Worst designed, reliable, etc. game boards?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I thought it would be nice to hear everyone's thoughts
on which games were made with the worst designed game
PCBs and the most unreliable game PCBs (not necessarily
the same thing). This applies to classics only
(obviously), since most newer hard drive based games
are prone to failure much sooner than the classics,
IMHO.

Worst Designed
==============
* Pole Position/Pole Positition II - Need I saw
anything more?
* Williams use of 4116 on their classic series of
games. Why use a chip that requires more voltages,
runs hotter, etc. ($, of course).
* Pac-Man PCBs (the 284 and 285 TTLs - bad design and
a lot of problems are caused by them and the cheap
sockets Midway used).


Most Unreliable
===============
* Galaga/Bosconian - This is two parts, but I think the
use of chips with silver legs has caused many of these
to failure prematurely. Additionally, the use of
custom chips (perhaps this later one belongs in the
Worst Designed catalogry) on many of Namco's designed
games has made them unreliable, since the parts are so
hard to find!


Scott C.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Ill second the motion on PP is the worst deisgned game board. I still
laugh when some ask me for a set because thiers has a burnt edge
connector.

 

[peter]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Berzerk.

 

[mark]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Definitely Ranagator by barker inc. 1985
"arcadeguy" <arcadeguy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1125956057.808664.186350@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Ill second the motion on PP is the worst deisgned game board. I still
> laugh when some ask me for a set because thiers has a burnt edge
> connector.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

for longevity?

the only answer is Omega Race... has ANYONE ever seen an Omega Race board
that hasn't been 1/2 eaten away by battery acid?

"Scott Caldwell" <lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote in message
news:BQ2Te.392$wk6.8@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
>I thought it would be nice to hear everyone's thoughts
> on which games were made with the worst designed game
> PCBs and the most unreliable game PCBs (not necessarily
> the same thing). This applies to classics only
> (obviously), since most newer hard drive based games
> are prone to failure much sooner than the classics,
> IMHO.
>
> Worst Designed
> ==============
> * Pole Position/Pole Positition II - Need I saw
> anything more?
> * Williams use of 4116 on their classic series of
> games. Why use a chip that requires more voltages,
> runs hotter, etc. ($, of course).
> * Pac-Man PCBs (the 284 and 285 TTLs - bad design and
> a lot of problems are caused by them and the cheap
> sockets Midway used).
>
>
> Most Unreliable
> ===============
> * Galaga/Bosconian - This is two parts, but I think the
> use of chips with silver legs has caused many of these
> to failure prematurely. Additionally, the use of
> custom chips (perhaps this later one belongs in the
> Worst Designed catalogry) on many of Namco's designed
> games has made them unreliable, since the parts are so
> hard to find!
>
>
> Scott C.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I've found so many different problems with _Galaga_ boardsets that I've had
to keep track of them in a logbook. Flaky sockets, resistor networks that
come apart, intermittent ribbon cables, freaky custom chips, bad capacitors
in the audio amplifier, etc., etc., etc.

_Pac Man_ boards are, on the whole, rather simple to troubleshoot. They are
not nearly as complicated as _Galaga_ boardsets are. Their downside is
using some RAM chips and color PROMs that are now getting harder to find
replacements for. But _Ms. Pac Man_ introduced the ribbon cable, now a
common failure point.

_Pole Position_ can make you use your desoldering station quite a bit, yes.
These days, you can go through a stack of five boardsets and celebrate if
you find one that works.

_Omega Race_, yes!!! And how! I've not seen one boardset in the last five
years that wasn't eaten up by battery acid.

_Qix_ boardsets -- terribly complicated, and very susceptible to battery
corrosion. I'm told El Dorado won't even work on them any more.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Anything with a suicide battery(CPS2, other mid to late 90's boards)
is should start to die soon, provided it wasn't replaced. Im thankful
for cps2shock.com

-isaac

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Ough! I totally forgot about that one and you are
totally right. I should fault Williams for the
battery location on their PCBs too.

Scott C.

Steve Muccione wrote:
> for longevity?
>
> the only answer is Omega Race... has ANYONE ever seen an Omega Race board
> that hasn't been 1/2 eaten away by battery acid?
>
> "Scott Caldwell" <lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote in message
> news:BQ2Te.392$wk6.8@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
>
>>I thought it would be nice to hear everyone's thoughts
>>on which games were made with the worst designed game
>>PCBs and the most unreliable game PCBs (not necessarily
>>the same thing). This applies to classics only
>>(obviously), since most newer hard drive based games
>>are prone to failure much sooner than the classics,
>>IMHO.
>>
>>Worst Designed
>>==============
>>* Pole Position/Pole Positition II - Need I saw
>> anything more?
>>* Williams use of 4116 on their classic series of
>> games. Why use a chip that requires more voltages,
>> runs hotter, etc. ($, of course).
>>* Pac-Man PCBs (the 284 and 285 TTLs - bad design and
>> a lot of problems are caused by them and the cheap
>> sockets Midway used).
>>
>>
>>Most Unreliable
>>===============
>>* Galaga/Bosconian - This is two parts, but I think the
>> use of chips with silver legs has caused many of these
>> to failure prematurely. Additionally, the use of
>> custom chips (perhaps this later one belongs in the
>> Worst Designed catalogry) on many of Namco's designed
>> games has made them unreliable, since the parts are so
>> hard to find!
>>
>>
>>Scott C.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Scott Caldwell <lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote:
: Yes, but they kept using them all the way through the
: line (1982/1983)? Yeh, it makes sense if the 4116 just
: came out in 79', but by the time Robotron, Joust,
: Bubbles, Splat, etc. came out they should have switched
: knowing those 4116 had issues.

They didn't have issues until the power supplies started
flaking out... When you lose +12 or -5 and leave the game
running, the rams would start to die.

--
Mark Spaeth mspaeth@mtl.mit.edu
50 Vassar St., #38.265 mspaeth@mit.edu
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 452-2354 http://rgvac.978.org/~mspaeth

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Any 3 board Taito PCB set, Every one I have had only lasted about a week, I
have about 10 sets of SI and every board is dead!! ...wasn't the power
supply! I guess just old boards.
"Isaac W." <izwalker@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1125991037.565689.325040@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Anything with a suicide battery(CPS2, other mid to late 90's boards)
> is should start to die soon, provided it wasn't replaced. Im thankful
> for cps2shock.com
>
> -isaac
>