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Arcades were everywhere in the 80s and 90s, but mostly died out as console hardware got more powerful. Nowadays there's many different groups dedicated to keeping arcade games alive: MAME  MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and it dominates the arcade emulation scene. It's been around since 1997 and supports 1000s of different games. MAME aims for accuracy rather than performance enhancing hacks, they don't care about your stupid Raspberry Pi. Barcades*  Barcade is a portmanteau of Bar and Arcade. Barcades are bars that have a number of Arcade and Pinball Machines. They usually have a 'retro' aesthetic, and have video game themed drinks and food. Some of them don't take good care of their machines, so check reviews before you go. * the word Barcade is actually trademarked and Lowtax has to pay 25 cents every time you read this thread. Superguns  A supergun is a device that allows arcade PCBs to connect to ordinary consumer televisions. I recommend the Home Arcade System supergun. Cabinets in the Home  If you're a real baller you'll have a collection of every game you like in your "Man Cave". A single cabinet is a more reasonable solution, but remember these things are incredibly heavy. Thanks to the JAMMA standard, arcade game Hardware is generally interchangeable, meaning you can easily swap another game into your cabinet. Though it gets more complicated once you get into newer hardware (Early 2000s). Of particular interest to Arcade Cabinet owners is the Japanese style "Candy" Cabinet, because you sit on a stool to play them and can make yourself a bit more comfortable. They are exported from Japan to America by the shipping container load, either by a dealer, or in a group buy organized on a forum. These are getting more expensive than they used to be.  Japan  Arcades are still thriving in Japan, and it's a must visit for arcade fans. Fish Hunting Games  These are popular among the elderly Asian population. While they appear to be a game of skill, the outcome is mostly random. They pay out tokens, which are exchangeable for small prizes like toys or snacks. Some operators will exchange these tokens for cash, a form of illegal gambling. Twin Galaxies/Billy Mitchell/High Score Contests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfGphfksi3I Weirdos. I find that the drama the scene produces (around cheating accusations and such) is more entertaining than the actual competition.
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Oct 23, 2019 10:11
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I've was a rhythm game fiend during the late 90s, early 2000s, so I spent a loooot of time in arcades. I've been eyeing DanceDanceRevolution, Beatmania, and ParaParaParadise cabinets for some time now, but they are huge and expensive, due to the specialized controls.
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Oct 23, 2019 11:41
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I made my own mame cabinet a few years ago. It was a brutal amount of work (the machine was dilapidated and had no artwork when I bought it) but I think it came out pretty good! Before:  After:    I got really lucky and managed to get a brand new standard res Wells Gardner monitor like three years ago so everything looks razor sharp with no burn in. It was a lot of work and it's not for the feint of heart. I've since added two Ultimarc light guns. The only other thing I'd like is a sit down mame cab for racing games because I'm not putting a steering wheel and pedal on my TMNT machine.
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Oct 23, 2019 13:33
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This is going to be a cool thread, I can feel it OP. Thanks for posting it. Everyone else hates it, but one of my favorite arcade games was “Karate Champ”. The dual joysticks made the game fun if you learned the moves. Most people just remember the bad NES port.  I’m looking forward to discussing MAME mostly because my poor, city-dwelling rear end can’t afford the space or $ for real hardware Also, not a game but: “Fortune for a quarter! I love quarters!”
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Oct 23, 2019 13:40
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:I made my own mame cabinet a few years ago. It was a brutal amount of work (the machine was dilapidated and had no artwork when I bought it) but I think it came out pretty good! I've considered doing this for the non-rhythm arcade stuff my partner and I like. My partner is a cabinetmaker, and has put together the exterior of a cabinet for someone else before, so that part is taken care of. Honestly, though, the only burning want is X-Men, which is why I haven't made the leap yet. And Darius, but I don't even know where to begin with setting up how it handled three screens. I'd totally do it for the rhythm games, but compatibility is wonky for DDR (some games work, some don't), and last I checked, ParaPara isn't compatible at all.
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Oct 23, 2019 13:44
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I bet you could handle Darius with an ultra-wide LCD personally the biggest thing for me in the MAME cabinet was using a legit arcade CRT. I really hate the way retro games look on LCDs. But if you can look past that point, you'd save a good $500 or so (I remember when I was able to buy 25" WG monitors for $50 on craigslist in like 2008....drat how time has changed!) I also had to use a fork of MAME called GroovyMAME which is meant for people using arcade CRTs.
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Oct 23, 2019 13:55
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What’s with all of those porno games you find on MAME cabinets where you have to get like a million points in a puzzle game to have a look at some pixelated boobs? Did those ever exist as normal cabinets?
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Oct 23, 2019 14:01
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Chrs posted:What’s with all of those porno games you find on MAME cabinets where you have to get like a million points in a puzzle game to have a look at some pixelated boobs? Did those ever exist as normal cabinets? Yeah. Mostly in certain types of bars.
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Oct 23, 2019 14:31
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If anyone is looking for Puzzle Fighter or NBA Jam boards, hit me up. They are sat in my attic doing nothing since I sold all my cabs :/
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Oct 23, 2019 19:48
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I've thought about getting an actual Cabinet or building a MAME cabinet for years now, but every time I do, the thought of having to move the things gives me pause. How much of a pain in the rear end would moving be if you have 5 cabinets in your basement? I hate moving but I'm probably gonna have to do it at some point again if I want to keep pushing my career. AngryRobotsInc posted:I've was a rhythm game fiend during the late 90s, early 2000s, so I spent a loooot of time in arcades. I've been eyeing DanceDanceRevolution, Beatmania, and ParaParaParadise cabinets for some time now, but they are huge and expensive, due to the specialized controls. StepMania is better than DDR anyways, just get a good dance mat
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Oct 23, 2019 20:10
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Zaphod42 posted:I've thought about getting an actual Cabinet or building a MAME cabinet for years now, but every time I do, the thought of having to move the things gives me pause. It's a pretty big pain in the rear end. Any cabinet where the control panel is wider than the cabinet itself (like mine) would need to have the control panel taken apart for it to fit through a normal doorway. The only thing you can do to make it a little more manageable is taking the monitor out before you move it.
