TMNT Home Console in shell

[groundzero]

I wanted to Consolize a PGM to go with my Omega. Since it gives you the same feeling of carts and boxes to go on shelves. Now I'm thinking differently. I would like to make a console out of one of my favorite childhood boards. TMNT 4 player.

Was going to mold a plastic shell but with the new movie there is a bunch of plastic shells in the toy stores. The top will be one of these shells and the bottom will be a green rectangular box that will house the PCB, Controller ports, component out and maybe a LCD screen to run TMNT dot matrix animations. Was wondering if this board had some kind of ticketing signal similar to a Pinball machine or Skeeball. I could use that to trigger some animations using a Arduinr I'll just play some animations based on joystick inputs.

My plan was to use
TMNT PCB
Konami to Jama cable
Vogatek Super Gun PCB - give me controllers and RGB
Jrok - converts RGB to Component.
Sound - have to read up on this. Use some in line convertor?
Power- need to find a small power supply?
4 player or 2? would like 4

Any suggestions guys? what do you think?
feel free to crush my dreams or help me!

 

[Pasky]

Plexi case would be pretty rad. Easy to make, looks pretty neat, just annoying that dust shows up well.

 

[BanishingFlatsAC]

The thing about a consolized arcade board like a neo or a pgm is that you can switch games. Consolizing one board seems like a waste to me. As nice as it is to tug on those nostalgic strings, you'll eventually get sick of just that game. Just make yourself a SG and be able to play all jamma boards.

 

[Pope Sazae]

I can crush your dreams and you just send that SG over to me, been looking for one.

 

[GohanX]

Tardis, it is pointless, but it's also really fucking cool. I love this game.

 

[Zangrief]

I prefer my heroes in a half shell.

 

[GohanX]

Why didn't I think of that joke?

 

[groundzero]

Here is a picture of the shell. $14 at Walmart. It has holders for the weapons, sold separately LOL. Got to pic up the weapons, either Mike or Raf, i think there weapons should have smaller footprint.
Put a NES cart next to the shell to show how large it is. I dont have the TMNT PCB yet, that would help. Does anybody have exact dimensions of the board. I saw a pick of it next to an AES controller. Looks about 30% larger.

 

[Pasky]

The TMNT pcb is going to be much larger than that.

 

[Xian Xi]

A consolized PGM is a bad idea. The hardware fails way too often.

 

[andsuchisdeath]

I'm sorry, but this is a terrible idea.

Here, have a TMNT Pie. Vanilla puddin' power.

 

[Jassin000]

Yea I 2nd, 3rd, 4th, everyone who thinks this is a bad idea.

For starters the PCB isn't cheap, and if you're talking about Turtles in Time jesus fuck just forget it!

Next is controls, you will need 4 joysticks for all 4 turtles naturally... However if you don't ever connect player 4, well then you won't be playing as Raph.
Better to use the two player version of the ROMs in your board, then even tho you are limited to two players at a single time...
You'll rarely ever have 4 people on it at once, and you'll get to pick your turtle/character after crediting.

That plastic shell looks like shit, gawd just make it out of plexi or a project box like normal people.

LCD screen? WTF dude! If you're going to use a dedicated screen on this monstrosity get a 4:3 proper ratio CRT with component inputs for cheap/free off Craig's.
Decase it and place inside a hollowed out, taxidermy Sea Turtle shell/carcass, for that extra turtle power effect.

 

[groundzero]

the lcd would be a small dot matrix like below. It would go in between the controller ports
I know this is extravagant. But we are talking about a forum were people display AES Cart Boxes over a Gold DeLorean
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?242826-DonMontG-Collection-Photos

 

[Xian Xi]

So what is converting RGB to dot matrix? Does it take raw RGBS?

 

[NeuroticMoose]

This whole project sounds like a nightmare, but if you manage to pull it off I'd love to see how it turns out

 

[groundzero]

So what is converting RGB to dot matrix? Does it take raw RGBS?

I'll try and clear up what i was trying to do with the dot matrix LCD. The TMNT PCB would plug into a CRT or Large Flat screen using component or composite or S video. I guess depending on what modules I use. It will essential be a TMNT PCB and SG in a turtle shell.

On the front of the Shell/Box there would be 4 ports for AES controllers, 4 insert coin buttons, a small DMD LCD and a power switch. The LCD dot matrix would display custom animations that my wife will create using a process with photoshop or the older Deluxe paint. The later is very good for creating Dot Matrix animations but need to run in an Amiga emulator.We are currently building a custom pinball machine and thought it would be a nice touch adding old school dot matrix animations that were in fashion when the TMNT game was released. I have an Arduino and small LCD screen laying around from an old automation project, they only cost $30. When some one inserted a coin or powered on the machine it would play some animations. Or just scroll some text like Cowabunga. Similar to a old 90's pinball machine. I would have to split the insert coin signal so both the TMNT PCB and the Arduino both received it.

I appreciate the interest. Also appreciate the PGM comment, I just decided to start collecting PGM. I think I've seen you comment more than once about consolizing PGMs so i guess i'll go the Super gun route. I'm plaining on buying a separate super gun for all my non TMNT needs. Haha.

Thanks again.