Recommendations for a 1st cab

I've managed to convince the little lady that an aracade cabinet would be a pretty smart thing to have in the living room (dont ask me how, i think she has been smoking something). With the exception of playing experience i have 0 knowlege of aracade cabinets and thus require some help.

Question 1. What is a good first cab to get?

Question 2. I would like something that i can change games on fairly simply - are the "300 games in 1" boards any good?

Question 3. Where is a good place (uk) to get such a machine?

Question 4. What sort of price should i be paying for a decent (its for the living room remember) cab?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Well, a candy cab would be the best solution for you. They are the smallest, and most compact ones you can purchase, but in the U.K. generally will cost more than a candy in the U.S. So, you can drop more cash for one, but a nice woodie is what most people start with.

If your looking at one of those XXX-in-one boards, you might as well just put a MAME pc in there, not really much of a difference. Also, most people start out with a Neo Geo, because of the diverse amount of games, the cost, and the ease of switching the games out.

 

I'd say it depends on your taste, how good you want it to look, how much space you've got and how much you've got to spend.

A brand new cab can set you back as much as £1,500 - £2,000. A second hand one can be gotten for as low as £100, but expect it to need a lot of work that low.

I've seen some beautiful cocktail cabs (which basically look much like a coffee table) that wouldn't look out of place in a living room.

Check out http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/ the prices can be pretty steep, but may give you more of an idea of what you might want.

As for second hand, there's always eBay, and forums like this one, JAMMA+, Shoryuken, Shmups, and the like.

If you're not too bad at DIY, half the fun is customising/modding it yourself

 

Just to let you know that CRT monitors are no longer being made. If the tube or chassis dies on you, it's potentially going to an absolute mission to fix, especially if it's something major. Hantarex and Pentranic were about the only UK distributors (and Sega), and they only do LCDs now.

Saying that, I'd go for a nice tidy Candy like an Astro City or a sit-down Naomi Net/New Net City. Stick a 4 slot MVS board in there and away you go.

 

Although CRT tubes are no longer being made, it's still possible to buy new old stock tubes, although in my experience CRTs do have quite a long life span of over 20 to 30 years plus and generally the only fault you may get is the brightness fading over time (although given that there are Galaxian and Space Invader arcades that still have the original tubes that play fine, this may not be a problem).

The chassis boards may die, but these can be repaired (for example the Hantarax Polo chassis normally has a power transistor fail which causes a resistor to go up in smoke, but it's quite a simple and cheap repair) or if it is something like the Flyback failing then you can buy replacement universal chassis for these.

The 300 in 1, etc boards are not perfect as some games do have tearing or sound issues, I do hate MAME and these boards as I don't think you appreciate the games without owning the original board.

 

Amen, it's like when someone first discovers emulaters, and blows through all of your childhood favorites in minutes. I bought a fixer upper and it was a good experience, I learned a lot about arcade repair, and next time I snag a good score, I'll be able to get it up and running much quicker.

 

Hmm, where to start....

People are recommending Candy cabs. This is a bad generalization for Japanese-style metal cabs that are generally painted white. Unfortunately, people use the word Candy although the Candy is actually the name of the Neo Geo cab. So technically, a Sega Astro City or a Naomi is NOT a Candy cab. Whilst Japanese cabs look nice, they are expensive and rather cumbersome (certainly NOT the smallest of cabs). Also, the monitors are a complete bitch to rotate on these, usually! That means if you want to play an upright game, you'll have difficulty and may even need the help of another person to rotate. That said, build quality is usually excellent and they use good parts. I don't think I'd recommend one for a beginner, though. On the Japanese cab side, the Naomi is good, although due to monitors and such, can be a bitch to get running as a JAMMA cab. It's a doddle to use as a MAME cab, mind you!

Probably the best option is a generic cab. You can get generics such as the old Electrocoin cabs (and some of theirs were fairly small), or actually one of my cabs is fairly small and would be ideal for the living room. You can set it up and leave it - no need to pull it out all the time to get to the back (a problem with several wooden cabs) as you can flip down the control panel and put a different board in from the front, and even rotate the monitor easily.

The xxx-in-one boards aren't that great. I agree with Jamtex - whilst emulation is convenient, it isn't the same as having the original boards. It's also piracy! My friend has a MAME cabinet, but he will buy a board if there's a game he likes.

