It looks like I might finally have a chance to move into PCBs sometime in the near future, and I'll probably even have enough space to get myself a JAMMA cab. Ideally I'd like to find myself one locally, which means I probably wouldn't be able to get a candy cab or anything like that. About a year ago I went to a garage sale here and someone (who said he deals in arcade stuff) had a cabinet with a CPS2 beat-em-up (I believe it was Marvel Vs. SF) for $400, but a lot of the arcade distributors around here seem to have high prices on a lot of things. I'll probably start looking soon, but in the meantime I have a couple of questions:
-How much should I expect to pay for a cabinet without any PCBs included?
-How well can other JAMMA boards be played in a NeoGeo MVS cabinet, or is this basically a dedicated cab?
-Where is the best place to start looking for these?
-would I be better off just getting a Supergun instead?
Tips on finding a JAMMA cab locally?
-
neorichieb1971
- Posts: 7680
- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:28 am
- Location: Bedford, UK
- Contact:
-How much should I expect to pay for a cabinet without any PCBs
included?
How much is anything?... Ranges from $50 for busted up one to $1500 for a brand new looking one.
-How well can other JAMMA boards be played in a NeoGeo MVS cabinet, or is this basically a dedicated cab?
The sound will be screwy, apart from that they would work fine. You can fit a mod switch for this purpose.
-Where is the best place to start looking for these?
Looking for what? Unless your wanting to just play MVS stay away from multislots. 1 Slots are Jamma standard, so it eliminates your problem. They are cheaper, and changing carts is no big deal for the home environment.
-would I be better off just getting a Supergun instead?
In my experience the benefit to having a SG is as follows.
A) Save loads of space
B) You can rotate your TV easier, a Cab is harder to do
C) You can make your own sticks easier.
If your cab has 6 buttons per side, most of the hard work is already done and you only need to make minor adjustments. If your cab has 1 or 2 buttons, or even 3, what if you want to play Street Fighter, Neo geo uses 4 buttons for all its fighters.. but other Neo geo games only use 1 or 2 buttons. So obviously you will have to add some more buttons, can you wire it all up?
Luckily if only 1 or 2 buttons are supported by the cab they default to button 1 and 2 on the Jamma connector.
Not all cabs have monitors that rotate, since you posted this thread in the shmups forum I would really advise you buy a cab which has a rotatable monitor.. or buy 2 cabs.. Its not easy rotating most cab monitors.. I just bought 2 cabs, one for each purpose.
Some pre jamma games are upside down for Jamma...
So your probably best off getting a Super gun.
included?
How much is anything?... Ranges from $50 for busted up one to $1500 for a brand new looking one.
-How well can other JAMMA boards be played in a NeoGeo MVS cabinet, or is this basically a dedicated cab?
The sound will be screwy, apart from that they would work fine. You can fit a mod switch for this purpose.
-Where is the best place to start looking for these?
Looking for what? Unless your wanting to just play MVS stay away from multislots. 1 Slots are Jamma standard, so it eliminates your problem. They are cheaper, and changing carts is no big deal for the home environment.
-would I be better off just getting a Supergun instead?
In my experience the benefit to having a SG is as follows.
A) Save loads of space
B) You can rotate your TV easier, a Cab is harder to do
C) You can make your own sticks easier.
If your cab has 6 buttons per side, most of the hard work is already done and you only need to make minor adjustments. If your cab has 1 or 2 buttons, or even 3, what if you want to play Street Fighter, Neo geo uses 4 buttons for all its fighters.. but other Neo geo games only use 1 or 2 buttons. So obviously you will have to add some more buttons, can you wire it all up?
Luckily if only 1 or 2 buttons are supported by the cab they default to button 1 and 2 on the Jamma connector.
Not all cabs have monitors that rotate, since you posted this thread in the shmups forum I would really advise you buy a cab which has a rotatable monitor.. or buy 2 cabs.. Its not easy rotating most cab monitors.. I just bought 2 cabs, one for each purpose.
Some pre jamma games are upside down for Jamma...
So your probably best off getting a Super gun.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
where exactly are you in the first place? i might be able to give some advice for southern california but itd be useless if you were a few thousand miles away.
ill try to help with your semi general questions.
with a supergun youd have portability at least, and wouldnt be tied to a big ass machine just to play. course you could build a fat setup around it anyways, nice weighed down solid joysticks, big ass screen, etc. you get to set up stuff to your choosing, instead of being tied to whatever machine you get, which may or may not be hard to mod.
ill try to help with your semi general questions.
depends on the kind of cab and the condition, otherwise depends how youre getting it, the seller, etc. $300-400 seems to be the going price for older used japanese cabs from what ive seen. my astro city was 340, my friend got an egret for 350 or so. whenever neo candy cabs show up on ebay theyre in that range as well. i think american wooden cabs tend to go for less, unless theyre a particular kind and in decent condition (mostly the ones considered for 'classic' games like pacman, galaga, and stuff). but again, this all depends on the seller, and if its an auction, anything can happen. otherwise some people are just looking to get rid of a cab and will sell for cheap or even free. just gotta keep a lookout for these on forums, local ads, whatever.-How much should I expect to pay for a cabinet without any PCBs included?
not a neo geo expert by any means, but i think neo cabs are regular jamma cabs, they just use unused pins on the jamma connector for the 4th buttons.-How well can other JAMMA boards be played in a NeoGeo MVS cabinet, or is this basically a dedicated cab?
the whole location thing comes into play mainly with this. my general advice is just keep an eye out on forums and local personal ads i guess. i got my astro from someone here, he just happened to live a few minutes away at the time. there might be some commercial arcade sellers in your area, but they tend to be more expensive i think. only other thing i can think of is ask arcade or store owners that have machines if they want to sell.-Where is the best place to start looking for these?
depends on your living quarters i guess, and what machine you can find/afford. the only gripe i have with my machine is that its not easy to rotate the monitor (i hope to get a blast city one day, one of them will be relegated to hori games), wouldnt be a problem with an egret (the opposite rotation on pre jamma games would still be a problem though). depends how you like to play too. the cab has spoiled me to the point where i havent played a shooter on anything else (i really need to make/get a dc-jamma adapter, and ps2 if i ever get one). the whole package is just nice to play on, its hard to explain.-would I be better off just getting a Supergun instead?
with a supergun youd have portability at least, and wouldnt be tied to a big ass machine just to play. course you could build a fat setup around it anyways, nice weighed down solid joysticks, big ass screen, etc. you get to set up stuff to your choosing, instead of being tied to whatever machine you get, which may or may not be hard to mod.
From my experience:
- Expect to pay whatever the cabinet is worth to you. You may be able to get lucky and find an old "fixer-upper" for $50, or you might want to splurge and drop a grand on a nice shiny Astro City. The possibilities are endless.
Don't expect to find a cab with no PCB in it, though. Chances are, if you're hunting for stuff on the cheap, it'll have some weird old PCB that nobody wants. Hey, it might even be a shooter! The PCB probably won't affect the value of the cabinet much, and you may be able to sell it off later for a few extra bucks. My cabinet came with Metal Slug, and once I'd finished stripping it and selling the old MVS hardware, the net cost was something like $8.
- MVS cabinets, especially the single-slot ones, are close enough to JAMMA that most boards will work. At the very least, you'll only have to rearrange a few wires.
- To shop for a cabinet, look up "amusement devices" in the phone book, and phone up your local arcade ops. Chances are, one of them will have some old junker that's useless to them but may still be servicable. Also ask if there are any arcade auctions in your area - that's the best place to find good cabinets for cheap IMO. There are also various mail-order businesses where you can buy nice Japanese cabs for heftier prices. This may or may not be worth it to you.
- In my opinion, a supergun is better than a cab. But, this is just because I have no apartment space and enjoy playing with pads instead of sticks. This is purely a subjective matter.
- Expect to pay whatever the cabinet is worth to you. You may be able to get lucky and find an old "fixer-upper" for $50, or you might want to splurge and drop a grand on a nice shiny Astro City. The possibilities are endless.
Don't expect to find a cab with no PCB in it, though. Chances are, if you're hunting for stuff on the cheap, it'll have some weird old PCB that nobody wants. Hey, it might even be a shooter! The PCB probably won't affect the value of the cabinet much, and you may be able to sell it off later for a few extra bucks. My cabinet came with Metal Slug, and once I'd finished stripping it and selling the old MVS hardware, the net cost was something like $8.
- MVS cabinets, especially the single-slot ones, are close enough to JAMMA that most boards will work. At the very least, you'll only have to rearrange a few wires.
