Is my Twin Cobra missing a ribbon cable?

[johnwroachiii]

I have a non-working Twin Cobra that seems to be missing a ribbon cable. Does anyone have a working board and can tell me if that's the case? If so, where can I get one?

[antron]

yes, you are missing a cable. maybe buy a dead board off ebay?

how may pins are there? maybe a generic SCSI or similar cable will work.

[johnwroachiii]

yes, you are missing a cable.

I know what you're thinking: "Of course it's missing a cable, idiot. Don't you see the holes?"

how may pins are there? maybe a generic SCSI or similar cable will work.

Ding ding ding. It's got 50 pins, which matches up with an internal SCSI cable. I'm gonna check with my source and see if he glommed it for another board. If not, SCSI it is. The tabs seem to be different, but that's why I invented the file.

Thanks for your help.

[Ed Oscuro]

Also, just to make you feel this was worth your time, a very cursory (VERY, as in no direct comparison, just eyeballing it) inspection leads me to assume your board is original. Hooray! Enjoy your non-bootlegged board when you get it running. Beware the short and slippery JAMMA connector (edit: Whoops, was thinking of Sky Shark / Flyign Shark's connector there).

[johnwroachiii]

Since I'm sure you guys are all desperate to hear the end of this saga, I managed to glom an identical cable off a bootleg Galaga. The board now works.

Ah, bootleg Galaga, is there anything you can't do?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Any cool pics of your original Twin Cobra PCB up and running on your candy cab or supergun setup? Some screenshots would be nice as well.

I used to play Twin Cobra at my local arcade back in the late 1980s...when it used to be a quarter per credit. Back in the day when you tried to make your single credit last as long as you could as you were paying with real money. Arcade gaming during the Golden Age era wasn't a cheap hobby nor is it nowdays.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[johnwroachiii]

Arcade gaming during the Golden Age era wasn't a cheap hobby nor is it nowdays.

Oh, it was pretty cheap for me — my dad owned an arcade.

That's where the Twin Cobra came from. He handed me a box of boards he was going to throw out. Also among them was a remarkably clean U.N. Squadron with manual.

He's an old-school op, doesn't really care about games at all. When I told him that older games may not bring in quarters but are still valuable, he told me about a cabinet he recently sold - a full cabinet, monitor and all, with an Aero Fighters for $50.

I swear he's just trying to make a grown man cry.

Of course, I'm just as bad. I may turn around and try to sell the Twin Cobra, since it's a vert and I have no way to properly play it in the foreseeable future. Apples and trees, my friend.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Now that you mention growing up with your father running an arcade, that is the best thing that could happen to kid...free games! I never had that opportunity as I was just a customer walking into arcades and paying my hard-earned cash for some bit of entertaiment. How lucky you were! And does your father still run/operate an arcade?

Yep, them ol' school arcade operators, they'd chuck away arcade PCBs and all the original marquees, artworks, manuals and even entire classic arcade cabinets if it wasn't earning in the dough. Arcade collectors/purists would say that it would be better to save and preserve them classic arcade PCBs for their nostalgic replayability value. Sure, there was a glut of arcade game cabinets back in the early 1980s, too much that it was just easier to dump in the dumpster if the arcade owner/operator got tired of them. Of course nowdays, an original classic arcade game cab that has been restored to it's former glory will fetch some serious $$$ on the arcade gamer collector's market.

I worked for one former boss whom told me that he bought a used Atari Tempest upright for a mere $150.00 back in 1985. He had it set up in his bedroom and would have his friends come over and play it to death. I asked him if he still had the Tempest upright and said that he sold it after having his share of fun of playing/owning it back in the day. Oh well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[johnwroachiii]

He gave up on his arcade a long time ago. The last couple of games he bought was a SF2: Champion and Mortal Kombat, to give you an idea of how long ago it was.

He still runs a route, but it's mostly pool tables and jukeboxes. What few games he still has are mostly those 60-in-1 boards. I've asked him what he thinks killed arcades, and he says around the fighting game revolution, games just got too expensive to buy.

To give you an idea of some of the classics that have disappeared from his collection in one way or another, he had 2 of these Atari Footballs at one time. Gone.

The only things he personally wants to keep for history's sake are electromechanical. I don't know exactly what they're called, but he's got 2 games that look like pinballs, but they're baseball games. He's also got a Spook Gun, which was actually one of his best earners, but it's rotting.

Back on topic, I was a little late to the home console scene because I had a cabinet in my room as a kid. While everybody else was playing Mario or Sonic, I was playing Rygar.

Actually, I'm trying to get that particular cabinet back from him. It's no candy, but it's cute. It was designed for kids, standing only about 4 and a half feet tall. We had a Moon Patrol in it.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've seen those minature woodie-type upright cabinets at my local Chuckie E. Cheese's with arcade games like Tuboat & Pot of Gold back in the early 1980s. They both even had mini backlit marquees for completeness. Even spotted a minature Neo-Geo MVS cabinet sporting a 2-slot board set running Metal Slug & Samurai Showdown inside the famous Luxor's arcade in Las Vegas. Cute tiny arcade cabs sporting tiny RGB monitors indeed. Perfect fit for midgets and dwarfs (or in today's wordspeak of height-challenged folks) as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~