Arcade machines -- original or homebrew. Keep emulation topics in the emulation category
Tanooki
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by Tanooki Sat Nov 26, 2016 1:04 pm

Probably not, but I can. Most people usually thanks to the hot stuff think NG = fighting (and Metal Slug) but there is so much more there genre wise, lots of variety.

You could quite comfortably live a long while with a minimal room impact with one. Just the 161in1 alone is crazy. I had that when I got mine (cost me $700 for a 2 slot in amazing shape with 10 carts, the 10th being that multi.) Since then I have picked up 12 more games, 1 being a razoola custom conversion of the CD sequel title Crossed Swords 2. The other 11 I grabbed some of those aren't on the 161 and none are fighters. 8Man, Cyber Lip, League Bowling, NAM1975, Ninja Combat, and Magician Lord aren't on that multi, and then Burning Fight, Mutation Nation, Spin Master and World Heroes are.

You have a couple sorts, a third person cursor shooter, a few combat platformers, a third person sword combat title, brawler, etc. Good variety.
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racketboy
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by racketboy Sat Nov 26, 2016 1:18 pm

I get it, but I still need a few other favorites to round it out. But I think I'll shoot for NG to take care most of the puzzle and shooter genera as well.

But between favorites and wanting some other cabinets for more diverse control setups and artwork, I've got a few I would love to have.

But it's nice to have the MVS to do some heavily lifting of adding to the game lineup.
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KalessinDB
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by KalessinDB Sat Nov 26, 2016 5:53 pm

Well, I'm in basically the same boat as you as far as not really being good with the repairs (even gotten a few of the cabs on your short list) so let's chime in with my scoops since I started collecting approximately 2 years ago. My cabs, what I've paid for them, where I've gotten them, and condition:

1: Neo Geo MVS 4 slot (Version 3 from Hard MVS) - ~$500 after auction fees at a local arcade auction just about 2 years ago. Came with Puzzle Bobble, Samurai Shodown II, World Heroes, and Blazing Star. Mini Marquees were out (very common - there were 3 at the auction and all 3 of them were burned out, plus my friend has a Neo and his are burned out), speakers were a little low, and control panel had been painted poorly, but it was a solid cabinet and played well. I think I got a very good deal, especially with Blazing Star in there.

2 & 3: Sega Astro City candy cabs - ~$2k shipped for the pair from Ken. I got a pair of them at the same time for a couple reasons (mostly suggested by mjmjr) - ease of diagnosing problems via swapping parts and having one for vertical and one for horizontal games being the primary two. The actual cabs were $750 each, the shipping was about $450-500 from Utah to WNY. The buttons were mushy but playable, the sticks were about the same, and the control panels were a tiny bit rusted in places. The marquee lights flicker a bit on these, I can't tell if it's just a bad bulb/ballast or if it's because the PSUs are a bit weak (common with Astros I've been told) - this is the next step on my fixing up list for these cabs.

4: Ms Pacman cocktail cabinet - $450 from a gentleman on KLOV. Borrowed my buddy's CRV and went to pick it up in Cleveland, about a 4-5 hour drive and I love driving. This one was again, very playable but a little bit rough condition-wise - the bottom of the cab is a bit chewed up (haven't decided how I'm fixing that), the top glass was badly scratched, and the artwork had definitely seen better days.

5: Megatouch IV bartop cabinet - freebie from a friend of my brother's. No in-depth on this, a: you're unlikely to be in the same position, b: when stuff's free, you say "Thanks" and move on :)

6: Nintendo Vs "red tent" cocktail cabinet - $100 from a gentleman on KLOV. Again, borrowed my buddy's CRV and went to pick it up in Yonkers, about a 5-6 hour drive. This one is a project - one of the two monitors has horizontal collapse, the joysticks are nearly unplayable, it's missing a button and it had no keys. But it powered up, the side with the good monitor played, and physically it was in decent (not great) shape. The price was right and it's one of my high-want games so I jumped on it.