- To shop for a cabinet, look up "amusement devices" in the phone book, and phone up your local arcade ops. Chances are, one of them will have some old junker that's useless to them but may still be servicable. Also ask if there are any arcade auctions in your area - that's the best place to find good cabinets for cheap IMO. There are also various mail-order businesses where you can buy nice Japanese cabs for heftier prices. This may or may not be worth it to you.
- In my opinion, a supergun is better than a cab. But, this is just because I have no apartment space and enjoy playing with pads instead of sticks. This is purely a subjective matter.
-
neorichieb1971
- Posts: 7680
- Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:28 am
- Location: Bedford, UK
- Contact:
My neighbor works for an amusement place as a tech and he told me they have a few MVS cabs, maybe 3. But the monitors are burned apparently.
If anyone is local to Evansville Indiana and wants to fix up my cab I would be so happy.
If anyone is local to Evansville Indiana and wants to fix up my cab I would be so happy.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
OK, I think I've got a likely candidate here. Someone from work has a 19" Dynamo upright cab that he says can be switched from horizontal to vertical orientation, and currently has a 2 player 2 button layout, which would be plenty for most shmups. I'm waiting on pictures, but it sounds like he's looking for $250 on this, and he'll probably throw in a board (probably some CPS1 board) to get started. Someone else had another cab with a 25" monitor configured for 4 player CPS2 games (It previously had one of the DnD games in it) they were offering for $400. How does something like that sound?
This is just my opinion, but a 19" monitor is to small to play any modern (post 1990) smups with. Pretty much all arcade cabs can rotate their monitors vertically...you have to completely remove monitor and put back in rotated. A 2 buttons per play panel is not enough buttons for most shmups.
The 25" cab is better in my opinion. And depending upon where you live (if there are any Super Auctions near you) $400 price sn't far fetched if the monitor has no burn-in.
The 25" cab is better in my opinion. And depending upon where you live (if there are any Super Auctions near you) $400 price sn't far fetched if the monitor has no burn-in.
im with dave, get the 25". monitors can be expensive, so if its in good condition its a good deal. at the least you could salvage the monitor and buy a cheap empty cab, ive seen a few monitorless neo candy machines for under $50 on ebay (whether the monitor would fit/mount is another story).
and while 2 buttons is enough for a lot of games, there are some that use 3 (such as esprade), and others that use a 3rd button as auto fire. the basic jamma standard supports 3 buttons, and a bunch of games take advantage of that.
and while 2 buttons is enough for a lot of games, there are some that use 3 (such as esprade), and others that use a 3rd button as auto fire. the basic jamma standard supports 3 buttons, and a bunch of games take advantage of that.
I have a 19" Dynamo "cut corner" cab. It's big enough for me but 25" is definitely nicer. The monitor can be rotated, but it's a 2 person job and I've decided that after doing it once that it would remain vertical for the rest of its life. It's convenient enough for an arcade op doing a conversion to a new game, but not convenient enough for me to swap games every week.
If money isn't a problem and the 25" is in good condition, I would likely go for it over the 19". You can always try to talk him down a little, or perhaps get a board thrown in. I still wouldn't count on routinely rotating the monitor, though you might have an easier time than I did.
If money isn't a problem and the 25" is in good condition, I would likely go for it over the 19". You can always try to talk him down a little, or perhaps get a board thrown in. I still wouldn't count on routinely rotating the monitor, though you might have an easier time than I did.
OK, after looking at a couple of other sources, I ran across a 25" vertical cab with Strikers 1945 for $250 (or I could get the cab for $200 without the board, but what's the point?) as seen on this page:
Link
How would something like this work? I'm not sure I like the control panel (too cramped) but I'd have to try it out first.
Link
How would something like this work? I'm not sure I like the control panel (too cramped) but I'd have to try it out first.
That's pretty similar to my cab, aside from being 25" instead of 19". I have some pics of mine up at http://www.defaced.net/kevin/arcade/ if you want an idea of what the insides might look like. It's not an exact match, but it should be similar. To get at the insides you reach in through the coin door and undo two latches so the control panel flips outwards, then you can slide out the board where the PCB and power supply are mounted. A panel on the back comes off to access the back of the monitor.
It seems like you've been checking out a few different places to buy, so if the price/condition is comparable to the rest, it seems like a decent deal to me. Cabs are rare in my area, so I pretty much had to settle with the first/only one I found.
It seems like you've been checking out a few different places to buy, so if the price/condition is comparable to the rest, it seems like a decent deal to me. Cabs are rare in my area, so I pretty much had to settle with the first/only one I found.