Multi boards vs. Mame

IG-88

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Hey, This has probably been asked but I couldn't find much on it. Since I'm a newb and am curious, why is something like the multi Qberts, Williams, DK's, Pac's Tatio's and all the other "multi boards" I hear about deemed not only acceptable, but highly liked/sought after? And yet if a person was to do this via mame or misfit mame it's considered bad taste or taboo?

Isn't one doing essentially the same thing? Especially if the original cab wasn't hacked up. Maybe I'm reading into the whole culture incorrectly but it seems to me to be so.
 
Multi-boards come in many flavors.

Some types are add-on boards/components that use original hardware but add additional games/functionality.

Some are new designs using original CPU's.

Some are simply MAME running on a small PCB.

Just like there are many times of multigames ... there are many types of collector.

The insanely anal look down their nose at ANY multigame... including add-on boards like the Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back kit or the 96-in-1 multi pac... there are only a small number of these insanely anal types... though they do tend to congregate here.
:)

The semi-anal probably accounts for a good number of folks here. These are folks who are OK with add-on multigame kits, but have issue with emulation based kits.

Then there are those who live and let live...

...and surely there are different shades of gray between each.
 
This has been debated here many times..

Your question has been asked many times!

I think it boils down to the horrific MAME setup we have seen for over 10 years now. Most of those had little regards to preserving a classic or desirable cabinet/game.

Most of the multi WIlliams, Taitos, Q*Berts, DKs are housed in original cabinets with little or no permanent change to the original cabinet.

The 36/48/60-in-1 setups are quite often in classic cabinets also.. a few years ago they were very popular to resell and a lot of hacked together cabinets were sold. The market is mostly saturated with the poor quality built ones now. This I believe also lead to the drop in market value of the classic games these multi games emulate.

Just like in any hobby there will always be purist collectors and there will be people that don't care about restoring or keeping things original.

I think multis of any kind serve a purpose for some who don't have the means or room to have a large collection of original games.

Some games, have to be played in the original cabinet to feel like the real game to me!

I'm sure others will have their say about this..
 
And then there are those that really love mame and are extremely proficient with using it in it's myriad of configurations and game types. But there is a place for mame and a place for multiboards and then there are certain games that should really only be restored to the original configuration.
And mame could be meaning to gently restore a cabinets ability to play the original game intended, when the original equipment is unavailable or broken for whatever reason. It the "frankenpanel" type mame cabinets that come off as "distastefull" because they attempt to play too many different games.
 
@bryan95502 Perhaps I didn't insert the correct words into the search box. Sorry if I offend anyone.

I guess I'm in the live and let live category then. While I would love to have all the original machines in my basement; geography, cash, space, time and restoration expertise are all against me at this stage in life.
 
i think mame is better than a multi board if you arent using it for profit because nobody is making money off someone else's intellectual property. buying a 60 in 1 supports chinese bootleggers and if you put it on location youre no better than a bootlegger yourself. if you use mame at home i dont think its a big deal. let me put it this way, i am a musician and have played on numerous records. if someone downloads my records technically that is illegal but i dont personally have a problem with that because most of my stuff is out of print anyways and i want people to enjoy what i have created. if, however, someone was to make new CDs of my music and sell them, that would be a very different situation. thats the way i rationalize it anyways.

my mame cab is on the right:

cimg0169f.jpg
 
Some examples of my multi's... you be the judge as to whether they're monstrosities or not...

(1) Multi Donkey Kong. Runs an Arcade Shop multigame board with only Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Donkey Kong 2, Donkey Kong 3 and Mario Bros. enabled. The stick is authentic DK Jr. stick... the monitor is a 20EZ.. the 2 blue buttons are stock Nintendo though I suspect the orange button is an early repro but I am not sure.

attachment.php


(2) Multipede. Also running n Arcade Shop multigame board. This machine has the trackball and 8-way games setup on it. The monitor is the original G07 that came in Centipede... and as you can see from the photo below, I don't think my multi'ing this cabinet was any disservice.

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(3) Williams Multigame. This cab runs JROK's Williams Multigame board. Just about everything is new except the sticks, which are authentic Wico 4" leaf switch sticks... The buttons are all (of course) leaf as well... Again, you can see from the photo below that dropping a multi in this cab was no disservice to it... at all.

attachment.php


(4) Multi-Pac. This cab runs the Widel 96-in-1 multi-pac kit. The cabinet is in very good ORIGINAL shape. The monitor and stick are original...as are the buttons, etc.

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Other multigames I have:

Star Wars (coming soon)
Horizontal MAME (some generic JAMMA cabinet...ugly as sin but functional)
Cocktail MAME (Dig Dug cocktail that had been converted to multiple different games and by the time I got it...it was gutted)
 
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It really depends.

I've got a SW/ESB kit in my SW. I've got Marco's arcade Multi-kit on my original Galaxian PCB.

Then there is the Multi-Williams FPGA PCB that Jrok created. The "thin line" of that one is that it DOESN'T do emulation. Nor do the other kits mentioned above.
So you get 100% the original game experience.

