Double Dragon 2

[pbj]

I had this 90% written and then the power blinked out... awesome.  Alright, here's what I've been up to the past six months.

Friend calls.  Come get Double Dragon 2.  Cheap.  Rent tiny cargo van, Enterprise decides I need this monster.  "Don't worry, we won't charge extra!"



This is the last moment I've been happy... when this was unloaded on my driveway...



Managed to ding the door when leaving.  Look carefully.



"Don't worry, don't bother involving your insurance.  We'll have it fixed in two days and it'll cost $100, don't worry about it."  Yeah, do not EVER listen to this.

World Cup comes and goes...




Board had a couple of issues.  The chips in the amp area had blown and been replaced.  When I got it, it was "sound doesn't work, no idea what's wrong."  Turned out to be a broken trace under one of the new sockets.  The final trace before it hits the amp.  Mike_A tipped me off to using a "sound probe" where you take a stereo jack hooked up to a speaker and touch the audio section and find out where the sound stops working.  Worked beautifully.  Other issue was the game would crash at the end of level 1 in all kinds of weird ways.  Tweaking the voltage down to 4.9V fixed that.  Finicky board I guess but it's 100% now.



The cabinet had the original Wico joysticks, which were nice and rusty.  The left one cleaned up easily by chucking it in a drill.



Right joystick was a pain.  Couldn't get this bushing off.  Soaked in acid for several days, went at it with an angle grinder.  Nothing.



Fired up the dishwasher motor hooked up to a grinding wheel.  Then polished with the drill.  The damage area is covered by the grommet and not visible to players.





File a credit card dispute with Enterprise as it's been a couple months and nothing.  Out of nowhere I finally get the bill.  $2,300!  They claimed my door ding required them to replace a roof panel, the driver side mirror, and repaint the whole thing.  This was a retired FedEx truck that was previously beaten to hell and was missing paint all over it before I got it.  I was also liable for a month of missed income while it sat at the body shop.  Anyway, insurance got involved.  No longer a cheap game.

Now I'm working on the cabinet.  I thought the sideart was decent enough to attempt restoration.






Now I've got a professional illustrator friend turned loose on it, here's how it currently sits on that side...



Fresh tmolding, too.

Onwards to the other side...