Best Cabs for Shmups?

adamrobo · Post by **adamrobo** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:58 am

Hi, everyone. This is my first post on the forum, and I have a question about candy cabs. I've been researching them for a while now but haven't been able to find anything about the best cabs for shmups. I'm interested in purchasing a few cabs for exclusive shmup gaming. I live near Arcade Infinity in California, so I've had the opportunity to play on a couple different cabs, but they unfortunately don't have that many shooters hooked up.

Everyone seems fond of the Egret II, but is it only because of the easy rotating mechanism? Whenever I see pictures of arcades in Japan, all the shooters seem to be on Egret II's, except for HEY's ultimate setup that now runs on an Egret 3: http://insomnia.ac/japan/raiden_iv/

I've read that the tri-sync's make the low-res games look pretty crappy, so I'm guessing I should stay away from those, but I don't really know. Are there any hi-res shmups besides Raiden IV? I don't know much about which games run in which resolutions.

Thanks for all your help!

Alien Soldier · Post by **Alien Soldier** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:27 am

When it come to RGB 15khz, all the cabs with Nanao chassis are great, expecialy the New Astro City and the Egret II. The first Astro City cabs seems to have some compatibility problems with atomiswave though.

Personnaly, I don't think that rotating a monitor is that difficult. Sure, the Egret II mechanism is nice but it doesn't justify the 500$ difference. I mean, for half the price of an Egret II, you can get a New Astro City. The built quality of the NAS is better than the Egret II, not to mention that the Sega parts are way easier to find than Egret II parts. So yeah, the NAS is a good choice, particulary if you can aford 2 cabs (vert + hori) and even if you can't now, you will most likely end up buying another cab later when you'll get a chance.

If you want a cab with both 15khz and 31 khz compatibility, I'd say go for a Sega cab (Blast City, Net City, New Net City) and stay away of the Wei Ya chassi (Atomiswave SD and some Egret III).

adamrobo wrote:Hi, everyone. This is my first post on the forum, and I have a question about candy cabs. I've been researching them for a while now but haven't been able to find anything about the best cabs for shmups. I'm interested in purchasing a few cabs for exclusive shmup gaming. I live near Arcade Infinity in California, so I've had the opportunity to play on a couple different cabs, but they unfortunately don't have that many shooters hooked up.

Everyone seems fond of the Egret II, but is it only because of the easy rotating mechanism? Whenever I see pictures of arcades in Japan, all the shooters seem to be on Egret II's, except for HEY's ultimate setup that now runs on an Egret 3: http://insomnia.ac/japan/raiden_iv/

I've read that the tri-sync's make the low-res games look pretty crappy, so I'm guessing I should stay away from those, but I don't really know. Are there any hi-res shmups besides Raiden IV? I don't know much about which games run in which resolutions.

Thanks for all your help!

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:07 am

I don't really see a difference on how they play because you buy specific controller parts anyway. Anyone can switch a button or joystick its really simple.

Screen wise, the Astro city is mint. I had 2 and sold both to people on these forums. I now have an Atomiswave SD and its ok, but not nearly as good as the NAC's I had. I also find it hard to vertically sync Cave games on it. Each time I switch on the cab it needs further adjustment no matter what I do.

Also, the ATW comes as single player out of the box, so you need to get lucky for a 2p panel.

My guess, go for the NAC.

cools · Post by **cools** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:42 am

What everyone else has said

Personally I'd love a 19" Pony III but they're damn hard to find. Oh, and don't discount the Konami Windy and Windy II if you're not going to be rotating it much (if at all) - sexiest white candies around

adamrobo · Post by **adamrobo** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:49 pm

Thanks for all of the advice. I was hoping that the rotating mechanism was the only reason for the price difference between the Egret II and the New Astro City. I don't mind putting in a little time rotating the monitor.

Have any of you had any luck getting that speaker unit at the top back to it's original white color? Or are you stuck with the yellowing due to the age of the cabinets?

Thanks again!

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:35 pm

A Taito Egret II cabinet is cool to have. It helps to have the monitor chassis up to spec and re-capped if necessary. The dual-resolution Nanao 29" monitors are great for the 15.7 kHz low-res arcade PCBs. Some classic arcade PCBs like Capcom's HyperDyne Sidearms look too big displayed on such 29" monitor (looks much better on a smaller RGB monitor IMHO). Just don't expect them to be as sharp and clear as that of a PC analog CRT-type monitor though...

