A dumb Donkey Kong PCB question

gsealock

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
2,645
Reaction score
425
Location
Columbus, Nebraska
I've got a couple of four board stack style Donkey Kong board sets. I don't know crap about Donkey Kong boards, but it has come to my attention that there are different board versions. Which board versions are appropriate for what? What's the difference/ pros-cons of each? What style board set would you expect to find in an original cab? Is there a difference of what you would find in a blue cab vs. a red cab?

Thanks,

Greg
 
The cocktail version utilizes the four-board-stack. The original Red Cab Donkey Kongs also use the four-board-stack (just a later revision I believe). The standard Blue Cab Donkey Kong uses the two-board-set that Twin Galaxies makes you base your scores off of.

Differences include the ladder cheat that is on early DK boards, but was fixed on the later 2-board-sets. A con for the four-board-stacks is that most have the Z80 soldered in place instead of being socketed like on the 2-board-sets. This isn't a huge deal since you can remove the Z80 and put in a socket yourself, but it does mean that you need to do some prep work before you can use the HSS and/or D2K add-on.

I think that covers the bases. If I mixed any of this up someone can chime in and correct me.
 
I've got a couple of four board stack style Donkey Kong board sets. I don't know crap about Donkey Kong boards, but it has come to my attention that there are different board versions. Which board versions are appropriate for what? What's the difference/ pros-cons of each? What style board set would you expect to find in an original cab? Is there a difference of what you would find in a blue cab vs. a red cab?

Thanks,

Greg

There are some exceptions to the rules below but here's the general rundown.

TKG-2 is the very early upright DKs. These are Radar Scope boards that were converted to DK by Nintendo in the early days. The first couple thousand DKs were actually Radar Scope games that Nintendo converted into DKs. These were all in red cabinets. The PCBs have stickers with TKG-2 over the TRS radar scope PCBs. These have the ladder cheat (unless they got "corrected").

TKG-3(6) and below are the 4 board stacks that are most commonly in the early upright Red (and later light blue) DKs. These were the early DKs that were not converted Radar Scopes, but started life as DKs at the factory. These started off as red cabinets, but then Nintendo started sprinkling in blue cabinets, and then switched entirely to blue by the time the 2-board stacks came out. These PCBs may be found in early cocktail cabintes and caberets too. These PCBs also have the ladder cheat (unless "corrected" in the field).

Then you've got the TKG-3(7) 4-board stacks. These are commonly found in the cocktail machines and don't (usually) have the ladder cheat. They also commonley have socketed z80s.

The 2-board stacks came out soon after DK caught on. They're labeled TKG-4 and are in the vast majority of the upright DKs (all light blue cabs).

The TKG-2 and TKG-3(6) and below are comparitively rare. The TKG-3(7) and TKG-4 (2 board stacks) are pretty common.
 
There are some exceptions to the rules below but here's the general rundown.

TKG-2 is the very early upright DKs. These are Radar Scope boards that were converted to DK by Nintendo in the early days. The first couple thousand DKs were actually Radar Scope games that Nintendo converted into DKs. These were all in red cabinets. The PCBs have stickers with TKG-2 over the TRS radar scope PCBs. These have the ladder cheat (unless they got "corrected").

TKG-3(6) and below are the 4 board stacks that are most commonly in the early upright Red (and later light blue) DKs. These were the early DKs that were not converted Radar Scopes, but started life as DKs at the factory. These started off as red cabinets, but then Nintendo started sprinkling in blue cabinets, and then switched entirely to blue by the time the 2-board stacks came out. These PCBs may be found in early cocktail cabintes and caberets too. These PCBs also have the ladder cheat (unless "corrected" in the field).

Then you've got the TKG-3(7) 4-board stacks. These are commonly found in the cocktail machines and don't (usually) have the ladder cheat. They also commonley have socketed z80s.

The 2-board stacks came out soon after DK caught on. They're labeled TKG-4 and are in the vast majority of the upright DKs (all light blue cabs).

The TKG-2 and TKG-3(6) and below are comparitively rare. The TKG-3(7) and TKG-4 (2 board stacks) are pretty common.

Awesome summary, JamBurglar. I'm going to save this in my Evernote for future reference.... good stuff.
 
There are some exceptions to the rules below but here's the general rundown.

TKG-2 is the very early upright DKs. These are Radar Scope boards that were converted to DK by Nintendo in the early days. The first couple thousand DKs were actually Radar Scope games that Nintendo converted into DKs. These were all in red cabinets. The PCBs have stickers with TKG-2 over the TRS radar scope PCBs. These have the ladder cheat (unless they got "corrected").

TKG-3(6) and below are the 4 board stacks that are most commonly in the early upright Red (and later light blue) DKs. These were the early DKs that were not converted Radar Scopes, but started life as DKs at the factory. These started off as red cabinets, but then Nintendo started sprinkling in blue cabinets, and then switched entirely to blue by the time the 2-board stacks came out. These PCBs may be found in early cocktail cabintes and caberets too. These PCBs also have the ladder cheat (unless "corrected" in the field).

Then you've got the TKG-3(7) 4-board stacks. These are commonly found in the cocktail machines and don't (usually) have the ladder cheat. They also commonley have socketed z80s.

The 2-board stacks came out soon after DK caught on. They're labeled TKG-4 and are in the vast majority of the upright DKs (all light blue cabs).

The TKG-2 and TKG-3(6) and below are comparitively rare. The TKG-3(7) and TKG-4 (2 board stacks) are pretty common.

Are the TKG-2 able to be converted back to running radar scope? or a TKG-3 converted to run radar scope?

I am thinking of making a cab and I have a working set of each of these pcbs.

Thanks,
-Jake
 
Convert a Donkey Kong back to Radar Scope

Hello, yes you should be able to convert backwards. On my Radar Scope technical fan page (see www.ostermayer.ch) i have put info from a document titled "Specification for Modification of P.C. Board from TRS to TKG". Subtitle "Modification of TRS-2 Lot P.C. Board" If you have the modifications described in the tables, see link on the home page, you can undo them. Please send me some pictures! I will add them to the site, if i may.
 
Back
Top Bottom