Star Tech Journal

STAR*TECH Journal
October 1986 (6)
Nintendo Power Supply Alert
The Player/ BLACK PYRAMID
By Sam Cross
Godwin Distributing Company
North Little Rock, Arkansas
By
ATTmrlat I .ATff.Nl'IClt I
If you have Nintendo :EUNrn OUT, SUPER
OUT, a POPEYE UNISYSTEM CONERSION,
RJlOi
John 'Root' Pilarchik
Pennsauken, NJ
At first glance, Bally Midway's BIAa<
PYRAMID did not look very exciting to play
-with only two top bt.mg?ers. However, this
game turned out to be a real challenge!
a PAC MAN/MS PAC MAN UNISYSTEM CGIVERSICN,
or a DUAL SYSTEM, beware of the PP-1000,
PP-1200, and PP-1300 power supplies. They
can be a source of great damage to RJlOi
CXJr/SUPER :EUNrn OUT and UNISYSTEM boards.
The flippers were in top working
condition, which nade this my kind of game
to play. Flipper skill is a IIUst to beat
this nachine and, I IIUst say, after 5
games or so, things were in my favor.
This is due to ca, a 47ufd/35V capacitor
which bakes dry because of heat fran
nearby high-wattage resistors. When the
capacitor starts to bake dry, there is a
~ chance ratio that it may cause
unwanted power supply oscillations which
can send damaging voltages to the boards.
The playing field was set up so that each
shot really counted. The left side shots
started at 20,000 points up to 50,000
points, then on to the Extra Ball and
Special. This challenge alone nade this a
fun machine.
out of 10 or so supplies which I repaired,
3 of the associated logic boards suffered
nultiple chip damage. For examples, one
UNISYSTEM board had 11 bad Eprorns, 2 bad
PPU units, 2 bad RPZA03 processors, and 4
soldered-in chips. The other UNISYSTEM
board had 2 bad Eprorns, 2 bad PPU units,
and 1 bad RPZA03 processor.
The 2X, 3X, 5X shots were located on the
right side. After naking the above shots,
you go on to spell out B-L-A-C-K and then
P-Y-R-A-M-I-D which helps to get another •
game on Special. In the center, the rrovingW
target works in your advantage to light up
200,000 points which helps you go for
another Special in addition to the points.
'Ihe PUNCH OUT board had 4 bad 74LS161
chips on· the video board. The other
supplies sinl)ly stopped working wit.rout
damage, with the replacerrent of ca to
restore all of them to working order. My
Sencore Z-Meter showed the ca caps to be
good and have no leakage, so a cap check
didn't help.
So, for a machine that looks rather enpty
at first, this turned out to be a definite
challenge with proper flipper skill being
the key to beat the nachine. With three
ways to hit just on Special, how could the
true player go wrong with BI.ACT< PYRAMID.
This article is appearing only to
underscore Nintendo's Service Bulletin to
the effect that you need to replace these
capacitors with equivalent or greater
specs before the damage is likely to
happen, which is about 1-1/2 to 2 years
after the games have been put into
service. As the saying reads, "An ounce of
prevention is worth a p:mnd of cure".
Murphy's Law #808
To err is hlllllan - to blame it on somebody .
else is even more hLman.
Score settings are fair, set at 1,220,000
for the first game and 2,400,000 for the
second. Making this a definite plus to any
serious player.
Play on. . . Root.
~ C i t • ••
A typ:> accidently appeared in the Auga6
issue of STAR~H JOURNAL. In the article
entitled, "Monitor Horizontal Tearing:
II", the fast-switching diodes smuld be
the 1N414a type (not 1N474a as indicated
-which is actually a 22v zener). Please
nake this correction in your service file.