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Oct 23, 2019 20:32
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Zaphod42 posted:I've thought about getting an actual Cabinet or building a MAME cabinet for years now, but every time I do, the thought of having to move the things gives me pause. Honestly, just do a MAME setup you're happy with (gather all the roms and hardware to make the games you want work), up to and including a decent monitor if that's your bag, and only build/repurpose a cabinet once you're fully settled. My current setup takes up about as much space as a computer with a CRT would normally, and it's about as easy to move as that implies (the CRT is heavy as gently caress, but that's the worst of it). Form factor is a huge appeal, but if you like the games, just play the games. I also have a supergun attached to a small CRT TV, and while *far* more expensive to actually get games for, it takes up even less space.
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Oct 23, 2019 21:14
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I've got MAME on my PC and I have both an X-Arcade and a custom fightstick, so I've got like 80% of the mame experience already. That's the other half of it. Is it really worth building a cabinet just to have like, the presentation? The art? I am a huge nerd and I like working on projects but IDK. I almost feel like gaming from the couch or my computer chair would be more comfortable than trying to game on a cabinet or from a bar stool anyways... Anyways MAME itself owns bones. I'm a huge sucker for light gun games in particular.
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Oct 23, 2019 21:41
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Zaphod42 posted:I've got MAME on my PC and I have both an X-Arcade and a custom fightstick, so I've got like 80% of the mame experience already. That's the other half of it. Is it really worth building a cabinet just to have like, the presentation? The art? It's more about presentation. People always freak out when they see my name cabinet and want to play it, especially when I tell them the coin doors work and you need to put quarters in (I of course provide the quarters). I don't think I'd get the same reaction if I had just like an LCD with an x arcade stick. Most people don't even give a poo poo about the arcade 1up I have because it's not "legit". This isn't just nerds I'm friends with, it goes for my wife's friends as well. Hell, one of my first requirements when I was starting mine was that it uses quarters instead of a coin button because I wanted it to be as authentic as humanly possible.
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Oct 23, 2019 21:50
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:It's more about presentation. People always freak out when they see my name cabinet and want to play it, especially when I tell them the coin doors work and you need to put quarters in (I of course provide the quarters). I don't think I'd get the same reaction if I had just like an LCD with an x arcade stick. Most people don't even give a poo poo about the arcade 1up I have because it's not "legit". This isn't just nerds I'm friends with, it goes for my wife's friends as well. Hell, one of my first requirements when I was starting mine was that it uses quarters instead of a coin button because I wanted it to be as authentic as humanly possible. Yeah, that is super cool. Nice. And I do feel you on the authenticity. Its the same with playing console games on emulator, even if the emulation is really really accurate, it just... it feels different to have to actually plug in a cartridge or plop in a PS1 disc and close to door and you HAVE to use the original controllers and all that. And I do have a massive collection of old game console hardware for that reason. Reminds me, a girl I dated once didn't have much videogames experience beyond like, some gamecube/wii stuff and a little emulation of old games, and I played some SNES games with her on the console, and she was completely floored that you had to just flip the power switch off while the game was still running. She felt like she was breaking it and should do some kind of "shut down" procedure first  But that's the stuff you miss out on if you aren't getting the full original experience.
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Oct 23, 2019 21:57
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Zaphod42 posted:And I do feel you on the authenticity. The most authentic part is the absolute fear you have of the CRT having a part failure every-time you start flick on the power.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:04
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I was worried about that too and my sister brought me down to reality saying those monitors were meant to operate 24 hours a day for 20+ years and me using it once or twice a week isn't even a blip on the lifespan of these things.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:05
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A tiny bit of preventative maintenance and choosiness of parts will go a long way in terms of reliability. Luckily, a lot of these old monitors have been reasonably well documented by those who have dealt with them.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:21
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There's definitely something to be said for authenticity, but if I know I'm gonna move inside of a year or two, I don't think I'm gonna introduce a huge piece of furniture into the mix. There is a point where if it's bad enough it's still kinda good (that one Pac-Man cab made with a television and the plug-in Pac Man joystick comes to mind), so if you get the right parts and just build a Refrigerator Box special that's sturdy enough to play and has the right shape and internal parts, maybe that garners enough attention to get people interested in a round of SFII or something. Then you don't have to feel awful when you destroy it moving, since the important poo poo is still fine.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:29
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midge posted:The most authentic part is the absolute fear you have of the CRT having a part failure every-time you start flick on the power. Speaking of, I found a used CRT that's a pretty good size and looks pretty solid, its no monitor or anything but I foolishly tossed my old CRTs a couple moves back, and this one was free. Problem is, the top two or three rows are like, messed up. Its shifted or just displays white. Everything else seems to work perfectly though, and I think on some inputs it works better than others. But the top of the screen gets cut off. Any idea how hard that'd be to fix? I guess I should see if there's a TV repair shop in town and get a quote.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:39
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Zaphod42 posted:Speaking of, I found a used CRT that's a pretty good size and looks pretty solid, its no monitor or anything but I foolishly tossed my old CRTs a couple moves back, and this one was free. If it's just shifted, then it might be as simple as adjusting the V position. If it's got a few retrace lines on the top few lines, then likely some capacitors in the vertical deflection section have gone dry. That's a pretty easy fix, and a good first CRT repair to try. If it's displaying white at the very top, that's a bit unusual. Something might be wrong with the blanking or OSD circuit.