You need to consider what type of games you want to play. Make a list of titles. See what edge connector they use. A lot of modern games will be JAMMA standard, or at least can have a harness made to accept that. You have to be aware that some cabinets (e.g. Electrocoin cabinets, Neo Geo MVS cabinets and a lot of dedicated cabinets) won't be JAMMA compatible "out the box" - it may look like a JAMMA connector, but that doesn't mean it is wired as such!!

The cocktail suggestion is a good one. They aren't always the cheapest of machines, but can be picked up reasonably cheaply. They do mean getting "in there" close to the monitor neck etc. - so take caution if you go for one of these and change boards a lot. The other thing to think about with these is that they're often set up for a particular game - get a Space Invaders cocktail and you're stuck with left, right and fire! You'd have to rebuild the control panel for other games.

CRT monitors aren't an issue. They are still plentiful, and you can still find people to repair them - Hantarex included.

Price wise? You can pay anything from £50 for a generic cab up to say £800 for a generic, and more if you were looking for a particular (rare) dedicated machine. Japanese cabs are going to be at least £250 for a decent one, and often go for around the £500 mark.

So there are a number of things you need to think about before deciding on a cab, really.

Where abouts in the UK are you based? I usually know someone somewhere who's selling a cab!

 

Rather than asking what type of cabinet is the best to purchase, I think maybe you should establish precisely what type of games you are wanting to play.

For example, there is no point us offering up suggestions and you saying 'but I'll not be able to get one of my Jamma boards inside that type of unit'. I know you are saying you are new to this whole thing, but you must have an idea already of what sort of stuff you like.

You've been pestering the wife... you must have had something in mind, so what do you like? What arcade material did you think of when trying to convince the g/friend / wife?

If you like Woodies, then I would look no further than a Lordsvale with a 2 or 4 slot Neo Geo in it. You can also pick up one of these multiple games in one cart for next to nothing and have a massive back collection of titles to run through. Leaving a spare slot for perhaps other titles you like and want to swap over.

The Candy cabs are expensive Japanese imports, but frankly really attractive, very versatile (you can rotate the monitors in them for vertical / horizontal gaming, back and forth) there's lots of space in them to take a variety of board types and easy to swap wiring looms as they are far more accessible. That said, they are hard to find cheaply. As a first cabinet you'd be on to a winner and you'd probably not need much else. But as Retro states, they are not just a single style of cabinet. Some of them are butt ugly actually!

Jamma is the type of boards & connections normally found on older titles. You also get non-standard connections where you'd have to build your own looms (wiring to allow video / audio & controls). You have to have a certain degree of skill / knowledge in using Jamma. You tend to find that this is a route that more experienced gamers take as you have to buy separate boards and wire them in etc. Easy to swap over, hard to store and only as expensive as your taste in games titles.

MAME, is your computer related emulation route and can be done really cheaply. This gives you the widest range of options in the long run.

If you look at aryssoR's thread on his Naomi, you'll see exactly what is involved with MAME. MAME with all those emulated titles would mean you have thousands of games titles available to you. However, some people are not so keen on emulators. They are not everyone's cup of tea.

You also have to consider that different types of gaming board may require different monitor types or frequencies. So, a monitor designed for MAME might not accept a JAMMA signal, unless you use a convertor. That's where the dual and tri-sync monitors come in. They automatically accept a variety of signals.

I'm sure I'll be corrected on this one as there are always exceptions to the rule, but if a monitor has VGA it tends to be 31kHz and if not it tends to be 15kHz (at least on the types of cabinet I have experience of).

Associated with the different types of systems are different type of gaming controls or CP boards.

I'm heavily biased towards a particular system and I don't think I have to even say it... NAOMI!

The reason being that you can obtain a cheap, compact & versatile cabinet that can be easily cleaned up, repaired (as many of the spares are still available) and you can insert anything you want. You might have to alter the wiring or move things around, perhaps even change the monitor or buy a convertor depending on the type of system you wish to use.

They do have a large metal frame, but they are compact enough and can be cut down to suit a smaller space. You'll pay anything from £100 to £1700 for one depending on condition, completeness and where you purchase it from.

So... really, the decision is in your hands. What you looking for? What floats your boat?

Old genuine games boards?
Emulated material of all sorts and systems?
Newer titles, kick ass systems?
The ability to have more than one set up inside the cab?

