My Game Collection

wmba

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Hi all.

Just wanted to finally share some of my games. I have 2 original/dedicated cabinets, and 3 cabinets that I returned from the dead using MAME (before you kill me.. look at the pics.. the games were not hacked up at all and can easily be fully restored in the future.. all 3 were either dead, empty, or just really rough when I got them).

Here is the first: Pole Position II. Got it for $100.. not working (this was before I knew anything about working on games.. and had no idea PP was a tough machine to maintain). Luckily for me.. I jiggled a few wires and tapped on the chips and it fired right up.. and been working well for about 3 years now. A friend of mine who works in a sign shop created new side art for me... and I put on a new CPO from ThisOldGame. Other than that... it is the same as when I got it. (FYI - if any of you have seen the video on Youtube.. this is the same cabinet from the "Playing Pole Position During Lightning Strike" video that I posted a few years ago.

Before and after shots of the side art.
 

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Second Game: Donkey Kong.

This was a semi-working Excitebike when I got it. Poking around in it, I was able to confirm that it was originally a Donkey Kong. So.. I pulled out the Excitebike parts, cleaned up the cabinet as much as possible, and then had my friend at the sign shop create all new artwork (bezel, cpo, side art, and marquee). We then mounted a computer CRT monitor in the normal spot where the regular monitor would be.. and then I put in a computer running MAME with DK, DKII, DK Junior, and DK3. The CPO is not hacked at all.. original joystick and buttons in place. I simply made a new wiring harness for it. So.. with ease.. this cabinet can be restored to all original in the future when I have the time and money to track down all the parts.

Before and after shots:
 

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Game number 3: Space Invaders

This cabinet had some parts in it when I got it.. but was missing the monitor, and the boards were fried. Got a replacement set of boards... and I fried them too! (as mentioned in another thread.. I was still a beginner at all of this.. and for those of you know are familiar.. the edge connector for SI can be put on both ways.. and putting it on backwards kills the boards). So.. since I didn't have a ton of extra $$ to keep buying boards.. I just put in an old PC that I had around... and swapped out the standard monitor with a PC monitor. And I just made a new wiring harness for the control panel.. which is unhacked and original. The game still uses the mirror/background/blacklight setup.. and I put on a new CPO from ThisOldGame. So from the outside.. this one still looks original.. and someday I will restore it to all original parts when I have the time and extra $$. For now.. it works well with MAME and runs Space Invaders and Space Invaders Deluxe.
 

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Game 4: Pacman.

This cabinet had been stripped of everything other than the monitor and had been painted black when I got it. My sign shop buddy painted it and made a new set of artwork for it.. and then we mounted a PC monitor and put in an old PC running MAME. As with the other MAME cabs in my collection... I did not hack anything up or customize the control panel. From the outside.. everything on the cabinet is still pretty stock. Machine will run all of the Pacman variants, and a few other games as well.

Before and after pics (in the after pic.. the cabinet is not quite done.. missing the coin door (still need to find one), and the joystick).
 

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Sweet!! How are you getting the art made through a print shop? Does he require High res images? The print shops around here can't do art for me. How close are his pieces to the originals detail wise?
 
You have to post details about the sign shop you're using. You will make a lot of friends if you can reproduce some of those pieces. You could potentially make some money too

The machines look great, too. Just make sure you don't keep them MAME too long

Someone on here may know how to fix the Space Invaders boards... a lot of really nice people here.
 
You have to post details about the sign shop you're using. You will make a lot of friends if you can reproduce some of those pieces. You could potentially make some money too

The machines look great, too. Just make sure you don't keep them MAME too long

Someone on here may know how to fix the Space Invaders boards... a lot of really nice people here.

X2

I for one commend you sir for doing what you wish with your games in terms of Mame. I unlike others (and to each their own opinion which I respect) think Mame is a great break through and as a matter of fact I have a dedicated SFII CE cab running Mame and I love it. Good job on all your games, they look super nice :)
 
Good job to the OP for all your cabs and don't worry about some of them running MAME.

