mjmjr25's Gameroom - Walkthrough of Lower Level (pics) 2.14

[mjmjr25]

The Blast is fully parted, the wood cab is now in its place:

[mjmjr25]

On the day my Astro officially dies, I just so happen to get "almost" the last of the PGM library (i'm still waiting on 3 more games from Taiwan, but they should arrive shortly).

I have moved out almost all of my CPS2 fighters (because I felt many of them were ported very well to SAT / DC / PSX or PS2) and it made sense for me from a cost, and more importantly a space perspective to move those 10 boards.

I kept all the unported (or ported poorly) stuff: Powered Gear, D&D ToD, Dimahoo, Pro Gear, Eco Fighters and I also kept Giga Wing / Mars Matrix just because I love them both.

With that money, and the money from Ketsui PCB, I was able to put 1K toward my gameroom and buy these (4) PGM games that I needed (none are ported), as well as Crystal of Kings (a Brezzasoft beat 'em up):

Knights of Valor 2: The Nine Dragons
Knights of Valor Super Heroes
Knights of Valor Super Heroes Plus
Puzzle Star
Crystal of Kings w/mobo picked up as well. This is a gorgeous and fun beat 'em up with fantasy and RPG elements. This was my very first PCB purchase and I sold it about a year ago and have regretted it since. One finally popped up again and I was able to nab it.

(if you only click one of the links, make it the crystal of kings one)

So now, pending the last (3) carts, I will have the entire PGM1 library, and here is what it looks like on the shelf (still searching for a perfect box for these large carts, shockboxes can be used with a slight modification, which I do not prefer)

While i'm very down about another cab being dead, I take solace in that I can build something somewhat similar, I can play via supergun on consolized motherboards, and eventually...i'll be buying more cabs.

[bryan_65]

Way to keep your sprites up and look to the future. Congrats on completing the PGM game library, Crystal of Kings did look pretty sweet. What kind of cabs do you see yourself getting or building in the future?

[mjmjr25]

Way to keep your sprites up and look to the future. Congrats on completing the PGM game library, Crystal of Kings did look pretty sweet. What kind of cabs do you see yourself getting or building in the future?

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself as far as builds, but i'm thinking 4 at minimum.

For sure, I know I want something dedicated as 4player. I want something dedicated for Neo Geo, and I want something dedicated as 1player. I plan to start the Neo Geo one before winter and the other next spring.

Neo needs to be dedicated just because I play it so much and have so many games, and to me it really can seem arcade-similar on a custom setup. On top of that, the McC sticks I have don't support Neo, so that is a must.

The 4p setup is going to be trickiest, to keep the size manageable, yet giving 4 decent sized guys room to be comfortable. On top of that, it will be pricey, requiring 4 separate McC built sticks. It's the one i'm most excited about, but probably the last one i'll tackle.

For cabs, i'm torn.

Egret II's and Windy's seem to have the least problems, but both are pricey. So, i'm floating the idea of less cabs, but both Egrets, or maybe 4-5 Astros (for the same price) and sorta consider them as rentals, if they die out, part out and get most of the money back, and just replace as needed. Dunno, sorta up in the air on it right now.

[bryan_65]

if they die out, part out and get most of the money back, and just replace as needed.

I am definitely not an expert. Just wanted to get that out of the way. Would plunking down the money on a new tri-sync or 15k monitor such as http://www.niemandisplays.com/nieman_vi ... ys_006.htm be worth it in the long run? Could a monitor like that be made to work for most games? Sometimes with old used stuff If I can a new one that will last longer it can be tempting. That is if they would last the 30+ years that some old crts have been lasting.

[mjmjr25]

I'm not totally sure about replacement monitors - I know they can be hooked up to consoles via VGA and present like arcade, and same with a supergun, but i'm not sure if a 3rd party replacement monitor is actually compatible w/the cabs i/o board. I would think not or it would be a more common solution, which I don't ever see...but maybe it's just that many arcade guys only want original stuff, not sure. But something to look at.

I've seen these, maybe i'll ask around about compatibility: http://www.happmart.com/Pro_Details.asp ... =7&sid=122

[Casey120]

What's wrong with the monitor ?

[mjmjr25]

It sorta made a "pop" noise and then everything shrunk to the middle of he screen until it was completely blank. I thought it was the monitor and not the chassis.

To be sure, I used a buddies working chassis and now I get a small white light, the size of a skittle in the center of the screen, which slowly fades away.

I still get sound and can control ships/characters, but no visuals.

[fastbilly1]

The 4p setup is going to be trickiest, to keep the size manageable, yet giving 4 decent sized guys room to be comfortable. On top of that, it will be pricey, requiring 4 separate McC built sticks. It's the one i'm most excited about, but probably the last one i'll tackle.

I am having the same problem but think I might have figured it out. Would you be ok with players 3 and 4 having standalone arcade sticks? That way you have a fourplayer setup, but it would give more space to the players.

[Casey120]

Are you absolutely sure that spare chassis was working and did you use a complete other chassis, flyback included ?
Sounds like a vertical collapse but I'm not a monitor expert by any means so I could be wrong .
It sucks though