Restoring A Rare 34-Year-Old Retro Game Console To Better Than New

[@PatrickWard4]

There's something so satisfying about someone restoring these old pieces of tech and not letting them just go to waste.

[@kulilin3104]

I'm really impressed with how clean those original solder points look. I've seen so many modern electronics with such haphazzard soldering. Quantity over quality has become the motto today.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Agree, the overall quality of the build is very good

[@BbJun7Rod]

So true👍🏻

[@LucaBlightOfHighland]

Well, maybe because these days they use lead-free solder, which is a little harder to work with

[@ryanjay6241]

@@LucaBlightOfHighland It depends what OP is referring to. Pretty much all *complicated* electronics these days are machine placed and soldered. Like for something like a phone PCB, a human never touches it once. Same with the majority of consumer electronics - the majority of console PCBs would be machine placed and wave soldered, with the exception of some of the required through hole components that might be present (really depends what and where, but it's often cheaper to just have a human install those components after, as there usually aren't many). In those cases I'm not really sure you can comment on the "quality", since they should all be fairly consistent if not "pretty", but the only target here is failure rate. If you're talking about random crap from China like $5 aliexpress phone chargers - yes, lots of them are horrendous. Then again, it's most likely either people with no qualifications or training at all, or children soldering these things together in some labor shop. In that case I'm not sure what one would expect except a serious fire hazard lol.

[@8bitbros]

I miss the old days where the hardware was so diverse. Companies weren’t afraid to experiment. One of the many reasons I love retro. The PC engine in particular had so many forms. Great video showcasing this uncommon piece brought into the modern world!

[@SuperFlashDriver]

I do think nowadays the only way for console manufactures to make consoles weird or experimental again, is if they have the customer customize their console order through some form sheet online, so this way the user can customize it however they like, and ship it exactly how they want it. ORRR, you can do the DIY route and take whatever is in the console, and make it look completely different than what it originally looks like (DIY Perks comes to my mind whenever he makes PC or Console builds that are either hidden or creates brand new looks for the same console itself). But yeah, other than that every single console is straight up factory produced type of look that is, more or less, the same one your friend gets at the same brick and mortar store.

[@SlavTiger]

and repairability

[@SpencerMckenithWilliams]

Well I am working on a risc-v CPU for a console im working on. I plan on adding expansions like omen or Alienware but I'm still reverse engineering (sort of) AMD and Intel chips mostly their cores. Lucky for me I'm an experienced chipset engineer though I'm a contract engineer. So at least this way it can have at least 80% compatibility with current software and leave it "hackable" for people who are smarter than me. There's so much work and love that has to go into it, also it's my retaliation against Sony hence I started vengeful technologies. I'm coming for you Sony AND YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR SINS!!!!! So far I'm able to keep the price at $400 but I may have to make a vdp and a GPU as well. Gotta make the all embedded chips as well. That's money and I don't even have to use my own foundry or fabrication saving even more money.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

@@SpencerMckenithWilliams I wish you the best of luck in doing what you wish to do in the future.

[@1chiTheKiller]

Gonna be honest, I have never seen this variation of the Turbografx before. To be fair, I've never REALLY looked into it since the system and it's games are so expensive, but I still thought I had seen them all. This mod is super complex. This is a LOT. You did a great job on it too. Way to go.

[@ParabolicLabs]

Not that it matters, but for anyone wondering: Real 3M VHB tape is not conductive, it acts as an insulator not a conductor. Real 3M VHB is used in all sorts of areas in the electronics industry, if it were conductive, it couldn't and wouldn't be used in many of the bonding areas it's used in. Something else was definitely going on. The tape itself might not have been real 3M (actually fairly common, many places make fake 3M stuff for some reason) and the adhesive used was actually conductive. Perhaps compression of the tape allowed a puncture to connect something together, but I don't see how that's possible since I didn't see anything that could have done that in the areas he used it in. It's possible it's real 3M tape and the adhesive was contaminated with something in manufacturing or contaminated from use/storage. The other possibility was the VHB was causing stress on the pcbs, flexing to make contact with something or internal stresses within the pcb. My theory is exactly what was said in the video, metallic debris.

