Ikari Warriors Build

Griffin

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Growing up Ikari Warriors was one of the games in my tiny local arcade that we did play a lot. The music, warning alarms before tanks explode and the click-click-click of those rotary sticks are all burned deep into my brain.

I built a multi-Ikari very early on in my arcade habit, it used a vector labs 4 way switcher and a hand-made multi rotary board that I built using guidance from some of the folks over on BYOAC. @SlikkNikk ended up buying from me (Do you still have it in your lineup Nick?)

PCBS were
- Ikari Warriors non-jamma original 3 board PCB stack
- Heavy Barrel Jamma PCB
- Time Soldiers Jamma PCB

I can't remember if I filled the 4th slot or not.

1757103136137.png

 
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This time around I don't 'think' I'll be going the switcher route (but we will see). I've been gathering pieces together and I'm getting close to being able to think about getting started.

Parts Acquired

- Original 3 board Ikari Warriors PCB Stack - reported as working with graphics issues, I found this locally on Offerup for $75.
- NOS Side art - beautiful shape with that beautiful thick screen printed feel, same Offerup seller.
- NOS CPO - Coming from the same person who got me the Bubbles cabinet - thank you.
- Original cardboard bezel - Good overall shape, found on eBay
- Original Marquee - Found a nice clean uncut original on eBay
- Two SNK LS-30s - Very nice condition, thank you @astrosim for the sale
- Fully populated 'Cut corner' HS-1 CP - Guerrilla Wars CP populated with working LS-30s, buttons and SNK Harness - Thank you @redfivexw
- Four 15-pin Rotary harnesses - I had these in a box of random rotary corpses.

Parts Outstanding (9/5/2025)

- Nice shape 19" vert Dynamo HS-1 - Should be able to find one local as a tragic 60-in-1 basement paperweight.
 
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Loved that thread. It was a huge guide and and inspiration for all my multi rotary projects.
My first one was completely hard switched with an old Russian tank rotary switch . It's wired to run 3 games on jamma harness all with their own power supplies . You can switch in between games while they were running.
Been considering putting 6 way switchers and having 3 banks of games . Whoa!
Also Riddle TV makes a kick harness that works great for the joystick manifold .
Pretty much just plug and play . Only have to bend one pin out of the way .
 
Growing up Ikari Warriors was one of the games in my tiny local arcade that we did play a lot. The music, warning alarms before tanks explode and the click-click-click of those rotary sticks are all burned deep into my brain.

I built a multi-Ikari very early on in my arcade habit, it used a vector labs 4 way switcher and a hand-made multi rotary board that I built using guidance from some of the folks over on BYOAC. @SlikkNikk ended up buying from me (Do you still have it in your lineup Nick?)

PCBS were
- Ikari Warriors non-jamma original 3 board PCB stack
- Heavy Barrel Jamma PCB
- Time Soldiers Jamma PCB

I can't remember if I filled the 4th slot or not.

View attachment 844588

This was a really cool build and I was honored to have it in my collection for a while before moving it on to another KLOV member.
Looking forward to seeing your progress on the new build!
 
If you ever get a switcher again or need , I think Gondomania is an underrated rotary classic. I always come back for this game in my rotary machine even though I loved Heavy Barrel, Ikari, Time Soldiers growing up... The world of the game is so interesting compared to the "Rambo" clones!
 
Thanks for the info. I'm trying to see if I can build a setup where I run original Ikari and a JammaPi on a switcher so I can play the other rotary games that way.
 
I've got one (complete) in the shop just dying to be brought back to life. It's in a Dynamo cab and doesn't have the camouflage on the side art, so I suspect it's a conversion kit. I don't know much about the dedicated cabs.
I never played the game back in the day but I understand it is a lot of fun. And with my limited space I'd want to make it a multi.
17571829757026829303316418001184.jpg
 
Loved that thread. It was a huge guide and and inspiration for all my multi rotary projects.
My first one was completely hard switched with an old Russian tank rotary switch . It's wired to run 3 games on jamma harness all with their own power supplies . You can switch in between games while they were running.
Been considering putting 6 way switchers and having 3 banks of games . Whoa!
Also Riddle TV makes a kick harness that works great for the joystick manifold .
Pretty much just plug and play . Only have to bend one pin out of the way .

I will have to take a look and see. There's a cool little rotary-to-usb board out there which may be handy if I put a JammaPi on a switcher. It might be fun to have a bunch of other random rotary titles on slot 2 via emulation.
 
The camouflage was my own touch. The original cabs were black HS-1 cut corner CPs which seems to be exactly what you have.
That's great news...thanks! I was hoping it was a dedicated cab. Love the camo, I'd want mine to look just like yours.
 
It looks great, clean that baby up and get it running. Ikari is one of the best co-op games out there.
It's after midnight and now I'm heading out to the shop to give it a look over. I blame you mostly. Bahaha! I already know the joysticks are in bad shape.
 
Yeah rotary sticks are the main issue. But there is a company making a rotary box for these now, I have no idea how the new sticks compare to the originals.
 
Well looks like right off the bat...
1. Aluminum foil wrapped around the main fuse. Not Cool People!
2. Missing the SMPS. I have spares.
3. Broken ribbon cable lock and pcb mounts between boards.
4. Joysticks.
Overall it looks...not terrible.
Ikari Warriors just got moved up in the queue.
 
I found a nice HS-1 locally, great condition and perfect for this project.

I'll be pulling all of the POW stuff off the machine including the full cut-corner CP. It's all in nice shape so if anyone wants to buy it just hit me up.

Screenshot 2025-11-10 094251.jpg
 
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