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Oct 23, 2019 22:53
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If anyone in here has mame machines/real arcade cabs, post some pics! I've got a mame bartop, I paid someone to build this for me. I think it looks fantastic, but In hindsight I should have done it myself one way or another. There's more options now, compared to when I bought the bartop, for kits and whatnot that I would be comfortable doing myself rather than converting a real cab or buying lumber.  I know LCD's are bad in general, but the monitor the guy put in this is exceptionally bad especially any game that scrolls from left to right. Not as bad for static games like Pac-Man or something. I've got a Dell Ultrasharp that looks like it would be a perfect fit, need to test it out and see if it would actually be better. I've also got a PC-10 Countertop. Has interchangable PCB's specific to the arcade, but exactly the same as the NES versions. (Can also play NES games with a custom made adapter. ) Plays games in glorious RGB. This was the arcade that you paid for limited time to play NES games, super lame as a kid with limited quarters but they can be set to free play.  Lastly, I've got a Ghosts 'N Goblins arcade. It's all original, some of it NOS, except the cabinet itself which was built from original specs from a guy on klov who does really nice work. That last bit is kind of a  for some people I guess, but if there's more guts/parts than original cabs I don't see the issue. I'd like to get a Ghouls 'N Ghosts, but pretty much out of space. If space and money weren't a factor, I would probably own 50 cabs. Really dig arcade games.
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Oct 24, 2019 01:34
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That Ghosts and Goblins is like a work of art, goddamn. See, that's exactly what I am talking about. I don't even particularly care for the game but the image makes me wanna go to hang out at your house and play it. As for the LCD; it's not that LCDs are such a bad thing; it's more that they aren't the right resolution. It's the same thing when I was looking for a monitor for my cabinet. I made sure not to get a medium res or tri res one because I wanted the games to play in their native resolution. If someone invented a 25" LCD that ran at a super-low resolution, that would be awesome! And I hear ya about the space. I regularly have dreams where I discover an unused room in my house and it becomes a full-fledged arcade room.
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Oct 24, 2019 01:43
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:I made my own mame cabinet a few years ago. It was a brutal amount of work (the machine was dilapidated and had no artwork when I bought it) but I think it came out pretty good! I don't remember seeing the before pic when you posted in the general retro thread, that's pretty incredible  . Love how spacious the control panel is, looks comfy. Anyone else who is considering doing their own mame arcade/bartop, take comfort and ergonomics into serious consideration. It's the #1 issue with my bartop, aside from the monitor. The control panel was supposed to be 2 inches longer than what I got and it's not the most comfortable to play 
katkillad2 fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Oct 24, 2019 |
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Oct 24, 2019 01:46
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 Hey champs - I decided to bless this thread with some of my Gyruss guide that I’ve been compiling. Gyruss From the cabinet: ——— GYRUSS GAME PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS OBJECT OF GAME: FLY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE TO REACH EARTH PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Fly spaceship around the circle orbit. 2. Fire to destroy enemy formations and alien objects appearing on screen. 3. Spaceship is destroyed when hit by enemies, bullets, satellites, meteors and electronics wave bands. 4. Double firepower for destroying the middle pink warping satellites. “Chance Stage” Destroy all enemy formations Enemies cannot destroy spaceship SUPER BONUS Destroy all four enemy formations ——— Points value Meteor (each hit) = 100 Satellite (2 pieces) = 2x200 Enemy Plane = 100 “Stationary” Enemy Plane = 50 Wave/Formation (Ten Enemy Planes) = 10x100 “Stationary” Enemy Plane - a missed enemy plane that has not made its return approach. These are clumped together in the center after a wave has finished, to attack again once the first four-to-five waves have been completed. Stage/Warp total formula = 4(+1)x10x100+[Perfect Bonus]+ [Meteor/Satellite] (+1: If four or less enemy planes are on the field after the fourth wave has been defeated, a bonus wave in Level 1 speed will appear from a randomized planet/location; will not be Earth wave-based) Perfect Bonus (points for successive perfect waves): 1000•1500•2000•2500•3000 Perfect Warp (0 miss) - 15000 — Double Shot/Base Cluster Rules: Appears on the playing field in front of your player if three or more enemy planes remain after the last wave pattern in a warp. However, if you have already achieved four perfect waves in a row, the Base Cluster will not spawn. Double Shot Cluster: 500•1000•1500 Subsequent Base Cluster: 1000•1500•2000 — Last Plane Standing Bonus (1000 points): Awarded if the last enemy on the screen is an enemy plane. Will not be awarded if a base cluster enemy is still on the playing field when final plane is defeated. — Warp-wrap kills ([Perfect Bonus] points): If an enemy plane escapes the playing field during its initial wave phase, then enters at center but has not become “stationary” yet, shoot this plane with the right timing and you will still net a perfect bonus, despite appearing to be too late. You’ll know it’s too late once the plane “sets idle.” — “Final Three Scramble” This is the period in a warp where you have encountered all five patterns, left at least three enemy planes on the playing field by the time the next meteor spawns so that the base clusters appear. Your first objective will be to sweep the base cluster. If you time your arc and your shots, you can destroy all three before they have a chance to retaliate with yellow bullets. Note: use your best judgement and only push this if comfortable or on a slow loop (1st and 4th). Once you’ve reached Stage 4, the Final Three Scramble will include not only meteors but also satellites. If you are patient with your shots and wait out the three ships flying about, you can net 400 per complete kill, which adds up. There is an unofficial time limit of 3 passes per plane once it has left idle. Therefore, use your timing wisely and take as many shots at the meteors as you can, but also leave enough room to tag the Last Enemy Standing for the 1000 bonus. You can usually get enough passes at meteors to make this bonus redundant, and that’s a good thing. — Bullet-weave/Bullet-cut By predicting the speed of the bullet intervals, you can weave between the yellow bullets in an arc that almost cuts the nose off your plane, but allows you to pass by unscathed. You can also perform this maneuver on enemy ships and meteors for last-minute grinds and perfect bonus opportunities. — Baiting Meteors The objective of a meteor is not to keep you from standing still, but to punish you for moving too far in the wrong direction. It’s a trap, as opposed to a battering ram. Its spawn is always adjacent. You can control which side it spawns toward by flicking the stick in that direction prior to the heartbeat that launches it. Use this technique to bait meteors into the wrong positions in Uranus and Jupiter to maximize potential point value. Also, use this to crank out an extra few hundred points per pass during the Final Three Scramble. ———— Wanna see what all this means? Tap this link and see for yourself: https://youtu.be/OIoY5eX78nQ