[@Druid_Plow]

Something I've seen used in woodworking could be applied here. Carpenters will apply painters tape to 2 pieces, then super glue the taped sides together. This makes a strong but temporary bond that won't damage the wood. I can see a capton/vhb sandwich being quite useful.

[@SloppyMechanics]

nothing makes my day quite like a smooth jazz peaceful console mod

[@axlefoley6330]

I must say Tito, I have been watching your videos for a while now and I love the chill vibe of the music. I'm not much of a jazz bloke myself but I can't help but instantly relaxing when I watch you content. Keep up the great content. Also you mention that the console was fairly clean with a bit of dust, that's probably because someone had cleaned it at least once, you can see the residue from whatever they used to clean it when you show it.

[@albertwayne2323]

Not sure if someone has commented this before, but the dissassembling part with no voice and that sexy sax jazz music makes a good relaxing ASMR video

[@Write-Stuff]

I'm glad someone else appreciates the music. Tito's background music choices are Grade A and really add to the overall quality.

[@NOHEROTUFF]

What an amazing video, I kid you not, the whole time you were showcasing the console, I kept saying, “woah the PC engine!” I’m a 2000’s baby, so I never got to experience one of these, but seeing it get refurbished is amazing!!!

[@TuncayAyhan]

You can say what you want, but your solder jobs are great. The wiring is also neat. Great job!

[@donaldxavier2056]

This has to be one of the best designs for a console, ever. Great video!

[@marioyungblood]

You got Mad Skills Kidd👊 is this a Turbo GrafX? I thought I heard you say Saturn??

[@tigheklory]

Great video as always Tito! 3M says they their VBH Tape is non-conductive but they do sell a conductive version, you might want to check yours. Watching the video I saw you had the Turbonanza board right next to the card slot pins and it's possible that one of PCB layers in the Turbonanza is a ground plane and it was shorting out the card slot pins. I loved the camera work, especially when you were replacing R133 and R134! I love that you use D100L but I think you should mention that the D100L is better than the D5S in that it doesn't contain mineral oil and it 100% solution versus the 5% in the D5S.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Those are both great points! I hadn’t thought about the turboanaza board touching the hucard pins. I also definitely need to check if the vhb is conductive too. I’ll definitely need to mention that in the next video. Would you use d5 on potentiometers?

[@tigheklory]

@@MachoNachoProductions I would use Deoxit Fader F Series on pots. I'll send you info about their fader products.

[@justinmohns8279]

@@tigheklory It works great on the various GBA power switches, too. Such a great product.

[@ryanjay6241]

@@tigheklory working on a lot of vintage audio gear, Deoxit Fader F is a great choice for pots and faders

[@jslane41]

Tito, my man, you are straight surgical with that soldering iron. Beautiful to watch.

[@ada205mi]

Loved this vid, great job. As a pce collector for many decades, and with the system being my fav system by far, there's something very fitting about a pce shuttle getting this treatment, not to mention seeing one running CD games!! That little shuttle never thought it would see the day it would be running Lords/Winds of Thunder lol!

[@donoteatmikezila]

Excellent work. I love seeing old and obscure systems treated with this kind of care.

[@MatSpeedle]

Lovely Job Tito, I had no idea the Shuttle had gotten that pricey! You got a great deal on Sendico for sure!

[@Shawnsteroz]

Thanks Mate, what a satisfying video. I got a PC-Engine console and I will see if the mod will work with it. I really love it's compact size, and the games were impressive for the time. I never knew there was a shuttle, but I am not surprised NEC went to town with so many variants, it was a pity they were not more successful. If not for copyright laws, I think they should have called it the Falcon, after the Millenium Falcon.