That's all of them. Until I got #6 a few weeks ago, none of them have needed repair, everything I've done to them has been cosmetic or quality-of-life, but they have all been playing 100%. I've done some stuff though - all new joysticks and buttons for #1-3 (new joysticks bought for #4 too, but need to redo some wiring first), sandblasting/powder coating the control panels on #1&#4 (found a local place that does good work for reasonable price in my opinion), new glass and underlay artwork for #4, new control panel overlay for #1&#4 and entirely new control panels with overlays for #2-3. I also have new side art for #2-3 that I haven't installed yet (gotta realy scrub it down first) as well as EL panels for #1 that I haven't installed yet. I want to replace speakers on #1-3 as well as PSU for #2-3 and some or all of the wiring for #2-4. #6 I took the broken monitor to a local shop here to fix on Wednesday - their repair guy was out until Monday, but the guy working the front of the shop said it's a common repair that usually takes them about an hour so it shouldn't be too expensive.

So yeah... it's definitely a commitment - even the fully working stuff, unless you're ready to pay primo prices, can alway use some tuning up. But it's rarely something you need to do all at once. I've got a dozen different things I want to do on all of the systems, and I'm still not a "repair guy" - I haven't touched a soldering iron in years, when I had to re-solder the Ms Pac joysticks in I had a friend do it (and I intend to replace that - the new joysticks I bought have standard QDs not soldered in like the old ones, that's why I said they're bought but not installed). But it's awesome watching the stuff come together slowly but surely.

I'll definitely agree that dedicated cabs are nice, but the candy cabs are an excellent choice too IMO - maybe not that big of a thing if you have a warehouse to work with, but with me working in a basement (that also has 20+ consoles, 1000+ games displayed, a bar, etc) it's a matter of space to cut down a bit and just swap out boards. Probably the last machine I'm actively looking for right now is a Capcom Big Blue, and I honestly have no idea where I would put it. I'm not even sure where I'm gonna put the Red Tent, it's upstairs while I do the heavy lifting on getting it working again, but I think I can fit it in somewhere.
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samsonlonghair
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by samsonlonghair Wed Nov 30, 2016 7:07 am

Yo Racketboy,

I just thought of this while I was typing away on a dreamcast topic. The perfect arcade cabinet for you would be the NAOMI universal cabinet or the similar "Net City" with a NAOMI or NAOMI 2 motherboard and a NAOMI GD-ROM drive.

Given your username this seems to obvious in retrospect. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away. :roll:
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racketboy
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by racketboy Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:30 am

samsonlonghair wrote:Yo Racketboy,

I just thought of this while I was typing away on a dreamcast topic. The perfect arcade cabinet for you would be the NAOMI universal cabinet or the similar "Net City" with a NAOMI or NAOMI 2 motherboard and a NAOMI GD-ROM drive.

Given your username this seems to obvious in retrospect. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away. :roll:


Oh! How did I not think of this? Oh man, that would be sweet! Are they pretty hard to track down? What should I budget for one?
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samsonlonghair
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by samsonlonghair Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:47 am

racketboy wrote:
samsonlonghair wrote:Yo Racketboy,

I just thought of this while I was typing away on a dreamcast topic. The perfect arcade cabinet for you would be the NAOMI universal cabinet or the similar "Net City" with a NAOMI or NAOMI 2 motherboard and a NAOMI GD-ROM drive.

Given your username this seems to obvious in retrospect. I don't know why I didn't think of this right away. :roll:


Oh! How did I not think of this? Oh man, that would be sweet! Are they pretty hard to track down? What should I budget for one?

Well, I'm no expert, but I just found one on Craigslist complete with everything you need to get started for nine hundred. After this you could just buy extra GD-ROM discs for thirty bucks a pop; don't forget that each GD-ROM disc comes with a security chip. Naomi cartridges cost between one and two hundred dollars.
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/tad/5835354567.html
Personally, I think nine hundred bucks sounds a little bit expensive to me, but I'm a cheapskate.

I also found this neat video about collecting Naomi hardware that explains most everything you need to know.
https://youtu.be/2N2gQI_pZNM
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fastbilly1
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by fastbilly1 Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:50 am

Net Citys are not as popular as Astros or Blasts, so they pop up for around 1k good to go. Honestly if you got a generic candy cab I would really recommend you to buy this:
http://etim.net.au/scart2arcV20_orders/orders.htm
And a couple tototek PSX to DC adapters and just slot in your DC. Naomis are fickle, so are Titans (Arcade board Saturns). Most people with Naomis end up building a Pi based drive replacement since the disc drives are crap.
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racketboy
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Re: Arcade Cabinet Shopping for the Non-Repair Man...

by racketboy Wed Nov 30, 2016 1:50 pm

Cool thanks guys. Yeah, that's not cheap, and it will probably be near the bottom of my wishlist, but it would be cool someday. Something like an Atomiswave would be cool too :D
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