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Oct 24, 2019 02:06
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I've got about a dozen cabs so I'll spread this out into multiple posts. I'll post some of my cabs, a bit about what they're like, and why I like them. First of all, a 1-min long overview of my collection. I recorded this at a meetup I hosted this past weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8I8SG5e4cY I love turning my home into an arcade with the flip of a switch, and it's so fun sharing it with friends. I try to host once a month. What's just as fun is repairing, upgrading, cleaning, and generally working on the cabs. Oh, and I guess playing them can be fun? Sometimes I feel like I play Arcade Manager 2019 with the occasional minigame of playing an actual game, heh. Let's start with the rhythm game cabinets:  From left to right: beatmania IIDX: Bought in a lot from an arcade that was downsizing their rhythm games. The official Konami CRT is still going strong and looks great. Has hardware to run 9th Style-latest versions. There's a bass shaker stage that comes with the cab, but I don't leave it installed because my wife didn't like how much it crowded our path to the door. Shout outs to my wife for that being the only thing she's asked of me regarding the cabs, she's super supportive of my hobby! Planned repairs/upgrades: Replacement IO (for more sensitive turntable input), replace turntable dishes with new ones, get both turntables spinning better (especially P2), maybe install turntable grips, get top neons working again, get the key LEDs which don’t light to light again (hopefully just a simple wiring bypass), replace top spotlights, replace video splitter with one that doesn’t suck, upgrade eAmusement readers with WavePass parts, replace pleather on wrist rest, get new plexiglass made for the control panel, do something about the missing screenprinting on the metal plates on the control panel. What I like: The rectangular Sanwa buttons feel and sound great, and the turntable is a really fun mechanic that's super satisfying to try to play well. The music (mostly electronic) has had a huge range of styles and polish throughout the years, so playing something old or new can still feel fresh. There's a lot of meta to clearing and scoring in songs on it which I enjoy (ie, the supposedly harder life bar mode might actually be easier to clear a song with). I'm currently learning Double mode (playing both P1 and P2 sides simultaneously for 14 keys + 2 turntables charts) which has regressed me to newb status again. Jubeat: Bought in that same lot. Upgraded to latest PCB to run current mixes. The rubber sensors were basically all crumbled apart when I got it, but a friend of mine had a spare set from his home controller and let me have them for my cab. Nice guy! Planned repairs/upgrades: Run new cable to use DVI with its LCD, install headphone jack, wire power the upper and lower LEDs, replace rear cube acrylic with mirrored acrylic (it's the Korean version cabinet which lacks the mirror! lame!), and clean the drat screen yet again What I like: Jubeat is pretty simple to play; there's a grid of clear square buttons over the LCD, the buttons light up, and you touch what you see, unlike most other rhythm games where you look at a screen and blindly touch controls somewhere else. The timing windows are generous so you can easily get high scores and feel really cool! (there's a mode to play with tighter timing windows too). A lot of the patterns have you sliding across a row or column, which are really fun to do. The music has a wide variety of genres represented. There are a lot of licenses and crossovers from other BEMANI games, so as a newcomer you can often find a song you're familiar with, which makes learning the game a lot easier. Dance Dance Revolution: Bought from a friend of mine who had an extra cabinet. It's the Korean version which comes with a poo poo monitor, which died before I bought it. I found an Irish market 29" Sony SCART TV locally in California and wired it up as its monitor. I have a PC I use for Stepmania, and System 573 hardware for DDR 1st-Extreme. I also installed this upgrade called BrightWhite, which emulates the PSX memory card slots for the older games, but lets you "log in" with an eAmusement card, and saves your scores in the cloud. I just recently installed all new sensors, modded them for more sensitivity, and installed LEDs in the pads which look great. Planned repairs/upgrades: Install Trisync CRT, install flatter screws and install countersink brackets in the pads, rig up actual eAmusement card readers, install new monitor glass (from a Japanese cab, so shiny), replace burned-out lamp in one of the top spotlights, weld P2 bar, get P2 Right arrow lights working What I like: DDR is iconic and a lot of people know it, which is nice as a starting point when I talk to people about my cabs. I primarily play Doubles (no-bar) which is kind of an OK workout. The music is fun and cheesy and well-suited for shamelessly dancing around to play. There's a lot of muscle memory that develops as you play, and it can be really satisfying learning patterns and hitting them skillfully as you progress in your skills. Also, I feel like getting Full Combos and high scores are especially satisfying in DDR. Pop'n Music: Bought in that same lot. Running the hardware for Pop'n 15 and up. It came with this really awful monitor: 25" (it's supposed to be 29"), severely burned-in from Puzzle Fighter's attract mode, blurry, and magnetization issues messing up the colors on the side. It was actually playable since Pop'n only really requires that the center look good enough to read, which it kinda was. Now it has a decent 29" Sanwa 31khz monitor. As a nice bonus, the buttons were replaced with brand new Sanwa buttons about a year before I bought the cab, so they're in great shape. Planned repairs/upgrades: Integrate eAmusement card reader into How To Play area above controls, undo some wiring jank the previous owners did, replace plexiglass in front of monitor with actual glass What I like: The buttons are big and tactile, they're a lot of fun to press. Since the controls are so spread-out, you can use your forearms and even elbows to hit buttons. The game's music is sort of like IIDX meets Jubeat, in