ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 Catch up time ladies and gents, well it has been a couple of months since I last posted , so hmmm where to begin, well I guess we will start at where I last left off, in April, I went over to a friends home and we decided to go bike riding through the everglades, we were in the middle of nowhere - no paved roads, no homes, no lights, nothing. when we noticed some power lines running into some trees off in the distance, as we approached the trees we noticed that in the center of the shrubbery there was a home that had been abandoned, not in too bad a shape I might add. It did have the usual devil worship, death tags ,etc that one would be looking to find in a place overrun by foliage in the middle of nowhere, but even out here I managed to find references to my beloved hobby - Arcade collecting, you will notice a pacman and ghost, and a pixie which had an uncanny resemblance to the ladybug arcade character. Yeah I know im stretching that last one but still I thought It was pretty neat. Here are the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 In the Arcade Front, I received a Kaneko Super Nova PCB along with a Cyvern cart, great shump, I went ahead and put it on the arcade floor along with both of the Namco system 256 pcbs I had purchased back in April, I decided to put in Dragon Ball Z and Soul Caliber 3 as the first 2 Namco 256 titles I would be bringing into the Arcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 We are now in the Month of May, I just received a Tatsunoku Vs Capcom from Japan. Awesome game, into the Arcade it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 We have hit mid May, I just finished winning an auction for a Gorf arcade machine, stated in the auction that it was not working and looks pretty rough in the pics, we went to go pick it up in a warehouse district about 30 minutes form the arcade, looks like it had been sitting in the back of the warehouse for at least 15 years. When we got it back to office I went through 1 whole paper towel roll, several Lysol wipes,and 2 magic erasers later and this thing was freaking beautiful, it seemed that all the dirt was acting as a protective layer, the manuals were in perfect condition in there protective envelope, awesome. I then decided to change out all of the light to leds even thought they were all working perfectly. Yeah I know original parts ,etc, etc, but if I'm going to be bringing this baby into the arcade it has got to be as little maintenance and as bulletproof as possible, darn it I had forgotten to purchase feet for it when I had gone to home depot for the erasers, but when I opened up the coin door and checked in the coin box, in a pretty little pouch were the original feet, I don't think this machine was even put anywhere to be played, I did not even have to adjust to monitor it was perfect. Truly a thing of beauty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 We have hit June, and I managed to get my hands on an arcade pcb that I have been hunting for quite a while, Trio the punch, here is what I posted when I installed it last week New game just arrived from japan, this one is very unique and uber rare so I expect all of you to come play it at least once, it was classified as one of the first kuso-ge games or more commonly translated as crap game. Yes only a few of you will know what this is, but none of you that play this will ever forget it. AO is proud to bring you the one and only Trio the Punch - Never forget me. Yes I managed to get my hands on one, and it was not easy in fact this one was really a pain to get, but here it is so come give it a try. I will post some links so those of you that have never seen it can read up on this Engrish speaking, colonel sanders punching, sheep cursing beat em up - yes that about sums it up. and here are some links for you to read more on this pcb http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/triothepunch/triothepunch.htm http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/TrioThePunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 And for my final post tonight 2 days ago I just received a pretty rare laseractive disk, It is Melon Brains but the LD ROM 2 version, normally these were done for the megacd, however there were a few laseractive games done like this for both platforms among them were Bi Ryojon Collection - Pretty Illusion - Yuko Sakaki - MegaCD - normally this one came as an LD ROM 2 version Bi Ryojon Collection 2 - Pretty Illusion 2 - Minayo Watanabe - MegaCD - normally this one came as an LD ROM 2 version Goku, LDRom2 - normally this one came as a MegaCD version Blue Chicago Blues, MegaCD - normally this one came as an LD ROM 2 version Im still missing those 4 and of course the laseractive Myst Prototype, but have all the rest of them so all is not lost . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Did an outstanding job with the Gorf cab and it looks awesome!! That abandoned house was truly dusturbing. Someone had major issues whoever caused all the damage and graffiti. Dreamcast logo perhaps on the top right picture in the abandoned house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 Did an outstanding job with the Gorf cab and it looks awesome!! That abandoned house was truly dusturbing. Someone had major issues whoever caused all the damage and graffiti. Dreamcast logo perhaps on the top right picture in the abandoned house? Good call on that dreamcast logo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 Got a pacman and Ice cold beer added to the collection, put pacman in the arcade, not sure about putting the ice cold beer in yet, somewhat rare game and I really like it and in other news I created and filed a new company with the state of Florida and the IRS - "The national Video Game History museum" now legally exists, we hired a consulting company and now are working with them on the 501c3 for tax exception status, if we get it we will then proceed forward with my original idea of the museum, it has been 4 years coming but let's see if I can get over this hurdle, as I mentioned quite a while ago when I was first creating the arcade, Yoinks and AWAY!!!! Again..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Ok it has been a while, time to play catch up, Since I last wrote I went back to new York city, and visited conney island. I was looking forward to finally seeing this entertainment haven that I have heard about for so many decades now, I was expecting rows and rows of arcades and entertainment complexes and this is what greeted me when I got there. Pretty sad, there was 2 small arcades , mostly redemption. So disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Oh before I forget, I did see the ghostbusters Firehouse, that was pretty cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 (edited) Now on to the updates, starting on the arcade side, I have brought in Phychic force 2012, very cool 3d game with one of the weirdest pcbs I have run across, it is running on a Taito wolf system, which looks like a hybrid pc mixed with an arcade board, I have seen emulator pcbs like this in the past from china, but this pre-dates them all, this was released in 1998, and it is an original not an emulated poc - Piece of Crap. I have also brought in Fate unlimited codes with another system 256 to appease the fighting community down here. I have gotten my hands on a classic Taito game - Battle shark that was pretty beat up, monitor was damaged, pcb was damaged and looking port through the periscope was damaged, but this is what it looks like after 3 weeks of work and everything repaired, what a great game. I have also added a new game into the Arcade that I had run into at the IAAPA show last year - this is called Jet ball and is starting to get a following, it is really a lot of fun. And finally I just received this last week, Undercover cops alpha renewal - awesome game, I am looking forward to bringing this rarity into the arcade in the next week or so, I even made a custom marquee for it, if you have ever seen the original it looks like crap. Oh I almost forgot, got a Xevious 3D/G PCB and it is awesome, I am not sure if I will be bringing that one into the arcade anytime soon, but I am thoroughly enjoying it at home. Edited October 2, 2015 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 (edited) Now onto the console front, Got an IS Nitro Emulator for Gameboy development, also got my hands on an Nintendo NDEV Wii development system, Got a Microvision Super Casse Brique, which was only released in Europe and is the hardest to find cartridge for the Microvision, heck it even came with it's original box. A Gameboy pocket sonar, yes it is a fish finder for your game boy. A Gameboy Icard which allows you to get times and other racing info in several racetracks around the US. Yeah I know no new consoles, but I have some pretty rare stuff I will share tomorrow. Till then see you at the Arcade. Edited October 2, 2015 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 A few more obscure pickups, an Atari Portfolio with parallel port and zip drive, running the T2 pin program -of course, and a dreamcast divers 2000 cx-1, in pieces, bought it on ebay broken, and when I mean broken , it was hulk smash. The screen was blown, the pcb was cracked and split in 4 places, unbelievably I found another crt for it and got the crt to come up , but the pcb is not responding properly, hopefully will get it properly working some day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Picked up an accessory I had been hunting for quite a while now, the ridiculously rare and overpriced Panasonic SH-GB10 Gameboy boy player for my Panasonic dvd gamecube. Also got a not so rare - quite common actually BLIP system and another accessory that I had never seen before the Compumate, which turns your Atari 2600 into a basic computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 Just got my hands on 2 singer Gameboy sewing machines, you never know when you'll need a spare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Ok here is another one of those ridiculous - how the hell did he find that - system, This is the Laseractive system -which is not all that rare but then you have the PAC-PC1 control module - which is about as close to unobtanium as you can get, it worked with the Pioneer Laseractive system and your windows 98 PC, it would allow your computer to control the Laseractive and do certain things like jump around the disc by hitting certain keys on the remote, sort of like a dragons lair arcade game, but you could control this one, in other words you could get any laserdisc movie and write your own control script upload it to the PAC in the laseractive, then