Let's talk about your CPS2 Collecting + Price Guide

[mjmjr25]

For my CPS2 brothers; latest group buy has begun:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthrea ... ost3730625

[ninjainspandex]

hmm Mars Matrix is Very tempting!

[KalessinDB]

Super Muscle Bomber and SamSho Zero are both VERY tempting...

But I have to sit this one out Next month's my 3 paycheck month and should FINALLY catch me back up (after a year of being more or less behind because of renovations and lack of self-control), so don't stop doing them any time soon! (I know you won't)

[mjmjr25]

I've seen Super Muscle Bomber on another price guide at like $140. In my 3+ years in CPS2 i've seen it on a forum sale exactly once, on ArcadeOtaku for 150 GBP and it was gone quick. I have it at $200+ on my guide, so getting it at $170, I feel good about.

I've never seen it on ebay and I check CPS2 a couple times a month. Not once.

[aaron]

where do you guys send your boards off to get phoenixed? best bet/deal? the SSFII:NC board i just got is indeed dead (well, i'm pretty sure it's dead, i'm going to triple check it in the other A-board i have) and i have the Puzzle Fighter board that i'd like to get the battery either replaced or removed (if possible).

[mjmjr25]

Phoenixing - there are a lot of guys who can do it. It is a matter or reprogramming a couple chips. Some boards require as few as 3 or 4, some require like 10, but the cost is generally the same.

It all depends who does it - I mean, theoretically you can do it yourself if you buy an eprom programmer. Or, you can send it off to a buddy who may do it free or who may charge a small fee. Others will charge a much higher fee and claim it is because they are sending a finder's fee to Razoola (the Finnish gentleman who cracked the code). At the time the code was cracked after a lot of work - it was very common to send Raz money, however as the information has become as quick as a google search away, that is no longer the case.

I would caution against removing the battery unless it is dead for a couple reasons.

1) - while it is the same game, it is no longer fully original and you'll notice a few things different (usually). First, you'll have "PHOENIX EDITION" on our start up screen, you'll often lose the Q-Sound intro music, and there are other (rare) issues of boards having boot up issues.

2) - battery boards, particularly rarer boards, hold more value to collectors. A battery Pro Gear might do $400, a Phoenixed Pro Gear $300, and as more and more boards go to Phoenixed, there are less and less battery, which will only sway those numbers even more due to basic supply and demand.

As far as swapping out - it's really easy and takes literally 10 minutes, tops. You'll need a 3.6 lithium battery with leads, desolder the old, solder in the new - that's it.

Lastly - if you store your board upside down - you have nothing to worry about. CPS2 boards dying is highly publicized, but in fact quite rare. They say 3-5 years, but the truth is there are still boards operating today on their original batteries. I recently got a SFZ2 with a battery dated 2003, so 11 years and still running fine. Yeah, I changed it, but some anal guys would have changed it 4x since then and it never required a single change. Unfortunately, these batteries go from full charge to not enough charge instantly and there is no way to tell, so guys change them pre-emptively.

Do note, if you need to phoenix a board and are sending out - talk to the guy, you just need to mail the chips, it should cost $2 shipping each way and then $0, $10, or whatever he charges.

[aaron]

word, thanks. i've heard tell of replacing the battery with a terminal for easier changing in the future. does that seem worthwhile?

[mjmjr25]

You mean the keystone mod? Essentially that is a way to change the battery quickly, but honestly, while still original and "on battery", it has as much appeal to collectors as phoenix boards; ie - none.

The only time i'd recommend a keystone mod is if:
- YOU prefer to have it on battery
- YOU think you're going to own the board for the next 15+ years and thus make it worthwhile for the purchase of the holder and time savings. I mean, it will literally save you 5 minutes every 5 years. You still have to solder in the keystone holder so you don't actually save time until the second battery change, they are prone to failure in shipping and thus killing a live board. I don't really know anyone who is a fan of the idea tbh.

[KalessinDB]

A note on the "Phoenix edition" that's supposedly shown on Phoenixed boards --

The one you sent me doesn't appear to have it. I've had the TV plugged in and warmed up, the supergun plugged in, and been watching the TV *as* I turn on the supergun, and I do not see this, it just goes straight to ram check.

I mean I'm okay with that, albeit slightly disappointed because I read somewhere that you're supposedly able to switch regions with some/all of the phoenix edition boards, but I found it curious. Did they re-update the phoenix roms to be more original at some point?

[mjmjr25]

There are different ROM sets yeah, I bought that one already phoenixed but didn't realize it didn't have the phoenix splash screen. Most do have it but you're right, some do not. You can always have the region changed on those roms - just having the program roms reburned again. I should really invest in a programmer myself.

What is your purpose for changing region? Difficulty or language? You can def. change difficulty in the TEST menu. Recalling from memory - but I think you can change options on both the B board and the A board - you might have a language option in one of them.