Breetai wrote:I'm not sure where you get the idea that "most CPS2 games are around $100 give or take." It totally depends on what the OP wants. If he wants shoot 'em ups, those get quite expensive. Heck, even the bootlegs of some of those CPS2 games run over $150.
Yea the shmups can get up there and AvP too. But mjmjr25 did have 10 or more CPS2 boards at $100 or less, I know some he still has. I wish I could have snagged some especially X-men vs Street Fighter.
Breetai wrote:So, Sega Dude, let's be real here. What are you looking to get into exactly, and what is your budget?
Really this should be you main game plan right now
Breetai wrote:I strongly caution you not to be too enthusiastic about collecting arcade boards yet unless you have a cheap source.
Shop around and be patient. I have over paid for one board but it was the only source for me to get my Asian Dynamite. I am still happy with the purchase though.
Breetai wrote:I'm not sure where you get the idea that "most CPS2 games are around $100 give or take." It totally depends on what the OP wants. If he wants shoot 'em ups, those get quite expensive. Heck, even the bootlegs of some of those CPS2 games run over $150.
Yea the shmups can get up there and AvP too. But mjmjr25 did have 10 or more CPS2 boards at $100 or less, I know some he still has. I wish I could have snagged some especially X-men vs Street Fighter.
I just played through AvP a few weeks ago. Really fun beat 'em up.
Like a couple of the other guys said: Sit down and think about exactly what you want. This is kinda like buying an old sports car - if you go in without knowing anything, you can get really hosed really quickly. Neogeo is a safe way to get into it, since there are tons of Neogeo games and the cabs are fairly easy to find (within reason). In the past I have owned a dozen random cabs, and bought almost all of them at auction. That said:
DO NOT GO TO AN AUCTION WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF CABINETS - they do not let you look inside the cabs (sans turning them on - if they are not already on), and if you dont know the difference between an easy fix and a difficult one, you will run out of money fast.
A supergun is a good way to go if you just want to play the games, but nothing is like having a cab in your house. It just changes the way you think about games.
Agree - you need to know exactly what your after. Are you after just playing the original board, or are you after all original hardware (ie, cab).
If it is just to play the board w/o any of the problems of the port, then a supergun is a nice option.
Breetai and Ghegs are both right, you can get one for around $150-250, but you get what you pay for in regard to reliable performance, controller support, AV outs, voltage issues, availability and use of universal PSU. There is a reason Sigmas and Raijins fetch $350-500 - built solidly and reliable performance. Many homeguns have issues, but there are a some guys who do a nice job. I know Xian Xi does a nice job on neo geo forums, but he is backlogged. RGB on shmups forums does pretty darn close to factory work as well. The ones on neotropolis I have heard are reliable and they do look pretty neat, but probably a good $100 overpriced for what they are.
As for cabs, your location will determine how cheaply you can dive into the hobby. If you live in California, you can find working cabs in the $300-400 range all day or a nice cab Egret 3 / Atomiswave / Blast for $800 range.
If you aren't near a major city, you are shipping and figure $250-350 to ship it.
With a gun, not much electrical or soldering experience is needed. For cabs, you will be troubleshooting often.
As for boards, it is important to invest in protecting them (anti static bags, anti-static wrap for storage and shipping) and then a sturdy box (200lb load + is ideal). Then to store them secure and also flat so they don't bow.
The number of repairs needed will be minimal, older pcb's might get a cold joint that needs reflowing, or may need a jumper wire for a bad chip, caps might need replacing, batteriers (soldered in place) need random replacing, but these are relatively minimal and the number of times you need something done, you can either ship it to a pro, or ask around and someone will walk you through it.
As for cost - you get what you pay for. Yes, you can get cheap STV carts...but not the good stuff. A Radiant / Souky / Cotton will all run significantly more than the SAT port.
For PCB's, yep, you can grab em' for about $30 sometimes, but nothing epic, and not the reason you get into arcades to begin with. $30 PCB's your looking at things like The Combatribes, a meh beat em' up, or Meta Fox, a meh shmup.
With the exception of MVS carts, there really isn't anything amazing you'll find for under $75 per board...and it goes way up from there.
CPS2 - cheapest board is X-Men Children of the Atom ($55 range) and then almost all the other fighters fall in the $70-90 range. Most shooters in the $125-175 range (Dimahoo, EcoFighters, Mars Matrix, GigaWing, 1944 Loop Master, 19XX War Against Destiny), most puzzlers in the $100-125 range, most beat em' ups in the $125-175 range (D&D ToD, AvP, Powered Gear) and then there are the pricer / rarer boards, which will run $250-600 (D&D SoM, Hyper Street Fighter, Pro Gear, etc). Many of these games (D&D and the fighters) require separate harnesses to activate necessary buttons. CPS2 is complex beyond this w/A boards and batteries, but this is enough info for now.