you would use the remote to control the playing of the disc by jumping to the frame positions written in your script as if you were playing a laserdisc game,. I'm including many pics showing the system, the PAC itself front and back, the Tenchi Muyo laserdiscs that the PAC would work with - the software came with sample programs and they worked with the Tenchi Muyo discs that you see here, that is the entire laserdisc set the samples would control, in the images, they were 9 total. Several pics showing the program running in a windows xp notebook, and finally what you would see on the screen which was the laserdisc movie playing and overlays directing you on what buttons to press on the remote overlayed over the playing movie - hope everyone enjoys. Edited January 15, 2016 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Just got my hands on 2 singer Gameboy sewing machines, you never know when you'll need a spare. Wow, excellent I want one of those. Are they rare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Wow, excellent I want one of those. Are they rare? Not super rare, You can find them on ebay pretty regularly, they are usually not boxed or missing parts thou. A complete unit in box you'll run across 1 every 3-6 months or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 (edited) Ok it has been quite a while since i posted, but this one was quite a tale. I have been looking for 3 video game systems in order to complete the collection for a Museum I have been working on for a while now, I needed a few pieces of an RDI Halcyon, I am only missing the head unit, 2 carts, & the headphones, got everything else, even the poster for Thayer's quest, I am also missing a Zemmix, I have 1 the MSX 2, but not the msx 2+ version, and a Nintendo CTG-HC10. Well after several years , I am happy to report that we are now down to 2 missing units, we have just acquired the Nintendo CTG-HC10. What follows is the insanity us collectors have to go through in order to get a rare or unique piece. I had been looking for one of these since 2014, & in Sept 2018 I did a random search on Yahoo auctions and ran across this https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/x555212455 I was the only one that bid on it, no one else noticed it and I ended up getting it for $1382.00 a bit on the high side at the time, but i was ecstatic to even find one. So they shipped it to me, and it ended up getting stuck and then lost at customs in NY. It took me till 01/22/2019 before i was able to get my refund back, arguing almost every week and working with my credit card to make sure i got my refund. It was a royal pain. But i continued my quest for another unit. Fast forward to 04-16-2022 - I was doing searches on Japanese websites and ran across this site https://cash.dailygalaxy.xyz/index.php?main_page=account_history_info&order_id=98419 It is no longer there, but they wanted 30,192 jpy which was at the time around $200, The site looked like a sort of flea market for Japanese items.I jumped on it. But they only accepted swift transfers, which I had to do through a friend of mine who was living in japan since they did not want to accept money transfers from abroad. Well it turned out to be a scam. Lost $200, Very upset, Back to searching. Finally a unit popped up on yahoo auctions on 3-26-2024 - and it was scheduled to end on 4-3-2024, I was not about to let this one get away, third times a charm, It closed with 178 bids and at a staggering 755,009 JPY or $5200 USD , I was worried at first, but the seller had 39 good and 0 bad reviews. So he looked reputable. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t1130121884 So i was all in, I was watching this auction day and night to see where it was going to land and be ready to max out my credit card. I knew it was going to go for $4k+ especially with how rare it was, also the fact that no one had listed one in over 6 years. And how nutty the collectors market has become. Nutty is putty it lightly, the market has gone completely insane. Now here is where it begins to get interesting. 3 days after the listing began in Yahoo, on 3-29-2024 a listing for another one of these unicorns popped up on ebay, i was like no freaking way, and when i looked at it, lo and behold it is the same pictures as the one in the yahoo auctions. Identical in every way, and it was scheduled to finish on 4-2-2024, I believe it was like 12 hours before the yahoo auction was to end. https://www.ebay.com/itm/355585466698 So i was wondering what the heck is going on here, I decided i was not going to let this unit get away no matter what, I had already lost 2, no more, i tell you, this one was going to be it. I was determined to get this unit. I got another one of my credit cards and was ready to bid on this unit. I could not tell which one was real, I did not know if this guy was selling it in both places and was just going to send it to the highest bidder , or some thing else. Who knew. So when it closed on 4-2-2024, I was the winning bid at $4550, There was only 2 of us bidding on Ebay. I later thought this guy probably saw the listing on Yahoo, saw how crazy it was getting, got the pics, posted them on ebay to see how high they would go, and then try to bid just under that amount to see if he could profit a few quick bucks. For example, since his ebay bids went for $4550, he may have put in