that it's an old series with old songs still in it, with a lot of licenses and contemporary music. Whenever I listen to Pop'n OSTs, I wonder why I don't listen to them more often. beatmania: AKA "5keys", the predecessor to beatmania IIDX. Bought for just $50. Other than a busted motherboard, it worked fine. It’s running beatmania THE FINAL which was the last in the series, of course. This was Konami's first rhythm game, and it's still revered among diehards. I actually hosted a 5keys enthusiasts meetup a few months ago which had a pretty big attendance. I thoroughly cleaned the controls and control panel in preparation for the meetup, so things are shiny and the turntables spin really well. You can see my cat on it in the photo, she's wearing the cone of shame Planned repairs/upgrades: Get better condition plexiglass for the control panel, redo the video splitter since the one I wired myself is jank, drill small hole in door for video cable to pass through, get the top neons working (a transformer or relay is bad) What I like: This could be a whole post on its own but I'll try to be brief. The game was really experimental for the team developing it, and they learned as they went along. Songs and charts went from quirky and jank to refined and cool over the game's 5-year span. Most of the songs are really cool and have their own distinct vibe from all of the other BEMANI games. The difficulty is sort of all over the place, ranging from simple <100 note ambient songs to some real weird and nasty stuff (hi, re-roots!). Double mode is really busted, since the charts were designed for 2 players to play cooperatively, and later made its own mode with no adjustment to the charts at all. If you don't mind failing a whole lot it's a lot of fun going through the double charts and running into difficult jank left and right. DJ Max Technika: Bought as part of that same lot. I'm running Technika 3, which is the last game for it. Technika 3's support ended several years ago, but enthusiasts revived it with a new server, which they serve updates through. Planned repairs/upgrades: Image the HDD to a SSD, replace CMOS battery and get this waking-on-power like it should, touch up headphone jacks since they're scratchy, drill small hole in door for video cable to pass through What I like: This is the first touch rhythm game and it did things pretty differently than those that came later. As a result, playing this feels pretty fresh versus something like Reflec Beat, Beatstream, CrossxBeats, etc. DJ Max is a series that goes back to 2004 or something with a PC version, so sort of like 5keys, the songs range from weird and simplistic to polished and cool. The lifebar on this game is pretty harsh, so if you're up for a challenge and want to grind stuff a lot this is a good game to stick yourself in front of for an hour or two. Also, I love how the new server has revived the game; just like when it was officially supported, your scores are saved and you get to play new songs every few months. Next up: Candy cabs, superguns throughout the years, and the project cabs! DanAdamKOF fucked around with this message at 09:20 on Oct 24, 2019 |
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Oct 24, 2019 02:24
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DanAdamKOF posted:I've got about a dozen cabs so I'll spread this out into multiple posts. I'll post some of my cabs, a bit about what they're like, and why I like them Part 2: The Other Stuff! Candy cabs:  SNK MVS-U4: I got this for... free. Someone on Craigslist was like "I have a Japanese arcade machine that's been in storage, I don't know if it still works so I don't want to take money for it in case it's broken." Lucky me! It didn't come with a NeoGeo MVS PCB but I had my own already. It fired right up and works great! I replaced the controls with new Seimitsu LS32 joysticks and Sanwa OBSF30 buttons. It has the door but it's not installed right now. In terms of games, I have something like 25 legit carts (with a lot not on the multicarts, ie Windjammers) and two multicarts. Planned repairs/upgrades: Needs a cleaning, some goo-gone to get rid of old adhesive, some new decals, some locks, maybe rig up a MVS-JAMMA switch or just get an adapter, fix the bent pins in the memory card reader or install a replacement outright, replace A buttons with correct red color Sanwa button (oops) What I like: I've liked NeoGeo since I was a little kid, I've been in online communities for it since 2000, and a NeoGeo conversion was the first cab I ever owned (in 2002, when I was 14, I saved up doing oddjobs for a summer to buy a cab for sale). Owning a NeoGeo cab again, in this form, feels like I've reached the final form of NeoGeo cab ownership. The size is small but not too small: it has 25" monitor, but it fits fine through doorways, isn't too heavy to move, and I'm pretty sure if I removed the control panel upper+lower I could fit it in my car. In terms of NeoGeo itself, it has a lot of games people recognize, so when I host meetups there's usually people on it playing something familiar or something new to them. The UniBIOS has a really cool feature where the 161-in-1's stupid menu is bypassed, with the MVS treating it like a ~100-slot MVS! People will see a neat attract mode, say "hey what's that", and try a game, whereas with the stupid menu I don't think they'd make a point to play stuff they don't know from its list. I like almost everything on the platform. I could type a whole essay about what I like, but I'll summarize and say I gravitate towards fighting and puzzle games, playing plenty of other stuff too. Also, I love the blue striped control panel, it's a refreshing change of pace from the red used in the American design. Sega New Astro City: I bought this from a certain friend of mine. We recently replaced its monitor with a better condition one, and man is it crispy and vibrant. We also gave it some upgraded speakers and the sound is pretty nice now. Also, it's pretty clean, since when we had the monitor out before we cleaned the inside for about a half hour and got a ton of old nicotine off of its inner walls. I've got a couple of PCBs for this, notably DoDonPachi, a bootleg Battle Garegga with a ROM that makes it run like the original, a Puyo Puyo 2 conversion, an IGS PGM (needs repair), and a Konami System 573 (I have like 5 of these...). I'll probably get a JAMMA NeoGeo for it at some point because why not. Planned repairs/upgrades: Honestly this cab doesn't need that much... maybe try some touch-up paint on a few dings, install kick harness wiring, get a 1P panel, paint the speaker shroud white, get new top logos. What I like: This is one of the best candy cabs you can buy. The Nanao MS9 (or MS8 in a non-New Astro City) is reliable, and looks great when it's in good shape. The 29" screen size is big, and it's easy to rotate the monitor (there's no mechanism, but you can remove the front of the cab and take the monitor off and on its mount with a ton of room to work in). 