Pulstar JPN AES

[Cylotron]

I recently picked up this Pulstar. Was told it wasn’t working and probably a boot (since it was missing the manual), but I ended up trading something I didn’t care for anyway so thought “why not”. I figured if anything, maybe I could at least get it working and keep it for friends to play when they come over.

Anyway, both boards were filthy as all hell. I have them both a good cleaning and examined for any clearly obvious bogus chips or bad solder work, but surprisingly everything seemed okay. I did manage to get the game working and thought I would take photos of the boards.

I compared them to what I saw here:

Pulstar NEO·GEO AES & MVS SCANS

www.arcade-collector.com

I’m wondering now if this is an actual genuine copy. Thoughts?

 

[Dr. Jigglin]

Jumper JV12 to the right of the V2 chip looks suspect as it is just a bit of wire by the looks, it is not like the others. Also these chips look a little "handled" which is odd because an AES cart of this kind would be seldom opened and you'd think taken care of.

Also the placement of the S1 chip is off center...

 

[Moob Butter]

Need to do a semen sample on the white stuff on that Neo-ZMC2 chip to identify if it’s genuine SNK spunk.

 

[kernow]

Perhaps show the soldering work on the back? ...

 

[Dr. Jigglin]

Need to do a semen sample on the white stuff on that Neo-ZMC2 chip to identify if it’s genuine SNK spunk.

Little did we know Takashi Kumaloto personally marked all NEO-ZMC2 chips, spreading his seed across the coinop market

 

[Cylotron]

Perhaps show the soldering work on the back? ...

Here’s the back before I closed it up again:

(this shows that S1 Heinz mentioned)

 

[wyo]

Looks good to me but can't say 100%. Does the insert appear to be legit?

 

[yagamikun]

Your game appears to be legit, man. Even though the CHA256 and BK1 Prog boards are super common and used for many conversions given their flexibility, to my knowledge, these are the default boards for the game anyway. The solder joints are clean and the MASK ROMs are properly stamped.

You can always check board authenticity (generally) at arcade.collector.com (hyperlink to Pulstar section). BUT the pictures on there suck sometimes with awful lighting (as is the case here).

To @wyo point - have you checked the printing of the insert and/or manual as a final check? Should be "off-set" printing? You can find some comparisons online if you're unsure of what that printing style looks like.

 

[Neo Alec]

You should have shared the solder side of both boards.

This looks legit. How do AES boards get so dirty?

 

[kernow]

Looks fine to me

 

[neo_mao]

Ah I love happy endings!

 

[Cylotron]

Looks good to me but can't say 100%. Does the insert appear to be legit?

Here’s the insert:





Might be hard to tell from the lighting, but it looks/feels just like inserts from games I have that I know are genuine (as I bought them new back in the day).

Here’s the case also:

 

[sr20det510]

Congrats! Looks good and you got it to work!

Now you have to figure out how to get friends to come over to play it!

 

[Cylotron]

You should have shared the solder side of both boards.

This looks legit. How do AES boards get so dirty?

The guy I got it from has a work shop in his garage. He also leaves his games/consoles laying all over the place. It’s a really messy place.

 

[StevenK]

WTB:

Pulstar JPN AES manual​

 

[Cylotron]

WTB:

Pulstar JPN AES manual​

I will admit.. I hate having incomplete games. It’s going to bother me if I can’t get one

 

[Neo Alec]

I will admit.. I hate having incomplete games. It’s going to bother me if I can’t get one

Just enjoy it. Small imperfections are what add character to a collection.

 

[kernow]

I will admit.. I hate having incomplete games. It’s going to bother me if I can’t get one

Just get a repro I guess
Or sell it as legit without manual, post tons of pics and get more money than you paid

I mean you'll probably never see level four anyway
lol fuck that game

 

[BIG BEAR]

Any photos of the cartridge shell and label? Did you open it without any problems?
BB

 

[Cylotron]

Any photos of the cartridge shell and label? Did you open it without any problems?
BB

It was incredibly tough to open. Was as if it was the 1st time being opened. I was worried the shell was going to break. There’s now a crease on the sticker up top.






I was thinking about grabbing my heat gun and seeing if I could peel up the top of the sticker and see if I could re-adjust it but worried about damaging the sticker.

 

[BeefJerky]

I was thinking about grabbing my heat gun and seeing if I could peel up the top of the sticker and see if I could re-adjust it but worried about damaging the sticker.

Give it a shot and report back to us

 

[BIG BEAR]

It was incredibly tough to open. Was as if it was the 1st time being opened. I was worried the shell was going to break. There’s now a crease on the sticker up top.View attachment 84488
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I was thinking about grabbing my heat gun and seeing if I could peel up the top of the sticker and see if I could re-adjust it but worried about damaging the sticker.

It's legit.The dead giveaway was the filthy pcb's ,the machined solder side of the pcbs,the wear on the insert and the fact that it has no manual.
If it were a repro,it would have been in pristine condition and complete because the paper materials(insert,manual & label) are readily available for purchase and there would have been some imperfection on solder side of pcbs..even if the solder joints are perfect they shouldn't look clean as in shiny,fresh off assembly line
BB

 

[MCF 76]

It was incredibly tough to open. Was as if it was the 1st time being opened. I was worried the shell was going to break. There’s now a crease on the sticker up top.View attachment 84488
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I was thinking about grabbing my heat gun and seeing if I could peel up the top of the sticker and see if I could re-adjust it but worried about damaging the sticker.

Man if I were u I would leave well enough alone. As old as that sticker is especially with a heat gun could cause it to separate then its fucked. Let it be man it's fine.

 

[Cylotron]

Man if I were u I would leave well enough alone. As old as that sticker is especially with a heat gun could cause it to separate then its fucked. Let it be man it's fine.

From what it looks like (maybe hard to tell from this photo),

but it’s not a hard crease. Looks like if the shell is opened up and possibly re-seated properly, it should minimize that “crease”. At this point though, I do not want to open it again.

I initially thought this was a boot and thought “just get it open!!”… now that I know it’s legitimate, I’m going to leave it be.

 

[cum_drops]

Get a cheap loupe for $5 and check the printing on the label and insert. Easy way to solve this.