Those cabs look nice. To bad they run MAME.

"Sad Face"

What is the difference aside from the obvious if a cab is running the original PCB or MAME? Do the graphics look better? Does the game play better? You can wire up the coin mechanisms to work in MAME as well as set games to run in their native resolutions if you got the right hardware and drivers in place.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Let me state for the record that I would prefer that my games had all original parts. But.. time, experience level, and avaiable funds steered me in the direction of using MAME for now (I already had all the computers and PC monitors that I needed... so I only had to buy iPacs and some wire to make my harnesses). As mentioned, in all 3 cabs.. I kept everything as stock as possible.. did not cut anything or modify the control panels. I just found creative ways to work with the existing/original control panels.. and did not destroy any original parts in the process (other than the Space Invaders boards I blew up.. but that had nothing to do with a MAME conversion.. I had intended to keep the cab original).

The way I look at it is this... I took some cabs that were in rough shape and not playable.. and made them look nice again.. and have set them up so that they can easily be restored to original some day (by me or someone else). In the meantime.. I can play them the way they are.. and have a lot of fun with them. I even have the coin mechs hooked up (in the cabinets where the coin mechs were still there).. and have used original controls as much as possible... so the experience is pretty close to original.

As for my friend at the sign shop... it is not something that I can really share here. Lets just say that he does it for me as a favor... it is not something that he charges me for. For anyone else.. he would need to charge... and he said the pricing would probably end up being the same as any other repro artwork that people sell online. Also.. he currently moved to a new sign company, and currently is not able to produce artwork like this. However, in the future.. if he can make the stuff again, and is interested in offering it here.. I will let you all know. He is a great guy.. but this type of work was done for me as a favor.. because we are good friends and he can get away with doing a few projects here and there without charging.

As for how the artwork looks compared to original? He took vectorized artwork that he found online and printed it. I would say that an arcade purist who is standing right next to the machines might be able to tell that it is not original. But for the average Joe who just likes arcade games.. they look amazing.
 
Those are really good looking restos. Nice work.

What is the difference aside from the obvious if a cab is running the original PCB or MAME? Do the graphics look better?

Yes. Original arcade monitor. Nothing more needs to be said.

Does the game play better?

YES, without question. Clearly you've not played Pole Position on MAME then played it on the real thing. Not the same. Guess which is better. Doesn't make it wrong, but it certainly does make it different, and not "better" simply because it'd be nice if it was.

Again tho, to the OP, nice cabs.
 
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FYI - If I didn't make it clear.. the Pole Position cabinet that I posted is NOT running MAME. It is running an original PPII boardset on a 19" arcade monitor. Everything in that one is original arcade parts.
 
Ok.. game number 5: Datsun 280 Zzzap

Just got this one a few weeks ago. Had never played this one as a kid. Saw it on eBay last fall and sent the link to my brother, because collects/restores Datsun 280 and 240 Z cars.. and thought he would get a kick out of it. He is older than me and was never really into video games... so I had just intended for him to look at the eBay listing for fun. Out of the blue I get an email from him saying he had bought it, and that he would bring it to me the next time he visited us (we live about 10 hours apart). So he finally brought it to me a few weeks ago.

It is all original.. as far as I can tell. Has a 23" black and white monitor, as well as a mirror setup (like Space Invaders or Asteroids Deluxe.. with a cardboard background and black light). For those who have never seen this game before.. the game play is essentially the same a Atari's Night Driver. This was Midway's knock-off version.. originally to be called Midnite Racer. I guess the company was running a promotion where you could win a Datsun 280Z buy getting a hight score at some events.. and so they decided to take that tie-in and use it for the title of this game.. so they changed it to 280 Zzzap. I read somewhere that this was the first use of a licensed brand in a video game.

