Namco vs Atari Pinout?

MasterFygar

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So here's the question: I know Atari licensed many Namco games overseas, and I know that the American cabinets were often quite different. What I'm wondering is if the pinout is the same and if the internals are compatible when it comes to generic Namco pinout.

Basically, if I get a Japanese (Namco) Dig Dug board, will it run in an American (Atari) cab sans modification? Just as an example. I've been considering trying to replace some of my boards with the Namco originals for kicks.

Thanks!
 
Nope, they have different pinouts. I believe the Midway licensed Namco games generally have the same pinouts as the Namco PCBs.
 
The answer is yes and no. The Japanese boards will run, but you'll probably need an adaptor since Atari and Namco typically used different pinouts for the same game (until they all went to JAMMA anyways). IIRC and as an example, Atari and Namco Dig Dug boardsets are entirely different (Atari's is a single board while Namco's is a double boardset) with different pinouts.

Rolling Thunder, Pac-Mania, etc. are JAMMA.

Scott C.
 
I see... if the pinout was the same, would I need to find other parts to swap (aka sound boards, power supplies, etc) or should it function the same? I'm trying to figure out if there's any American cab I can run a Tower of Druaga board in (same pinout as Japanese Dig Dug board)...
 
Aren't Galaga/Gaplus/Mappy the same pinout aside from controls? They're all vertically oriented as well.
 
That sounds correct... Galaga/Gaplus/Mappy/Bosconian use the same pinouts as the Namco version of Dig Dug. Therefore, you need that adapter to whatever cabinet wiring you have.

Scott C.
 
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