DanAdamKOF's Arcade Cabs And More

DanAdamKOF

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20 Year Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2002
Posts
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Hello, Neo-Geo Forums. I wrote a series of posts about my arcade cabs on another forum. I've included them here with minor revisions for formatting. Feel free to read all of this text, or just skip through to see photos.

I plan to update this thread later with posts focusing on my Neo Geo stuff in particular, and on my console stuff.

BTW, I'm currently unable to edit any posts I make. Apologies if there are any typos.

First off, a 1-min long overview of my home arcade, which we call Hobocade. I recorded this at a meetup I hosted this past weekend:

I love turning my home into an arcade with the flip of a switch, and it's so fun sharing it with friends. I try to host once a month. What's just as fun is repairing, upgrading, cleaning, and generally working on the cabs. Oh, and I guess playing them can be fun? Sometimes I feel like I play Arcade Manager 2019 with the occasional minigame of playing an actual game, heh.
 

DanAdamKOF

Iori's Flame
20 Year Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2002
Posts
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Let's start with the rhythm game cabinets:
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From left to right:

beatmania IIDX: Bought in a lot from an arcade that was downsizing their rhythm games. The official Konami CRT is still going strong and looks great. Has hardware to run 9th Style-latest versions. There's a bass shaker stage that comes with the cab, but I don't leave it installed because my wife didn't like how much it crowded our path to the door. Shout outs to my wife for that being the only thing she's asked of me regarding the cabs, she's super supportive of my hobby!
Planned repairs/upgrades: Replacement IO (for more sensitive turntable input), replace turntable dishes with new ones, get both turntables spinning better (especially P2), maybe install turntable grips, get top neons working again, get the key LEDs which don’t light to light again (hopefully just a simple wiring bypass), replace top spotlights, replace video splitter with one that doesn’t suck, upgrade eAmusement readers with WavePass parts, replace pleather on wrist rest, get new plexiglass made for the control panel, do something about the missing screenprinting on the metal plates on the control panel.
What I like: The rectangular Sanwa buttons feel and sound great, and the turntable is a really fun mechanic that's super satisfying to try to play well. The music (mostly electronic) has had a huge range of styles and polish throughout the years, so playing something old or new can still feel fresh. There's a lot of meta to clearing and scoring in songs on it which I enjoy (ie, the supposedly harder life bar mode might actually be easier to clear a song with). I'm currently learning Double mode (playing both P1 and P2 sides simultaneously for 14 keys + 2 turntables charts) which has regressed me to newb status again.

Jubeat: Bought in that same lot. Upgraded to latest PCB to run current mixes. The rubber sensors were basically all crumbled apart when I got it, but a friend of mine had a spare set from his home controller and let me have them for my cab. Nice guy!
Planned repairs/upgrades: Run new cable to use DVI with its LCD, install headphone jack, wire power the upper and lower LEDs, replace rear cube acrylic with mirrored acrylic (it's the Korean version cabinet which lacks the mirror! lame!), and clean the damn screen yet again
What I like: Jubeat is pretty simple to play; there's a grid of clear square buttons over the LCD, the buttons light up, and you touch what you see, unlike most other rhythm games where you look at a screen and blindly touch controls somewhere else. The timing windows are generous so you can easily get high scores and feel really cool! (there's a mode to play with tighter timing windows too). A lot of the patterns have you sliding across a row or column, which are really fun to do. The music has a wide variety of genres represented. There are a lot of licenses and crossovers from other BEMANI games, so as a newcomer you can often find a song you're familiar with, which makes learning the game a lot easier.

Dance Dance Revolution: Bought from a friend of mine who had an extra cabinet. It's the Korean version which comes with a shit monitor, which died before I bought it. I found an Irish market 29" Sony SCART TV locally in California and wired it up as its monitor. I have a PC I use for Stepmania, and System 573 hardware for DDR 1st-Extreme. I also installed this upgrade called BrightWhite, which emulates the PSX memory card slots for the older games, but lets you "log in" with an eAmusement card, and saves your scores in the cloud. I just recently installed all new sensors, modded them for more sensitivity, and installed LEDs in the pads which look great.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Install Trisync CRT, install flatter screws and install countersink brackets in the pads, rig up actual eAmusement card readers, install new monitor glass (from a Japanese cab, so shiny), replace burned-out lamp in one of the top spotlights, weld P2 bar, get P2 Right arrow lights working
What I like: DDR is iconic and a lot of people know it, which is nice as a starting point when I talk to people about my cabs. I primarily play Doubles (no-bar) which is kind of an OK workout. The music is fun and cheesy and well-suited for shamelessly dancing around to play. There's a lot of muscle memory that develops as you play, and it can be really satisfying learning patterns and hitting them skillfully as you progress in your skills. Also, I feel like getting Full Combos and high scores are especially satisfying in DDR.

