Mortal Kombat... My first arcade machine?

likwidtek

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I've been obsessing about owning some Mortal Kombat cabs for a few months now and have started to seriously start looking. At first I was thinking I could Mame something but I think I like originals better.

I created an account on BYOAC forums and between the two sites I have seriously been learning so much.

So anyway here's what I'm thinking. What I'm looking to make/build/modify/restore is a Mortal Kombat 2 JAMMA cabinet that can easily (push button or slide switch) over to MK 1. I think a second project will be an MK 3 and 4 jamma switch cab or a MAME cabinet. Not sure on that part.

This guy made a really sweet multi jamma MK box: http://www.habosarcade.com/MortalKombatMulti JammaCab.htm
MK3FAN's MK mame box is friggin sweet too... http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=98891.msg1044758#msg1044758 Although I watched the videos but I dunno man... there's just something icky about it booting into windows and have it emulated. How does it play? Is it identical? Can you even tell?

Honestly I think I'd like to split this out into two projects. 1 dedicated JAMMA mk 2 machine at least. (having it multi jamma mk1 would be ideal and from what I read not too hard).. I really really like the one that habo guy (See link above) did but I don't think I would slap all 4 in. I dunno how I feel about having the MK 3 and 4 control panel (basically the extra run button but also the kick harness) on the same machine. I think I'd just like to have a dedicated MK 1 & 2 machine. I don't really care about 3 and 4 but it would be cool. Turns out Jamma boards are pretty cheaper than I thought. I'm finding them for less than $100 on ebay. To be honest though, the more I read these forums, the more I just want all dedicated original MK cabs starting with 1 and 2. LOL

Aside from that one maybe then a separate cabinet that I can throw MAME on and do either something like MK3FAN did or just a ton of games. The biggest reason is the control panel. For the mk1 and 2 machine I want a totally authentic control panel. The rest.. meh I don't care. I've also read that for newer games, MAME just doesn't cut it all the time. I'll keep reading. Is that true? For example in MK3FAN's video he said that you can't MAME MK4.

Either way, for my first MK2 cabinet I have some questions for some of you MK nuts on the board.

Are the original cabinets for MK1 and MK2 identical? Monitors, controls and everything? Are there any tech spec differences between the monitors?
What size should the monitors be? I think I've read 25 inches. Is that correct?
I like the side art and Marquee for MK2 most. Is there a particular model of cabinet or monitor or anything I should look for or avoid? Any tips on buying cabinets? I'm totally new to this. :/

I've been looking for where to start. I saw a craigslist posting for an MK1 cabinet near my house fully working for only $300. Turns out that mk1 cabinet only had a 19 inch monitor, was blue (converted from pac man or something) and in pretty rough shape. blech so I figure I'm going to be patient and take my time to find something clean.


So first thing's first. I'm looking for a good condition MK2 cabinet with a good monitor, with or without the PCB. I've been looking on craigslist and ebay but there's not a lot of options locally here in Phoenix, AZ.

Any tips on where to start? What to look for if I'm leaning towards an MK2 cab to start? Anyone near Phoenix, AZ have a good vendor or something they would like to sell? Feel free to chime in on JAMMA vs MAME too. I'm open to anything really. It seems going rate for MK2 cabs float around $500 or so. Is that pretty fair? One local guy offered to sell me his that's working in a mall right now for $750. I haven't looked at it yet but I figure if it's in good shape maybe I'll try and offer him $500 for it. Hopefully he's not insulted. :p

Anyway, I've been reading the forums and you all seem like awesome guys, so thanks in advance. Hope to stay here a while :)
 
$500 would be a fair price if it's in good shape and completely working. $750 is high, but if you aren't patient and there isn't much around you in terms of arcade sales, you might wanna take it :(

I personally wouldn't mame a dedicated MK, I would just get multiple boards and swap them out.

Good luck in your search, MK's are alot of fun and really cool looking cabs.
 
Multiple boards in a single cabinet with a Jamma switcher is definitely the way to go. I don't own an MK, but I believe all of the dedicated cabinets have 25" monitors. I believe that functionally, MK1 and MK2 cabinets are identical (same control panel, harness, etc). I think the only difference with the MK3 and MK4 cabinets is the run button.

Ideally for me (this is on my "someday" want-list), would be an MK2 cabinet, with a run button added, a 6 in 1 jamma adapter, and MK1 through 4 in the cabinet. Its also slightly easier just to do this in an MK3 or 4 cabinet, so that you don't have to add the run button, but like you said, the MK2 art is by far the best. MK3 is okay...MK4 is horrible imo.

Easiest option?...Buy this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200471518788

...And welcome to the boards and the hobby.
 
I wanted to something similar but ended up making the most versatile mk cabinet I could. i started with a mk4, put mk3 side art on the left. i plan on putting mk2 on the right to make it a completely mk2/mk3 hybrid cabinet. the main control panel box is from a mk2, and umk3 has my favorite mk marquee so I went with that.

