Vs. Super Mario Bros. - Please help me identify this problem? (video included)

coldfire

New member
Joined
Jul 20, 2004
Messages
35
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
Vs. Super Mario Bros. - Please help me identify this problem? (video included)

I picked up a Vs. Super Mario Bros. upright cabinet recently and have been trying to get it working. When I turn it on the display just cycles between two strange graphics. I get no sound or coin door action. I thought it might be a problem with the PCB itself, so I bought a replacement from another member here. Unfortunately after moving the game roms and ppu over to the replacement board, the problem still looks exactly the same. I'm not sure what to try next.

I took a short video of the problem. If anyone has any idea what's going on I'd really appreciate your advice.



Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Looks like a bad PPU chip, try a different one from any Vs game, the colors will be wrong but see if you get the same results. It's posible that you have a bad rom but looks more like the PPU.
 
Looks like a bad PPU chip, try a different one from any Vs game, the colors will be wrong but see if you get the same results. It's posible that you have a bad rom but looks more like the PPU.

Thanks for your help. The PPU is the chip with the silver heat sink, right? I only have a couple machines at this point, and this is my only Nintendo cabinet. If it's the PPU I might as well just buy a replacement so the color is correct. Does anyone have one for Vs. Super Mario Bros that they could sell me? Thanks again.
 
Yes it's the one with the heat sink on it.

You might want to buy a different rom & PPU set so you can at least test the roms you have before investing in a SMB PPU, this way you would have a second game to play too.
 
I'd say it's either 2 things:

1. CPU - either bad, dirty, or the socket is bad
2. Battery acid damage - Common on Vs. boards and the first thing it damages are games that require the extra ram like SMB.

More likely the CPU though. If it was the PPU, the game should still play and you would get sound.
 
Great Video! Says a lot...

To Culcuhain's point, I know he has a second board with both CPUs to try and I am pretty sure he said it does the same thing.

9 times out of 10 when it goes on for a second then blinks off, it is the PPU. Kind of like the old Nintendo used to, then you take out the cartridge and blow on it…. When the CPU is bad, it usually doesn't even blink.

Pick up another set of PPU/Chips and you should b good to go. Problem is, SMB goes for a kind of premium so don't be too shocked to have someone that waants $60 for chips or up to $90-$110 with the board.

Sorry it couldn't have been better news but hey, you are getting your hands dirty in the Vs world now :) Get that sucker up and running!
 
Last edited:
If you want, I have both bad CPUs and PPUs. I could shoot a small clip of how each reacts so you could see?
 
Thanks for your help in identifying this problem. lilman573 is right, I have a second board and a second set of CPUs and have tried swapping both, but the problem persists. I think it is probably not the CPUs or the socket, since the problem presents exactly the same on both boards regardless of which CPU is inserted. Also, there were no batteries on the board when I got the machine. I did take a very close look at both boards and neither appears to have any corrosive damage.

At this point I have already bought an extra board thinking that that would resolve the problem. I would like to avoid buying more parts for this game until I am fairly certain they are likely to fix the problem, especially since the SMB chips seem so expensive. Is there a way to tell if it is the roms or the PPU, or both? Are there any more exacting tests that I can perform to try to determine specifically what is wrong before buying more hardware? Along those same lines, if there is anyone that has a set of SMB chips, I'd be glad to trade you my extra Vs. board (and whatever cash makes the trade fair). I just want to get SMB working, don't have a lot of room for storing extra parts, etc. Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
Not really much you can do without a known working PPU/Rom chipset.
There is a set of SMB on eBay right now.. and you could sell your extra board to suppliment? ... Just a suggestion.
 
Not really much you can do without a known working PPU/Rom chipset.
There is a set of SMB on eBay right now.. and you could sell your extra board to suppliment? ... Just a suggestion.

I see... well, maybe I should go ahead and get a known working Vs. chipset for another game first. If I do so, I will then be able to tell if it is my SMB Roms, or if it is the PPU that is bad, right? Then I would be left with one complete working game/board and would know exactly what I need to buy to get SMB going.

I looked on eBay and saw a complete SMB pcb (board & chips) but the one I saw was "untested" so I am reluctant to bid on it. I think being so new to the hobby maybe I better focus on getting some known working roms at this point.

Thanks again.
 
Yeah, don't bid on the untested set...at this point you need to know it's working 100% before you buy or it puts you right back at square 1.
FWIW, I have a couple sets of tested and working games if you're interested.
I have Vs. The Goonies, Vs. Slolom & Vs. Hogan's Alley.
All the PPUs & ROMs are tested and working.

Good luck.

ERIC
 
Back
Top Bottom