Strange text problem

[WibbleWobbleWoo]

Hi, this is my first post on here, please be gentle

So I recently dusted off some arcade boards I'd bought over 20 years ago, one is a Streer Fighter 2: The World Warrior (910214 USA). It has a strange issue with text on some screens where alternate columns are reversed. For example on the startup screen the characters "2" in "Street Fighter 2" and "S" in "USA" are drawn backwards. On the copyright screen it is much more noticable as there is a lot more text. Not all text has this problem though. It doesn't seem to affect the game graphics much except for the sky in one level and one elephant in another (see photos). Does anyone know what might cause this? And is it fixable?

I noticed that EPROM no. 9 looks to have been tampered with as the protective sticker is peeling off. Could this be some kind of mod?

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Cheers,
James

 

[Darksoft]

Hi, this is my first post on here, please be gentle

Hello!

I noticed that EPROM no. 9 looks to have been tampered with as the protective sticker is peeling off. Could this be some kind of mod?

The best thing you can do is read it out and check if the CRC is in MAME. Read it 3 times and verify that the read is consistent. There are many cheap Eprom readers around and they are a must have for people in arcade that wants to play a bit with their PCB, changing games or installing Homebrew versions, etc.

If the read is good and it's dumped, not a mod, then my main suspect will be the C board. Please post a picture of your full stack of CPS1 and of the C board.

 

[WibbleWobbleWoo]

Thanks for getting back so quickly.

Some photos added.

As for dumping the ROM and comparing CRCs, I will look to purchase an EPROM reader, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Darksoft]

The rom with the sticker kind of peeled is the sound CPU Rom, so it can't be that. I suggest you try a different C board that has the same chip as yours. That's a B-17 chip. Maybe some UK fellows can help on that.

 

[WibbleWobbleWoo]

Interesting. Tbf, I only got this board out of storage because I was thinking of selling it on to someone who might actually use it. Oh well...