1st project: Bubble Bobble

Aithos

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I am about to start my first arcade project and I could really use some help/advice. I have a couple options on cabinet: there are some local ones that I could get relatively inexpensive, or I could have a Taito cabinet built by arcaderestoparts.com for a little bit more and try to arrange a 6 hour round trip haul.

At the moment I am leaning towards getting the new cabinet since it seems Brett does good work and I wouldn't have to deal with damage, existing paint/art, etc. The one thing I am concerned about is all the small parts that would need to be found (coin door, cp, power supply, actual wiring) not to mention the PCB and monitor. I have no electronics knowledge when it comes to this stuff, I can build computers with my eyes closed but I have never soldered anything and I need as easy as possible.

I have done quite a bit of searching the last week and I was not very successful in finding parts for a bubble bobble machine, or any kind of wiring guide, or what type of power supply it needs. I guess I'm looking for input on what direction I should go on the cabinet first and then make some small decisions from there. Thanks.

Rory
 
It's probably better and definitely cheaper to just get a complete Taito cab of some sort.As far as I know,Bubble Bobble was a kit only game so there never was any kind of dedicated cab.
 
1) find your board. They come in regular taito, and 3-4 different kinds of bootlegs. The board will be the most expensive part of the project - BB boards usually get $150+ for the Taito originals.

2) I would go one of two ways:
a) if you get a Taito board, start looking for a taito cabinet. The board will plug right into a dedicated cabinet, and you can go from there
b) if you get a bootleg, build a jamma adapter. Look for a generic jamma cabinet (there were a whole lot of bubble bobble games in williams cabinets) and make it nice.

3) The only 'dedicated' artwork I am aware of apart from the marquee are the stickers for the buttons (bubble, jump, and movement stickers). There was a guy in canada who used to repo these and sell them on ebay. I'd keep your eye out.

Personally, the taito cabinets aren't very comfortable for 2P games - which is where Bubble Bobble shines. I would find a good cabinet that two people would be comfortable playing on - because that is the real beauty of the game.
 
1) find your board. They come in regular taito, and 3-4 different kinds of bootlegs. The board will be the most expensive part of the project - BB boards usually get $150+ for the Taito originals.

2) I would go one of two ways:
a) if you get a Taito board, start looking for a taito cabinet. The board will plug right into a dedicated cabinet, and you can go from there
b) if you get a bootleg, build a jamma adapter. Look for a generic jamma cabinet (there were a whole lot of bubble bobble games in williams cabinets) and make it nice.

3) The only 'dedicated' artwork I am aware of apart from the marquee are the stickers for the buttons (bubble, jump, and movement stickers). There was a guy in canada who used to repo these and sell them on ebay. I'd keep your eye out.

Personally, the taito cabinets aren't very comfortable for 2P games - which is where Bubble Bobble shines. I would find a good cabinet that two people would be comfortable playing on - because that is the real beauty of the game.

Thanks for the advice. I have been watching for Bubble Bobble boards for quite a while, I am only interested in the Taito/Romstar one. I am not going to do a bootleg unless it is just to test everything before putting the more expensive board in. I have been bidding on Ebay and contacting people on several forums (I have a post in wanted) for the board. I am unconcerned with how quickly I find the board since the cabinet is the harder decision for me (the board is a matter of time).

I like the idea of having something ready to plug in, the main problem is that I live in Iowa in the middle of nowhere. It seems there are very few people interested in doing this sort of project here and fewer places to find cabinets. There have been no Taito cabinets in my area for the last several months and I am thinking that if I can find someone to help guide me through wiring a new cabinet that finding coin doors and such wouldn't be so bad. I'm not adverse to doing a little work, I just don't have the time or skill to do advanced stuff like monitor repair, board work, etc. Thanks again!
 
Update: My decision was made for me, I have a local amusements/vending company that once a year does a blowout sale on some of their old stuff. I went over today to take a look and they had several nice machines, I picked up a Deer Hunting USA with a working 25" wells gardner monitor (didn't see any burn-in). The cab itself is in very good shape, it has clean coin doors, the only issue I see with it is I will have to modify the CP to make it work with anything I plan on using it for. But for 100 bucks it was a solid pick up, and it is located only a few blocks from my house so delivery is no issue.

Now I just need to see if I can find someone locally to cap kit this monitor and start looking at details. I think I am going to do this machine as a Taito f3 and keep looking for my Bubble Bobble dedicated cab since I want that to be in a Taito cab with 19" monitor. That way I can get Bubble Memories, Puzzle Bobble, Ray Force and some of the other cool Taito games relatively easily and won't have to worry about making a deer hunter an authentic style Bubble Bobble.

If you guys have suggestions on what to use to repaint this sucker or how to modify the CP I will need plenty of help here since this is my first project, I'll toss a link to the cabinet here: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7544

Thanks for the suggestions thus far, I'll toss up some pictures as soon as I have this sucker in my posession and you can see what I've got!

Rory
 
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