Hi Chris,

A little later than I'd have liked but I've had a lot on since repairing the unit, but have a little spare time now, so here I am.

Here we have the unit as it was in all its faded glory:



Here I've replaced the filter in the bottom screen - the difference is clear:



And finally both screens done, it's as good as the day it was first purchased:



Again, my sincere thanks to Chris for not only purchasing these in the first place but cutting them down to size perfectly.

Regards,

Steve

My Nintendo Mickey & Donald LCDs are SLIGHTLY lighter than normal. Do you think that replacing polarizer work?

Hi billymail01

You will have the same results as Steve's his Donkey kong because it's the same technique.

Greetings

Hello all, thanks for this topic, very helpful info here!
I'm from Brazil, and my mom just found my brother's Donkey Kong II Game & Watch system.

As you can see below the LCD is very fade, and there are these weird stains on the bottom screen.
Can someone tell if I replace the polarized film with new ones will those stains also disappear?


Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

The sprites are indeed very light and can be resolved by replacing the filters/polarizers as described above.
For the brown spots, it is not very clear on the picture if the spots are in the front or in the back? If in the front it is the polarizer and it is easy to replace. If it is in the back it is the LCD screen and these are hard to find.

What can you do?
Open up the game and check the filters and LCD screens. Normally it will be very clear where the spots are located.

What if the spots are on the LCD screen?
Find new LCD screens from a donor game. Beware they need to have the same size.

Or since it is a Donkey 2 and very common, leave it like that and buy another one. Ebay is full of it.

But who am I to decide . If this is very nostalgic for you and you really want to repair your game than you need to do this.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Regards

Rafael

If it turns out that the polarizers are indeed the cause of the problem (I'm pretty sure that this is the case with the top screen, but as Rafael said it's hard to tell from the pictures what is wrong with the bottom screen), I've got new poalrizer up on eBay here:

Multi screen: www.ebay.com/itm/291065879364
Wide screen: www.ebay.com/itm/291065879365
Silver/Gold series: www.ebay.com/itm/291065879366

Good luck!
Chris

Posting new images after opening the device:
My guess is that I have a problem with the LCD on the bottom part. What do you think guys?







Cheers!

Hi there

Yes the spots are located on the LCD screen so they need to be replaced if you want resolve this.
And replacing the polarizers will get the sprites nice and dark again.

Greets

Rafael

Rafael_lepoutre wrote: Hi there

Yes the spots are located on the LCD screen so they need to be replaced if you want resolve this.
And replacing the polarizers will get the sprites nice and dark again.

Greets

Rafael

I will keep looking on ebay for possible broken device but with a working LCD. Then will try to replace it on my own...

Just bought the polarized film from Chris!


If any of you know of a good LCD let me know!


Thanks again

Hi,
I live in australia and cannot find any polarizing film to fix a faded multiscreen game. Does anyone here know where to buy if from or have any spare that I could purchase??

Thanks!

Hi LD50,

You can find mine here: www.ebay.com/itm/291111582437 (Only a few left, will try to add more soon.) Other sizes are here: www.ebay.com/itm/291111582438 and here: www.ebay.com/itm/291111582440

Regards,
Chris

:ok2: Thanks Chris

ratox wrote: Posting new images after opening the device:
My guess is that I have a problem with the LCD on the bottom part. What do you think guys?

I also noticed that ratox's game's bottom screen has a stained back reflector plate (mine has the exact same problem on the exact same screen). I have no problems with my LCD or filter (perhaps because my unit came off a different manufacturer - Micro Games USA had these for sale in the mid 90s repackaged in a blister, maybe they used a different polarizer?)

I am trying to think of ways to replace that back reflector, as yesterday I tried to clean it by rubbing some warm water and mild detergent with a cotton swab with no success; it appears the stains had formed somehow on the inside...

One idea I am considering is to buy a glossy screen protector (any one model, as far as the size is slightly bigger than the back reflector), removing the protecting sheet from the side that is supposed to glue to the phone's screen and applying aluminum foil to it - actually, not yet sure if that will yield the same result as the original part, but I am out of better ideas.

Maybe I'm writing this to see if some nice people could come up with a good solution?

ChrisVos wrote: Hi All,
This page gives a nice walkthrough for disassembling, cleaning and reassembling a multiscreen Game & Watch.

Have you noticed that the "funny looking signature" that guy had wiped clean off the front plate was nothing less than Shigeru Miyamoto's autograph?? #-o
(Any doubts: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Miyamoto_signature.png )

Talk about getting lucky and throwing it all away. That poor bastard even said he paid only 20 bucks for that gem he crushed. Now he needs to spend some 850 bucks (or more) for a trip to Japan to see if maybe he can get that "funny looking signature" back, before the man passes... ](*,)

Hi wmoecke

wmoecke wrote: Have you noticed that the "funny looking signature" that guy had wiped clean off the front plate was nothing less than Shigeru Miyamoto's autograph??

I watched the video. I'm not sure if the guy really had no clue at all or if it's just a joke (fake)...?

Gawaleus wrote: I watched the video. I'm not sure if the guy really had no clue at all or if it's just a joke (fake)...?

What video? I searched up and down on that page and found nothing linking to any videos.

Anyway, down below on the comments section there's a comment by the author, where he says:

Jonnyboy said...
It couldn't be. This unit came off ebay for about $20 and with nothing in the description. I expect if it was Shigeru Miyamoto's autograph it would have been indicated and for sure would have fetch a fair bit more.

I have a feeling neither this guy nor the previous owner had a clue. [=X
I have looked closely at the pictures (clicking any picture brings up a zoomed image with a scrolling menu at the bottom) and found pic #44 quite disturbing - does it look to you like this signature could've been silk-screened onto the metal plate?)

wmoecke wrote: I am trying to think of ways to replace that back reflector, as yesterday I tried to clean it by rubbing some warm water and mild detergent with a cotton swab with no success; it appears the stains had formed somehow on the inside...

One idea I am considering is to buy a glossy screen protector (any one model, as far as the size is slightly bigger than the back reflector), removing the protecting sheet from the side that is supposed to glue to the phone's screen and applying aluminum foil to it - actually, not yet sure if that will yield the same result as the original part, but I am out of better ideas.

Maybe I'm writing this to see if some nice people could come up with a good solution?

I have a few units with the same problem, the back screen reflectors seem to be permanently damaged with big dark blotches from it looks like deep seated moisture that has accumulated over many years. Besides finding a donor unit to get a suitable replacement, I don't have any good solution either. I have, however, found that this 'diffuse reflective films' are available in bulk from the TN-LCD (twisted nematic) part manufacturers. Maybe someone working in this area can help us; broken units off ebay are becoming more hard to come by these days.

Seems to be a common problem. When I was pulling mine apart I noticed the same thing. As I was reassembling the unit I thought about simply turning the reflective surface around and putting it back in the opposite way. I didnt actually do it, and I'm curious to know if anyone has tried to see if it works.

LD50 wrote: As I was reassembling the unit I thought about simply turning the reflective surface around and putting it back in the opposite way.

I noticed that it has a metallic backing, but it is not glossy as the surface that faces the screen.
In hopes that this is the only difference, I am motivated to try and apply a piece of glossy screen protector sheet to the back and see if it turns out to look and perform as the opposite side. Your idea sounds better than applying aluminum foil to the screen protector sheet. :-k

wmoecke wrote: What video? I searched up and down on that page and found nothing linking to any videos.

I'm sorry, my fault. I was looking at all the pictures of course, not a video. #-o