It is tough to find replacement parts for an Egret II cab but Taito still carries them for the time being -- just be prepared to spend some substantial money for such parts though... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Post by **Dave_K.** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:47 pm

Good advice so far. Astro is the way to go. Takes 15 minutes to rotate manually.

adamrobo wrote: Have any of you had any luck getting that speaker unit at the top back to it's original white color? Or are you stuck with the yellowing due to the age of the cabinets?

Its not very noticable in a dark room. If it really annoys you, I've seen people paint it with no problem. Painting the entire cab is another story completely though, don't attempt doing this if you find one that has scratches on the sides.

antron · Post by **antron** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:49 pm

Go with easy rotate. Egret I or II.

majors · Post by **majors** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:21 am

Just buy two Astro's, one for fighters and one for shooters. Done.

antron · Post by **antron** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:13 am

majors wrote:Just buy two Astro's, one for fighters and one for shooters. Done.

naah

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:22 am

antron wrote:
majors wrote:Just buy two Astro's, one for fighters and one for shooters. Done.
naah

Honestly, I'd have to agree with antron...

If you only have enough room/space for a single cab, make it an Egret II. You won't regret it and with the super easy ability to rotate the monitor with one (or two hands at the most), it doesn't take as long to rotate as with an Astro cab though -- shave some precious minutes off the clock and spend that time playing your favorite shmup PCBs with less hassle... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

adamrobo · Post by **adamrobo** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:53 pm

So the community's top two are the New Astro City and the Egret II.

Do any of Cave's games run at high resolutions? If so I might pick up a Blast City along with a New Astro City. Space isn't an issue, I'm looking to get a few cabs so I can have a few games running at once. Durability and ability to find parts are both important.

Thanks again for all the expert advice.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:31 pm

All of Cave's arcade PCBs from it's first one of Donpachi to the latest Dodonpachi-DaiFukkatsu PCB are all low resolution and will play just fine on a dual-res Nanao monitor setup (15.7 & 24 kHz sync rates)... ^_~

That's great to hear that you have ample room for several Japanese arcade cabinets...the more, the merrier!

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

majors · Post by **majors** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:42 pm

adamrobo wrote: I'm looking to get a few cabs so I can have a few games running at once.

Ah-ha! Better to not try and bundle everything you want in a single cab.

I cannot get decent Blast Citys...all have burn-in and heavy abuse. No point to replace the monitor if I only pay $100-300 for the cab, to me. It's also JVS by default, add another $50 for the harness for JAMMA. I've read and heard that the hi-res tubes are troublesome, breaking and burn in. I've got a US Naomi cab with a 31hz WG that I have to fix about every month (soldier melts on the RGB transitors)

Your original question was "best for shooters". Astro's are low res, good for Cave. Control panels easy enough to come by. They can support stereo. And best part is they're cheap! As a bonus, if you line up three or more together, all powered on with the lights off -it's guaranteed to get you laid! (Ok, not really likely, but at least you'll get a warm fuzzy)

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:07 pm

Yep, there's nothing like having your very own personal arcade to chill out to. Brings back the wonderful memories of what it was like to go the arcades back in the 1980s and into the 1990s when the Amercian arcade hangouts were the premire destination to see the latest & greatest that just shipped in. Today, they're a vanishing breed never to regain their former glory of the past... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

antron · Post by **antron** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:11 pm

Maybe I'm just jealous because I only have space for one

innerpattern · Post by **innerpattern** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:22 am

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Yep, there's nothing like having your very own personal arcade to chill out to. Brings back the wonderful memories of what it was like to go the arcades back in the 1980s and into the 1990s when the Amercian arcade hangouts were the premire destination to see the latest & greatest that just shipped in. Today, they're a vanishing breed never to regain their former glory of the past... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

This post makes me sad

poodude · Post by **poodude** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:49 am

I prefer the sleek lines of the original Astro City. Not a fan of those speaker pods up top. It's also by far the cheapest cab to be had. I got mine for just shy of $600. Also as was said before all the parts are easy to come by. I have 1 panel for 6 button Capcom fighters, and a 4 button Astro panel for Neo Geo titles.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:01 am

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Yep, there's nothing like having your very own personal arcade to chill out to. Brings back the wonderful memories [...]

Personal arcade and memories = mutually exclusive. Half the fun was having other people there ya know...especially for multiplayer stuff

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Best Cabs for Shmups?

Best Cabs for Shmups?

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