR00499 the PCB is UR00544.
I also noticed some sort of asset tag. Most of it is gone but I can make out "xxDEO" so more than likely "VIDEO"
I am thinking it was in a company break room or something like that. The counter is most definitely not tampered with and the rest of the cabinet is in awesome shape.
I did find a repair on the left hand side near the marquee. It looks like it fell over and smacked the tip off. There is a less than stellar repair job that I will probably redo at somepoint.
Overall, I am bummed that it may not be an HUO but I am totally happy with it and I actually really like playing it. I am here now with our best friends middle son. He's helping me look for the Tempest parts I think I have and we're playing 2 player Food Fight.
Just need to do a CAP kit and it will be a keeper for some time.
-Tom