F3 - F3 carts are region coded and require a specific motherboard (though this is physical region coding and can by bypassed). Most F3 carts run $50-200, with the rarer shooters and beat em' ups pushing the $200 range. Motherboards run about $45, slightly cheaper for Asia region.
MVS - a bare bones CMVS w/o component or attractive casing can run you $150-200 for the console, boards are anywhere from $5 to $600. The extremely common fighters (World Heroes / Art of Fighting, etc) are less than $10 in many cases. You can get really decent games when you hit the $40-60 range (Windjammers, Metal Slug(s), Top Hunter, Shock Troopers, Aerofighters 2, etc) and then the more epic and new stuff pushes $125-600 (Fast Striker, Gunlord, Twinkle Star Sprites, Samurai Showdown V Special, Pleasure Goal 5 on 5 Soccer, Bang Bang Busters, Viewpoint, etc). Bootlegs are common, but can easily be verified. Original labels can add alot (or take alot away) from value. Region is important to collectors in regard to some carts, though generally doesn't affect gameplay.
Atomiswave - market is flooded with well-made boots, but labels are ugly and glitches are not totally unheard of. A boot will run $40 range for any game. Actual games run as low as $20 for KoF Neowave to $400-600 for Sam Sho VI, Metal Slug 6, etc, but most carts run in the $50-100 range (Demolish Fist, Rumble Fish, Neo Geo Battle Colosseum, Guilty Gear Isuka). A motherboard will run anywhere from $150-175 on the forums to $200+ on ebay, though they occasionally pop up on ebay auction fro $100 range.
PGM / IGS - motherboards run $65+, depending on which mobo it is and if it has issues. For the most part carts can all run on the cheaper $65-75 mobo, but some of the more recent games run on PGM2/3 mobos and those are pricier. PGM was big in Asia (Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China) so there are many label variants and game title variants, it can take a long time to actually track down all the games, example, I have (3) Knights of Valour games currently, (2) of them are the exact same game, but have a completely different label, another one has the same label as one of the others (exact same) but it is actually Knights of Valour Super Heroes (different game). Very confusing but a great reason to get into arcade - the most underrated of all libraries, imo. Carts range from $20 (Dragon World, Real and Fake, etc) to mid range titles in the $60-75 range (KoV, Killing Blade, etc) to high $90 range (Demon Front, Martial Masters, Oriental Legend, KoV 2, KoV SH, KoV 2: Nine Dragons, the Gladiator Road of the Sword) to the $100+ range (DDP 2, Oriental Legend Super, KoV SH Plus). CAVE produced a few games on the IGS hardware (Ketsui, Galuda, etc) but those are PCB format only, not cartridges and no mobo is needed.
PCB's - this is where you truly get what you pay for. The rarer shooters (Garegga, Bakraid, Batrider, Tatsujin-Oh, etc) are $300-500 each board. Anything CAVE is a min $250 (Rade and Feveron occasionally dip below, but not often) but most run $400-2,800 for a single board. If a game is very fun, very well made, and wasn't ported, it won't be $30, just doesn't happen. A game like Ninja Baseball Batman will run $150+ for an original board.
Well, now i'm rambling - so answer those few questions, what exactly are you wanting to experience with arcade board collection? Oh, and huge huge thing - Space, you will need space. For visuals, the entire N64 cart collection (nearly 300 carts) fits into one 45 gallon rubbermaid bin with plenty of room to spare. In appropriate storage boxes, you can fit (5) CPS2 games into the same bin.
