Why I LOVE and HATE Arcade Hardware Collecting! Retro Gaming Challenges with Retro Gaming Hardware

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Everyone always asks me about my video game collection and generally it's about my arcade game collection. Usually people want to know why I collect...but I get a TON of questions about if people should get into it and how I manage my collection...so this video is a conversation about why I both LOVE and HATE retro gaming when it comes to arcade collecting!
Patreon Thanks: Seth Peterson, John Thompson, Paul Daniel, Porch, Jon Anderson, RayceARoni, Kurangui, Jason Hixon, Alex Tessler, Jonathan Leung, Martin Donlon, Tom Van Deusen, Barabob, Steve Randall, Ahab, K-2, Renaissance 2K, Ivar Wennerholm, Adrien Sebbane,
tobemorecrazy, Mike Puelinckx, Tony Escobar, H7, Humanoide70, Ben Parfitt, Holder Schmidt, Tim Lehner, Shad Uttam, Dan L, James Mann, Richard Schneider, Coupon Joe, Sunder Raj, Dorfus the Maple Syrup Man, John Booty and Craig M!
Arcade collecting and game console collecting can be quite difficult as it really requires a lot of knowledge and a TON of patience once you get into rare gaming hardware; today we will be taking a look at THREE Konami NWK-TR boards; a Racing Jam, a Racing Jam Chapter 2 and a Thrill Drive PCB...all of which have been in my collection for over a year and are NOT WORKING!
Plus MAME does not emulate them very well so it's super important I repair these games and get them preserved in my collection...which can be the frustrating part of retrogame game collecting.
Because once you get out of JAMMA boards and into JVS (and especially custom designed boards like Sega Model 2 and Model 3, Konami NWK-TR, etc etc) knowing how to deal with and repair the arcade hardware can be HUGELY important!
Maybe start with Capcom CPS 2 😂
www.amazon.com...
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Questions? Comments? Just leave them below and I will do my best to answer each and every one of them!
/ videogameesoterica
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VGE
#sega #arcade #retrogaming #retrogamer #arcadegames #racinggames #arcadegaming #arcadegame #pcgamer #gaming #gamingcommunity #gamingvideos #gamingchannel #konami

[@LusRetroSource]

Your love/hate relationship with arcade hardware has helped with preserving some rare hardware so that's very much appreciated!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha thanks. I love it. And hate it. And that love/hate keeps me going

[@lknox1123]

VGE, you've really quickly become one of my favorite channels! Really incredible videos about things rarely covered. You're really doing a great job preserving gaming history!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Aww thanks :) I do what I can

[@Mike-B-Jackson]

Man, I can only imagine the frustration with these “newer” boards. I replaced a few chips on a CPS1 A board trying to resurrect it, and that was all just off the shelf chips. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with all the security stuff. Good work!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I don’t know where to begin either. That’s why they take a year lol. Trial and error

[@SamMcDonald83]

Great video! Almost reminds me of one of Luke Morse's back in the day 🤔 Hope you get the entire series up and running!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

In process of dealing with the security chip. Hope to have some success

[@bingus5488]

Man with all the custom hardware you can find on boards I do not envy your work on these. Then again I don’t have much knowledge of working on game hardware. Great video

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

The custom stuff is hard but the most rewarding

[@HappiestRogue]

Fascinating video today VGE, really enjoy the variety of your content.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Thanks :)

[@tsunamirider9895]

Great video! Wish I had the knowledge, expertise and resources to do this. Pretty cool stuff! I've love to see more videos!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

The knowledge you learn as you go along

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Your channel is the reason why I'm interested on Arcade hardware collecting VGE. Without you, it would all be so dull bro. 8^) Anthony..

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Aww. Thanks!

[@AntneeUK]

I love that you collect this stuff so we get these videos 😁

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha we’re both having fun then

[@nicolasrolke3538]

Impressive work. 👍

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Thanks :)

[@ConversusVans]

Wow, I'm surprised Konami did filter boards too. For 2 years I've been collecting Sega hardware from Model 2 to JVS and it's been a thrill ride, but I've learned a lot. My biggest enemy lately has been Chihiro Type 3, with so many failing batteries and game settings that will not save. I just got mine repaired and it was not cheap. OutRun 2 SP actually saves the in-game settings to the large lithium battery near the top board, and those are known to actually kill the system eventually. The original OR2 software saves it elsewhere, so I've been hunting that disc and security chip. Emulation has been and always will be handy for testing out for diagnostics on real hardware. With help from the Supermodel author, I was able to patch my Emergency Call Ambulance board to skip the Force Feedback error by changing bytes in two of the ROMs. Naomi games are much easier to patch because the program data is all on one file.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes emulation is the best test environment for trying to fix real hardware. Quick iterative changes can be tested in emulation before spending the time in real hardware

[@brianbirkinbine2054]

Very cool, interested in how you interface to modern driving controls as well.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I may do a video on that soon. I’m actually working on a project with someone for a universal interface that allows for modern usb controls into arcade racing boards

[@Videogamearcade]

I have few SEGA System 16 boards with the infamous suicide battery . That's one thing I have to worry about all the time :D

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Suicide batteries are one of the worst things

[@enhancementtank5876]

Video Astro terrica, you are a very smart for choosing mother boards over a single mother

[@bdssoaz]

Man! Amazing stuff!😯

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s a fun ongoing project. Halfway there!

[@user-nd5ww9sy2w]

The pain is real. I have a Konami TMNT that floats between g7 being bad and good but I still have missing sprites. Probably a custom chip failure so now it's a $300 paperweight. Love hate relationship for sure.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Ugh the bad custom is always the worst. Nothing you can easily replace

[@clash6696]

Looks like quite the headache. This makes me appreciate MiSTer even more now.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

now if only MiSTer could run these Konami 3D boards lol. Still gotta keep that original hardware around!

[@darthv72]

Hey now... changing it up with a dog pen. Nice!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Dog pen appears rarely but he’s there

[@LetsPlayKeldeo]

Love the repair videos

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Glad you enjoy them :)

[@Riz2336]

I used to be into it I had a neo geo mvs motherboard I used with a supergun on my tv back in the day and the board randomly died on me so that pissed me off, I'm left with a bunch of mvs carts that I can't do anything with. I also have a soul edge board that I believe is still working

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Good thing MVS boards are still cheap and easy to get new ones

[@undamned]

Nice work!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Appreciate it

[@Razorblade1812]

I wonder if you would be able to contact the French guy who did videos of the Virtual Gear cabinet version of GTI Club (which I showed you before) and ask him if you could make a deal with him to acquire the [faulty] Road Rage PCB that he claims to be in possession of from him, so that you can get it working for us and share some footage of this one Konami game that has been lost to time, has still not been dumped and is still not playable in MAME.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Do you have a contact for him? I can try and get in touch

[@Razorblade1812]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I don't think I have. You basically have to put comments in his videos about contact details. Remember, he only speaks French.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I have some French speaking people who help me when it comes to that

[@beefquiche]

We are lucky to have you 🥳

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Aww thanks

[@DehnusNorder]

Loved this video :). Thanks for making it. Very interesting.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Glad it’s doing well! Felt a bit esoteric even for me

[@DehnusNorder]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Too much Esoterica? No, say it ain't so! :P. Nah. This is really fun and great information. I'm more into consoles and home computer repair, so this is a nice escape to exotic landscapes :) .

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha glad you enjoyed your escape

[@DehnusNorder]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Well it certainly is a more exotic field. As these boards can systems can vary a lot more. Heck even per game. it can be quite daunting I'd think.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes the hardware is just wildly diverse and ever changing back then. Even in the same family of hardware things can change a lot

[@PaulHindt]

The arcade hobby prepares you for a lucrative career as a CRT and PCB repair tech.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha you def need to learn fast

[@edlowry1]

I was supergun testing through arcade PCBs this week, some that were working 6 months ago dont work dammit 😢

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

That’s the worst. Cap job time!

