JAMMA questions

Smashy

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I'd like to get some new games for my cabinet, but I'm new at this and I have some questions Can I just swap out PCBs to switch games as long as it's for a horizontal display (my monitor is horizontal)?

I've seen some PCBs for sale that are 60 in 1 or 19 in 1, but the games aren't listed Is there a set of standard games that these boards usually have on them?

What's an IREM adaptor and do I need one?

Some of the games I'd like to get are Moon Patrol, Joust, Defender, Stargate, Berzerk, Robotron, and some others I can't recall at the moment
 
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JAMMA boards are interchangeable. The 60-1 games are vertical, but the 19-in-1 are horizontal games. Some of the horizontal fighting games, etc. would need a kick harness added to be able to use the extra buttons.

I do not have a 19-in-1, but I think some of the games are Defender, Joust, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Do! Run Run.

Some people go with this multiboard.
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=197982

Welcome to the hobby, it will get addicting.:)


ParadiseArcade

JAMMABoards.com
 
the irem adapter lets the original moon patrol pcb play via your jamma harness setup.

Joust/Robotron the real game, is several boards (CPU, interface for controls, sound, rom, and they prefer the original linear powersupply) so i've not heard of anyone interfacing that with jamma nor do i know how that would work considering you'd need all those boards and the original harness. if you are going with original williams pcbs then probably best to buy the real deal.

before you blow a bunch of money on jamma adapters that are 35-50 apiece, and a bunch of original pcbs that will need TLC along the way.

Just go to phoenixArcade and buy the pcb they offer, it does all the williams classics and a ton more, lots of new games on the way.
you'll save yourself headaches and money and have a real blast. assuming you are wanting to play games more than fix 30yr old electronics....
 
the irem adapter lets the original moon patrol pcb play via your jamma harness setup.

Moon patrol isn't available on a JAMMA board?


Joust/Robotron the real game, is several boards (CPU, interface for controls, sound, rom, and they prefer the original linear powersupply) so i've not heard of anyone interfacing that with jamma nor do i know how that would work considering you'd need all those boards and the original harness.

I've seen a JAMMA board that has those games on it. Are you saying that still wouldn't work?

I'm a little confused about how this works now. I was under the impression the advantage of a JAMMA machine is simply swapping boards, but you're talking about changing wiring and fixing old parts.
 
I looked into that Phoenix pcb, looks like a pretty good deal. I might do that.
 
yah i might have thrown you off.
the phoenix board will be your one stop simple solution and every game is setup for the JAMMA wiring configuration.

think of the multi-game boards like a MAME program on a PCB.
the physical printed circuit board has a JAMMA edge connector which is the formalized pins for where the joystick controls, speakers, and voltages are.
so any game on a JAMMA board will use the JAMMA wiring setup.

nice and simple.

if you wanted to play moon patrol as the original board, that's where you need the IREM adapter which takes the moon patrol pinout and changes it to the standard JAMMA pinout. too much work.
 
Okay, I get it. I think I'll get the Phoenix pcb, sounds like the best option. Thanks for the help.

But to satisfy my continual thirst for knowledge, what's the difference between JAMMA and MAME?
 
Okay, I get it. I think I'll get the Phoenix pcb, sounds like the best option. Thanks for the help.

But to satisfy my continual thirst for knowledge, what's the difference between JAMMA and MAME?

Ay yi yi... sit down boy, shit's gonna get complicated.

JAMMA is a standardized edge connector and pinout designed to make converting machines very easy. Nothing more, nothing less. If you have a "JAMMA cabinet", you can play any JAMMA board with it, just the screen might be rotated 90 degrees depending on whether it's a horizontal or vertical game.

MAME is something else entirely -- the famous Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. It's a super-emulator that emulates literally hundreds of chips at a low level so it can run tens of thousands of arcade games in emulation. Most bootleg xxx-in-1 boards like the phoenix board just have an old illegitimate version of MAME and the game's ROMs on it. I strongly recommend people just learn a little bit and use a recent version of real MAME -- it supports far more games (including some 3D stuff!) and fixes a lot of problems with those old versions.
 