2 player games don't feel terribly cramped or uncomfortable. The cab is easy to take apart, it's sturdy, and parts are extremely plentiful. Not to mention this is one of the more iconic candy cabs, so it's always cool having something that people recognize. I also happen to think it's a nice looking cab. Bonus pic: The New Astro City didn't fit through the door in this room, so...  We did it this way. My SuperGuns throughout the years: I've built a few of these at different points in my life. I intend to build another one (maybe a few at once and sell some to friends).  The TupperGun: Built in 2003 when I was 15. My school had a science and engineering fair where if you didn't participate you had to do some research paper, so I appropriated it for my insane nerd hobby. It used some weird PS2 DVD player cable that Matt Ross aka RGBMatt hacked up to work with arcade PCBs, to convert the RGB to NTSC Composite and S-Video. I didn't have any issues when building it: I tested it as I built each part and didn't run into any surprises. Cuts in the case were rough since I basically used a drill, xacto knife, and file to do all of them. I really liked the size, it was perfect for resting a PCB on top. I ended up placing in my school's fair and went on to the city fair where I didn't win anything at all. One fun story is that I was playing Metal Slug at the school fair and got I think to the 3rd stage without taking a hit, and unknown to me a crowd was forming behind me. Some teacher needed me for something so I just got up and stopped playing. I turned around and saw a bunch of fellow students staring wide-eyed. Someone said something like "That's the best I've ever seen someone play that game" and I said "Oh I play this all the time, I can get way further without dying" and they all flipped out as I walked off, a real joystick drop kind of moment haha. I sold this to a friend who sold it to another friend, who's even brought it to a few GDQs, so I love that it's stayed close. The next one I build will be similar to this!  The Second SuperGun: I didn't have a name for this one. Built in 2004 when I was 16. It was another year of the same science fair with the same "project or paper" requirement so naturally I built a SuperGun again. The size was made pretty small by using an external PSU (Ault SC200 which was all the rage in SuperGuns and Consolized MVS at the time). I actually was not such a big fan of the size since this thing had to sit somewhere around a PCB, increasing its footprint, and the light weight meant the JAMMA harness or cables plugged into it tugged it around. I used a NeoBitz encoder for RGB to NTSC Composite and S-Video, and Component Video. If I recall, two of the JAMMA harnesses I got for it got lost in the mail, and it was getting closer and closer to the fair, and I finally got the harness just like 1-2 days before. IIRC I basically built the thing, wrote the paper for it, and made the trifold, all in one night. In the 11th hour, I was crimping the DB15 ports for it, and misplaced a pin. I went to yank it out with my pin extractor and somehow bent the poo poo out of it and couldn't extract it. I said "gently caress it, my MVS has control ports on it anyway" and left it like that (which I think is why the 2P port in that photo isn't even screwed in). Like before, I placed in the school fair and got nothing in the city fair. One fun memory, I had an economics class teacher who let me take this to class on Fridays, I have fond memories of playing Mark of the Wolves while waiting for the last bell of the day to ring. So this one met a weird end. Someone stalked the Neo-Geo forums enough to figure out I lived in their city and had a SuperGun. This person bought some weird cheapo SuperGun and some Cave PCB, hooked it up, and it didn't work. He made a video where he was basically sobbing that his game didn't work and wanted help (I only saw this after the fact). He then put out a call for help to the forums, and someone in town said "I have a cab that doesn't really work that you can try it in." Unsurprisingly, it didn't work in that guy's cab, and the guy got more upset. He found my posts where I talked about this supergun and basically begged me to sell it to him. I told him I wasn't really interested and that it's kind of jank since I built it at lightning speed years ago. He then counter offered a brand new PS3 Slim (it had just come out) + a good amount of cash, so I was fine with parting with it (I still had my NeoGeo cab at the time too, so I wasn't without any way to play). I spent some time fixing some of the jank and we exchanged our goods. He messaged me a bit later with a really minor issue, I think P2 button C wasn't working for him. I told him to just come over and I'll diagnose and fix it. I never heard from him again. I then found out, he listed the SuperGun for sale for something extremely low like $75, saying something in the listing like "It's not built well and has issues". I was kinda insulted by that (despite it being true) but whatever. I have no clue who has it these days.  The SorryGun: I had gotten an RGB monitor and wanted to play PCBs on it. I didn't have either of my two previous SuperGuns at the time, so I built this for like $10 out of pocket + spare parts. I spent maybe 3-4 hours putting it together. I hardwired connectors for Sony's 34-pin RGB connector, and RGBS+Audio on a bunch of RCA connectors, to use on a PVM with BNC adapaters. This thing had its best moment at one of the biggest meetups I hosted back in Texas, when a friend brought over several shmup PCBs and we tated my Sony PVM 2950Q to play it with. The irony of expensive games running on the most jank SuperGun ever was not lost on me. I last used it a few months ago with an 8" PVM to test a PCB someone was selling locally before I handed over cash for it. Project cabs: I have some machines in various states of repair in my garage.   DrumMania: This is actually the Korean version of the cabinet, so it's technically called Percussion Freaks. This has a System 573 PCB which runs the first mix through 10thMix. I paid $50 to a friend who got this as a project, then never fixed it, took it really far apart, continued to not fix it, then needed it sold ASAP since he was going to move. The PCB wasn't booting, and the monitor was the same poo poo monitor as in a Korean DDR and looked awful. We cleaned it some, got the PCB booting (installed patched disc that removed the benign check it was failing), replaced the Korean CRT with a 29" Sony Trinitron TV a certain friend hacked an RGB input into (pictured above, BTW this is not as hard as you'd think!), and now it's halfway there. Planned repairs/upgrades: Clean the rest of it, replaced dry-rotted dampener rings with new ones, replace all piezo sensors with replacements, reassemble circular pads, figure out reassembling the cymbals, figure out reusing Jubeat's old PCB in it for DrumMania V4-V8 (it's the same PCB! lucky how that worked out), grease the kick pedal, maybe paint the kick pedal, dampen kick pedal noise with some foam inside, replace a few lights What I like: This is one of the few BEMANI games where playing it is an accurate simulation of the thing it's trying to be. The song list is amazing, consisting of a bunch of licenses and great original songs. I'm really poo poo at it and did not have a ton of opportunity to play in the arcade, but I played enough to know I like it.  