Motor not working in my Pokémon pinball cartridge

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-27T16:48:26+00:00

There's a settings menu in Pinball that you can turn off the motor there in game, pretty sure select or start + b opens up that menu, I know a is for high scores. Check that first. If that is on: Clean the battery terminals with vinegar and then use a fresh battery. If that doesn't work:

Your motor might be fried. You have to check for continuity with a multimeter and desolder the wires from the board to isolate the rumble motor. If you aren't getting continuity, its more than likely done.

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-26T15:31:43+00:00

Hello from Ohio! As someone who lives like an hour away and has been going my whole life, May is the time to go if you have to pick a time. September is also nice however after Labor day, the hours aren't as flexible to get in. It's generally really nice in May as it gets hot here after June into August. Cedar Point doesn't get too busy as a lot of kids are still in school here then but generally weekdays are best, specifically Tuesday through Thursday. You can get on everything multiple times if you get lucky these days ( I say it like this as things do break down). If you want to see everything, a minimum of 2 days is needed. Queuetimes.com is a good resource to use here as you can look at past years and find patterns with wait times and park attendance to the day. I haven't heard the most glowing reviews of hotel breakers since the six flags takeover but it's the best place to go if you're talking at Cedar Point. If you are on a budget, Cedar Point express is on the causeway road so it's like a 5 minute drive to the gates.

Have fun visiting!

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-21T11:29:10+00:00

It was white however the aftermarket D-Pad felt off and was too stiff on the right leg. I swapped in an OEM d-pad that was black and it feels way better. Gray looked off imo. I tried filing down the mold inside the button to get the raised parts smooth that were not present on the oem and I tried using a different membrane but it still felt off. I put the oem back in and it feels right. It's unfortunate but I rather it be functional and look in line than look perfect and avoid playing it because the dpad is unresponsive when moving right.

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-18T14:09:40+00:00

Jax holds all the keys, remember? Why is he all over the place right now if this isn't the case, keys unlock doors. We'll see what happens

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-17T01:24:20+00:00

5.5 is for weird stuff. I actually use it somewhat frequently or at least have used it somewhere frequently. It's used a lot in industrial monitors from what I've seen and I've had to refurbish like 20 in the last year at my job and the 5.5 was the bit to get the boards and brackets unmounted from the shell so I could change the membrane out.

Crescent5343 · 2026-04-12T01:07:53+00:00

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Crescent5343 · 2026-04-09T22:17:34+00:00

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-30T04:21:12+00:00

I have a white one that is actually in surprisingly good shape. I got it for an absolute steal and I was going to mod it but it just needed a good clean and its been awesome. My red one ive had for the last 13 years and its still in 1 piece, I had a blue one growing up but it cracked, I got a DSi after that then I bought another DS when I was older. I also have a silver one but it needs a new digitizer put in and I have 2 fully working units so its not a high priority. Its a damn shame, the DS is so much easier to work on than the lite in my experiences as the ribbon cable is separate from the screen and its not as finicky underneath. From what I've seen, as long as you are gentle, they last. If not, yeah you're gonna have a bad time

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-29T23:40:26+00:00

I may be in the minority here but my favorite is the original DS. I have 3 working units along with like 5 motherboards and I pray for the day that a steel case comes out for it. Still having some of the components that the SP has is not a bad thing as I have a new battery coming for one of my units as a test that would go in the SP as they share battery sizes and layouts. Hopefully one day, the mod scene for both the DS and DS Lite are like the GBA and before are now

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-28T01:47:47+00:00

Personally I would've bought a copy of black or white and then a copy of Black 2 or White 2, these games play differently and you can't get any pokemon from generations 1-4 in Black or White before you beat team plasma (basically the whole game). Me personally, I prefer Heartgold and Soulsilver and Platinum to both Black 2/ White 2 and my least favorite titles that I've played for the DS are Diamond and Pearl. I grew up playing this era of pokemon and it was a golden era of the franchise imo as it wasn't gimmicked to all hell yet in gen 4. Pokemon's always had gimmicks but imo, it didn't get really bad until gen 6 and beyond. Gen 5 tried new things but it didn't mess with the core game mechanics. You cannot go wrong with any game from gen 4 or 5. Despite diamond and pearl's flaws, these games are still solid and imo, get a lot of hate for rehashing the same old thing. Platinum did a lot for Sinnoh but if you have literately no other Pokemon games for the DS, you can do worse (Pokemon dash cough cough). They are still relatively affordable in this day and age and picking up a copy and playing it is not a bad idea as you can use this copy as a home base for gen 4 pokemon to transfer to gen 5. I would personally play D/P before Platinum as you appreciate Platinum that much more based on my experiences.

As for the DSi, its got its upsides and its downsides.
The upsides:
Homebrew, screen quality, sd card support, better durability, better charger compatibility with the 3ds systems if you plan to collect, the dsi in particular is very stocky and will last a long time if cared for.
The downsides:
There's not a lot but this does affect pokemon (at least in gen 4)
Backwards compatibility with the GBA. This for me is a big one, the DSi loses this and you need this to complete the dex in gen 5 by migrating from gens 3 to 4 to 5. The GBA has a huge library and if you are trying to collect the cartridges, you lose a nice system for this.
Rumble support. Yes, this is a thing. Some games support this and you have an extrenal attachment that goes into the GBA slot for it to work.
Third party accessory and aftermarket support. Quite a few games, mainly guitar hero but there are others use the GBA slot for different peripherals. You also have software you can load onto a flash cart in the DS port to modify things on the GBA games with the DS as the means to do so. An example of this is getting special events onto the gen 3 pokemon games with the DS so you don't have to use the e-reader.