I tossed a 27" multisync monitor in it and have mame going. the MKs run fine on mame so you could save a lot of cash and have a much more versatile machine if you go that route. I also made a street fighter panel out of two arcade sticks and have it so the sound/monitor are on switches so I can go back and forth between xbox 360 and pc easily. so I can play street fighter 4, any of the MKs, or pretty much any mame game with standard controls on this thing. was a lot of work though.

the panels unlatch easily and it only takes a few minutes to get it to any of the 3 configurations.

some pictures and more about the project if you're interested

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=92530.0

as for cabinet differences, 2, 3, and 4 are pretty much the same. 1 has a rounder lower front. I definitely prefer the 2,3,4 cabinet style.
 
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$500 would be a fair price if it's in good shape and completely working. $750 is high, but if you aren't patient and there isn't much around you in terms of arcade sales, you might wanna take it :(

I personally wouldn't mame a dedicated MK, I would just get multiple boards and swap them out.

Good luck in your search, MK's are alot of fun and really cool looking cabs.

I took a look at the machine yesterday and dropped some quarters into it. The monitor was super faded and you couldn't tell yellows from greens and such. Plus the right joystick needs to be replaced and needed some tmolding in a few spots. It needs a serious deep cleaning too. I called to talk him down and he wouldn't come down on the price however he did offer to fix the monitor at MY expense. LOL :p After the conversation was over he offered to have it delivered to my house for $800. Yeah I'll keep looking.

Multiple boards in a single cabinet with a Jamma switcher is definitely the way to go. I don't own an MK, but I believe all of the dedicated cabinets have 25" monitors. I believe that functionally, MK1 and MK2 cabinets are identical (same control panel, harness, etc). I think the only difference with the MK3 and MK4 cabinets is the run button.

Ideally for me (this is on my "someday" want-list), would be an MK2 cabinet, with a run button added, a 6 in 1 jamma adapter, and MK1 through 4 in the cabinet. Its also slightly easier just to do this in an MK3 or 4 cabinet, so that you don't have to add the run button, but like you said, the MK2 art is by far the best. MK3 is okay...MK4 is horrible imo.

Easiest option?...Buy this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200471518788

...And welcome to the boards and the hobby.

Thanks man! I'm with you fully. The hard part about buying these things is shipping. Ugh. I found a great machine in Vegas (5 - 6 hours from me in Phoenix) who would sell for $500 but that's $100 in gas and a full day of driving (plus I'd need a buddy with a truck)

I wanted to something similar but ended up making the most versatile mk cabinet I could. i started with a mk4, put mk3 side art on the left. i plan on putting mk2 on the right to make it a completely mk2/mk3 hybrid cabinet. the main control panel box is from a mk2, and umk3 has my favorite mk marquee so I went with that.

I tossed a 27" multisync monitor in it and have mame going. the MKs run fine on mame so you could save a lot of cash and have a much more versatile machine if you go that route. I also made a street fighter panel out of two arcade sticks and have it so the sound/monitor are on switches so I can go back and forth between xbox 360 and pc easily. so I can play street fighter 4, any of the MKs, or pretty much any mame game with standard controls on this thing. was a lot of work though.

the panels unlatch easily and it only takes a few minutes to get it to any of the 3 configurations.

some pictures and more about the project if you're interested

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=92530.0

as for cabinet differences, 2, 3, and 4 are pretty much the same. 1 has a rounder lower front. I definitely prefer the 2,3,4 cabinet style.

I know this sounds so dumb but for me, having it have to boot up and see WINDOWS.. I dunno I know it sounds dumb, but it would irk me. That's a cool setup though. I think aside from whatever MK setup I do, I'll eventually build a 4 player MAME cab.

Thanks all for all the input so far!
 
You could always use a frontend with mame and have it boot straight to mk, but I agree, the dedicated path is the way to go if possible.
 
I would just run dedicated i have a 1069 in 1 board in my MKII cab right now - it's getting ready to come out...MAME and emulation in general doesn't float my boat.
 
oh sweet, I just googled that 1069 in one board. That's kinda awesome! That might be another fun project. :)

So I am reading about it, it just seems like MAME though... how is it different?
 
Personally, I think MAME is the way to go. The multi boards in a cabinet can really be a pain. I am a huge MK fan and have had all the dedicated machines plus nearly every revision of each MK-MK4 board installed in each machine. You can use a mult-jamma kit, but then the issue becomes which boards do you want in the machine? Just MK1-MK4? What about the turbo hack for MK1 or Challenger for MK2? Having to swap out the roms can be a pain everytime you want to switch as well. Not to mention having to move the machine so you can open the back to access the boards. And those mult-Jamma harness are not plug and play as you would think for MK because of the AUX harnesses and service switches. All the info you will need to know can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/YourMKArcadeSource

Take a look at some of his videos. He shows some nice ones of the mult-jamma harness he made for his machines and all the modifications he had to do to it so with worked with all the MK series. With MAME you don't have to worry about any of that and you could honestly build a MAME PC for less then it will probably cost for multi-jamma kit + all the MK boards you would need. With MAME you can play all the MK's in the series (except MK4) and all the versions. Plus thousands of other games as well. I would recommend finding a MK3 or MK4 machine since it has the run button already. You could always get a MK or MK2 and just drill out the hole for the run button, but I would hate taking a drill to a nice dedicated machine unless I had a spare control panel to put back in down the road. However, I do think MK2 is the best looking cabinet.

I ended up selling all my machines expect MK3 and I kept MK3 since it was in the best shape. I also sold all my boards and just kept some of the rare hacks versions. The only bad thing about MAME is you cannot emulate MK4 yet, so you do have to take that into consideration. I kept my MK4 boards just for that reason, but hope someday it can be emulated. I also did the same thing with Street Fighter and Killer Instinct machines I owned. I had all the dedicated machines plus the different boards. But ended up selling them all expect KI, which i plan on adding MAME to play KI's and SF's since they have the 6 button layout. Don't get me wrong I loved have all these dedicated machines, but they just took up so much space and I wanted to use it for some more pinball machines.

The easiest thing to do would be find a cabinet, get a few boards, then just swap them in and out. After you get some experience with the boards and games I bet you will be able to decide fairly easily yourself on which method is the best route to go. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask and I will do my best to help out.
 
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Thinking of doing the same thing with my Mk machines (once I get them) I would keep the mk1 or the mk2 original. Then I would either get a Mk3 or mk4 and mame one of those.
 
I know where you're coming from!! I looked for years for a MK2 cab. Someone at BYOAC suggested to me, go onto ebay...go to collectibles>arcades and jukeboxes>arcade>machine only and set preferences to distance nearest (Instead of ending sooner or whatever). So I did...after awhile I found a gentleman selling a Tekken 3 or 4, in a converted MK2 cab. I couldn't tell for sure if it was MK2 or KI...but I took my chances. Bought it from the guy and had him deliver it for $250 all together. Whoever converted it used black spray paint to cover the original artwork, then slapped really small Tekken stickers on the side. First thing I did when i got it was start taking the stickers off carefully. Second thing I did was cry when I saw Raiden looking at me all pissed off like and realized the original artwork was still underneath there somwhere and this was indeed a MK2!! So I used Goof off and about 2 weeks of scraping and scrubbing and it was the best goddamned 1st arcade cabinet ever. Even if everything I own has to go...this will be the only thing I covet...I'll sleep inside the damn thing if I have to....theres more than enough room!! Good luck to you man!!!
 
go to your phone book and look under amusement devices, I found a couple of places that had mk.

Funny thing about this approach...I did the same thing...never found a MK cabinet...but I did find the job I have now! :p

The guy I work with and my boss told me they ordered shit tons of MK's back in the day. Had them everywhere....and for some reason they didn't do squat around here. So they destroyed most of them and converted the rest. I saw nothing but red when they told me this and just wanted to go and beat a baby seal or something cute to death. Yea...thats how angry it made me......lol
 
I'm thinking about doing the multi-JAMMA thing with my MK2 cabinet as well and adding the run button for MK3/4. Maybe I'd put an NBA Jam board in there too.
 
I'm thinking about doing the multi-JAMMA thing with my MK2 cabinet as well and adding the run button for MK3/4. Maybe I'd put an NBA Jam board in there too.

The addition of the run button in MK was the sign of the series jumping the shark.

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fixed
 
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I am mid process in my multi MK project.

I bought a cabinet (smash TV cab it turns out), that had MKII in it. It had a modded control panel, was done well. The bright parts were it came with the boards and a new monitor. I have all fo the boards now and order my 6in1 modded switcher from jammaboards.

I am thinking at this point about picking up a MK4 cabinet that I saw for sale (on pictures it looks like a great cabinet). It would save me the trouble of having to drill my CP.

So far has been a fun project, and wven if it is a smash tv cabinet I don't think anyone could ever talk me into MAME. It just isnt the same.
 
Funny thing about this approach...I did the same thing...never found a MK cabinet...but I did find the job I have now! :p

The guy I work with and my boss told me they ordered shit tons of MK's back in the day. Had them everywhere....and for some reason they didn't do squat around here. So they destroyed most of them and converted the rest. I saw nothing but red when they told me this and just wanted to go and beat a baby seal or something cute to death. Yea...thats how angry it made me......lol


Destoryed Mk's NOOOO!!!!! Makes me sad. I'll have to try your approach since mine didn't work. I don't need a job right now though lol.
 
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