[@yafavblerd]

You restoring this underrated classic console, along with the jazz of Nocturnal Spirits is hypnotic 🎮 🤓 makes the channel feel like its for grown-a%$ folk lol

[@Nobe_Oddy]

This was such a GREAT VIDEO!! I feel like it's been a REALLY LONG TIME since we've had a high difficulty mod video here, which I always THROUGHLY Enjoy!!! You make it look SOOOO EASY!!! I have NO IDEA how you are able to keep your hands (and thus your tools) just SO STEADY!!! I'm thinking you don't drink coffee lol (or not very much) Anyway my jaw DROPPED after the clear plastic resto and bringing the plastic back to life! It looks BETTER than it did new!!! you never cease to amaze me Tito!!!! Thanks for YET ANOTHER AWESOME RETRO RESTORE VIDEO!!!! You are the BEST!!!! :D

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you so much @nobe_oddy! That really means a lot! So happy you enjoyed this restoration 🙏

[@MrMegaManFan]

Tito, you did a great job on the Shuttle. Insert applause here!

[@venture1011]

Love these type of videos. If you ever are out of interesting mods to cover for the time being, I'd always tune into a restoration video from you if it means a weekly vid is easier to roll out.

[@Mohammed1000real]

The NEC consoles truly deserve more love. With this spaceship console!

[@kumarp3074]

Always great to see old consoles being restored so that they can continue to be used.

[@DrJ3RK8]

Very nice!! I'm about to be restoring a SuperGrafx. I've wanted to do this for a while, but also got into arcade boards at the same time. :D

[@JesseSinclairYouTube]

Those soldering tweezer things you have are incredibly cool

[@ReinMixTape]

Excellent work as usual, you're building a console collection that many would desire.

[@Tron08]

Big props for the polishing plastic tutorial/showcase, think I'll take a crack at polishing an original Xbox jewel with this technique.

[@8bitnation419]

The Ultra Sonic Cleaner comes in really handy for cleaning PC Engine boards which tend to usually be covered in old flux that is difficult to clean off with the typical IPA 99% and Brush. Another option is to replace the motherboard Pcb. I upgraded my PCE with a new Red Motherboard PCB from PCB Way, Turbo Nanza like RGB mod, Retro Game Restore Clear Shell, Jailbar Fix, new Caps, Modern 78SR no more heat, no more bulky Heatsink but it's only good for systems that use one voltage regulator. I do not recommend it for systems that use two regulator's like the Turbo and PC Engine Duo's, Genesis/ Megadrive Model 1 and the Intelivision which uses 2 7805's, 1 7805/7812. I also replaced the old brittle IDE like ribbon cable used in between the cart slot with a modern custom solution that uses a pcb with a flex connector along with the fpc ribbon. I socketed the Ribbon pcb to the motherboard so i can remove it in case i or someone needs to work on the motherboard again in the future, as the pcb slightly covers one of the main ic chips. That ribbon is usually the main cause for White Screen issues on the original PCE's and Core Grafx systems. The great thing about the Shuttle is it has the Cart slot directly soldered to the Motherboard like the TurboDuo. I hear you can still play PCE/Turbo CD Games off of an EverDrive HuCard.

[@justin10054]

I'm going to try that scratch remover on the screen lens of my GBC. I ordered a Toys R Us green GBC from Yahoo Japan and I've been tormented by the scratches on the lens. Your video gives me hope it'll fix it! 😎

[@DarkestVampire92]

The thumbnail briefly made me think you got a hold of an Atari Jaguar and somehow fixed it to be good.

[@LucaBlightOfHighland]

Wow, great result... That polish sure did its job. 👌

[@joesaiditstrue]

great job on the refurbishment, should hook it up to an upscaler and really see how great the image quality is 😊

[@semart0826]

This is amazing, Tito! The video quality is always amazing. What is the tool that you use at 11:42? It's one of the first times I've seen something like that.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Those are my Hakko hot tweezers. I got them recently and they have been a game changer!

