DK, DKJR, DK3 PCB Question

FlashbackArcade

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Can I exchange my Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong JR, and Donkey Kong 3 PCBs in my DKJR cabinet without hurting any of the boards? In other words, are these boards just plug and play swap outs in my DKJR cabinet? Thanks for the help!
 
Is your cabinet a dedicated DK JR. with an edge connector type harness? If so, then you can swap a DK3 in easily. A DK will work if it is the two board version with the edge connector. If it is the 4 board version with the multiple small connectors, it won't work. Apparently, that version is usually used in a cocktail table but I had an upright with that type of board and harness.
 
DK PCB Question

My DKJR is a dedicated original with the edge connector. The DK board is the 2 board style so I guess that I can switch these three out in the one cabinet?
 
Not to hijack this thread, but I have a related question.

I have an upright DK but its wired with a 4 board PCB. I'd like to changeover to a 2 board setup - what would be involved with that?

Would it be best to buy a new harness?
 
Can I exchange my Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong JR, and Donkey Kong 3 PCBs in my DKJR cabinet without hurting any of the boards? In other words, are these boards just plug and play swap outs in my DKJR cabinet? Thanks for the help!

Yes DK can swap in easily, DK3 not so much as it can only use the edge connector.

My DKJR is a dedicated original with the edge connector. The DK board is the 2 board style so I guess that I can switch these three out in the one cabinet?

Dedicated original Dk Junior wire harnesses use the small connectors not the edge connector. If your harness is using the edge connector it is not an original DK Junior harness but at least you can use DK 2board, DK Junior and DK3 with the same harness.

Still have to connect all the other connectors as well right?

If your harness is an edge connector there should be no other connectors to hook up.

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a related question.

I have an upright DK but its wired with a 4 board PCB. I'd like to changeover to a 2 board setup - what would be involved with that?

Would it be best to buy a new harness?

Your harness will be fine. The DK 2 board has the same small connectors as the 4 board does. You will only need the 9pin and 10 pin power harnesses from the power supply and not the 7pin. The brackets that hold it in are in a different place, but that's an easy fix. - Barry
 
Not to hijack this thread, but I have a related question.

I have an upright DK but its wired with a 4 board PCB. I'd like to changeover to a 2 board setup - what would be involved with that?

Would it be best to buy a new harness?

Does your board have the ladder cheat? What's your serial number? DK uprights with the 4-board PCBs are much rarer.

But yeah, you can swap in a two-board set with no difficulty. It uses all the same connections except, as timerterror said, you don't need the 7 pin power connector on the 2-board version (that's the wire that goes from the power supply to the audio board on your 4-board set.)
 
The DK I used to have had been all around the world of Nintendo. It was born as a Popeye, converted to DK3, then to a Vs., then to DK. I know because it had serial tags from everything except DK. However, when whoever it was went back to DK with it, they used a 4 board stack and harness. It was probably what they had lying around. I am not sure why Nintendo built two different hardware platforms to do the same job, but they did. I have read that the 4 board version is the same as Radar Scope with different ROMs.
 
The DK I used to have had been all around the world of Nintendo. It was born as a Popeye, converted to DK3, then to a Vs., then to DK. I know because it had serial tags from everything except DK. However, when whoever it was went back to DK with it, they used a 4 board stack and harness. It was probably what they had lying around. I am not sure why Nintendo built two different hardware platforms to do the same job, but they did. I have read that the 4 board version is the same as Radar Scope with different ROMs.

I see.

The earlier Nintendo boards in the late 70s and early 80s (Radar Scope, Donkey Kong) were 4-board stacks regardless of whether they were for uprights, cocktails, or caberets (I think Space Firebird was 3 boards). When DK came out Nintendo was taking Radar Scope boardsets and converting them to DK. These are the ones with stickers that say TKG-2. Under the sticker you'll see TRS (for Radar Scope) printed on the PCB. Nintendo continued using the 4-board stack with the dedicated red Donkey Kongs (TKG-3) they started using blue DK cabinets a little later but continued with the 4-board stack. Nintendo then redesigned the PCB and came out with the 2-board stack, which went in all upright DKs with the TKG-4 label. Since the larger 2-board stack would not physcially fit in the DK cocktails, Nintendo continued putting the 4-board stack in that machine. When DK Jr. came out Nintendo redesigned the cocktial machines so a 2-board stack would fit and you stopped seeing the 4-board stacks all toghether. By the time Popeye and Mario Bros came out they stopped using the PCB brackets and went to putting two-boards in a metal cage. By the time Vs. came out they could fit everything on one PCB. So, it was just the way things evolved.

The schematics are not that different between the 4-board and the 2-board, but the 2-board is more accessable and has the edge connector.
 
Great info, thanks

My DK had been converted to Donkey Kong 3 at some point in time (has a DK3 serial plate and DK3 side art), but then the operator converted back to DK and sold it to a home user (whom I got it from).

So, no serial number, sorry.
 
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