his bid at $4000 on yahoo, if he got it for that, he would then send it to me and profit $500. What he did not expect is that many , many other bidders were also watching the yahoo auction and pushed the price way above his threshold. I was a bit scared doing this, I mean maxing out 2 credit cards, but my logic was sound , only 1 of them actually exists, since they are both the same identical pics, So the seller that does not ship will have to issue a refund, or i would simply contact the credit card company and show the evidence that both auctions were being run concurrently with only 1 unit. Either way i would get my money back from the one that was lying. And if by the luck of the Irish, a black hole ripped the fabric of space time and I was to get 2 units, from what i was watching i could have sold it anyways and gotten my money back, so either way i seemed protected from all fronts. Now the seller on ebay, ended up reaching out to me 3 days after the yahoo auction had completed, on 4-6-2024, he sent me this email. " pochita-japan: Thank you for your purchase. We sincerely appreciate your order. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused. Unfortunately, the item you purchased suffered significant damage during shipment, making it impossible for us to deliver it to you. We are truly sorry for this situation. We understand that you were looking forward to receiving your order. However, due to the circumstances, we have to cancel the shipment. We kindly ask for your understanding in this matter. We are currently making arrangements for the next shipment. Once the arrangements are complete, we will inform you promptly. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your understanding. Surprise , surprise, I guess we could all see that coming, but wait what the heck is he talking about, "We are currently making arrangements for the next shipment. Once the arrangements are complete, we will inform you promptly. " I was saying, is this guy for real, does he think he is going to just find another unit. But i decided to search on yahoo auctions, and what the HECK IS THIS!!!! https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/v1131206066 Another unit, this one was running from 4-3-2024 till 4-8-2024, it had 52 bids and closed @ $4159.89, but something was weird about this seller, he had 0 good & 0 bad, so this was a new seller with no prior auctions. Something smelled fishy here. I decided to investigate and did a google image search on his pics in his auction and found this. https://www.mariomuseum.com/archives/7516 He took the pictures from here,once again, identical in every way. Looks like this is another scammer, I was now wondering if the unit i had purchased was also a scam. I was beginning to fear the worse and started gathering information for my case with my credit card company, just in case this all went side ways. It looks like my ebay seller, thought the same thing, because he fully refunded me on 4-7-2024. i guess he did not want to take a chance on bidding on that one , and by that i mean winning the auction, not getting anything and then having to refund me through ebay on top of that. I guess he learned his lesson, well maybe not, he relisted it again on 4-8-2024 https://www.ebay.com/itm/355615265210?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=aa68e3d28d7342b183c85cf82be00d78&bu=43198585704&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20240408035738&segname=11021 Did he win the other auction on yahoo????? Does he think he is going to actually get anything???? I guess not, He then ended up cancelling it 1 day later on 4-9-2024, who knows if he won won the other auction and then did not get anything, who the heck knows. Meanwhile I was tracking my package, I got an email from Buyee saying i needed an 5106 importer form filled out. and then emailed to fedex, So i got that done. Getting worried, Deja-vu from 2018 all over again. Item is showing stuck in tokyo-koto-ku.jp office. I called fedex and they told me i had to file that form, i explained i had already filed and that they had sent me confirmation of receipt of the form. Oh in that case never mind, they told me. Now i am really getting scared. Are they going to lose this one also. A repeat of my prior hellish experience. The item arrives in Memphis , TN, 2 days later, once again, it is held. Had to call fed ex again. They release it. 2 Days later, I finally get the package. I had my wife film my opening it, since i was now expecting rocks, explosives, body parts, i was thinking the worse. So i wanted video evidence just to be ready. But it turned out OK, It actually came in . I even took it apart to make sure the pcb was original, And it was, so far i have just tested out the power supply and i compared the pcb to an arcade pcb i had purchased a year ago for a Computer Othello Arcade Machine. I had read that there was possibility that this was the same exact circuit board from the arcade game 2 years prior. The arcade version came out in 1978 , and the CTG-HC10 came out in 1980. And as you can clearly see in the images. It they are the same. So that is my story. 