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Unopened CPS2

MegaMan

MegaMan

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Hi :)

Three days ago I received this MegaMan 2 The Power Fighters I purchased from a seller on KLOV. I still don’t have a lot of experience with cleaning arcade boards so I want to know how I cleaning it. The board still has original seals on the back and the seller sold it working. I haven’t tested it myself yet but I am going to a friends soon to test the board. I’m sure it has a battery in it so I’m thinking I’ll put an Infinikey in instead, once I can find one.

How should I clean the case? Also, I’m going to need to take the seals off the back to look inside. I will do this after I test it, just in case there are any issues with the board, I can contact the seller again and show him that I haven’t touched anything yet.

Finally, how should I store the board set? I am eventually going to get a cabinet and some repro artwork but for now after I clean it I will put it in storage. It’s been sitting on my desk wrapped in bubble wrap with a piece of cardboard covering 90% of the board. A little bit of direct sunlight comes through my window and slowly moves across the board for about three hours and I don’t want it discoloring the plastic.

Thanks for any advice! Here’s some pictures.
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You can clean the case with simple green. Or just water. Or take it apart and wash it in soapy water.

Don’t worry about sunlight discoloring the shell. I store my CPS-2 upright or lying on the side. It doesn’t really matter, they’re pretty sturdy.

re: Inside, just take it apart. Clean the PCBs clean the fan area.
 
I bought some 99% isopropyl alcohol, I’m not going to go anywhere near the labels, they are original. Could I use that and a microfiber cloth to scrub the outside and the inside and get a lot of the loose crap off? Also thanks for bringing up the sunlight, I really don’t want to damage anything since there were only 22 ever made. I thought I had it covered pretty good.
 
Be careful with isopropyl. It can sometimes be harsh and destroy certain plastics. A light clean will be fine, but if you start rubbing the case or the marks a lot you’ll definitely notice discoloration / melting. You could gently use a magic eraser to get rid of small marks.
 
Ok thanks a lot! I’ve watched a lot of restoration videos where people scrub the heck out of stuff with alcohol. I’m really glad you told me this, I would have been using it a lot. I’ll pick up some simple green.
 
I am planning on testing this board in a regular Jamma cab, an assault cabinet. I know CPS2 uses Q sound. Do I need to do anything special when plugging it in and booting it up? Or just play it like any other Jamma board or CPS1?
 
It's just going to work like any other jamma board. Set audio to mono in the service menu. They're pretty power hungry, so if something's off, check voltages.
 
If anyone knows where I can get some Infinikeys please let me know. I messaged Undamned and haven’t hear anything back, also paradise arcade is out of them.
 
I’m doing a similar project right now :-) mine is covered in brown discolouration, suspect tar(?) from 10 years in a Smokey arcade.

I’m absolutely hopeless at vs fighters, so the Alpha/Zero series with it’s shifted difficulty curve is perfect for me :-)

Normally I wash the black shells in warm soapy water to get the worst of the filth off.
Top coloured shell is a bit harder, don’t want to damage the stickers. So I normally do that with cotton swabs.

If it still has the factory seals then the battery is going to be 30? Years old. CPS2 batteries are notorious for leaking and destroying the board. Getting rid of the battery promptly is normally the 1st thing I do. Of course slightly harder now that the global component shortage is biting into infinikey supplies.

Good luck with the restoration, following with interest
 

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hatmoose said:
I’m doing a similar project right now :) mine is covered in brown discolouration, suspect tar(?) from 10 years in a Smokey arcade.

I’m absolutely hopeless at vs fighters, so the Alpha/Zero series with it’s shifted difficulty curve is perfect for me :)

Normally I wash the black shells in warm soapy water to get the worst of the filth off.
Top coloured shell is a bit harder, don’t want to damage the stickers. So I normally do that with cotton swabs.

If it still has the factory seals then the battery is going to be 30? Years old. CPS2 batteries are notorious for leaking and destroying the board. Getting rid of the battery promptly is normally the 1st thing I do. Of course slightly harder now that the global component shortage is biting into infinikey supplies.

Good luck with the restoration, following with interest
Click to expand...
Cool Asian Street Fighter! Has hand written rom labels and an original maxwell battery. I’ll keep you updated once I test it. After I test it I’ll get some simple green and clean up the outside and have a look inside the B board. I have a Rockman 2 that still has a red maxwell battery that needs replaced, I’m keeping a close eye on it in case it decides to leak, which hopefully it doesn’t.
 
hatmoose said:
I’m doing a similar project right now :) mine is covered in brown discolouration, suspect tar(?) from 10 years in a Smokey arcade.

I’m absolutely hopeless at vs fighters, so the Alpha/Zero series with it’s shifted difficulty curve is perfect for me :)

Normally I wash the black shells in warm soapy water to get the worst of the filth off.
Top coloured shell is a bit harder, don’t want to damage the stickers. So I normally do that with cotton swabs.

If it still has the factory seals then the battery is going to be 30? Years old. CPS2 batteries are notorious for leaking and destroying the board. Getting rid of the battery promptly is normally the 1st thing I do. Of course slightly harder now that the global component shortage is biting into infinikey supplies.

Good luck with the restoration, following with interest
Click to expand...
Cut out a piece of wax paper a little larger than the label. Tape it down with packing tape over the label so that it's completely covered. You can even lay down the wax paper on top of a bed of tape so that you can trim the wax paper with precision so that it's just a bit bigger than the wax paper. Use your nail to ensure a tight bond around the edge so no liquid can get in. Blast that thing with Simply Green. Save hours of your life.

You can also use a PIC instead of an Infinikey if you have the ability to program PICs. Instructions are here on the forum.
 
If not one has said this, make sure you distill the Simple Green because the pure stuff is a bit too strong and will make some plastics turn white.

I use just a little bit or the pre-mixed stuff.
 
XtraSmiley said:
If not one has said this, make sure you distill the Simple Green because the pure stuff is a bit too strong and will make some plastics turn white.

I use just a little bit or the pre-mixed stuff.
Click to expand...
No, no one told me this. Thank you! I almost want to buy a beat up CPS2 board just to test clean first just to make sure I don’t ruin anything.
 
Lets just say, some of us learn the hard way..... :)

On the bright side, I found out some mineral oil, such as Orange Glo, will restore the plastic's color (and make it smell good)!
 
😬 I almost just want to only use water, they seem way too sensitive. Thanks though! I’ll think about the orange glo. I think the best thing I can do is get a really beat up almost broken CPS2 board, so I can try some stuff out and see what works best.
 
Getting an old one to test is a good idea. Just to be clear, my comments about the Simple Green and Orange Glo were about a Turbografx 16 shell from years ago. I never actually cleaned a CPS2 shell.
 
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