How do I get my buggy mushi board fixed?

[krispyfi]

my mushi board doesn't have any dots by the date.

I tried filling out the form on AMI's page, but maybe gaijin name = insta-fail. (or maybe they don't like to deal with consumers... i prefer to think it's racism  )

will they also unlock ultra for me? will this increase my resale value once i get bored of it?

I read a blog post where some dude asked his pcb shop to send it for him, but i got my board off of YAJ (didn't even occur to me that there were unfixed boards still around)

related question: anybody know any arcade parts shops in or around osaka? there is one by shin osaka, but it's closed weekends and i can't justify skipping work to go.

Thanks

[EOJ]

If you're in Japan, you should be able to send it in to Cave. If not, contact tops-game.jp. It'll cost about 25,000 yen total to get the board fixed through them, provided they agree to be the middleman. It won't add that much to your board's value (the last fixed PCB sold for 40,000yen on YAJ, in other words, the going rate for the unfixed board), so only do it if you really want to save your scores on the PCB. You can unlock Ultra yourself, by the way (you don't need to send it to Cave to do this).

I have heard Cave no longer fixes Mushi PCBs, but as far as I know that's just a rumor. Give it a try.

[krispyfi]

You can unlock Ultra yourself, by the way (you don't need to send it to Cave to do this).

I think this only works if you are good at the game. 

entered the unlock code for a larf, but no luck.

thanks for the info anyway

[EOJ]

To unlock it you just need to enter the code. Alternatively you can clear it like 100 times to unlock it (I think this is what you mean by being "good" at the game). If the code doesn't work, either there's something wrong with your PCB or you're not entering it correctly.

[krispyfi]

I had a chance to try the code again, and it worked! I guess it makes a difference if you believe...

Thanks!

Someone needs to update the cave of shooting, it makes it sound like you need both the points and the code for ultra.

BTW, I finally got a reply from AMI. They said they would fix my board and unlock ultra, but that ship has sailed...

[Dave_K.]

Strange to hear about an unfixed mushi that doesn't have ultra unlocked already.  By unlocking ultra you have now introduced a high scoring bug for Maniac->Ultra.  I would have kept it locked until you were done with Maniac.

[EOJ]

Some boards that had Ultra unlocked glitch and randomly remove Ultra on powerup, requiring you to enter the unlock code again to get it back. This happened to one of the Mushi PCB's I've owned over the years.

I've heard this is more common on the second revision of the Mushi hardware (not the software), which lacks the parallel port on the PCB.

[Dave_K.]

Ok, I've herd of this happening once before (documented on shmups board).  I would kill to be able to replicate this behavior as it resets all the highscores as well...a sorely missing feature. 

If anyone can recreate this glitch/bug, please let me know!  My board is also the later revision without the serial port.

[rtw]

Someone needs to update the cave of shooting, it makes it sound like you need both the points and the code for ultra.

At your service    how do you want the text to be:

This is it today:

--
On a new PCB Ultra mode is not initially available. To unlock it you need to get 100 points then enter a code.

The points are gained by clearing the game in Original or Maniac mode. Each time you 1CC the game in Original you get 1 point.
Each time you 1CC the game in Maniac you get 2 points. Once 100 are reached, enter the code above at the title screen after inserting a credit.

There is no known code to disable Ultra mode!
--

http://www.world-of-arcades.net/Cave/Mushihimesama/Secrets.htm

[Dave_K.]

Based on the verification by krispyfi, the points are not needed to enter the code to unlock Ultra.  But what is not exactly clear, is if after reaching 100 points, does Ultra then automatically unlock?  This would be my guess since the code is not relevant to the points.

[EOJ]

Yes, Ultra automatically unlocks after 100 points. If you want to get it sooner, enter the code.

BTW if you lose Ultra, your PCB will still not save scores in Maniac mode properly. I tested this when it happened to me.

[rtw]

So will this be OK ?

--
On a new PCB Ultra mode is not initially available. To unlock it you need to get 100 points or enter a code.

Points are gained by clearing the game in Original or Maniac mode. Each time you 1CC the game in Original you get 1 point.
Each time you 1CC the game in Maniac you get 2 points. Once 100 points are reached Ultra mode will be unlocked.

Alternatly you can enter the code above at the title screen after inserting a credit to unlock Ultra mode.

There is no known code to disable Ultra mode!
--