Four Silk Screend MX Chips on a CAPCOM SFA3!?!?

Hi all,

A Big to the fans out there who , , and boots.

Does anyone know if CAPCOM use SILK-SCREENED MX CHIPS for STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3?

I ask because a strange thing just happened to me; yesterday, an eBay seller shipped me a STF3 with both CAPCOM SECURITY STICKERS on the bottom of the game board.

STICKERS looked good--Game boots fine--Plays fine.

BUT, (and here's the strange part) after I removed both CAPCOM SECURITY STICKERS--opened the case--and began replacing the OEM MAXELL SUPER Li battery with a new TADIRAN Li battery, I noticed that the SFA3 board has FOUR SILK-SCREENED MX CHIPS on it.

MX J982564................MX J982564
SZ3-13M.......................SZ3-17M
MX23C3210................MX23C3210
1Q0381Y2...................1Q0364Y1

MX J982564................MX J982564
SZ3-15M.......................SZ3-19M
MX23C3210................MX23C3210
1Q0404Y1...................1Q0360Y1

I have never seen MX CHIPS on a CAPCOM game before. And I can't find any PCB pictures of a SFA3 PCB to compare it to. And these MX CHIPS are really confusing me.

So, what do you think: Is this SFA3 a boot or not?

I uploaded some pictures of the SFA3 PCB and the MX CHIPS to <http://s1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc418/Tyranix95/.>. SFA3 MX CHIPS are Picture #4010. (Click 2x to enlarge.)

I also uploaded some additional CAPCOM PCBs and Chip pictures for comparison.

Thanks For Your

Yes Capcom used MX maskrom chips (graphic roms) on some of their CPS2 games.


Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 3, X-Men Vs Street Fighter and Hyper Street Fighter II are some of their games that i saw with MX chips.


Here's a SFA3 pcb with MX chips like yours:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artemiourbina/3339935846/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artemiourbina/3339928836/

, gone.

That info is good to know.

The first thing that I think of when I see MX MASKROM CHIPS on a PCB is BOOT.

, looks like CAPCOM was just messing with me.

Thanks For The ,

You

It's extremely rare for a boot to use mask roms. If ever in doubt all you've got to do is look at the soldering. You can tell a mile away if it was done by hand.

Good Point. I checked the soldering on the bottom of the SFA3 PCB. It's flawless. There is no doubt in my mind that it's factory work.

---

But, now knowing what to for, I found a thread on another gaming site that discusses MX MROM CHIPS on a CAPCOM CPS2 HYPER STREET FIGHTER.

Cf: Thread (May-Aug. 2010): http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10780
Cf: Pict: http://img37.imageshack.us/i/151220091494.jpg/
Cf: Picts: http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10780&start=45

There, they concluded that:
(1) CAPCOM MEXICO assembled some CPS2 boards with MX MROM CHIPS;
(2) CAPCOM MEX. assembled FRANKEN-BOARDS--a CAPCOM game made with different region parts; and,
(3) CAP. MEX.'s work looks legit but seems shady.

I'm starting to think I've got one of those legit CAPCOM SFA3 that were made in MEXICO

What do you all think?

"MX" means nothing, Macronix makes a shitton of ROMs for tons of people. I think all Nintendo games since N64 have Macronix ROMs.

When bootleg spotting it all boils down to is whether the ROMs are FlashROM (often Macronix Flash in a TSOP package) in a DIP adapter (boot) or are DIP/SOIC MaskROM with high board integrity (legit).

Tyranix95 said:

There, they concluded that:
(1) CAPCOM MEXICO assembled some CPS2 boards with MX MROM CHIPS;
(2) CAPCOM MEX. assembled FRANKEN-BOARDS--a CAPCOM game made with different region parts; and,
(3) CAP. MEX.'s work looks legit but seems shady.

I'm starting to think I've got one of those legit CAPCOM SFA3 that were made in MEXICO

What do you all think?

Click to expand...

Hyper Street Fighter II pcbs manufactured in Japan also have MX chips inside.

http://richy13-arcade4life.blogspot.com/search?q=CPS2


All CAPCOM international arcade subdivisions made odd things with CPS2 stuff (including CAPCOM USA).

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6344/bob6.jpg
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8164/bob7n.jpg
http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/9067/bob5.jpg

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/9498/42alienvspredatorus2.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9733/42alienvspredatorus3.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8999/42aliensvspedatorpcb2.jpg

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/4193/bob8.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6563/bob1uz.jpg
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6959/bob3.jpg

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/9799/43vampiresavior2kit1.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4256/43vampiresavior2pcb1.jpg

Great Point. The ROM chips in question are SILK SCREENED MX MROM CHIPS seated in a DIP Socket--not MX FROM CHIPS in a TSOP to DIP adapter.

Another sign of factory work.

---

After viewing the new picts. and seeing all the SILK SCREENED MX CHIPS installed in CAPCOM games, I'm convinced that this is a CAPCOM SILK SCREENING style for chips installed into CAPCOM games.

And that's great to know.

Now I'm thinking that this Blue SFA3 game was not made by CAPCOM MEXICO; and, that this game was made by CAPCOM JAPAN--just like the little white label says..

Hey, Thanks Again For The

These four SILK SCREEND MX CHIPS were me; but, you all were way and the out of me.

on.

99% of CPs2 games use MX chips for GFX and SND. Program roms are always eproms (except a few that are simms).

There are a few games that use eproms for GFX data but they will have capcom stickers on them.

Then there's the South America Capcom pcbs. No rules apply to any of them...

http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/oldnews/062005.html

Old link to Raz's finding of Boot CPS2 systems with pics.

HOLY TOLEDO!!!

Someone put TSOP to DIP adapters and MX FROM CHIPS all over that CS2 board.

And it looks like they pulled all the CAPCOM *ROM CHIPS to do it.

Now that's a CPS2 BOOT.

WOW, and I thought I may have a boot.

Great comparison picture.

Well that settles it: I have four CAPCOM SILK SCREENED MX MROM CHIPS on my SFA3.

Thanks For The

on.

Hey, Raz's 2005 ULTRA-BOOT CPS2 made me think of PHOENIXED CPS2 boards.

Are PHOENIXED CPS2 boards BOOT too?

I ask because I've never really though about that before.

I see these boards sell on eBay all the time.

And I know that PHOENIX ROMs offer CPS2 owners certain benefits: such as (1) reviving a dead CPS2 board, (2) no suicide code, and (3) no more battery replacements.

But aren't these ROMS NON-CAPCOM ROMs too?

Or am I missing something?

Calling them a boot is going a bit too far. They're not Capcom ROM's, and they don't contain the original data, but who wants to worry about boards killing themselves?

There's a such thing as being too much of a purist, you know

Got it: PHOENIXED games are too.

Don't PHOENIXED games.