Nintendo suggestion wanted

Hitachi

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Hello message boards. I am really new to the Arcade scene and I thought this might be the place to put my question.

Right now, I have a Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja cab and I enjoy it so much that i am going to get another, Guerrilla War.

My question to you is, Which Nintendo Cab would you suggest to me being a n00b to the whole thing? I'm not looking for super rare or anything, just something like donkey kong or mario. which is easiest to find/fix if not working?

Again, I used my best judgement to post this, if the admin/mod thinks it's in the wrong place, please move it.

Thanks
 
Hitachi,

Where about are you located? If you're around the Inland Northwest I know a guy a few miles from me that has a single monitor PC10 cabinet for sale. It's a Donkey Kong to Nintendo VS. to Playchoice 10 conversion and is in pretty good shape. The cabinet is for sale with five games; Gauntlet, Super Mario Bros 2, Rad Racer, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, and Contra.

He may be willing to ship it, at your expense.

PM me if you want his contact info.

-Rafi

Hello message boards. I am really new to the Arcade scene and I thought this might be the place to put my question.

Right now, I have a Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja cab and I enjoy it so much that i am going to get another, Guerrilla War.

My question to you is, Which Nintendo Cab would you suggest to me being a n00b to the whole thing? I'm not looking for super rare or anything, just something like donkey kong or mario. which is easiest to find/fix if not working?

Again, I used my best judgement to post this, if the admin/mod thinks it's in the wrong place, please move it.

Thanks
 
Nintendo Vs. Systems are the bomb. I'm looking for one myself.

They come in a few varieties:

Upright -single monitor, usually built from conversions of other nintendo games.. up to 2 players.
Cocktail aka Red Tent -has a monitor on both sides.. up to four players, two on each side .. It's a space eater.
Dual upright - dual monitors like the red tent.. takes up about the space of two cabs up to 4 players.

See link for pictures..
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8895

The system has a wide variety of games you can switch out games in a flash. Unlike the Playerchoice it's not on a timer.

John has a mostly complete list of all the games ever made for the Vs. system.

http://www.johnsarcade.com/nintendo_vs_ppu_info.php
 
You should be able to find a Nintendo VS, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, or Mario Bros relatively easy – out of those Donkey Kong would probably be the most expensive. If you like the multiple game aspect, PlayChoice or Nintendo Vs would be the way to go as others have suggested.

Nintendo games are pretty much all similar from a repair standpoint except for the dual monitor games and really that's just because there are two monitors you may have to repair. If you have opened up the back of your Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja, you will find the same basic stuff inside a Nintendo-made arcade game – a PCB, a monitor, an isolation transformer, and a power supply. That said, Nintendo games are a bit different than most other games. They use Japanese monitors that run on 100vac (120vac from wall is fixed by the isolation transformer), the PCB and monitor use an inverted color scheme (ie black is white), and the monitor has a built in amplifier since there is no amplification circuitry on the PCB. If you do not use the original Nintendo parts you will have to take a couple of extra steps to make sure the replacement parts will work right so they can be a little problematic from that standpoint but you can find all of the help you could ever possibly want in the KLOV help forums.
 
Best bang for your dollar would probably be a Playchoice or a Vs. Unisystem. I love my Playchoice to death, you can't get more games for your dollar in an arcade cabinet. I also think the PC10 games are better - Tyson's Punch Out, SMB 2,3, Contra, Double Dragon, TMNT 2, Mega Man 3, Ninja Gaiden.

You will find a cab full of games cheaper than you'll find the games individually, so keep that in mind. Don't buy a PC10 with 3 games in it.
I bought mine for what it would cost me to replace 5 or 6 of the games.

Vs. Unisystem has some good games on it too, and they are different from the NES versions, but you'll have to stock multiple boards or swap out chips every time you want a different game.

Be careful if you get into a restoration of a DK or Jr. Every piece of those games are expensive. I have a project DK right now and I have $300 into it so far, with an easy $100-150 to go.
 
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That's a good point! I bought my Dual Monitor PC10 for $400 with 10 games in it but I've already spent another $700 on games, and another $150 on repair items, etc.

It's addictive...and expensive, but it's worth it. :D

-Rafi

Best bang for your dollar would probably be a Playchoice or a Vs. Unisystem. I love my Playchoice to death, you can't get more games for your dollar in an arcade cabinet. I also think the PC10 games are better - Tyson's Punch Out, SMB 2,3, Contra, Double Dragon, TMNT 2, Mega Man 3, Ninja Gaiden.

You will find a cab full of games cheaper than you'll find the games individually, so keep that in mind. Don't buy a PC10 with 3 games in it.
I bought mine for what it would cost me to replace 5 or 6 of the games.

Vs. Unisystem has some good games on it too, and they are different from the NES versions, but you'll have to stock multiple boards or swap out chips every time you want a different game.

Be careful if you get into a restoration of a DK or Jr. Every piece of those games are expensive. I have a project DK right now and I have $300 into it so far, with an easy $100-150 to go.
 
Wow. thanks for the responses. i like the idea of a playchoice but are the games for it just NES games converted on different hardware? If so, I'll stick with my NES. The VS system sounds nice but can i get games like donkey kong and mario bros for it?

If not, I'll probably go with the Dk Jr. I like the game a lot, especially the fact that it has more levels than Dk.
 
Wow. thanks for the responses. i like the idea of a playchoice but are the games for it just NES games converted on different hardware? If so, I'll stick with my NES. The VS system sounds nice but can i get games like donkey kong and mario bros for it?

If not, I'll probably go with the Dk Jr. I like the game a lot, especially the fact that it has more levels than Dk.

No you can not play DK, DKJR, DK3, Popeye, Radarscope, or Mario Bros on the Vs system.
But still more games for your dollar.

The playerchoice-10 is practically a NES on a timer in a cabinet, period.

Dkjr is a great choice! Just keep in mind for later on, by getting a vs system you can switch out boards to get more nintendo!
 
If money isn't an issue - I think a older DK would be an awesome game to add to your collection. It's kind of like the standard issue arcade collector cab. You pretty much have to have one to be legit.

As far as money to the game is concerned, I'm still backing the Playchoice.
I might have leaned on the NES in a cabinet argument before I had my PC10. But I'm telling you, it is the better deal. I had a grey cab Vs. Unisystem, I loved it too, but the games aren't that different. There are a couple uniquesb but most of the time it's an altered version of the NES game. For the hassle of a boardswap/eprom swap, cost of boards, cost of games - PC10 will save you money and provide more fun.

You can also swap chips on the PC10 carts to make them other NES games. You can turn a $10 Baseball PCB into a NES Donkey Kong. Not as spectacular as the arcade version but still _ CHEAP FUN!

I got a great deal on mine - but I'm guessing you can get a decent Vs. conversion playchoice for $300. In a 10 game system, you're pretty much guaranteed $250 in games. Unless it's loaded with baseball.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out in a cabinet alone, is worth half of what I paid for mine.

IMAG0550.jpg
 
I don't want to be a nelly nay sayer but I'd go with DK, DK Jr., Mario Bros, Popeye, or Punchout. In other words, I'd go for one of the classic Nintendo Arcade games. After that, I'd look at Vs., where some of the games are different than what you could get on the NES (for instance "Vs. Super Mario Bros." in the arcade is different than the NES "Super Mario Bros" and Vs. Goonies was never an NES game at all.) I've never had an interest in the PC 10 because it's mostly an NES in an arcade cabinet. I remember putting a quarter or two in a PC 10 back in the day and being like "what the fuck, this is just my NES on a timer!" For me, the whole point of the arcade was to play games you couldn't get at home.

So, I'm preferential to the games that I was never able to play at home on my NES because they didn't have a home version, or the home version was just a poor representation of the "real" game that came out in the arcade. DK in the arcade is way better than the NES version, and has 4 boards instead of just 3, way more challenging in the arcade too. DK Jr. is wayyyy harder in the Arcade. Popeye was never ported to the NES, as far as I know. Punchout in the arcade is substantially different than "Mike Tyson's Punchout" on the NES.

I'd rather play NES games on my NES than in an arcade cabinet. That's just my opinion though. I don't own a PC 10 and I could be missing out on something cool for all I know.
 
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