Crackin' DJ: Before there was Project Diva, MaiMai, Chunithm, etc, Sega made Crackin' DJ. I got this for free from a friend who acquired one in better shape, and wanted his less-good one gone. It has a NAOMI and Netboot setup but no actual cart (my friend kept the cart and bought Netboot parts but didn't set it up). We used its CRT tube to fix a Sega Blast City that a certain friend had, which had a busted tube. Planned repairs/upgrades: Not much! Install another CRT since this no longer has one, get Netboot setup running, clean it, put it together, replace a few lights. This isn't going to join my other cabs inside, it's not a popular cab. A certain friend of mine said we should try replacing its control panel upper with one that has sticks and buttons and play CVS2 on it... I'm not opposed. I might also take the NAOMI out sometimes to use with the other cabs. What I like: This game has a really cool hip-hop aesthetic. The controls are a lot of fun to play with: the two turntables spin on their own, and you can stop and spin them yourself, and there's a fader slider as well (it's said that Crackin' somewhat inspired DJ Hero). The game is rather difficult, so it will keep me entertained while I try and get better at it. Also it's really uncommon, though it's too obscure to impress people with that fact.  Jaleco Pony mk IV: This is actually the "Sigma Video Game" variant of this cab (same Sigma as the maker of the Raijin SuperGun). This was free from a friend. He had gotten this cheap from an arcade and just wanted it gone, but he was across the state. Luckily, a friend with a big SUV was coming from there up to my area, so I had him get it for me. I had other friends who had seen this cab, and said it was in really rotten shape. I got it in-hand and saw for myself that they weren't kidding. The monitor wasn't working, it was filthy, and nearly everything plastic and structural was brittle and crumbling apart. I got a replacement monitor with some noticeable Pop'n burn for free and put that in there. Planned repairs/upgrades: Cap the monitor that's in there, maybe tube swap it for a spare tube I have. Clean it some more. Use a ton of epoxy to get this thing holding itself together. Fabricate a monitor bezel. Sell this thing and get it the gently caress out of my life. What I like: Speakers sound good. Monitor isn't the worst to rotate (no mech, but the monitor frame has these nice huge handles on it). Makes you appreciate a good candy cab.   SNK MVS-U4 (#2): The guy on Craigslist with the MVS-U4 I wrote about above had two cabs. This one was missing its monitor. I think we tested it and it played blind. So I said before it's a 25" tube... it is and it isn't. It's a slightly smaller 25" tube than the size everyone means when they say 25" tube. This size is pretty drat scarce since not many games used it, and you can't just put the standard size 25" tube into it. The friend of mine who got my Crackin' DJ CRT managed to source a replacement from someone who lives across the state and had a friend of his take it up here, on the night before I left for a vacation in Japan. Late into the night, we installed the monitor ghettoly, and saw that it works. That was a high note to fly out on. Oh, and it has all its doors, they're just not pictured. Planned repairs/upgrades: Monitor needs a cap kit, needs a bunch of misc nuts and bolts, needs a cleaning, needs some decals, needs a headphone + memory card PCB, needs new controls. What I like: See above. Having two of these would open up some comfy head-to-head options. Maybe I could get some of the link-capable Neo Geo games (there are 3 I think?) and try those out.  Taito Egret 2: AKA "Trash Bird". That certain friend of mine gave it to me with all that you see in it: nothing. I bought a cache of parts from a local friend of ours who had tons of spare Egret parts. I've got a Wells Gardner D9800 Trisync CRT that I will use with this. Planned repairs/upgrades: Buy basically every nut and bolt that you use with this thing since it has none. Drill holes and install rivnuts to adapt the monitor mounts from an Egret 3 to bolt into it. Install all the parts from the box of parts. Wire up JAMMA harness from scratch. Install LEDs to light the top logo. Install monitor cap kit. Fabricate monitor bezel. Maybe try cleaning up some of the lovely paint coverups it has. What I like: I think I'll leave this one horizontal, and the New Astro City vertical, so I can install both styles of games without having to rotate anything. Since the D9800 monitor should do 720p, I have plans to use it like a ghetto Vewlix-type cabinet, and run modern fighters and the like. 2 player games on it is decently comfortable. Speakers sound decent. I'll feel a real sense of pride when this is finished. Thank you for reading this far! If you're interested in finding out more, feel free to ask here. If you want to watch me play these games or ask me questions there, I stream regularly from these cabinets at https://twitch.tv/danadamkof BTW I'm always down to meet fellow goons, so if you're local to Sunnyvale, CA and would like to stop by for some games, send a PM 
DanAdamKOF fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Oct 24, 2019 |
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Oct 24, 2019 06:39
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Your collections is awesome. When we move to a bigger house, I'm going to get a Pop'n cabinet. I'd also like to get a 5-key, since that's what I learned on back in the early 2000s. Love the music for the early Beatmania games.
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Oct 24, 2019 06:41
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katkillad2 posted:I don't remember seeing the before pic when you posted in the general retro thread, that's pretty incredible The control panel was one of the easier parts. Post your setup and let's see if we can't get you a bigger control panel.
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Oct 24, 2019 12:06
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Really like the look of that cocktail, especially that it has lights on the control panel. I played some Gyruss the other night on my bartop and got to Uranus. Thanks for the protips/writeup! DanAdamKOF posted:Candy cabs: Those candy cabs are sweet. Would love to eventually own one, they don't seem that common in the midwest though. Literally never seen one on my local craigslist since I started being interested in owning arcades. Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:The control panel was one of the easier parts. Post your setup and let's see if we can't get you a bigger control panel. Yea I'll post a detailed pic sometime soon when I'm not feeling lazy. I'm not really looking to do any major overhaul, but maybe there's something that could make it better that I'm not thinking about. If I was going to do anything major at this point I would probably just start over from scratch.
