CPS2 and CPS3 Suicide Battery Change

[Evil Morrigan]

O.K. SRK Tech Heads I need some help.

I have three CPS2 boards and on CPS3 board for my arcade cabinet, and I want to get the batteries switched out before they suicide on me and render the games useless.

At first I called CAPCOM of USA at 408-774-0400 and the customer service guy told me that ever since their Arcade division of the company closed down, they no longer have a tech support that handles this type of request. So instead he gave me a site http://www.betson.com/ and told me to e-mail them because they can work on Arcade board repairs. I never got a reply so I called them at their number 1-800-524-2343 and after about an hour of getting transfered to different departments I finally got a hold of their tech department. I talked to some Russian sounding dude who I dont think understod me. He kept saying "Yes, Yes, Capcom game I fix, I fix." I told him that it wasn't broken and that I just want the lithium batteires replaced. Then he told me I need a work order and hung up on me.

So I called Capcom back and told them what happened, and that I would be more than willing to ship the games to their Japan branch if I could get the Batteries changed on the boards from the Official company, that way I wont have to worry about them stealing my shit or fucking it up. The guy told me to e-mail yagai@toyo.capcom.co.jp and that an english speaking customer service person would reply to me. However after I e-mailed that address it came back to me as non-deliverable.

So after this, I did some researching online and found this site http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/gamelist.html I e-mailed the dude who made this site and he said that he would do the CPS2 boards but not the CPS3 board, because he did not have experience on CPS3 and that he was afraid he would fuck it up. He lives in Finland, and I dont mind sending him him the boards, but i'm kinda scared that If i do send them, I would never get them back. But I'm just probably being over paranoid and so far this looks like the only option for the CPS2 boards so I might consider doing it after I find out shipping costs.

My main worry though is the CPS3 board. I know that even if the CPS2 boards suicide on me, they can still be brought back to life and become playable (according to the CPS2 Shock site).......BUT with CPS3 this is not the case. So I REALLY want to make sure that I get the battery switched on that one before anything else.

Now I have seen in depth turotrials online on how switch out batteries for both of these boards, but I honestly dont have the nerves to even fuck with that. I am way too scared that I would fuck it up. Especailly since I dont have any experience with this sort of thing.

If you are wondering, the CPS2 Boards are Vampire Savior 2, X-Men vs Street Fighter and Super Street Fighter II X, they are the green Japanese versions.

The CPS 3 board is Street Fighter III Third Strike, it is the board that runs off the Cartridge, not the one that runs off the CD Drive.

I feel that I have searched everywhere. If any of you guys can give me advice or know somebody that is able to do it and has a good reputation i would be very grateful. And like I said before, the CPS3 board is my main worry since it is the more expensive one and since it can not be repaired once the Battery suicides. Thank you.

[Burning Vigor]

I've changed batteries on both CPS2 and CPS3 games.

CPS2 is easy since the encryption information stays in place for some time even after the battery is removed. Here's what you do:
-open case
-desolder old battery
-insert new battery and solder in place <-- if you can do this within 10 minutes of when you desoldered the old battery you will be fine.

CPS3 is easy too. Just use the helper battery method.

If you don't want to do them youself I suggest getting meanbean over at neo-geo forums to do it for you, he has a lot of experience.

[Taiki]

Plus there are several folks in the community who do swaps. I believe billd420 on Neo-Geo.com still does them.

[Aurich]

Just happened to come across this tonight, might help you out with the CPS2 if you're nervous about doing it yourself:

http://home.online.no/~tjaberg/cps2_battery/index.htm

As a bonus it makes doing it the next time cake. :)

[Taiki]

oh wait, what am I thinking?

if you've got CPS2 boards, PHOENIX THEM!

[Burning Vigor]

Unless you're a purist and want to keep the game roms unmodified.

Some people think that phoenixing a board increases it's value, others think the opposite. Phoenixing a board involves killing it and bringing it back to life. Personally I wouldn't phoenix a board unless it was already dead.

[Toodles]

Evil Morrigan, the guy from CPSShock is Razoola, VERY trustworthy. He's pretty much solely responsible for the fact CPS-2 ever got decrypted in the first place, made the NeoGeo Uni-Bios, and of course Phoenixing. If it's a matter of trust, he is one you can trust, and has a LONG standing good reputation.

[DreamTR]

Burning Vigor wrote:

I've changed batteries on both CPS2 and CPS3 games.

CPS2 is easy since the encryption information stays in place for some time even after the battery is removed. Here's what you do:
-open case
-desolder old battery
-insert new battery and solder in place <-- if you can do this within 10 minutes of when you desoldered the old battery you will be fine.

CPS3 is easy too. Just use the helper battery method.


Burning Vigor: Soldering and desoldering is still a physical process, and is not the easiest thing in the world for some people. As much as I know about electronics, I can't solder for shit, and would rather someone else do that when it came to something like that from my own perspective.

[Burning Vigor]

Well if you can't solder than you can't solder (though I think with enough practice anyone can solder).

Changing my own batteries was important for me because I didn't trust anyone else with my boards. None of those guys over at neo-geo forums offer a guarantee on their battery replacement service so if they kill your board then you're out of luck.

[Evil Morrigan]

Thanks everybody for all your feedback it really helps out. I'll make sure to Pos Rep each of you.

Right now I am in contact with with 2 people regarding the CPS2 boards (Razoola and another guy.) They both seem to have good feedback so I will probably go with whoever has the cheaper prices.

As far as doing it myself goes I agree with DreamTR. I think I would rather take the chances of somebody stealing my boards then the chance of me fucking up the soldering procedure. Besdies like i said earlier The 2 guys I'm talking to dont seem like the type to just fuck me over like that, they seem reliable and trustworthy.


Unfortunately I am still trying to find a Relaible person who has CPS3 experience. I e-mailed Meanbean from the Neo-Geo Forums and am waiting back to hear from him. Hopefully he will get back to me becasue form what i see he has about an 85% success rate with CPS3 boards. I realize that its not guarnteed that the swap will work however at least its better than the 100% chance that the battery will eventually suicide.

I will make sure to keep you guys updated.