I have been collecting boards since the early 90`s and i have a mix of Jamma and dedicated cabs including one worse for wear `Hot Race` (Rally-x) cocktail table that is awaiting refurbishment.I really started just buying whatever i could afford that was arcade related as it all is part of video game history but later you do find your self leaning towards certain genres/manufacturers of game,etc.It is difficult to explain everything that i have learned in the last 20 years as like most things you pick it up as you go along but here are some pointers:- *Join a forum which specializes in arcade repair and collecting,once joined take a look around and read the forum posts as this will give you an idea of some of the pitfalls or problems associated with the hobby.I recommend JAMMA+ i am a member here and it is very active but you may have to post # of times before you can get access to the tech repair area but the forum is so busy this will not be a problem and you will be in the tech area in no time. *How much space do you have?,there is a common saying among collectors that everyone has space for at least one cabinet which is mostly true (unless you have disabled people living with you or wheel chair users that require clear access or a disapproving partner of course ),but what about the arcade boards themselves?-if each board is wrapped in an anti-static bag and anti-static bubble wrap they take up a lot of space on shelving or in boxes. *I have some qualifications and knowledge of electronics but even i sit there with my head in my hands sometimes,you can enjoy the hobby without any repair knowledge as you will pick up common faults and info over time but basic equipment is required,a good soldering iron and digital multimeter are a must for the starter,as the years roll by and your knowledge increases you will acquire other equipment such as EPROM burners,Oscilloscope,capacitance meter,Logic comparator,etc *You will also learn about the different types of cabinets and of course the monitors and hardware that companies used and other features such as suicide batteries! which are used to di-encrypt game code,battery dies=board dies although some dead boards can be revived (or `Phoenixed` ) .
Sorry about the length of that there is much more but i hope it is even slightly helpfull
Glad you bumped this thread - lot of good information in here and I actually planned on posting some pics in this thread tonight.
I had another chassis die last week, have a replacement, but it isn't fully compatible, so I had to have some connectors modified. I'll be testing it out tonight and was gonna snap some pics of the install...
When my blast chassis went, I searched for a replacement, but that monitor uses a pretty specific chassis (nanao ms9-2931) and my options were a knock-off for around $300 or a refurb nanao for $340. In the end, it made more sense for me to part it out.
2 weeks ago, my astro monitor went out - checked all the usual culprits and was thinking either the monitor went or the chassis. Since it was mid-game and the monitor sorta "popped" before going blank, I was thinking monitor (uncommon) but possibly chassis.
Here is the original chassis:
Nothing obvious, no blown caps or fuses, no unattached connects or frays. Flyback looks good, neck board looks good, just nothing jumping out as the issue.
A friend on Neo sent me his astro chassis (working) to see if in fact that was the issue.
One problem, it was an MS8 and I have a MS9, all the connects are the same except one, the connect from the monitor yoke to the chassis (this big grey female connect obviously will not connect to the small white male connect on the borrowed chassis):
The same friend helped me out with some modified connectors:
They worked like a charm and I was able to finish that connection, so now everything is in place to reinstall the monitor:
Monitors are heavy, but after the first time or two, it gets pretty easy. The main issue, I think, is that they don't look heavy, so I think some guys underestimate the first time and that's where issues of necking (breaking off the end of the monitor / yoke end) or straight up dropping them occurs. So pick back up and line up the 4 bolts, then it is just a matter of two connects and your set:
Unfortunately, this didn't solve the issue and i'm still unsure what the issue is, so once again, this is my Astro City:
Trouble shooting cabs is actually, well, fun. It can be pretty pricey though and the more of a confined space you have to work and lay things out, the more frustrated you will be.
My personal issue is just the time thing. My gaming time is limited as it is, so while 10 years ago I would have really enjoyed the fixing and modifying part of the hobby, currently it is a time-suck I can't afford with school-age kids.
I am lucky to have a very good supergun and some consolized motherboards so I can still play all my boards, but it certainly isn't the same experience.
MJ, that was a brilliant post up there. Do you think we scared Sega Dude off? At least now, if he bothered to come back, he'll know not to take arcades lightly. I've seen people who have done that and got totally burned. They only had their ignorance to blame.
Yeah, I noticed he hasn't posted in this thread lately...hopefully he got some help out of it.
Like I say, ad nauseum, I absolutely love it and wrestle with how to make it fit my (busy) lifestyle, but I think you are right, a lot of people can get a glorified view of it and it's important to remember, these cabs have hundreds of wires and components and it just takes one bad piece anywhere in the PSU, the harness, the chassis, the monitor, the i/o board, or one loose wire in the CP, or one bad pot on the remote panel, or any other number of things and until you drown yourself in these things, you'll have no idea why it isn't working.
Like anything else, if you put the time in, it becomes second nature. The first time I pulled out a monitor and disconnected the chassis I thought, "No way in the world i'll ever do this again. Wow. No clue how to put it back together." Now I can take out a monitor and swap a chassis in about 10 minutes. As frustrating as that is, it's also sorta empowering.
),but what about the arcade boards themselves?-if each board is wrapped in an anti-static bag and anti-static bubble wrap they take up a lot of space on shelving or in boxes.
