Necrobump since there was no conclusive answer to the question posed in this thread and this post may have useful information for future restorations. I'm currently restoring a Neo Geo goldie and spent a lot of time trying to decide what to use for the woodgrain vinyl replacement. I initially wanted to use 3M vinyl but the cost is outrageous, would have been over $300 to cover the cabinet. The color options are pretty minimal and a sample I ordered didn't look anything like the picture, so I decided vinyl wasn't the way to go.
I browsed for a long time on cabinetmakerswarehouse.com trying to decide on a wood grain laminate that most accurately reproduces the original goldie. They have a pretty large selection of woodgrain styles but very few actually matched the color and grain structure of the goldie. I ordered several samples and Nepal Teak looked pretty close what I was looking for, so I ordered two sheets of vertical grade. It comes in matte or fine grain finish, I opted for fine grain to match the subtle graining of the original. ~$90 per sheet shipped is a pretty good deal and the matte finish is even cheaper at ~$80 a sheet.
I applied the laminate to one side and the kick panel I replaced and I think it looks pretty good. Not quite original color...it is a little more gold, which looks pretty sharp IMO.
I will post a separate thread when the restore is complete but just wanted to share this while in process in case it helps anyone.
