pacman's party?

pacman71

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Anyone have the skinny on this machine?

I know its LCD and plays 13 games. I like the idea that it has mappy, and I generally like the reunion machines...but before dropping the dough on a used one... I'd like to hear opinions good and bad.
 
I see it has bosconian wich is one of my favorite games. It is an 8 way joystick game as were pacman is a 4 way game. I guess that means one of them plays like shit on this machine.
 
I couldn't find any reviews for it. It reminds of those crappy Midway or Konami 12 in 1 arcade cabs. Probably would be easier and cheaper to get you one of those x number of games in 1 boards and throw it in a versatile cab.
 
Since this is the newer of the threads I'll post here.

The 20" LCD is actually a 26" LCD! Namco made the bezel small to make the monitor look more "normal" if you will. I set the monitor to 16:10 and cut the bezel out so the picture fills the screen, really helps as far as I'm concerned.

The way I get around the need for an 8 way joystick is to take the stick apart and use a 1" unibit on the plastic part that the switches mount onto. The hole from factory is a diamond shape (in the shape that would assume a 4 way joystick) after its cut out the joystick feels so much smoother...

MsPac WILL NEVER be on the coin-op version of this game unless some one in here wants to try to figure out how to put it on. Namco "claims" that they have to pay royalty to the "owner" of MsPac (I thought they owned the effin game?) on the coin-op cab so thats why its not on there. If you ask me I think that the board doesnt have enough memory for the coin subroutines AND MsPac so they ditched one game. Great, lets leave that stinkin ass Dragon game on there and take the probably best earning game EVER off... Aholes.

My last bitch is about where the boards are mounted. On the BOTTOM of the game? Hello, McFly... Anyone in there? Where do coins and screws and all sorts of other crap go when it falls inside one of these games? THE BOTTOM thats where! I've already had two boards fry because of it. The harnesses are too short to move so I just deal with it. Namco has replaced both boards free of charge so far.

Other then that I like the game. :) Can ya tell? LOL!
 
MsPac WILL NEVER be on the coin-op version of this game unless some one in here wants to try to figure out how to put it on. Namco "claims" that they have to pay royalty to the "owner" of MsPac (I thought they owned the effin game?) on the coin-op cab so thats why its not on there. If you ask me I think that the board doesnt have enough memory for the coin subroutines AND MsPac so they ditched one game. Great, lets leave that stinkin ass Dragon game on there and take the probably best earning game EVER off... Aholes.

I'm not sure Namco owns Ms Pac...they weren't the ones who developed it. GCC (General Computer Corp) did it as a hack of Pac-Man called "Crazy Otto". Midway bought the game and released Ms Pac (much to the chagrin of Namco). But it's confusing as to why Namco wouldn't have the rights to it though, they had it onboth the 20th and 25th anniversary cabs, and those were sold in both coin-op and home-use.
 
I'm not sure Namco owns Ms Pac...they weren't the ones who developed it. GCC (General Computer Corp) did it as a hack of Pac-Man called "Crazy Otto". Midway bought the game and released Ms Pac (much to the chagrin of Namco). But it's confusing as to why Namco wouldn't have the rights to it though, they had it onboth the 20th and 25th anniversary cabs, and those were sold in both coin-op and home-use.

I don't suspect that they can't do it - they're just cheaping out and won't do it. Since they didn't do the coding, they'd probably have to pay a royalty, and who knows what the royalty deal is? In all likely hood they are just keeping to games that they don't have to deal with other companies over, so as to increase the profit margin.
 
I don't suspect that they can't do it - they're just cheaping out and won't do it. Since they didn't do the coding, they'd probably have to pay a royalty, and who knows what the royalty deal is? In all likely hood they are just keeping to games that they don't have to deal with other companies over, so as to increase the profit margin.

Bingo!

Seems to me that they could pass the cost of the license fee onto us (the operators). I'd pay another $200.00 per game to have MsPac on there all day long.

Oh well.
 
Nix had a boardset for sale, probably still has it. Maybe he can give you some info on the machine.

I was thinking about asking him if he knew how to hack the thing to put MsPac back on. Since the home version has the game it cant be too hard to do.
 
My last bitch is about where the boards are mounted. On the BOTTOM of the game? Hello, McFly... Anyone in there? Where do coins and screws and all sorts of other crap go when it falls inside one of these games? THE BOTTOM thats where! I've already had two boards fry because of it. The harnesses are too short to move so I just deal with it. Namco has replaced both boards free of charge so far.

Wait, what? They mounted the exposed game PCB on the BOTTOM of the cabinet? Damn. I think that's even stupider than the lack of Ms. Pac. You'd think that a company like Namco would understand how to build an arcade machine - especially at this point. Evidently, they forgot that quarters conduct electricity. Sure, games have traditionally had power transformers and fuse blocks on the bottom, but the delicate game boards were pretty much always on the side, away from stray coins and junk.

Can't you put a plastic cover over them or something? Also, how are the wires not long enough? Wouldn't they have to be longer in order to reach the bottom of the game, or am I missing something?

But, hey, if Namco is replacing them free every time they fry, I guess it doesn't matter - except for the lost revenue while the game is down.

-Ian
 
Wait, what? They mounted the exposed game PCB on the BOTTOM of the cabinet? Damn. I think that's even stupider than the lack of Ms. Pac. You'd think that a company like Namco would understand how to build an arcade machine - especially at this point. Evidently, they forgot that quarters conduct electricity. Sure, games have traditionally had power transformers and fuse blocks on the bottom, but the delicate game boards were pretty much always on the side, away from stray coins and junk.

Can't you put a plastic cover over them or something? Also, how are the wires not long enough? Wouldn't they have to be longer in order to reach the bottom of the game, or am I missing something?

But, hey, if Namco is replacing them free every time they fry, I guess it doesn't matter - except for the lost revenue while the game is down.

-Ian

The power supply is probably bottom mounted as well, hence the wires being too short.

I'd suggest fabricating a plastic cover of some sort - I wouldn't bet on Namco replacing these things forever, so if you're operating it, you probably want to find a solution before Namco gives up.
 
I'm REALLY good at reminding them of the amount of money I spend on their stuff so even if Namco doesnt come to my aid Betson will.

I'm not moving jack diddly squat... Namco needs to fix these issues.

I bitched directly to them about some problems I was having with Dead Heat and they fixed all of them on a few runs later. They listen, it just takes some time.
 
I dont see why it wouldnt be allowable, I'm just trying to make a point with them. The more these games cost them to "take care of me" the more they might be inclined to fix their errors.
 
im guessing a nice piece of plexi to protect the board isnt allowable?

we used to take small clean pizza boxes and put the boards in them if we had a problem
cab where the board could get objects or soda landing on them.
Find the right size box, remove the board and put the board in the box
and screw right thru the box into the cab to mount the board back.
punch holes in the side of the box and when you are done, you just close the pizza box
over the top of the board and it will keep the board clean. To work on the board, or make
adjustments, just pop open the box and fold back closed when done.
the good heavy boxes work well and stay closed.
 
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