10 years searching, won 1 , lost it in customs, got ripped off, Spent more than i wanted to, had 4 machines pop up in a week, And it was a heck of ride getting it, but am closer now to finishing the collection. Edited April 12 by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havok69 Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 That is one wild ride. Glad you finally got it. lol - I should have charged you more for that Space Tactics stuff I sold you! How's that coming along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 Funny you mention that, I have had the opportunity to buy 2 others, relatively cheap, but they were both needing repairs. And quite frankly we did not have the space, so i had to pass on them. The collection continues to grow, the problem has always been to find a suitable space for everything, with over 500-600+ consoles/handhelds,etc. not including the games, accessories. 900+ arcade pcbs, and over 300 arcade machines, we would need around 50,000 sq ft. to display it all. And since we are located in Miami, Fl. Real estate has gone crazy down here. So we continue to wait, we may have to open up someplace else if nothing changes in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccatalyst Posted 54 minutes ago Author Share Posted 54 minutes ago (edited) Ok, so we wanted to make sure that this unit worked, especially after the freaking nightmare that we went through trying to get this darn thing. So the first thing we did is check out how the video was coming out of the arcade pcb that we currently had, and we would then just hook up the video wires to those points in order to get a valid video signal that we could test on a composite monitor. Now many of you might be saying why don't you just hook it up to a video modulator, and then on to a crt, and you would be correct, and i do have everything i need to hook up Japanese console games to American crts. But i just cannot get to the hardware right now, we have way too much stuff in the way. So it was easier to just test the unit by trying to get a composite signal out of it. The first thing we did was to check the power supply and make sure that we were getting the correct voltages on the correct pins, and they were. I was surprised, but this power supply is built like a tank, love the old radio shack looking power brick. Then we proceeded to hook up the video signal wires to the same points where video was coming out the arcade pcb, power it on and Nothing!!!! Crap!!! I was afraid of this, the unit did power on, It has a red led that would light up and an indicator of power, but i was not able to see anything, we checked, double checked and triple checked my connections to make sure we were tapping the proper pins on the pcb, and we were. Damn it, ok now on troubleshooting. 1 of my buddies noticed something on the CTG-HC10 main board, hey it is missing a crystal that exists on the arcade pcb. He was correct. You could clearly see the pinout and the words Xtal on the pcb. Someone must have removed it i though. Simple enough fix, So i ordered the crystal , hoping that would be the only fix that would be necessary. The crystal arrived and when i took out the pcb from the CTG-HC10 and turned it over I noticed a bunch of wires and cut traces that were NOT on the original arcade pcb. I though has this thing been worked on before??? But no it was like this from factory. It was only then that i noticed a crystal attached to the modulator pcb, and a wire running to where the crystal was supposed to be on the CTG Main board. A trace had been cut and a purple wire was running from the crystal on the modulator pcb over to a test point on the main board which then had a wire attached to the missing crystal pcb pads. What a rig!!! We began to trouble shoot and follow traces and noticed several things. On the modulator pcb there was an M51342P Modulator chip - which we checked the pinouts and saw that the video input was running on pin #12 So we kept tracing back that pin which then came up to TP3 on the modulator pcb and that ran to a yellow wire which was plugged in to the Main PCB, which of course had some cut traces and wires running to one of the chips. That was our target, we tried to get standard video ground but that also did not work since they were taking 9V out of 2 of the electrolytic caps and using it to power the modulator, and could not get the common ground on the main pcb board to give us a working ground for the video. So we ended up tapping those capacitors for a ground point for our video signal. And bingo!!! We have video, and the game works great. Now my buddy was curious, he says you know i bet that the modulator pcb is actually a complete game pcb from another Nintendo home console. So he began to look online and he hit the nail on the head. If you check out https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DbDSp3eaijY you can clearly see the pcb from the CTG-CR112 Racing game, the exact one that is being used as the modulator pcb for the CTG-HC10 Nintendo removed the main chip out of the home console and then roached the arcade pcb together with that pcb, so basically putting an arcade game together with a home racing game in order to get this system to work. They must have had parts left over from both systems and said , Hey why don't make something out of these left over parts, and the rest is history. Hope this article helps some one in the future who may be trying to get video out of a CTG-HC10. Edited 22 minutes ago by ccatalyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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