I'm lucky I have the space, otherwise I too would just be sitting watching someone else posting about their arcade stuff. There was an American thread a few weeks ago on another site I visit. The guy simply stated 'Here's my woodies collection (the old wooden arcades)' I clicked on it and you should have seen this guys collection. I would say he had a full house worth of beautiful early arcade units in excellent condition. You name the game, he had it. Just when you thought 'Wow, 40 or 50 arcades...' you scrolled down and spotted that he had filled his garage (to the point you couldn't walk in it any more, and he had a lock-up (storage) with several units in there as well. Easily 80 arcade units. Jaw dropping! That's taking all of this to an entirely different level! It's not as expensive a hobby as you might first think either. I started with a few Jamma boards and a cheap crappy Supergun. However, the demise of the arcade means that lots of units turn up on various threads or on eBay pretty regularly. It gets expensive when you say 'I must have a brand new Japanese import cabinet!'
It looks interesting. Just out of interest. What do you spend annually on it now? And in the beginning? What is a supergun?
SuperGun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperGun it's a way to play arcade games without having the full cabinet. another good site with info about them. http://www.multimods.com/superguns.html
Annually? Nothing... If like me you have a collection and sell it off, you can then reinvest the money. I buy and sell from time to time and let the hobby pay for itself. I never ever touch the bank account and so long as I don't, the wife is happy. I am also pretty selective about what I purchase and will wait until I see something that needs a lot of work rather than something brand new and shiny. That way, I get to not only save cash, but do what I enjoy most which is refurbish stuff! Think of it more like someone who's into classic cars or bikes. Once you've invested the time & effort you get higher rewards! I am amazed at the guys who'll outlay £2000 on an arcade (or more) and not bat an eyelid. I couldn't spend a fraction of that cash! It would go on the house, DIY and the kids before it went on a piece of hardware! :nod:
Thanks for the tip. What would a Silent Scope arcade cabinet go for? And what should I look for as essential items which absolutely need to work?
Where in the World are you? I am in the UK so don't know the prices of particular arcades throughout the globe. eBay throws up a lot of hardware and something you'd expect to go for lots can suddenly sell for relatively little. JNC in Bristol is usually the best place to check in the UK for the prices of arcades as they are a major supplier. As for what you really want in an arcade to work... well, all of it helps! Crucially however you want the I/O boards to be perfect. and the monitor to function. If you purchase a specific title on a machine like a Naomi (for example), then the actual Naomi motherboard (N1) is relatively cheap, so if it is faulty it is easier to replace. However, if the monitor is dead then it can cost almost as much as buying a new arcade to obtain it. Faulty GDroms (the disc system some Naomi titles come on) is very hard to replace, but can be cobbled together using Dreamcast parts, so again it's not a HUGE issue. If you need specific input / output boards (I/O) for guns, then they can be hard to track down if faulty. Guns are also a pig! The sensors can go, but they can be relatively easy to replace. If you are interested in arcade stuff then look for arcade websites rather than Assembler, which has fewer arcade members (given that it's a site primarily for those interested in development of games / hardware). With older arcades, you just have to hope that whatever you purchase doesn't require many (if any) spares, but just a bit of TLC, clean up and with real luck just a few dry solder joints or connections re-worked!
Thanks, am mainly intersted in one arcade game, which can't be simulated on a console/emulator and that is the Silent Scope series.
Unit finally arrived. Not sure whether the seller or the courier was to blame for the delay, but it's here now: The screen works (just tested with a Naomi 1 and random cart) But it's as rusty as hell... and needs some serious rewiring and TLC! h:
is this the first Initial D? i was at an arcade last night where they had number 3 and the shifter was on the left side. is that just because it's an american machine? or do they have left/right handed machines?
This is a Sega Touring car cabinet rather than Initial D, at the moment, but it is the same cabinet, just slightly different wiring configuration and unlike Initial D there is no card reader (I don't want one). This is from a twin cabinet so somewhere in the World is the right handed unit, but tbh my Ridge Racer was exactly the same and I used to drive in France, so it feels normal to me having the gear shift on either the left or right hand side. Yes, it will be converted into the first Initial D title, but the hardware is universal and I've already started hunting down D2 and D3. For some reason I prefer the artwork on the very first edition of this game. I've already located the original ID1 top box / attract light, but it is incomplete. However, I stumble across this footage showing the full sized version: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3cuct_initial-d-arcade-stage-4-limited-th
I think with the hardware I have I can go as far as D3, not sure whether D4 is compatible - not really looked into it as finding it would be hard and costly. Both D2 and D3 crop up on eBay from time to time. According to those who play ID, number 2 is the best version, although I prefer the look of number 3. Trying not to think of number 4 lol. :noooo:
Wow, nice catch. I whished my lady was soo compelled with my hobby. Ain't she bitching about it? Hope to get Silent Scope in the near future, but that is as much as she will allow
No she likes most of the titles I have, is addicted to Sega Tetris, used to play RR all the time and is looking forward to ID I think. As long as I keep the stuff out of the house (we have the smallest cab in the kitchen) and the bank account isn't touched, she is fine!
The other two units are completely finished with artwork and replacement CP boards now. Whereas the Initial D conversion has kind of ground to a halt as I can't really do any spray painting at the moment.
Man those cabs are lookin' real nice! You do good work! Are you changing the color of the Initial D cap or keeping it yellow?
Hi! Thanks, I enjoy doing it and take my time. The main thing however is that the Naomi units are so well built in the first place that frankly it only takes a bit of TLC to bring them back to life. As for the Initial D cabinet, I am not 100% sure at the moment. I can't do any spray work until the weather improves. Too cold and I cannot open the garage doors for ventilation, so I have some time to think about it. The base is rather rusty in places and it really needs spraying. The delay is also letting me take the entire cabinet to bits a few times so that I know what I am doing. Although I obtained schematics, this is actually an old Sega Touring cabinet and some of the original wiring is still hanging around. I need to figure out what I can pull and what I need to leave.
Some rust remover, a little sanding, and a paint job will have that looking nice. Did the previous owner keep the cabinet outside or in a restroom?? h:
