So this nice box arrived from the DHL-guy here this morning and in it a new load of retro USB controllers.  So this means that the purple-buttoned SNES controllers are back in stock, and we also found these nice Sega Saturn USB controllers.  These were a special order for a customer but we can always get more of them.

Want one too ? Order your SNES USB Controller here and get your Saturn USB Controller here.

So what we have here is the live SID setup used by Fritske and in the get-go we’ connecter to Commodorserver.com and fired up the chat window in an online application.  Its actually quite fascinating to see a C64 fire up an IP connection, load stuff from the internet and fire up a chat session.

Makes me want to set up my own comparable kit, but where to put it..

What to do ? Well, replace the switch.  Ordered a replacement from Arcadia Amusements, remove a plastic over the pop bumpers and put the new one in place.  Quick test and voila – seems to work like a charm.

So what better to do than a testgame ?  Don’t know so put the glass back on, fired up a game and got to 3.8 million.  This game really has a very nice sound & light show for highscore entry – those flashers behind the Space Station logo really light up the room when entering your name.  And the display is used to its full potential too with the music.

Kind of makes me want to put a huge subwoofer in the cabinet so that it sounds even better, louder and harder.

To do now : either replace that 4th display segment or just say “fuck it” and throw in a LED.  No decision on that yet…

In the cabinet : Some MVS Carts, a Competition Pro USB, Vamei stick and Street Fighter IV in the back.

And currently still on top of the retro-gaming section : Sticks for Wii, Playstation PC and XBox360.  Yes that Sega Master System “Afterburner” looks extremely shiny in there.

Place to find all this yumm is a spot called “The Sentinel”, located in the Hoogstraat number 50, Antwerpen – that’s between the Groenplaats and the Schelde river.  The shop is quite new at a familiar location.  Website and stuff is to follow, when online we’ll ofcourse post the link in our friends-section.

Take of the drop target assembly.  It all works and its there but this one really would not go down.  I never use any lubricant in a pinball machine, but this is an exception.  A bit of teflon spray on where the drop target slides down and bazinga.  It drops immediately now after just the slightest touch.  The opto still needs some cleaning as it does not recognize a drop in 5% of the cases but this is a major improvement nonetheless

With the droptarget removed, I could also replace that single 555 lamp that was still to be replaced.  This one sits under the “stop & score” insert so that’s shiny now as well.

The ramp on this game is busted, as is the accompanying flap.  This was already operator fixed in the past but the screw didn’t copy anymore.  So here’s a small expansion to that single screw.  Yes it’s a hack but untill reproduction ramps are made, this will have to do.

And as a final touch.. New balls please !

Sadly no pictures from the display or the after cleaning state but just to give you an idea on what it was…

Trust me, in the end it looked a lot better and played faster  too :p

With the High Voltage board repaired, there was one thing left to do : test it before it goes back into the No Fear.  5 minutes away is a nicely restored Addams Family that holds the same type of board so in it went.

Screw in the board, connect the cables, power on the game and BOING !

Very nice crisp display as a result.  Now to drive back to Leuven and reconnect the PCB into its original No Fear home.

The “before” picure. The negative voltages both matched at about –120v.  Only R8 measured out of scope but just replace everything, as most likely other components have toasted as well.

Getting the PDF manual its best to print out the page showing the display board and marking the components that need to be replaced and use the parts list as a guideline for what goes where once you open up the goodie bag of shiny new components

All parts layed out and taped to a piece of paper.  Basically work our way thru – easy parts first, well after we got the board emptied out.

An hour of desoldering later.  An “empty” PCB.  This will get a bit of a cleaning before the new components go on, taking away the years of Pinball Dust that have accumulated

New components installed.  Not much more to say.

And here are the old components and cut wires from the new ones.  This is for mister trashcan, unless someone would want an old burnt-out transistor – nope I didn’t think so.

Getting closer to the end of the year also means counting what is left.  One of those things to count are the retro pins that are available at the trade shows.  Seems that I’ve sold out of Space Invaders, Atari logos and 8 bit logos.  Mario’s, Mushrooms and Neo Geo is getting low as well.

So what to do ? Well, get new ones I guess…

The Gent Hackerspace – Whitespace – celebrated it’s 100th “meeting” last friday.  In the back room of the space is this lovely – but of so effing huge -  Neo Geo cabinet.  It holds an equally massive 6 slot motherboard but needed some tweaking on the config side.  I quickly set the system to free play (no longer pushing the test button inside the coindoor), allowed game swapping without credits and stopped the auto-start timer that I always find to be utterly annoying.

Played some Puzzle Bobble, Aero Fighters 2 and Magical Drop 2.  Nice cabinet but standing up does tend to get painfull in the lower back and arms after about half an hour.  Shame I don’t have the room for a cabinet such as this one.  It’s *really* nice.