Most bootleg xxx-in-1 boards like the phoenix board just have an old illegitimate version of MAME and the game's ROMs on it. I strongly recommend people just learn a little bit and use a recent version of real MAME -- it supports far more games (including some 3D stuff!) and fixes a lot of problems with those old versions.



Confusion sets in once again. You're saying the Phoenix pcb isn't that great and MAME is better? What would I need to make MAME work with my cabinet?
 
Confusion sets in once again. You're saying the Phoenix pcb isn't that great and MAME is better? What would I need to make MAME work with my cabinet?

A PC to run MAME on, and a J-PAC or other similar interface to connect the PC to the cabinet. Simpler than it sounds, really, just a bunch of cords. The hard part is setting up MAME just the way you like it and even that isn't all that hard.
 
o.k., I'm going to try to break it down even more.

If you have a Jamma cabinet (not sure if you do), that means it's wired for jamma boards. If you get most jamma boards, they'll play if you simply plug them in. These are boards like Double Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.

The games you're talking about were all made BEFORE Jamma came out. So Moon Patrol, Sinistar, Robotron, etc. aren't made to work in a Jamma cabinet.

The board that has all the different games on it is a bootleg board... so that's why people are saying it sucks. Some of the games need different button setups, etc. so it doesn't really work very well in a Jamma cabinet. It'll boot up, and you'll be able to play them, but not like they were originally intended with the controls set up a certain way, etc. Also some of the sounds will be the wrong ones, etc. just like you would expect from a bootleg (fake!) board.

If you build a "Mame" machine, that means it's a "multiple arcade machine emulator" that runs on a computer. you can play nearly every arcade game ever made on it by downloading a rom for that game (nerds have done all the software work so each game works pretty good). It'll still not be as good as the original, and you'll still have the problems with the controls all being different.

So! Easiest thing for you to do is just stick to other boards that are Jamma and use controls similar to the ones on your machine. You can also buy SOME games that were made before Jamma, that people have made "Jamma Adaptors" for.
 
ha ha, bet you are even more confused now?

the Mame computer crowd tends to not appreciate any PCB versions of MAME. you will quickly get into a polarized bias. If you want to know what mame is, just google wolfmame, download it, do a search for some ROMs and try it out on your computer keyboard.

so let's make it simple...what is your cabinet? what game is in it right now? what controls do you have on the panel?
 
ha ha, bet you are even more confused now?



Yeah, a bit. It doesn't help that I don't know squat about computers. Maybe I'll just stick to Monopoly.
bonk.gif


I have a Clutch Hitter cabinet. It's in good shape, everything works. The guy I bought it from showed me how to flip the yoke so I can switch it from horizontal to vertical.

Here are some pictures.


054.jpg


008-5.jpg


015.jpg
 
OK, nice and simple.

1- you have a JAMMA wired cabinet. nice and standard.
2- do you know if those controls are 4-way or 8-way?
Which means does the joystick do just 4 ways (N, S, E, W) or 8 ways( N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW)

The reason I ask about the controls is, Robotron, Bubbles, and Berzerk require 8 way controllers.
--If those games are important to you then the sticks are important.
--Most all other games use 4 way controllers.
--The problem is that playing 4 way games with 8 way controllers can sometimes cause eratic screen movements.
--joust and moon patrol, mario bros just need 2 way (left and right) so they work with any joystick, 4 or 8 way.

Here is how simple your choices are:
1- Chinese import (the one people complain about) 60-1 vertical jamma PCB will cost around $75. games like Donkey Kong, Pacman, Galaga,
plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing.

2- Chinese import (same complaints) 19-1 horizontal jamma PCB will cost less than $100.
games like joust, robotron, bubbles, defender (not Moon Patrol or Berzerk!)
plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing.