[@semart0826]

@MachoNachoProductions I didn't know something like that existed. It is one of the first times I've seen them in action, and it was definitely a treat! I can see how they could be a game changer and they're something I'll consider adding to my collection, as well. Thanks, Tito!

[@THELEGENDARYK2]

My modded TG-16 with the Zaxour mod has been one of my favorite pieces of kit. Would love to see you do a video on Zaxour's Genesis 3bp mod board.

[@sirchicken1330]

Your soldering is sooooo satisfying to watch. 😍

[@k.k9206]

That was awesome, It really does look amazing, you did a fantastic job.

[@curtisnewton895]

awesome restoration, I learned so much great tune too that motherboard looks so clean

[@abcde6081]

great video! Would you consider doing an update video on the equipment you use for modding like the old one? I noticed a couple new tools in this video.

[@vitacilina555]

You're a freaking Picasso with that soldering iron.

[@ansiviewer]

When I choose what to entertain a speaker, this KZbin Creator is on my personal preferance list with recommendation to all others.

[@davebrooks993]

Great video. It may be useful to show how to remove those caps without using a automatic solder sucker. I recently re-capped a tg16 with a basic solder sucker, and it was a white knuckle ride the whole way. Those super narrow vintage tracks don’t take kindly to heat. Pcb quality has come a long way.

[@adonian]

it's always so relaxing watching you solder. can you recommend someone who can change my caps? I don't have the skill to do it, and I don't want my TG16 to die on me.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

I think Voultar may offer these services. He does fantastic work

[@adonian]

@@MachoNachoProductions THX, will look into it.

[@OliverJonCross]

I have never seen this version of the PC engine, thank you.

[@jonmurrs7068]

this console design is so neat

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Totally agree!

[@Beezerfish79]

I’m confident in saying every console you repair is infinitely better than new

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

That statement is incredibly stupid.

[@Oyashiro_Chama]

@@Deadguy2322forreal I mean some products have a dull dry look out of the box, and the products he use DO make them look more appealing.

[@musicvideoenhancer]

To be honest, I don't know. What if all these mods made by enthusiasts, has a short lifetime?

[@SuperFlashDriver]

Well I wouldn't want to get any ideas for people like Macho Nacho to end up opening a repair shop for people to get their repair consoles done (It would be nice but it's better to try and learn it yourself at some point in the future).

[@lurkerrekrul]

Videos like this always make soldering look so easy. So you know what would happen if I tried to install that HuFlex? First, I would probably have big blobs of solder on the pads, shorting a couple of them. I'd have to fiddle around with them to get them all tinned like they should be, and it would take me 3-4 times longer than in this video. Then, when I try to solder it in place, I'd be moving the iron over the pads toward the chip, and the solder would refuse to go from the pad to the chip pins. I'd spend much more time trying to get it soldered in place and I'd likely end up with some of the pins shorted, so I'd have top spend even more time trying to fix that. In the end, if I even managed to get it working at all, it would look like hell, with big lumpy solder connections. I'm just not good at soldering. I found a PS2 Dual Shock controller in the trash, which had its cord cut off (scrappers cut the cords on things for the copper in them), and I had a couple spare cords taken from defective controllers, so I decided to fix it. It's a miracle that it works, as I ended up lifting a couple of the circuit traces off the board while trying to solder the wires to them, because I left the iron in place so long, trying to get the wires attached. I don't have fancy equipment, I just have cheap pencil style irons. I normally use a small, 15 watt one, but someone once told me that I should be using a bigger one that would get hotter and make things go faster. So I used a 30 watt iron to attach the cord and that was the one that lifted the traces.

[@RevolutionFalls]

1:44 this got me more than it should have

[@SiggsGBR]

Did you pick up some new tools? That soldering iron tweezer for the SMT's was really cool

[@edgarcervantes1287]

You know, that console looks like an atari jaguar and a spaceship

[@trentblades6668]

New subscriber here! Love the videos! It would be cool if you made a playlist of all your mod videos in order of complexity for people who want to get into this stuff but want to ease in!