An example, my Jrok board is running in a (Euro) Joust cab. This cab I found AFTER I had ordered the PCB and.....it was already JAMMA ! So...a perfect solution for me.
To boot, it allows me to play Joust AND Robotron....who can resist ?

However, I wand to keep the appereance of the Joust as original as possible. The CP is already hacked up now, but I really don't like the Multi-Williams artwork around (way too busy). I also would NEVER put a joystick in a Centi CP....it's just....wrong :p

On the other hand, I've got a 48in1 running in my bootleg Puckman cab at the moment....and I did add 1 button for it.... :)

Indeed there are many different opinions, even in 1 person :)
 
I have a plug-n-play solution to run Hyperspin MAME in my SFII cab.

Assuming you have a decent PC, MAME plays just as good (with all of the user/game options) if not better than any multiboard I've tried (AS, Blue Elf 2, 48-1, 60-1, etc.) and it has a really nice frontend. I couldn't stand the Blue Elf 2 and we all know the quality of XX-1 boards.

I think most guys are turned off with the idea of "MAMEing" a cab, but if you do a plug-n-play solution, there's no messing with the cabinet's original wiring or setup. Basically, my setup acts as just another JAMMA board that I can swap in.

The only downside is you have to have your PC connected and sitting somewhere on the outside of the cab. But guys find clever ways to hide this. Ex. Blkdog7 and his Ms. Pac cab running MAME via MALA frontend.
 
This community has seen way too many ugly cabinet monstrosities that were built in the name of MAME. Oftentimes these are poorly done conversions that are a major eyesore, and the guy inevitably has the gall to drastically overcharge for the machine and is OFFENDED if we suggest that it's not really worth anything. So we don't really have a problem with MAME itself, but talking about making a "MAME cabinet" immediately draws scorn.

And I think the XX-1 boards are generally looked down on as the bootlegs they are, but they're so prevalent in the operator scene you pretty much have to accept them as part of the industry.

Personally, I've got a "multi-cabinet" project in the early planning phases. It's gonna be a JVS+JAMMA setup with easily swappable control panels so as to play "every" game while avoiding Frankenpanel Syndrome. I'll definitely be doing MAME on it via the JVS connections, but I also have a small collection of real, legit boards and will be setting it up at public events with such.
 
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I have several mutilgames. A multi Pac, multi Qbert, and Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back. All my multigames run on the original hardware. I basically replaced and attached cards and ROMs into existing sockets on the original hardware. I still have the ROMS that were pulled out to run the multigame so at anytime time I can swap it back to the original setup. My take on this is I am preserving the original hardware for any future generations, while enjoying some extra gameplay with my existing setup.

That said, I do have a Mame machine also. I don't thumb my nose at anyone, I can't own 1000 machines so I have a Mame also.
 
This will reiterate a bit of what other people said, but I feel that the main hate for Mame is not Mame itself, but what is done in the name of Mame.

You see a lot of old vintage cabinets gutted, extra holes drilled in the CP, monitor replaced with an LCD and ugly paint jobs over the original artwork because someone couldn't be bothered to just buy some plywood and borrow a saw and make a cabinet themselves, which I know is time consuming, but not really that impossible.

The animosity comes from seeing someone destroy something antique that could have gone to someone who would restore it.

For me personally, I simply don't like how Mame feels. It's pretty good for the most part but I always feel like it's just a bit off from the original. I've never played a good Mame cabinet with a true arcade CRT, so maybe that fixes a lot of my qualms about it's authenticity. I have it installed on my PC, and I have some nice USB sticks I use with it, but it just isn't the same, it lacks the snappyness of the original hardware, something I've also felt about some multigame boards I've played.

I'm the sort of person who can't stand Quake 3 played any way other than 125fps on a CRT, so I may be a bit pickier about my game "feel" than most, but it just never feels quite the same.
 
my opinion:

- don't let multi or mame-ing a cabinet cause any extra damage to something original
- don't let a cluttered control panel that will play tons of games poorly and none properly drive your design
- have fun

otherwise, reiterate what everyone else said... but its not all emulation vs. original hardware... as the multiwilliams cabinets clearly show: you've got 6+ games that share circuitry, but nothing else... every single game had a different control scheme that just can't be condensed into one panel without getting in the way... joust with 4" 8-ways??? robotron with anything else or all those buttons in the way? defender with a reverse button thats too far (and same joystick issues) or joust with a flap button thats too close?... etc

i have a multijamma'ed smash tv with total carnage boards and a mame computer to switch in (with a swappable panel)... its great for guests

i have a 60-in-1 board in my galaxian cocktail, with swappable panals (mainly for burgertime), which i only run the 4-way 1 button games on

and i have a few of the original-hardware upgrades (multipede, multi command, galaga enh. pack (fast/slow bullets), and a multiwililams board (clay's) in my bubbles, but only have the bubbles control panel working so far... planned swappable robotron/multi panel


all in all, none of them come close to playing the dedicated cabinet's game with original hardware and controls, but are viable alternatives to all of us having 10,000 sq ft warehouses... and $$$

- gwarble
 
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