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Oct 24, 2019 22:50
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 Beatmania IIDX: I recently purchased this and two other games after moving into a house. Saved up for years, I've wanted this game since I was 16 and damnit I'll have it whenever I get a house! Oh guess what, the door to my basement is 2" short so I have to either cut the door out of my wall or rip the game to pieces to get it in the basement. Planned repairs/upgrades: Well it has nothing inside of it aside from the control deck and effector boards. I have a box full of the other parts but they're for a newer cab so I will have to hand-crimp new cabling for everything. It's also missing about every-other screw so I intend to work on restoring it to its former glory. This is one of the original style cabinets, haven't opened it up but wouldn't surprise me if it's from 2000 or so. What I like: I'll let you know whenever it is operational.  Jubeat: This was the second of three games I recently purchased. Getting a IIDX that is missing almost everything cut the price to almost a third of a full cab which let me have a bit of unexpected extra purchasing power. I find this game pretty fun, it's hard to play in the states because only one arcade carries it legitimately. There are a few around the US but they're few and far between. They show up at conventions as well but I'm not a big convention goer so blah. The other option is getting a home style controller but once you get all the necessary parts to play you've spent half the cost of the arcade cabinet....  Planned repairs/upgrades: I have a sketch of the plexiglass this machine uses between the controller and the LCD panel. Coming from an arcade mine unsurprisingly is covered in scratches so I'd like to have that look clean. Novus did nothing so now I'm busy shopping plexi cutters. Aside from that this machine came very surprisingly clean and is a later-generation model. Internally there isn't much to be done other than I relocated the hard drive to the front next to the power switch which allows for easy access. The other way to the computer is a complete pain in the rear. What I like: The cabinet is pretty and sometimes I like to just sit and stare at it in attract mode. The game is my de-stress game as it doesn't take much skill and I don't take it very seriously. Even with casual play I'm up to playing 9s where the maximum difficulty is 10 so it's just a lot of great fun. The music selection in Jubeat is also great because it covers a ton of games that aren't in the ones I like to play (IIDX & Pop'n) so more bangers more fun.  Sega New Net City/Net City: ...and the missing half of IIDX in its future home. Anyways the New Net City was the last part of my purchase as the seller said the screen was in great shape and he's never done me wrong before. Can confirm, the screen is great. There was the ever slightest geometry problem in the bottom corners that was easily fixed. The Net City was a cab I purchased back when I lived in an apartment. I've done quite a bit of work to that one to where it's basically fully refurbished to like-new. The cab has been cleaned from head to toe inside and out, speakers were replaced with two-way 4" car speakers as one was blown, NOS control panel top, NOS badge & insert coin labeling, rewired vs board, etc. There's a bit of monitor convergence on it but I am not capable of fixing it so I live. As for games I have a JAMMAFIER for each cabinet which allows the JVS cabs to hook into JAMMA with ease. This opens my cabs up to quite a laundry list of titles but to keep it simple I targeted systems that have multis in some fashion. CPS1,2,3, Neo Geo, G-Net, Naomi 1/2, Taito F3, Taito X2/X3 and system 246/256. Planned repairs/upgrades: On the NNC I'm swapping the speakers out as they are mismatched and sound pretty awful. It had a blown right speaker in the amp which I was able to fix with a new amp. Eventually I'd like to paint the bezel on it and try to locate a NNC control panel for it. I'm also going to tate the Net City this weekend which will push the convergence waaaay up to the top of the screen where I don't care at all. I'd like to source one more vs kit to harvest the 1p wire from it as the vs board doubles great as a VGA/audio splitter from the cab. What I like: These two cabs are basically my thunderbird in the garage and I always have some thing to tinker with on them. I've got the Net City wired up to support cards on Tekken 5 as well as Nesica via X3. It's a lot of fun to go in and around the cabs as they're very well designed and you can make some pretty nifty upgrades without destroying anything stock to them. For example the Net City is capable of supporting JAMMA, JVS and FastIO games all in one cabinet with just a cable swap or card change. It's also fun how you can swap control panels and games at-will which brings about my unhealthy addiction of wanting weird and goofy control panels. ....  sigh these are just the Naomi ones, I have 4 or 5 other panels on top of these
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Oct 24, 2019 23:44
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Can we talk about fightcade in here? I would rather play with goons than the usual crowd of racists, sore losers, and idiots.
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Oct 25, 2019 05:49
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flyboi posted:BEMANI and Net City cabs I got some boards today, a Sega ST-V and a Sega 16B mainboard:   Today I learned that the ST-V has a really great demo when you run it without a cartridge: https://twitter.com/danadamkof/status/1187580315859996672?s=21
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Oct 25, 2019 05:59
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bossy lady posted:Can we talk about fightcade in here? I would rather play with goons than the usual crowd of racists, sore losers, and idiots. https://twitter.com/FightcadeTXT/status/1096934957455421441
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Oct 25, 2019 06:54
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bossy lady posted:Can we talk about fightcade in here? I would rather play with goons than the usual crowd of racists, sore losers, and idiots.
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Oct 25, 2019 08:03
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DanAdamKOF posted:I really need to pretty up my Jubeat by wiring its LEDs. Way to rub it in! Do the older models that need conversions have a different LED board? I thought the crossover/led/card pcb was the same on all revisions of Jubeat. And I hate that bios screen because it tells me my st-v broke again somewhere
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Oct 25, 2019 11:08
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flyboi, what's that baseball game? Looks awesome!
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Oct 25, 2019 11:26
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flyboi posted:Do the older models that need conversions have a different LED board? I thought the crossover/led/card pcb was the same on all revisions of Jubeat. It’s only the Korean cabs, they have a connector that isn’t the same.
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Oct 25, 2019 17:30
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Chumbawumba4ever97 posted:flyboi, what's that baseball game? Looks awesome! Looks like Super Major League 99? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_6YsMaXugc
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Oct 25, 2019 17:38
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Pablo Nergigante posted:Looks like Super Major League 99? Hells yeah thanks, this works in mame
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Oct 25, 2019 17:39
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