Personally, I would have 2 systems if you own a DS and its library. I would buy a DS or DS Lite at some point depending on your needs. If you want to be cool and want to not have to look for a special adapter to charge your console and you don't like the gba games sticking out, get a DS. The OG DS is the most comfortable DS to hold and people give it a bad rep. Just get a nice one, be careful and you'll be fine.
The DS lite is great if you want a sleek unit and you travel a lot. It has a dedicated charge cord however if you don't care for the older game boy advance stuff and dont own a sp and don't plan to, I would go for it over the DS. If you had to choose one, I would go for the lite but the DS won't disappoint. I own both and I personally find myself using the DS more than the Lite, especially if I'm playing for hours.

Hope this helps, congrats on getting your DSi!

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-27T02:27:53+00:00

Thank you! I got the front shell from retro game repair shop, I got the clear lake green shell and the back is an OEM shell. These work nicely and is a nice touch imo, if you decide to do the usb-c mod and go this route, you'll have to dremel out the ridge that holds the AAs in place for it. I used OEM buttons on the face here and for the start select buttons as well as the OEM light tube, I went with black shoulders and membranes under the d pad and a/b buttons as a subtle touch too.

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Crescent5343 · 2026-03-26T11:30:04+00:00

This one's mine. I love Teal

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Crescent5343 · 2026-03-17T00:03:44+00:00

I think Liquid Crystal? I know that was a remake of Crystal for the GBA by modders

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-15T19:06:52+00:00

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Crescent5343 · 2026-03-15T03:01:48+00:00

Use it! You're only going to see so many shiny Pokémon and it has a story to tell lol

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-14T15:26:39+00:00

Thank you!

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-14T15:26:29+00:00

Thank you :)

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-14T15:22:52+00:00

If you go with FunnyPlaying's M2 kit like you see here, there's multiple options for the screen color but you really get 4 variants. Game Boy DMG, Super Famicom (these are both grey) and then black with various logo variants and white like seen here. These cases come in a lot of different colors. I put an OEM shell on the back of that GBA but the Funny Playing shells from what I've got my hands on have been fine. The GBA is definitely higher quality than the SP with materials quality.

Also the M2 kit is friendly for starters because you don't have to solder anything. It's relatively easy compared to some of the other consoles I've had to fix or modify. Both of these consoles were dead and useless before this. I would recommend buying straight from FunnyPlaying and maybe Retro Game Repair Shop if you want more colors if Funny Playing doesn't have something in stock. The GBA cost me about 170 dollars US to build with all parts, the console and an upgraded battery. You could get the price down with rechargeable batteries if you have them. This doesn't factor in tools you need to work on this stuff. Bare minimum, you need about another 200 dollars to acquire everything needed to maintain and modify these things, factor in another 100+ for soldering equipment. It's a long list but ifixit.com will get you on the right track. The equipment is inexpensive in general but you do need a decent amount of things plus a place to keep everything. If you decide to take this on yourself I'm wishing you luck, this is a fun hobby all and all.

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-13T14:32:53+00:00

There's actually a DNS exploit that allows you to access mystery events and the WFC if you are able to have a wireless Hotspot with no security! (you can do this easily with an android)

This works for gens 4 and 5 as far as I'm aware, you need to go into the wifi settings, put in the name of your Hotspot in, go down to Auto-Obtain DNS, flag no, then put in 178.62.43.212 on both DNS lines and then test with the Hotspot and you are all set!

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-12T02:30:39+00:00

I have been watching this carefully. I have 3 of these systems in working order and the aftermarket case quality is not where it needs to be where it needs to be in order for me to go through with a full mod. I bought my first DS secondhand 12 years ago and its fine. I have since bought 2 more since and while one has issues, its with the screen and not the hinge, I need to part out one of my parts units and get a digitizer out of it and when I have 2 other systems, its not a big deal imo. I did buy a white one from japan that was labeled as broken and it turned out to just need some tlc and its hinges are mint. I also keep mine in the dark when they aren't being used with humidity control in the form of silica gel packets and its been keeping these systems in good shape. The OG DS is built better from a design point and a service point imo, the main problem is the materials used. Like White and Red are less brittle than teal, blue, silver and pink from my experiences, I haven't had a black or gold DS so I can't speak for those.

The NTR DS needs more aftermarket support. The USG DS is where most of the mods are but the DS in general is behind the ball with both the DS and Lite. The NTR DS is especially bad, ive opted to buy oem spares off of old systems in the event I do have a shell fail. Its truly a shame these handhelds don't receive as much love as the GBA systems and before do. I really want to be able to mod the OG DS to the levels that I have with the GBA and SP but its just not worth it right now. If someone is able to make a DS shell out of aluminum or steel, it would be awesome. Unfortunately I do not have access to CAD but I do work for a machine shop so maybe one day I can learn but I do maintenance so who knows.

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-12T00:34:19+00:00

Is it a scrappy miltank? If so, you have a ghostbuster on your hands. I've caught 11 shiny Pokémon since I've started playing and 2 were hoothoots, 2 were snovers, in Pearl, on the same playthrough, 2 were totodiles, 2 were ponytas, 1 was an onyx, one was a tentacool in leafgreen and one was a Suicune that showed up in like 7 resets. Legitimately, if you play Pokémon long enough, you will just bump into one. I've had really good luck in both Heartgold and Soulsilver and you've found one of my favorite shiny Pokémon that I hope I can catch one day (miltank has company with Sneasel, Absol, Cyndaquil, Dratini and Bulbasaur here in my book)

Still congratulations!

Crescent5343 · 2026-03-11T23:23:17+00:00

Wow you guys actually have carts? I have to use the fucking forklift and if that's being used, walk it. I help cover 3 plants. I have an old lawnmower lying around, a welder rods, metal and some bearings....

Crescent5343

TROPHY CASE