3- phoenix arcade board. approx $300. will play both vertical and horizontal including Moon Patrol. American production, currently still being actively added to, quality product.
plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing. (does require occasionally putting an sd card into your computer to get updates for the games)

4- if you want to interface your computer with the game. use the J-Pac and MAME software. cheapest avenue if you are a hardcore gamer on a budget, most functionality for any game....BUT requires hands-on effort on your part and solid computer skillz.
 
do you know if those controls are 4-way or 8-way?


6-way. What I mean by that is Clutch Hitter uses 6-way moves. There's the four usual directions, then there's also SW and SE for throwing a screw ball or curve ball. There are no moves in the game requiring NE or NW. The instructions on the bezel show the six directional moves, but not those two. Can I assume since it can do those six directions that it's set up for all eight?

I don't know if this helps, but here's the underside of the control panel...


001-3.jpg


004-1.jpg


005-1.jpg



1- Chinese import (the one people complain about) 60-1 vertical jamma PCB will cost around $75. games like Donkey Kong, Pacman, Galaga,
plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing.

2- Chinese import (same complaints) 19-1 horizontal jamma PCB will cost less than $100.
games like joust, robotron, bubbles, defender (not Moon Patrol or Berzerk!)
plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing.

I've seen those two on ebay. What are the complaints about them?


3- phoenix arcade board. approx $300. will play both vertical and horizontal including Moon Patrol. American production, currently still being actively added to, quality product. plug the PCB into that jamma connector and start playing. (does require occasionally putting an sd card into your computer to get updates for the games)

Seems like a good option, besides being a bit of an initial investment. What are the problems with it that someone else mentioned? Problems with sounds/moves?


4- if you want to interface your computer with the game. use the J-Pac and MAME software. cheapest avenue if you are a hardcore gamer on a budget, most functionality for any game....BUT requires hands-on effort on your part and solid computer skillz.

I'm not really interested in getting into the PC side of things, and I don't have the necessary skills anyway (I'm fairly new to computers and haven't had any schooling on the subject, all I know how to do so far is email, surfing the web, and using amazon and ebay). So I'll leave MAME off the list of options.
 
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as you can see from my signature i've traveled your path before. ;)

yes, your joysticks are capable of 8-way. (you have it setup but the baseball game is only using 6 of them as you say)

I think the 19-1 plays really well for the price. i don't have a complaint. robotron is too fast so it's hard, but still really fun.

the 60-1 has some oddball sounds like donkey kong jr. the climbing sound is different. other threads say this is because the sound chips used are different than original. seems a simple trade-off. i notice that the speed of some games is slightly off, barely noticable but sometimes there is some sluggish feeling like in congo bongo. an average player won't notice anything is different. the hardcore old school folks are the ones that complain and they are being hyper-sensitive in their desire for detail anyway....

the phoenix board is going to have all the taito classics added soon. and then konami. it'll be a great plug n play pcb for years to come.

you can order from members here or sites online, don't really need to order from ebay if you are getting the chinese imports (search for klov name nixs which has jammaparts.com)

depends on how much you want to spend. if you want to buy once and be done, go with phoenix. if you are just tinkering and don't care about nickels and dimes. get a chinese board or 2, see if you like it then go from there.
 
I did some reading on the Phoenix website. That's looking like the most attractive option for me. I'll probably go that route. I don't know anything about zip archives and extracting files to folders, that's all Greek to me. But I might be able to figure it out.

Is there a projected cost for future game additions? I didn't see that on the website.
 
the zip file thing is easy. you get the installer file from their website. another website has the game package (roms) and can send you email updates when new games arrive.

i'm not aware of new games costing anything. donkey kong II used to have some licensing like $15 on the old arcade board, but it isn't yet available on this one.
 
Sounds good. Thanks for all the help, much appreciated.
 
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