I also second or third the MAME / Piracy comment. I'm far happier owning genuine material and am only really interested in seeing whether I can start playing some games titles I have already bought & owned, or still have in the attic.

 

Thanks for the responses so far. Let me answer a few questions.

A bit of repair or refubishing would be a option as it would also give me the chance to learn a bit more about the machine as apposed to just plugging it in and never looking inside.

That sound like the sort of thing im after.

I live in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

Mostly the games of my youth, street fighter, metal slug etc.

 

Most of the Metal Slug games were MVS carts. Street Fighter II was CPS, but it doesn't have a suicide battery. MVS carts require an MVS board, which also needs a wee bit of converting to run, but it's pretty easy.

Despite what his site says, Ordyne has a Naomi. He's in Barnsley.

http://www.giz10p.co.uk/video-game-machines/uprights/cat_42.html

Give him a shout if you want one of those. You would need more stuff to get it running as a JAMMA cab.

Other than that, I can keep an ear out, or look on eBay....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/arcade-machin...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEGA-CABINETS...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Couple of examples oop North. Those Sega cabs are pretty bulky, though.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arcade-cockta...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Noe a bad cocktail.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arcade-Video-...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Cheap and cheerful?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arcade-Video-...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

Looks like an Electrocoin generic cab (probably won't be JAMMA, conversion is easy).

*EDIT*

If you wanted a cocktail, this is fairly close to you. It isn't JAMMA, though, so would require conversion. Don't think it's the best thing for SFII!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RETRO-COCKTAI...14&_trkparms=72:1683|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

 

Nothing beats the experience of the original boards played the way they were designed to be played. MAME in an arcade cab is a close second, but it will always be second.

But to own a library of PCBs requires deep pockets...

Speaking of eBay, I spotted this last night
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STREET-FIGHTER-2-ARCADE-MACHINE-EXCELLENT-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ250383276107QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Video_Games_Coin_Operated_MJ?hash=item250383276107&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1687%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Fairly certain it's not an original, but sure is purdy

 

quite like the look of 1 of those sega cabs but yeah they do look a little big.

 

I had already seen that and saved it to my ebay. It is a nice looking thing, what makes you think it not original, how can you tell?

 

Because it's not ;-)

Arcade machines weren't decorated like that - especially Street Fighter cabs. That, and the shape is wrong for a SFII.... well, those I've seen, anyway.

You can get slightly smaller Japanese cabs.... more shorter than smaller overall, though!!

 

The artwork looks almost brand new, much later Capcom stuff, the original SF2 was way uglier.

In fact here's how the original looked
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9814

 

i just got an advice that i would wanted to some1 told me about before i bought my cab :
Check the monitor, check the cross square to see the convergence, check if it has burns, check if you can see the entire gamescreen on it.
You can allways replace tons of things in the cab, but if your tube is fucked you are intro trouble, i had to pay a ton of money to get my monitor issues fixed

 

Out of interest, what were the issues you had to get fixed?

 

i bought a container of displays with another guys from Spain, my display was pretty fucked : image burnts, convergence, not seeing the entire game on the screen, pretty bad color ...
I really think that those problems wold be fixed with a new chasis, but i just dont want to pay 200 euros for a new tri sync one

 

Most of those faults (bar the image burn) can generally be fixed, although things like the convergence are not jobs for the unskilled. When you say bad colour, do you mean patches of colour on the screen (normally a simple deguassing would fix that) or poor brightness / contrast of Red, Green, Blue? (Normally a Gain / Bias adjustment). A good TV repairman should able to fix those problems.

If the image is too big for the screen but only on one side, then some old chassis have a jumper which will allow the image to be shift left and right, which does solve the problem. If the images is just too big and the size adjustments don't fix it, then it could be someone has used the wrong chassis for the tube (it does happen...), although some chassis have the adjustments under the tube so adjusting those is something you probably shouldn't touch unless qualified (See TV repair man...)

 

yeah i got parts of the screen where i can read text clean, and others where i cant, the center is clear but the borders are not, also the problem i got with not seeing the entire game on the screen is only an horizontal problem, i cant see the entire lifebars on fighting games for example, the burn is minimal to be honest, but those were a lot of issues to decide to get me a brand new display.
If i get another cab atm, i know what to look at before pay