[@ilive4retro]

Great job as always!

[@Consolerepairstore]

Zaxour's Hue Flex is great.. I got that installed in my PCE Duo. Just waiting on his 4BP for Sega Consoles :)

[@AccFireballs]

Great job! Not sure if I like the design of the Shuttle or not.. but it is kinda cute

[@Andreas-pe2ez]

excellent soldering method on c133 and 135 bro 👏👏👏

[@cjjuszczak]

Can i ask what flux you used when soldering? it looks nice a flowy with great results :)

[@TrashfordKent]

Hey, great video but it’d be great just to have a minute or two longer at the end showing the fruits of your labour. Maybe a few games showing the output and audio.

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Check out the link in the description for my dedicated video on the turbonanza. It shows all the details and has footage of the great video output in it also

[@TrashfordKent]

@@MachoNachoProductions understood, I’ve watched that (great video) just think you’re under selling yourself as folks might not follow or watch the other video. Look forward to your next one👍

[@PortlandFishingMan]

Strong Gran Turismo 2 vibes with the background music ❤

[@kingtutorial4160]

superb soldering skills🎉🎉🎉

[@KingLumague]

For scratch removal, it might be worth looking into a rotary tool with a buffing pad and combining that with the compound.

[@lalo2509]

I've never seen that PC Engine model before, pretty interesting 😮

[@blitzerblazinoah6838]

It's the eighties equipment of the Wii Mini. It has nothing going for it other than its name "Shuttle".

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Glad I could show it to you!

[@tenchuu007]

Saw one of those when I lived in Japan. Should have picked one up.

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

why would you do that when the mister emulates it perfectly.

[@jujuxx010]

Sometimes, there are people who would want to enjoy the authentic experience of what retro gaming was like. Yes, you can use emulators in today's society, but the leisure of authentic retro gaming never ceases to amaze.

[@user-yk1cw8im4h]

@@jujuxx010 You can romanticise it as much as you want, but at the end of the day you couldn't even tell the difference while playing both on the same screen and input device. Mind you I'm talking about the mister not just any emulators.

[@hugevibez]

@@user-yk1cw8im4h why would you buy a vinyl record when you can just listen to spotify? read a book when you have an ereader?

[@jedediahreaver210]

@@user-yk1cw8im4h I disagree,there is definitely a psychological aspect to it.Wearing a fake rolex feeling is not the same as the feeling of the real one.Even though they are the same.

[@LazyBunnyKiera]

Great fix and mod work. Only thing... the music you chose started to grate on me after a bit.

[@RAPTOR948]

I look back on older technology, and it still blows my mind that games used to have such small file sizes, and yet still were awesome. Like how a screenshot of the title screen for the original Legend of Zelda is actually bigger in terms of data size to the actual full game itself. Seeing how technology like the Univac computer used to monopolize an entire room quite literally filling it from floor to ceiling with killobytes as it's storage capacity, and now we have personal computers that can be as small as an 8-track tape with terrabytes of storage! Looking back, I imagine the inventors of the old computational devices would be quite impressed with how technology has evolved over the decades, over the course of a single century, we went from entire buildings needed for computations, to now a small portable device to store loads of information! I look at my old NES cartridges, and I see old Turbo Grafix 16 cards, and my SNES cartridges, and then I see my 3DS carts, and I'm surprised at how much game there is in a single cart now. And even more surprised that Nintendo made their Switch console have an even smaller cartridge size, but greater capacity! I miss the large cartridges. I miss how bulky they were back in my youth. I wish we could have developers go back to making large cartridges and make them have internal storage for things like DLC and expansion content. That way we can enjoy our games, or resell the whole collection, or archive the game and expansions for preservation purposes.

[@hadesmcc]

Beautiful video as always!

[@alexgonzales89]

These pc engine consoles always fasinate me if only they weren't so expensive I'd have probably bought one lol

[@DruidOfTheClaw]

Hell yeah, this is a perfect Friday Morning! Fresh off the press

[@wolf5505]

Enjoyed the relaxing Jazz background music.

