Nintendo Vs. Red Tent Playchoice Conversion?

frankay39

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Hey everyone, I just got a red tent and have been slowly building my library, i own castlevania, TKO, gradius, Super Mario, Duckhunt, Gumshoe, Tennis, Slalom, Skykid, Golf, RBI baseball, Pinball, Ice Climber, Tetris, and Excitebike. Amidst all these great games though, my heart still aches for my favorite NES game of all...Kung Fu. I know it is available as a playchoice game, and I have heard that there is some way to convert the tent to play these. I only want to do this if it is a simple process. I do not want to ruin the originality of my tent in any way. If it is just a special PCB i can buy or something to that effect, I would love to, but rewiring or changing the original components of the tent are not worth it to me, I want it to be an original machine. Any input would be great on information about this kit or news if anyone would be willing to sell/trade for it. I would be open to trading some of these games for the kit, although I'd rather just pay cash and keep my good games haha. Thanks for everything!
 
Nintendo released a Playchoice kit for the Red Tent. I just finished installing one on mine. Part of the installation process is rewiring about half the cab.
The kit also comes with a large metal box that is mounted on the bottom of the Red Tent. This holds the PCB. You might be able to get by with installing a PCB holder like your VS board goes into, but mounted on the other side. I don't know how many games would fit though.
 
wow that is a LOT of rewiring. Sounds like something out of my league, and I would be afraid to ruin it as it is already quite a great game. I reallly only want it for Kung Fu and Mario 2 and 3. Someone needs to find out how to burn Kung Fu roms and make them work on a vs. board with one of the existing ppus. That would make my life complete...haha
 
I just converted a Vs cab to run a playchoice board. It really isn't that hard. I'd say the easiest way without the official conversion kit would be to install a second power supply and 2nd vs/ playchoice harness into the tent. The red tent uses buttons 1-4 in place of the standard start/select/enter/reset buttons for playchoice. Your control panels are already wired correctly.
 
I just converted a Vs cab to run a playchoice board. It really isn't that hard. I'd say the easiest way without the official conversion kit would be to install a second power supply and 2nd vs/ playchoice harness into the tent. The red tent uses buttons 1-4 in place of the standard start/select/enter/reset buttons for playchoice. Your control panels are already wired correctly.

That's basically what the conversion kit is.

I didn't install an official kit. The only part I had that was from the official kit was the metal box that mounts on the bottom of the Red Tent.
 
That's basically what the conversion kit is.

I didn't install an official kit. The only part I had that was from the official kit was the metal box that mounts on the bottom of the Red Tent.
Is there a splitter from the AC to the power or do you just tap off of the transformer for the other power supply? I've always wanted to do this in my tent. I just used a 4 player Vs. Harness in the unisystem I am converting, worked pretty slick.
 
I would like to know more about this conversion and some pictures if possible. I would like to see the box mounted to the bottom and anything else you would be willing to share.
 
I'll see if I can get some pics. I have the original box, but just added the other stuff. I know another member or two have the kit as well.

I just sent the manual to arcarc and blkdog7 to host a copy. The copy of the manual I is from jpg images a member sent. I was hoping to find a real copy and scan that before I sent that out.
 
Here are a few pics. I was pulling a monitor to swap the chassis so no big deal.
Once you see the manual, it should make sense.
 

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Getting back to this topic. Does using only only power transformer cause any issues to the other side? Screen flicker, ect? I know you use two power supplies for the games, but I am talking about the monitor 120v to 100v transformer.

I am wondering if there would be any benefit or lack of with installing a 2nd transformer and having a power switch to keep the other side off. On my main red tent I almost never play the 2 player games and the 2nd screen running seems to be a waste of energy, screen burning issues, and just general wear and tear.

Would keeping the second monitor unplugged from the transformer cause any issues?

Thanks,
 
The Red Tent is designed to use one Transformer so you should keep it that way. Unplugging the monitor isn't going to harm anything. If you want to turn it off with a switch, I'd wire the switch in between the monitor cord and where it plugs into.
 
I did leave out something. I am messing around with a 2nd red tent and installing a playchoice side to it.

I see the manual you uploaded just takes a 120vac tap direct from the switch on the top of the transformer and sends it over to the 2nd "new" power supply for the game pcb. I was just questioning any benefit from putting in a 2nd monitor transformer. It would be just like 2 fully different units in one shell at that point.

Looks like the game pcb will fit, but only 8 slots can be filled before hitting the flyback metal shielded box. Going to try to modify it a bit, but don't have much hope in fitting the last two games slots.

Thanks,
 
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