Little good news, leading to more bad news....
It wasn't the CD Drive after all.
I couldn't get off the title screen of Galaga 88, so that leads to Problem no. 1:
WEAK, GHETTO CONTROLLER PORTAs you can see, I had to bend and tuck the controller cord underneath the machine to give it juice. It seemed to work for about a few seconds, and then things get worse, the D-Pad controls start f*cking up, from reversed directions to no movement at all.
Tested out Soldier Blade, I get trapped in the left hand corner of the screen, or whatever direction the d-pad allows at the moment ....
On Art of Fighting, I either couldn't select the mode I wanted to play, or on the VS mode character select screen, both P1 and P2 cursors moved through the roster simultaneously and then POOF! No controls period.
The party's not over yet...Problem Number 2: (Video)
Art of Fighting crashes during the intro right after Ryo punches Jack. The LED light goes out right along with it. Yet when I open the CD Lid, the disc is still spinning at full speed. No abnormal noises or anything.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/Oldschoolage/?action=view¤t=011709_184900.flv