[@marcusgurley9495]

these are always so soothing. is it able to connect to the CD drive now?

[@KennyPham]

I NEED that capacitor soldering tip!!

[@James_D.]

Looks cool!

[@thygod]

That ultrasonic cleaner looks like a deep fryer. I'm weirdly hungry after.

[@SylverstoneKhandr]

Now that's what I call a retro renewal!

[@greendblink182]

Your production and editing are better TV shows.

[@markbauermeister5449]

The PC Engine is such a weird beast. It's considered 4th gen, yet it's technically an 8 bit console reminiscent of a souped up NES running all games in an UNROM mapper configuration.

[@Dynamo128]

I'm a simple man. I see Turbografx-related videos, I subscribe.

[@samson7point11]

Pushing the cap leads like that instead of pre-bending them to fit the via width can compromise the seal on the caps. Only happened to me once but I've pre-bent the leads every time since. Also D100 does not have any cleaner agent in it, its 100% deoxodation compound. Use D05 first if you want clean and flush.

[@marshallwilliams4054]

I was enjoying this video right up to the point that you did not demo anything. I’ve significance on the consul. I hope that there’s a better demo of it in the future.

[@abdlerahmanalshammry722]

Good work my friend

[@MachoNachoProductions]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@RockRedGenesis]

6:50 - Pop in for 3 minutes on each side until nice a crispy! Yum, fried PCB!

[@poodlescone9700]

Now I want someone to scan the shell of that Shuttle and turn it into a Transformer Autobot Cosmos similar to how they made it for Optimus Prime and Megatron into the SNES and Mega Drive.

[@r.a.w.talentart]

Lovely stuff 🎉

[@SlavTiger]

lovely work

[@jeremydecola]

Hey Tito! Awesome video. How did you manage to remove the HuCard cover safely? ( 21:40 ) I wanted to polish mine as well but I am terrified of breaking the 2 plastic knobs on the side that connect it to the shell.

[@Thewickedjon]

these videos are like therapy

[@Evercade_Effect]

Great video, this is so cool!

[@MP-uk1yc]

I'm really curious why you didn't put the Shell in the Sonic cleaner? It looked like there was room and would have got into all the nook and crannies missed by a manual scrub?

[@TheDailyNostalgiaShow]

I'm guessing the 303 protectant will work the sharp twin famicom as well. Where did you buy that stuff

[@MachoNachoProductions]

I got it from Amazon

[@TheDailyNostalgiaShow]

@@MachoNachoProductions Thanks 👍

[@iAmGrizzlyBear420]

Ive always heard to reflow solder joints if you had to clip the lead like that, just in case the shock released the joint.

[@vidtuby]

This kid is an engineering genius!

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

2:14 personally i like using old medicine bottles and sharpies

[@JamsieYT]

H’ok, Slow jazz, expert soldering, can only be Tito.

[@Predreus]

I had a friend that had a PC Engine console, was rather fun to play with

[@qwertzy121212]

I suspect this model was designed for the South Korean market. The shell design is seemingly in line with Korean console trends at the time (see the Daewoo Zemmix Turbo), and lack of compatibility with existing peripherals wouldn't have been an issue to a new market. Why it was also sold in Japan is a mystery though!

[@woowoo0739]

Surprised you didn't swap out the 7805 for a more modern equivalent. When I had my ZX Spectrum recapped that part got replaced by one that doesn't get hot and so the whole heatsink could be removed.

[@LoosGuccreen]

now that's some TLC for a console I've never heard of!

[@kleenbeats]

Damn man, that was a tidy job!

[@lord_vek]

Very good job! You have to be a pro!

[@Appl3sandgrapes]

This is probably the only untouched NEC system in existance that doesnt have literal holes burnt through the soldermask/traces due to blown caps lol

[@aerundel]

18:07 The sync!