Taito Bubble Bobble Bootleg Repair Log & REDUX

[Elgen]

http://elgensrepairs.blogspot.dk/2013/03/taito-bubble-bobble-bootleg-repair-log.html

[ataritoobin]

http://elgensrepairs.blogspot.dk/2013/03/taito-bubble-bobble-bootleg-repair-log.html

Nice work!  Been enjoying reading these.  I have a Taito Bubble Bubble PCB that currently is dead as a doornail that I need to look at

[Muerto]

Realy nice work Morten! - i have a bootleg BB, that maby could be turned into a "real" BB - and even with the new "Lost cave" roms, do you know if thats douable??

[Elgen]

Hmmm, interesting idea...try and ask joaoljr over at otaku };-P

[Elgen]

I've tried to have a look at it, and some code would have to be rewritten to this to work.

[Muerto]

I've tried to have a look at it, and some code would have to be rewritten to this to work.

Thats a shame....

[CrazyKongFan]

Are you real good with Bubble Bobble boards? I recently got a real Taito one, and after fixing up my Taito wiring harness (I had a JAMMA adapter for Elevator Action, but had to add -5V to the harness, since EA didn't use it, that pin wasn't populated). Anyway, the board worked great after that. I played a couple games, and in the middle of one (about 30 levels in or so), there was some horizontal interference that looked like static and the screen became unplayable. I powered it off for a few minutes and back on, and it worked ok for a bit, then started doing it again. I tried reseating the EPROM's and the interconnect cable, but it didn't fix it. Here's some pics
1: The PCB with JAMMA adapter attached
2: The title screen before the board glitched
3: Title screen after it glitched
4: Intro screen after it glitched
5: Level 1 glitched.
Sometimes it only shows 5 instances of the screen, with GH and 30 along the top instead of 1UP and 00
The game is still playing, as I can hear it bubble and jump and have actually managed to clear level 1 occasionally, even though no sprites are showing.
Any idea what might be causing this?

[Elgen]

No,this is actually the first time I've worked on a bootleg Bubble Bobble, and never tried an original either, sorry.

[Elgen]

Realy nice work Morten! - i have a bootleg BB, that maby could be turned into a "real" BB - and even with the new "Lost cave" roms, do you know if thats douable??

Actually it WAS doable };-P http://elgensrepairs.blogspot.dk/2014/04/bubble-bobble-lost-cave-redux-on-same.html

[CrazyKongFan]

Just an update to the problem on my board. I picked up some freeze spray from Radio Shack and sprayed all the chips on the board until the problem cleared up. Turned out to be IC26 on the video PCB, a 74LS163. I haven't bought a new one to replace it yet (I need to order it online, since my local electronics shop didn't have it in stock), but when I have the PCB running, as soon as the video starts glitching, if I hit that chip with the freeze spray, it clears right up and looks normal.

[CrazyKongFan]

Another update, picked up a couple 74LS163's off ebay, tried piggybacking one on the bad chip, didn't make much of a difference, so I went ahead and removed the old chip and soldered in a new one. Works great, as you can see from the following pics. I played a game thru to round 41, and let the game run for a couple hours. It does have one odd issue though, perhaps someone who's done work on Bubble Bobble (including bootlegs) boards might know. When you get the secret level, the background is full of vertical lines. Do the secret levels have separate graphic code from the regular screens or something that might cause those vertical lines? Here's some pics of the game running, and a closeup of the chip I replaced (the one circled in red).

[Elgen]

Yes, the bonus-levels are on separate ROMs, however I don't know which.
What I would do, was to reseat all ROMs on the graphics-PCB (secondary board), carefully checking them for corrosion, bent/broken pins etc and also dump them all (or try to) and check them against MAME.

[CrazyKongFan]

Yes, the bonus-levels are on separate ROMs, however I don't know which.
What I would do, was to reseat all ROMs on the graphics-PCB (secondary board), carefully checking them for corrosion, bent/broken pins etc

Thanks for the tip. That was it. I'd popped them out one at a time awhile back when trying to figure out why the board wasn't working right and must have gotten 1 pin out of the socket on one of the graphic ROM's...the one labeled A78 13. After several attempts at getting to the secret room, finally made it and it looked normal. Didn't have my camera handy for a pic though. Hopefully the other 2 look ok as well, but I died before getting to round 30 (the doorways to the secret rooms are on 20, 30 and 40, but you have to be on your 1st life from the start of the game for them to appear)

[Elgen]

That's jawsome... Cool you got it working again };-P