Anyway.. here are pics (taken by the person who sold it to my brother.. I have not taken my own pics yet):
 

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Game number 6. Ok.. I know this is not a video game.. but still an arcade game. It is a "Yankee Shuffle Alley" made by United in 1954. Found it on ebay for next to nothing.. and thought "wouldn't it be awesome to own one of these..." but was really just dreaming and never actually thought I would get something this big. Sent it to my brother (yes.. the same one who bought the 280 Zzzap for me).. and said "this is near you... will you pick it up for me?"... but explained to him that I was kidding. He thought it was a neat machine and said he had played them when he was younger. Well.. the auction ended with no bids and that was that. A few days later.. I get an email from my brother saying he had gotten the game! I guess the seller put it back up with a Buy It Now price of $99.00!! So he jumped on it. The seller had no idea if it worked (he bought it with the intent of turning it around on eBay). I figured I would get it, and then spend the coming years learning how to fix and work on it.. and hoped that I would eventually get it running. In the meantime.. my brother was out to dinner with some friends.. and was talking about the machines.. and a friend of his chimed in and said "I collect and work on EM pinball machines. The parts inside this are similar and I can probably fix it". So my brother took it to his house.. and within a few weeks.. he had it going! And so my brother brought it down to me a few weeks ago (I have been patiently waiting since last fall)

It needs a little tweaking here and there, some TLC on some of the wood, and I need to learn how to use Triplethick for the backglass. But for the most part, this 56 year old machine was brought back to life and is now being enjoyed by my family.

Here are a couple of shots (and yes.. the cabinets in the dark picture are the ones mentioned above.. and that is a Pacman Plus marquee on the Pacman cab.. I sometimes swap it with the original marquee):
 

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Ok.. so that is all of them. Right now they are all setup in my garage. My long term plan is to put up some walls and build a small, dedicated game room in the back part of my garage (which you would get to from a finished family room in my basement). My intent would be for this to be a finished, carpeted room that would hold this collection of games.. and hopefully have room for one or two more.. or an EM pinball machine. I am hoping to do this within the next year... but we have baby #2 on the way (due July 27th).. and as those of you who have kids know... they can have a big impact on free time and funds for hobbies. So it may be a while. If I ever get to the project.. I will post it here.
 
Yes. Original arcade monitor. Nothing more needs to be said.

YES, without question. Clearly you've not played Pole Position on MAME then played it on the real thing. Not the same. Guess which is better. Doesn't make it wrong, but it certainly does make it different, and not "better" simply because it'd be nice if it was.

Well I wasn't referring to the Pole Position cab since I read in his posts he only put MAME in his DK and Pacman cab, so let's not compare apples to oranges here. Now a MAME cabinet done right with a JPAC, ArcadeVGA and arcade monitor (that's right it is possible) set to the native resolution 352x288 looks just like the real deal and nothing more needs to be said so see below.

mspac_native.jpg


In regards to Pole Position and MAME, there is no comparison and I agree with you only because even though you can play it in MAME with a joystick it isn't right. In order to play it the way it was meant to be played you would have to sink all sorts of money and time to buy the controls and interface cards. Probably not worth it in the end for a one trick pony of a game. No offense to the OP but going the dedicated cab route for this game is the only way to go just like other classic driving games in the 80's like Continental Circus, Outrun and CHASE HQ!
 
I agree... I have no intention of going the MAME route with either my Pole Position or the 280 Zzzap game. Much more involved to get MAME setup to work with original controls.. and since these two games are currently working with all original parts.. my intention is to maintain them that way. No MAME in my driving cabs.

However.. I am somewhat interested in your comments about using the arcadevga and arcade monitor setup with MAME. I have never really looked into that at all.
 
That Shuffle Alley is about as tits as you can get. Nice collection.

What he said.

I was conteplating using mame for a pole position drop in alternate, pp and pp2 hardware is extremely unreliable by this point!
 
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