[@edlowry1]

​@@VideoGameEsoterica finished the rest of the video, great work and great save. Schematics and harnesses are a pain. Knowing what connector to buy is always my downfall.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Oh I’ve got a bin filled with connectors I THOUGHT were the right ones but weren’t 😂

[@DaveRepairs]

Ah nice, so thats where the mirror is, on the other board. Still looking for boards and i think the emulation in mame .254 is good as its not crashing and been trying to find spec that will run it. Hence the questions the other day. So I am surprised ur network boards are different? that baffled me - so what happens if u disable machine init/skip post? does it look at the network board?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It looks for network board on skip init / post on Thrill Drive. Not on other games

[@DaveRepairs]

@@VideoGameEsoterica interesting, i just downloaded TD to double check and its like the others, skips the check as default. It starts quickly with ' Hardware Check OK' then 'RTC OK'. Then inserr ccin etc.. so r u saying it stops with the skip? maybe ur dip switch is faulty? Interesting note i noticed that Hornet's GN715 (Silent Scope 2) is very similar with the PowePC and the phono connections, started making me think about that and RJ2 transfer as we know that the Hornet and KNR are similar Edit: And Gradius4... NBA Jam.. need to look at the diff .... dave

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

MAME has a bodge fix for the network check that just isn’t visible on boot

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

And yes Hornet/NWK/GTI Club era hardware share a lot in common

[@fv_ys_]

As always there are multiple views on any subject. What`s sad is a lot of the repair work logs will be already lost or in the creators vault crumbling away. Have some pride in your creative history and make them available in the public domain without obligation. Where is the loss in that. On the other hand I appreciate that this stuff is not meant for the Jon Doe/Joe Bloggs consumer so its always exciting to follow the "scene" make things possible whether its bringing games back from the other side of life or discovering a unknown game or prototype even doing things like Atomiswave conversion to DreamCast. I mean who thought that could or would be a thing.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I just leave a digital bread crumb trail behind me

[@fv_ys_]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I should have been more clear. My comment is to the hardware creators. They should have the full schematics for everything they made and the repair logs. The research work is already done. Help your fellow man/woman. Or just maybe Konami will team up with Retro Arcade and release - Thrill Drive - 25th Anniversary - reproduction.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Ahh I see. Yes in a perfect world that would exist

[@tecianeli]

I was wondering about who collect pinball machines, that has many mechanical parts.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I don’t know anyone into pinball. I personally suck at it lol

[@miguelcarneiro1192]

Amazing! This board was bought on a junk?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes all boards were acquired as not working

[@miguelcarneiro1192]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Amazing, amazing man. When we fix something the reward that we get from our brains are huge 😊

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Oh it’s absolutely addicting. I’ve got two more boards to go!

[@miguelcarneiro1192]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I already felt that too. I wish you luck with the Thrill Drive 1 board my friend

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

One day I’ll get it running!

[@METR0lD]

It hurts so good.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It has its moments

[@dorfus]

Oooh doggy pen today

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It was a dog vibe for sure

[@MASTEROOOO]

All you gotta do now is get some 99% iso propel alcohol & wipe that bad boy down!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Dusting comes last 😂

[@YokomoHoyo]

You didn’t include the link.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I always forget. Will fix in a min

[@torshec8634]

Buy Arcade Cabinet, outside looks good, too afraid to look inside.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

You never know what you’ll find

[@tom11zz884]

Just cheaper to get a Mister or PS4/Switch games than deal with that nonsense.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah but these games don’t exist outside of their arcade boards

[@SP95]

Metric tons of bad times

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Eh. Balances out eventually

[@YokomoHoyo]

First

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

You win ten VGE points. Redeem 100K for free arcade candy

[@dorfus]

I think part of your problem is you’re measuring things in metric. Use Imperial like an American!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I measure in cat pen lengths