Pandora's Box 4 question

cmjb13

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I'm toying with the idea of purchasing one of these for my Jamma Cab. I have a Wrestlefest cab that I swap out various Konami PCB's with (TMNT, Sunset Riders, Simpsons, etc..)

Can I just connect the Pandora's Box to the existing Jamma connector or do I need some sort of adapter?

My cabinet only has 2 buttons, so I'm not concerned about not playing the games that require more than 2 buttons.

Thanks.
 
Unfortunately the Pandora's Box units are only "ALMOST" JAMMA. There are a couple differences... and yeah, you'd have to get/make a converter if you want to seamlessly change between JAMMA PCB's and this multi...
 
For the most part it should be plug-n-play. Some of the multi-boards have issues with curling on older CRT monitors along one edge (has more to do with the boards than the monitors per se), and I know some of the multis (i.e.-Blue Elf) won't work properly if the pins 26/27/YY/ZZ are actually connected to something.

Also, as a note, a 3rd button may be required in order to access the setup menu. I know this is true for the Blue Elf, not sure about the newer renditions of Pandora's Box.

Others will likely have more experience and info, just offering up what I know about the newer boards.
 
It will be plug and play. Just know the emulation is terrible so keep that in mind. Set the expectations low and you will be OK. For the price it's worth figuring out if you are alright with how it plays.
 
From my experience, the PB4 is plug-and-play. If you want to use a kick harness, you're going to need an adapter.

There's a button on the PB4 itself that will bring up the "test menu". Do yourself a favor and go through the list and block the games that use more than 2 buttons. It saves a lot of time sifting through the crap that you can't - or wont - play.

The "classics" are hit and miss - the ship in Galaga fires an automatic double shot that you can NOT turn off. DK is missing Mario's running sound, but other wise plays OK (considering it's on a shitty Chinese multiboard). A majority of them play fine, however.

If it's not a CPS system game or (to a lesser extent) a Neo Geo game, there's a slight filter to try to cover the pixel imperfections of the wonky resolution. It's not unbearable, but I would compare it to an SNES outputting shitty composite video, or playing emulators on an original Xbox on a CRT. Some games play slightly slower than they should (mostly the shooters) because of the cheap hardware.

It's not a bad product - the CPS games it emulates are priced at more than twice the asking price of the PB4, and they look and play great - but theres a TON it couldve improved on.
 
Is there another multi-board anyone can suggest that has better emulation?
 
You need to disconnect pin 27 from ground.
Some cabs will take a Pandora's Box plug and play and others won't depending on the ground wiring. I have had different cabs act differently, the most common is where the cart would make the coin door lights and mechs not function because the ground on the harness is tied to the P6 pin. Others you lose the ground chain to the player controls.

You can buy a JNX Atlas adapter here - http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/store.html or make your own, I made a few for myself like the attached pic buying fingerboards and jamma edge connectors. I can wire the kick harness on a Street Fighter to the lifted tabs on my adapter with quick disconnects so the cart can drop in and out without altering the factory wiring.

Other than that I agree with Gilty. The cart is great for Capcom games, the classic 80's vert games are terrible (I won't play them because I have dedicated machines but my buddy that has only 2 cabs would rather play them like that than not at all.) I'm not huge into Neo-Geo but the titles I loved seem to play well enough for me. Overall it's hard to beat for the price. It's nowhere near perfect emulation on all games but there are still a good number of playable games for the money even if you drop the 6 button games: Rastan, Bubble Bobble, Punisher, X-Men, Simpsons, Metal Slug...
 

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I'm toying with the idea of purchasing one of these for my Jamma Cab. I have a Wrestlefest cab that I swap out various Konami PCB's with (TMNT, Sunset Riders, Simpsons, etc..)

Can I just connect the Pandora's Box to the existing Jamma connector or do I need some sort of adapter?

My cabinet only has 2 buttons, so I'm not concerned about not playing the games that require more than 2 buttons.

Thanks.

It may not boot if you have ground on pins 27 & e. Also, if your cabinet uses those two pins for control grounds, you wont' have controls. An adapter is best to have as they route ground to those to pins on the harness, and put the extra buttons on a standard 'kick' harness.
 
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