"MAMEing" or otherwise converting a classic cabinet is generally frowned upon here...

[discgolfer72]

screw all the mame hater's im going to mame this fully working cab just to spite you all hahahahahahahhahahha

no but really i dont have any problem with mameing or multicading any machine
i buy cheap cabs all the time for my multi cab builds
if it works or is salvageable then i fix it and flip the game (if its a game i dont want )
if its missing boards ,no monitor,board not working ect then its multi/mame foder
i have these 3 cabs waiting to be turned into multi/mame machines

i hate to see a classic destroyed as much as the next guy but unless it worth my time then wtf does it matter at least the machine still lives and is being enjoyed instead of sitting in a dump somewhere
and i dont see the cheap guys here jumping on any of these clasics to save them you guys would not pay me more than 25 $ for one of these empty cabs and as far as im concerned its not worth my time to sell an empty for less than 75$ as i can sell an empty to some mamer for 100$ easy

if you wont buy the cab and restore it from the person that is going to mame it then dont bitch


on the other hand i do belive in keeping the games as clean and true as possible no freaking 3rd joy for a 4 way(makes your cp look like a damn sex toy ), no freaking 50 foot cp ,no freaking 10 joysticks 2 track balls and a freaking flight stick

the most i ever install on a mame machine is 2 joys 6 buttons each and a track ball(and a track ball only if its a huge cp like the golden tee cabs or the vitura fighter cabs)

 

[MaximRecoil]

world of difference in my opinion, that and at least with the multis the machine is still a machine running hardware, not some krap 286 pc running mame with a hacked lcd monitor.

I don't think there is any aesthetically pleasing way to arrange something like a dozen dissimilar logos into single compilation. Something like that is inherently gaudy.

Also, not all MAME machines conform to the way you are characterizing them.

But regardless of opinions on appearance; I would think it would be irrelevant around here anyway. The correct appearance of these machines was already established by their manufacturers some 25-30 years ago, and conversions — regardless of their generally perceived level of style/taste — are not it.

 

[RedWolfJC]

As people already said, there's a few purists here that are dead set against mame period, but most people won't care if you decide to throw mame in a cab that's been converted so many times that nobody knows what was in it in the first place...
Even more deserving of vitriol is the trend lately to scrap a fully working machine and dump, say, an X-Box in there...
On the Multiwilliams, to each their own, I like the artwork for it... yeah it's a little busy but it is a bunch of games in one... And Jrok's board is not "emulation" I'm not sure exactly what it would be called, but from what I understand it runs the original roms and uses the original processor, maybe he could clarify with his much more vast technical expertise But I think it would be frowned upon to take a perfectly good working Joust/Robotron, etc with perfect artwork, and sand it all down and throw the jrok board and multiwilliams art on it. My MW was converted to a Tetris, like so many other Robotrons were, and there was nothing left of the original art/boards/wiring harness, and the CP had been drilled and extra buttons added.

 

[Droler]

multiwilliams:
world of difference in my opinion, that and at least with the multis the machine is still a machine running hardware, not some krap 286 pc running mame with a hacked lcd monitor.

Well, don't oversimplify here - you have to remember that a lot of people including myself scratch build their MAME Cabs - mine's scratch built completely, and does not use a 286 (Ha, ha, I know that was an exaggeration).

It's also a juke, internet radio, and TiVo via two TV tuners and BeyondTV but you can't see it when it's in arcade mode.

My CP does have too much on it (two leaf sticks, a trackball and a spinner, and 6 buttons per player) but it is minimally designed and all the buttons are black, to reduce the idiotic multi button look.

And, it keeps my DK, Tempest, Zaxxon and Centipede company.

All MAME's are not created equally.

 

[Arcadenut]

And Jrok's board is not "emulation" I'm not sure exactly what it would be called, but from what I understand it runs the original roms and uses the original processor, maybe he could clarify with his much more vast technical expertise

Actually, it is emulation. He uses the original CPU for timing and executing the original instructions. The rest of the hardware is emulated.

 

[RedWolfJC]

Actually, it is emulation. He uses the original CPU for timing and executing the original instructions. The rest of the hardware is emulated.

I think only the sound is technically emulated (though it apparently has a header in case one wanted to use the original soundboard), the original hardware is reproduced in the fpga...
Again I'm not a hardware expert, but I'm basing it on the original thread here and from his page here.

 

[MaximRecoil]

I think only the sound is technically emulated (though it apparently has a header in case one wanted to use the original soundboard), the original hardware is reproduced in the fpga...
Again I'm not a hardware expert, but I'm basing it on the original thread here and from his page here.

I think it is an awesome piece of hardware, and a very impressive technical achievement. If I had one I'd probably put it in e.g., a Dynamo cabinet. I couldn't bring myself to put anything but Joust artwork on a Joust cabinet, or anything but Defender artwork on a Defender cabinet, etc., especially considering that original Williams artwork is my favorite out of all arcade machine artwork, particularly Joust.

 

[RedWolfJC]

I think it is an awesome piece of hardware, and a very impressive technical achievement. If I had one I'd probably put it in e.g., a Dynamo cabinet. I couldn't bring myself to put anything but Joust artwork on a Joust cabinet, or anything but Defender artwork on a Defender cabinet, etc., especially considering that original Williams artwork is my favorite out of all arcade machine artwork, particularly Joust.

He makes an adapter for it, so that it's plug and play into original hardware, so theoretically you could throw it in the joust and swap btw the two boards. Defender and stargate would be out though, unless you wanted to swap panels too...

 

[bobbyconover]

I think it is an awesome piece of hardware, and a very impressive technical achievement. If I had one I'd probably put it in e.g., a Dynamo cabinet. I couldn't bring myself to put anything but Joust artwork on a Joust cabinet, or anything but Defender artwork on a Defender cabinet, etc., especially considering that original Williams artwork is my favorite out of all arcade machine artwork, particularly Joust.

I agree. It's pretty shocking to me how many hardcore classic arcade game fans line up to make these essentially mini-MAME cabs. I thought the whole idea behind arcade ownership was the ability to play the games in their original authentic forms? Joust with an 8-way stick feels totally wrong. So does Sinistar played sideways with an 8-way. So do a couple of the other configurations. Not to mention that you have to play on a cluttered, ridiculous looking control panel.

If you're willing to look past those kinds of discrepancies, you might as well just make some huge franken-panel and run MAME -- at least then you could play thousands of games instead of just a handful. This whole idea that multi-williams with its ugly pseudo-dedicated art is in some way classier or more "retro" or authentic than MAME is just silly.

 

[LyonsArcade]

In the above pictures, the mame cabinets with the natural wood grain and glass look much better than the Multi-williams. I'm just sayin'. There's *way* too much going on in that artwork, I don't know why they ever designed it that busy.

 

[RedWolfJC]

Really?

To each their own I guess, but I think this looks fine...

 

[LyonsArcade]

Horribly done. Any artwork where you have to study the marquee or study the control panel or study the sideart just to see what the hell is going on is way over the top in my honest opinion. Any game that's considered 'great' in the artwork department did it with simple, uni-themed artwork that created an atmosphere, not was just a laundry list of what was contained in the game.

They would have been much better off making a new multi-williams logo, and creating an entirely new theme based around one concept, or a stylized version of the logo, or something then trying to cram each game's marquee onto every inch of art they could find. It's not even all a uniform color scheme, it just looks like a cut and paste job in photoshop or something.

Just my opinion.

 

[TheShanMan]

I'm with you, Lyon. I don't care for the art, and if you're going to do a multi-williams I figure you might as well do a mame. It would be different if there was a common theme to the games, and common controls, like a multi-kong.

 

[RedWolfJC]

Horribly done. Any artwork where you have to study the marquee or study the control panel or study the sideart just to see what the hell is going on is way over the top in my honest opinion. Any game that's considered 'great' in the artwork department did it with simple, uni-themed artwork that created an atmosphere, not was just a laundry list of what was contained in the game.

They would have been much better off making a new multi-williams logo, and creating an entirely new theme based around one concept, or a stylized version of the logo, or something then trying to cram each game's marquee onto every inch of art they could find. It's not even all a uniform color scheme, it just looks like a cut and paste job in photoshop or something.

Just my opinion.

That's the beauty of it though, it's an entirely new piece of hardware, so if you think the existing art is too busy nobody will fault you for making your own... someone else did a way scaled back cpo and posted the file in a thread somewhere in these boards. Shoot, it might look cool to just have the Williams Multigame script, and leave out the "mini marquees" Plus that gives you the added bonus of turning off games, say you wanted to keep a simpler CP layout, turn off defender and Stargate, and leave the rest on... or make a Defender/Stargate combo and turn everything else off...hmmmm.
Now y'all got me thinking about making two of these

 

[RedWolfJC]

I'm with you, Lyon. I don't care for the art, and if you're going to do a multi-williams I figure you might as well do a mame. It would be different if there was a common theme to the games, and common controls, like a multi-kong.

The common theme is the hardware, they're all first generation williams hardware.
Makes more sense from a technical aspect I suppose...
And again, you can certainly use this as a drop in replacement for any of these games and turn everything else off...

 

[bradd]

the multi williams art looks like shit, its too busy. too much dissimilar shit crammed in too small of a place.

 

[jawhn]

ROFL at the linked Hoff images in post #17!

 

[GaryMcT]

I have no problem with Mame if done tastefully. If is in a classic cab, leave the artwork alone, build a new control panel, leave the original control panel alone, abd don't cut any holes inanything original.

If I were do a jrok multiwilliams. I'd leave the original art alone or if it isn't there, restore the art to look like one of the original games. Make a tasteful control panel abd sone art that looks very similar to the original game's control panel overlay. Most multiwilliams cabs look like a mess to my eyes.

You are never going to be able to tell the difference between jrok and the real thing with how it is implemented except that it won't break easily.

 

[gamefixer]

Wouldn't it be about the same effort and expense to restore a Williams cabinet back to its original dedicated state than to convert it to a Multi-Williams? Either way you're going to be sanding, filling, painting, buying and applying artwork, buying and installing a boardset, and probably doing some wiring.

Considering that some of us dont have 500+ square foot basements for our game rooms Multi's are the only way that were going to be able to satisfy the need for several games. The Multi-WMS panel isnt ideal for Defender/Stargate but it is playable. All of the other games play just fine on the multi panel.

Matt

 

[Tighe]

pac-man getting a dragon uppercut from Mr Driller

Does someone actually have that? I must see!