Classic Taito Bubble Bobble (Multi-Taito)

nesjess

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
9,584
Reaction score
530
Location
Castro Valley, California
Recently, Hgloth hooked me up with a beat-up, dirty, JAMMAtized Qix cab (Thanks bro!). I've decided this would be the perfect candidate to finally create a Bubble Bobble classic Taito cabinet.

Bubble Bobble is a game that I've always wanted in my lineup, but it has always eluded me for one reason or another. The only time I had it running was in a Multi-Taito Double Dragon that I sold a few years ago. Unfortunately, it's one of those iconic games that only came as a really ugly conversion kit. I've seen other nice custom Bubble Bobble cabs on here and on byoac, but I feel it deserves the dedicated classic Taito treatment since it came at the tail end of that era.

Hopefully, I can get this done and ready by the time CAX comes around. We'll see. Haha.

To-Do List:

- Clean cabinet

- Clean up and remount cabinet wiring

- Tube swap 4900 or find a replacement monitor (heavy Tapper burn)

- Patch lockbar holes

- Sand and prime front and sides of cabinet

- Print and apply custom side and front art (will be ordering via Szabos Arcades)

- Replace and paint wood base

- Strip, sand, paint and rebuild coin door

- Replace t-molding

- Acquire Taito plastic monitor bezel

- Acquire 4-way Wico balltop joysticks (thinking of going with red or maybe one blue/one green)

- Acquire Multi-Taito PCB (going to use Pandora's Box 4 for now, maybe Hyperspin)

Completed:

- Install custom bezel, marquee, CPO art (ordered via GameOnGrafix)

- Strip and rebuild control panel. Going to make keep it 3-button so it can play games like Double Dragon​

Here's a shot of the cab as is stands now running Bubble Bobble via Pandora's Box 4. I had to rotate the monitor to horizontal as it was being used as a Raiden. So there is a cutout and bubble cover on the back door as a result. Solid cab otherwise. It has the original Taito tempered front glass.

IMG_3339.jpg
 
Last edited:
Bubble Bobble is one of my favorites; this is an excellent re-use of a Taito cab. Best of luck on the restore!

Thanks!

Here's an artwork sneak peek.

I like the way the color combination came out. Sort of like Alpine Ski, but with yellow instead of black. I tried a blue/green combination and even pink, but yellow just looked right.

Also, I chose not to go overboard with bubbles or characters, fruits, desserts, etc. Just wanted to keep it clean and simple. It has sort of an early 90s feel that pays homage to the classic 80s look. I tried to reimagine it as if Taito had released the game in this cab.

image.png
 
Last edited:
Subscribed! Glad to see your doing something amazing with that cab! It sure needed some help! Hahaha..

I think your color scheme is perfect and I agree, people tend to go over board on stuff like this..

It's just looks like it belongs, and it's cool to visually see, what you verbally described once before.

Love it!

Ps funny side note, that bad tapper burn monitor went from slick nick to mannomann to me, to You! Hahaha

That was a riot that night we tryed that k7000 out.... Lighting bolts came out of there...!

Hahahah. I still wana try and repair that chassis, so let me know, and I can grab it sometime...
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys.

I'll try not to be a total flake on this project. Hoping to disassemble the coin door and start restoring it this weekend. Need to order some parts for it too.

One step at a time.
 
I've been working on the Missile Command Cabaret restore for 2 years come this March, nothing wrong with taking time to get it done right.
 
I've been working on the Missile Command Cabaret restore for 2 years come this March, nothing wrong with taking time to get it done right.

That's the hard part. On one hand, you just like to have a working game that you and others can enjoy. On the other hand, you want to restore it, but that means it being out of commission for who knows how long. Haha.

I just meant I hope it's a project I eventually finish and not end up giving up or selling it off. I've had way too many missed opportunities with Bubble Bobble or having a Multi-Taito, so I want to say this one is going to stay.
 
Cpo, marquee and bezel art came in from GoG. That was pretty fast. I ordered on Monday.

There's a good chance I may end up reordering the marquee and bezel through Szabos since he does a nice clean rear-mounted finish on lexan. I didn't know this until after I had ordered from GoG.

Happy either way, but if there's a better option, might as well go all out.

image.jpg
 
I didn't take into account the bezel slots. The thickness of the front glass and the bezel art combined made it so it wouldn't slide in, which is odd because I had no issue with an old Zoo Keeper cab I had where I did the same thing. The copyright line also a bit cut off. I ended up having to trim the sides of the art a bit on the glass. So it's not a clean finish, but it'll do. I probably will get a new rear-mounted lexan bezel from Szabos eventually and make sure it's the right thickness.

On the bright side, it's amazing how big of a difference new art has on a piece of turd cab. I think I'll move on to the control panel first before the coin door.

IMG_3517.jpg


IMG_3518.jpg


IMG_3520.jpg


IMG_3521.jpg


IMG_3523.jpg


IMG_3524.jpg
 
Last edited:
Love those control panels that are like license plates. Each cpo is like a registration sticker.

Generic on top. Double Dragon underneath that. Qix underneath that.

image.jpg
 
Slow and steady with a heat gun and the layers peeled off like butter. Didn't even leave much adhesive residue either. Unfortunately, I'm seeing a lot of imperfections in the metal and of course the extra holes. These will show with the new CPO so I think a plexi cover on top is in order to mask it a bit. We'll see.

image.jpg


image.jpg
 
If you had some slugs to fill the holes, I could tack weld them in at the shop... Could probably take a hole saw and a street sign and cut some new slugs, same diameter...
 
If you had some slugs to fill the holes, I could tack weld them in at the shop... Could probably take a hole saw and a street sign and cut some new slugs, same diameter...


Thanks for offering the help. I'm going to roll with this crap cp for now with the intention of getting one of Joseph77's repro blank panels later assuming he still has them or continues to produce them. Would make for a much cleaner look and honestly not a fan of how these controls were laid out anyways.

With that said, it's a lot better than it looked before. Still a ton more work to do, but I'm digging it so far.

image.jpg


image.jpg


image.jpg


image.jpg


image.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom