Got my first arcade cabinet yesterday! Berzerk!

disjaukifa

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Hey Guys,

I picked up and put in my basement my first arcade cabinet Berzerk last night which I got from mcandrewsoun (Awesome guy!)! What an awesome machine! I've attached some pictures of it! I have a couple of questions about it though, nothing major!

1st. Is there a way I can make the volume quieter? It has the knob to turn the volume down, but I have it on the lowest setting and its still too loud. I've got two small kids (18 months and 3 years old) and I like to keep the volume low so I don't wake them up (which my wife really appreciates! . . . as do I). Is there anything I can do to make it so I can turn the volume down lower?

2nd. The monitor on the machine is BEAUTIFUL, I messed with the two setting on it (I'm sorry I can't remember what they are called) however its like the monitor is in the cabinet at a slight angle which I think I did moving it to my basement. My question is do I need to adjust the chassis that the monitor is in? Also do I need to discharge the monitor as well before I do this?

3rd. I feel really really dumb asking this . . . how to I put a fluorescent bulb in the marque? Also what kind of bulb do I need to buy, is it something that is special ordered or can I get it at Lowes?

4th. Finally question YES! The joystick I think came a little lose on my trip down and when I was moving it to my basement, how do I tighten it? I love this machine, Berzerk has been on my favorite games for a long time, so I hesitant to just explore with this cabinet if you know what I mean!

In the photos I apologize about the state of my basement! I'm in the process of finishing my basement and making it into the kids play room/arcade!!!

Let me know what you think!

Thanks
Disjaukifa
 

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The marquee bulb can be replaced by removing the screws that hold the backets (which hold the marquee). Most of these bulbs can be found at lowes. Sometimes the starters go bad (the little gray cylinder on the fixture) and these can be replaced too.

You don't need to discharge the monitor if you're adjusting the monitor frame. Make sure its unplugged though. You only need to discharge the monitor if you're working on the monitor circuit boards. The monitor circuit boards are typically referred to as it's "chassis". The metal frame which attaches to the cabinet, are referred to as the frame or brackets (not chassis).

I'm not sure about the joystick, but you can probably figure it out by taking off the control panel and examining the underside of the joystick.

Anyway, great game. I love Berzerk, and it'll probably be the next game I buy.
 
Hey mhanlen1,

Thanks for the reply and for the information on the arcade lingo. My other major hobby is cars, so thanks for that correction!

I was just looking at the pictures and I noticed that sure enough there at 3 screws that hold the marque on the top, didn't even think about taking those off, I'll do that tonight!

Yeah I'm pretty sure the joystick is just going to be tightening the bolts that hold it in place!

Also mcandrewsoun said I should install "feet" on the bottom of the cabinet. I know it has casters which work well, I was just wondering what the best way to install "feet" would be as well. I feel bad, mcandrewsoun actually told me when I picked the cabinet up, but in my excitement I can't remember what he told me!

Thanks
Disjaukifa
 
Also mcandrewsoun said I should install "feet" on the bottom of the cabinet. I know it has casters which work well, I was just wondering what the best way to install "feet" would be as well. I feel bad, mcandrewsoun actually told me when I picked the cabinet up, but in my excitement I can't remember what he told me!

Thanks
Disjaukifa

He probably means these.

http://www.arcadeadventures.com/product_images/s/629/100_6837__35256_zoom.JPG

They can be ordered from any arcade supply website, and they usually run a dollar a piece. There should be some threaded holes under each corner of the cabinet or some nasty rusty versions of those in he picture. These are very standard across different machines and a quick look under the cab will confirm if you have/need them. Worst case you may need the threaded brackets that these screw into. In that even you'd need to drill a few holes and install the brackets on the cabinet. But again, you probably won't need to do that.
 
He probably means these.

http://www.arcadeadventures.com/product_images/s/629/100_6837__35256_zoom.JPG

They can be ordered from any arcade supply website, and they usually run a dollar a piece. There should be some threaded holes under each corner of the cabinet or some nasty rusty versions of those in he picture. These are very standard across different machines and a quick look under the cab will confirm if you have/need them. Worst case you may need the threaded brackets that these screw into. In that even you'd need to drill a few holes and install the brackets on the cabinet. But again, you probably won't need to do that.

Yeah I know for a fact that the bottom of the cabinet is just wood, so I need to install the brackets as well. What website(s) would you recommend???

Greatest game ever!

No argument from me here! The one thing I did notice playing last night though was how bad I was at Berzerk. I've been playing Berzerk for the 2600 like crazy for the last couple of months and I can get really far in the that, usually just to the point where I have to turn the game off and go do something else. But on Berzerk arcade, I'm really really bad, I'm looking forward to putting in a lot of time to get better at it!

-Disjaukifa
 
Yeah I know for a fact that the bottom of the cabinet is just wood, so I need to install the brackets as well. What website(s) would you recommend???
-Disjaukifa

Bob Roberts is a great place. He ships in flat rate priority boxes though, so it's best to order several things at once to save on shipping. Here's a page showing what you'll need and how to add these.

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/ll.html

Here is his parts page... search for leg or levelers on his page and you'll find it... he offers a full kit, or parts of the kit, depending on which parts you need.

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/parts.html

Video Game Leg Levelers (4) $4.00
Small Video Game Leg Leveler Mounting Plates $5.00
Video game leg leveler mounting plates $8.50
Bob's Leveling Kit $17.50
 
The Berzerk cabinet has a front and rear vertical 3/4" thick piece that fits into dados in the cabinet sides, then originally had 4 plastic glides on the bottom. On mine, the glides were no where near evenly placed.. their stuff looked really slapped together.

Here's what I did to mine:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=152236

Thank you for the idea and the link, I think I'll do something very similar to that. How did you cut the wood ends like that?

-Disjaukifa
 
Congratulations! That's an awesome first cab. It's my latest pickup as well, and it was a grail of mine. I love it!
 
FYI, theres a resistor that I removed on the audio board initially to make it Louder..Then I realized that the audio amp was hosed, replaced that, but never put the 10k resistor back in. I dig up the schematic and tell you which one it is.
 
FYI, theres a resistor that I removed on the audio board initially to make it Louder..Then I realized that the audio amp was hosed, replaced that, but never put the 10k resistor back in. I dig up the schematic and tell you which one it is.

Thank you so much mcandrewsoun! My wife and I have been enjoying the game and I have gotten brave enough to make some minor adjustments here and there on the cabinet! Working on getting the marque to light up now!

I love this game!
 
Add another KLOVer who loves this game. If I ever had the room for more games, This and Sinistar would be added as well. Like Wizard of Wor, I also got my first play of this game on the 2600. Then when I first played them in the arcade and heard the speech made me loose my mind. It was a really awesome experience.
 
Add another KLOVer who loves this game. If I ever had the room for more games, This and Sinistar would be added as well. Like Wizard of Wor, I also got my first play of this game on the 2600. Then when I first played them in the arcade and heard the speech made me loose my mind. It was a really awesome experience.

I've heard of and played Wizard of Wor on the 2600, but I keep hearing Sinistar mentioned . . . something I need to look up . . .

Just got my Berzerk cabinet back together somewhat. My marque now works, I tightened the joystick up, and fixed some other minor stuff, such as the image on the monitor being askew a little bit, all very easy fixes!

One this I did notice when I was working on it and testing it I can't shoot diagonally upwards in the game, upon closer inspection it looks like a plastic piece on the controller is missing. How horrible of a person would I be if I put another joystick that wasn't originally into the cabinet for now so I can get full functionality?

*joking* I don't want to do anything to my cabinet that would get my banned or anything! *joking*

The more I play the better I get! I really really love this game!

-Disjaukifa
 
I've heard of and played Wizard of Wor on the 2600, but I keep hearing Sinistar mentioned . . . something I need to look up . . .


The more I play the better I get! I really really love this game!

-Disjaukifa

From what I heard, Sinistar was only a prototype on the 2600. I think it was said that the Video Game crash of 83' killed it's chance of being released? I've seen repos made for the 5200, and I'm not sure it ever made it to that system either. Again another one of those classic games that included the (new at the time) speech chips. Sinistar looked cool on the screen when I first saw it in a arcade, when I played it and heard the Sinister yelling: "RUN RUN RUN COWARD! BEWARE I LIVE!" etc etc. It would make the hairs on my neck stand up.

Yeah Berzerk will grow on you in no time. Very addicting indeed.
 
I need to try Sinister, it looks like a great and addicting game!

Well I just spent the last hour taking the controller panel apart and putting a different joystick on the control panel, being careful not to mess anything up, put it back together and works great, being able to fire in all directions is really really helpful!

I love this game, the more I play the better I get. However I have to say there is one thing I don't like about my Berzerk . . . I don't think I will ever be able to play the 2600 version ever game!!!

-Disjaukifa
 
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