Everything I need for PCBs.......

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:59 am

.....Im wondering where is the best place to get such things?

What I want, to start with, as PCBs go, is a copy of Mushihime Futari. I've heard a price of around 700-800 for that? Is that right?

First of alll, can someone point me to where I can go to get one? What's the best place to get that from?

And next.... exactly what do I need to set the thing up?

I've heard about "superguns" before..... I need one of those, right? Are there different types? If so, which type to run this game? And where's a good place to get it from?

And then, cabinets. Need one of those too, I think. Advice on that would help as well.....

Also, is there anything specific I need for like, installation, or any additional parts that Im not aware of?

I've never done something like this before, so I wanna get as much specific info and tips as I can.....

Gaaahhhhh saving up for this is gonna drive me up the wall......

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:03 am

Superguns just let you play shit on a tv.

You don't need a supergun and a cab, its either one or the other.

Unless your hardcore.

In which case go ahead and buy everything.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 9:34 am

Some things to note.

As a beginner I would say a cabinet is the best way to go. A new astro city will cost about $700 or there abouts and you can buy one from Matsu if your in the USA.

All Cave games are low resolution, or in other words 15khz. A new astro city is 15-25khz only. If you want compatibility with hi-res naomi games you will need a blast city cabinet, or an atomiswave AWSD (more expensive).

The problem with cabinets is that the screen is either horizontal or vertical. If your really lucky you could buy an Egret 2, which allows you to easily rotate the screen via its special arm (takes 3-5 minutes to do).

IF you only want to play shooters from Cave that are vertical orientation, just ask the supplier of your cabinet to set the monitor up in the vertical position.

Fitting the game on the screen perfectly is easy on a cabinet, as you have video controls under the control panel which stretch, squash, move left/right, up/down, brightness, contrast and usually RGB pots so you can really set everything up in seconds to get the best display. Usually you would only set this up once, but some PCB's are brighter and darker than others.

Superguns come in so many shapes and sizes. You will only need a 3 button joypad/joystick but most people get a whole 6 button setup.

The benefits of a supergun are space saving, you can rotate your TV whenever you want. A normal TV won't have controls to stretch, squash and move the image about. So if you buy ketsui and the image is shunted to the left or right or the scores are off the top of the screen you only have the service panel to change anything. Which on some models is a pain. If you go the XRGB2 upscan route, you can plug your supergun into a VGA monitor, which does have these features.

By the time you buy a supergun, XRGB2 though, you are spending 50% of the price of a cabinet.

Bare in mind if your cabinet goes wrong, you might have trouble fixing it. If your supergun goes wrong, its probably a simple fix.

All Cave games are Jamma compatible and should work on any of the aforementioned setups.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:56 pm

Buy a Matt Ross produced Supergun, and you won't have any problems with your favorite arcade PCB purchases...

A cheap-ass analog RGB monitor to play your favorite arcade PCBs is the Commodore Amiga 14" analog RGB monitor is perfect for playing those true low-resolution 15.7 Cave shmup PCBs. The definitive Amiga monitor to get is the 1084S model with it's user adjustable controls to fine tune the screen to your personal tastes. I've got an Amiga 1080 monitor myself and it works like a charm without any screen burn-in issues whatsoever... ^_~

Or if space permits, a Taito Egret II cabinet works wonders as well -- that is, if you have $$$ to spend/burn.....

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:54 pm

Playing games on a 14" monitor is similar to eating a freshly laid piece of shit, complete with peanuts.

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:57 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:Playing games on a 14" monitor is similar to eating a freshly laid piece of shit, complete with peanuts.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6382

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:06 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:Playing games on a 14" monitor is similar to eating a freshly laid piece of shit, complete with peanuts.

Must be a quite a tasty concoction, right? Perhaps compared to a shitty tasting Payday candy bar...Lol

Yeah, some folks would say that particular 14" size is too small for their viewing tastes-- whatever floats your boat...

As the ol' saying goes, bigger is better (in terms of diagonal screen size) -- the ideal "sweet tooth" size would in the the 27" to 29" screen size range. Those particular sized arcade RGB monitors are damn heavy. Is a two-person job to rotate them is the absolute mininum...

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:56 pm

Yeah, I'd need a cabinet, not a supergun, then.

Having a look at the superguns, they're all.... sizeable, there's not one single TV in this house where I could actually put the damn thing in a COMFORTABLE position that doesnt drive me up the wall.

Yet there IS more than enough room for a cabinet. Hell, there's already one arcade unit down in that cavernous basement (Golden Tee: Fore compilation..... boy was I surprised to find THAT down there the other day....)

Of course, problem is how much this is gonna cost..... blargh..... but I'll work on that slowly.

Can anyone drop a couple of links to good sites to buy the cabinet and actual PCB from?

Though I'll look for the assorted names mentioned up above and see what I come up with.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:23 pm

If you have the room and dough, get a freakin' cab. They rock... no question about it, and they're about as easy as getting a good, sizable RGB monitor. I would highly recommend a multisynch one so you can play games of all resolutions.

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:34 pm

If you don't have the money for a new, awesome, Japanese cabinet, try finding an old cab in your area. Even if it's not too great, you can always work on it by replacing control panel, monitor angle, or perhaps even a new monitor.
I was in a similar situation like you, and I found a 90's cab for a price less than than the PCB in it was worth (Batsugun).
Seek and you might find. Even if the cabinet is old, as long as it has a jamma connection it is just as fine as a brand new machine.
As for PCBs, check out the "Cutting out the middleman" thread in trading station. It has some links to shitty looking Japanese/Chinese(?) sites, but they have good offers. Or you could try Yahoo Japan.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:38 pm

You might want to look to see if a Super Auction is happneing in your area this year (assuming you are in the US).

http://superauctions.com/

Here is a youtube of a Super Auction this past August where I live. I really have to restrain myself from going to these as I have absolutly no room left in my garage. Some cabs sell at the end of the day for $100 or less!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuh8JralGMs

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:14 am

To pay a mere a hundred bucks or less for a used but working Jamma compatible arcade game cabinet at an Superauctions event is a damn steal IMO -- can't beat that type of a deal any ol' day..... ^_~

http://www.superauctions.com/launch/cal/index.html

The above link lists a future Superauctions event to be held in San Jose, CA on June 21st, 2008 at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds -- not too far, is it? And are you attending it?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:53 am

I'm also curious about this.

My question: Where?

Where can you get a cabinet? Everybody posts what to get, or says things like:

you can buy one from Matsu if your in the USA

What's Matsu? A person? A store? Does Matsu have a website?

I live in a rural area that is surrounded by water on three sides and the nearest arcade is hundreds of miles away. I'm not going to luck out and find a machine for sale. If I wanted to buy an Astro City or an Egret 2 right now, what would I do? Where would I go? How can I find one? When I search online, they are always sold out.

My research has turned up lots of dead ends and I'm getting the impression that you have to have some connections to get this stuff. Is it just impossible if you don't live near a big city?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:26 am

Here is a thread that I think is up to date.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... ight=matsu

Droid is like Matsu's spokesperson here, I am not sure if Matsu scours the net everyday pounding people to buy his products.

I bought 2 new astro cities (They are not NEW, they are just called NEW, or the 2nd generation of "the astro city"). Shipping was $200 for up to two cabinets to Indiana. Matsu is based in CA.

I just googled Matsu and came up with this - http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q= ... arch&meta=

So you can see other peoples experiences. He's a top guy to talk to. Albeit kinda hard to understand with his broken English.

Call him on 909 576 3425, That number is 3 years old so he may have changed it. But irregardless Droid on this forum will be able to work with you to get you what you want.

As for PCB's, I would just go to www.arcadeshock.com. But thats because I don't understand Japanese auction sites and what not.

Cave direct link http://www.arcadeshock.com/items/cave-c ... s/list.htm

I hope this has been informative for you. I just took delivery of an Atomiswave AWSD, its sitting in my garage poor thing.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 10:23 am

if you can, definetly get a cab, nothing beats the feeling and precision you get.

if you cant tho getting a decent supergun is not a bad way to go, plenty of established PCB hardcore shmups-doods use em.

as far as buing PCBs you neednt worry, in fact you hardly even have to leave the site, just about everything a shmupsfan could want pops up in the trading section here, down to the rarest little trinkets even..