Pop'n Music: Bought in that same lot. Running the hardware for Pop'n 15 and up. It came with this really awful monitor: 25" (it's supposed to be 29"), severely burned-in from Puzzle Fighter's attract mode, blurry, and magnetization issues messing up the colors on the side. It was actually playable since Pop'n only really requires that the center look good enough to read, which it kinda was. Now it has a decent 29" Sanwa 31khz monitor. As a nice bonus, the buttons were replaced with brand new Sanwa buttons about a year before I bought the cab, so they're in great shape.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Integrate eAmusement card reader into How To Play area above controls, undo some wiring jank the previous owners did, replace plexiglass in front of monitor with actual glass
What I like: The buttons are big and tactile, they're a lot of fun to press. Since the controls are so spread-out, you can use your forearms and even elbows to hit buttons. The game's music is sort of like IIDX meets Jubeat, in that it's an old series with old songs still in it, with a lot of licenses and contemporary music. Whenever I listen to Pop'n OSTs, I wonder why I don't listen to them more often.

beatmania: AKA "5keys", the predecessor to beatmania IIDX. Bought for just $50. Other than a busted motherboard, it worked fine. It’s running beatmania THE FINAL which was the last in the series, of course. This was Konami's first rhythm game, and it's still revered among diehards. I actually hosted a 5keys enthusiasts meetup a few months ago which had a pretty big attendance. I thoroughly cleaned the controls and control panel in preparation for the meetup, so things are shiny and the turntables spin really well. (You can see my cat on it in the photo, she's wearing the cone of shame)
Planned repairs/upgrades: Get better condition plexiglass for the control panel, redo the video splitter since the one I wired myself is jank, drill small hole in door for video cable to pass through, get the top neons working (a transformer or relay is bad)
What I like: This could be a whole post on its own but I'll try to be brief. The game was really experimental for the team developing it, and they learned as they went along. Songs and charts went from quirky and jank to refined and cool over the game's 5-year span. Most of the songs are really cool and have their own distinct vibe from all of the other BEMANI games. The difficulty is sort of all over the place, ranging from simple <100 note ambient songs to some real weird and nasty stuff (hi, re-roots!). Double mode is really busted, since the charts were designed for 2 players to play cooperatively, and later made its own mode with no adjustment to the charts at all. If you don't mind failing a whole lot it's a lot of fun going through the double charts and running into difficult jank left and right.

DJ Max Technika: Bought as part of that same lot. I'm running Technika 3, which is the last game for it. Technika 3's support ended several years ago, but enthusiasts revived it with a new server, which they serve upgrades through.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Image the HDD to a SSD, replace CMOS battery and get this waking-on-power like it should, touch up headphone jacks since they're scratchy, drill small hole in door for video cable to pass through
What I like: This is the first touch rhythm game and it did things pretty differently than those that came later. As a result, playing this feels pretty fresh versus something like Reflec Beat, Beatstream, CrossxBeats, etc. DJ Max is a series that goes back to 2004 or something with a PC version, so sort of like 5keys, the songs range from weird and simplistic to polished and cool. The lifebar on this game is pretty harsh, so if you're up for a challenge and want to grind stuff a lot this is a good game to stick yourself in front of for an hour or two. Also, I love how the new server has revived the game; just like when it was officially supported, your scores are saved and you get to play new songs every few months.
 

DanAdamKOF

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20 Year Member
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Posts
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Candy cabs:
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SNK MVS-U4: I got this for... free. Someone on Craigslist was like "I have a Japanese arcade machine that's been in storage, I don't know if it still works so I don't want to take money for it in case it's broken." Lucky me! It didn't come with a NeoGeo MVS PCB but I had my own already. It fired right up and works great! I replaced the controls with new Seimitsu LS32 joysticks and Sanwa OBSF30 buttons. It has the door but it's not installed right now. In terms of games, I have something like 25 legit carts (with a lot not on the multicarts, ie Windjammers) and two multicarts.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Needs a cleaning, some goo-gone to get rid of old adhesive, some new decals, some locks, maybe rig up a MVS-JAMMA switch or just get an adapter, fix the bent pins in the memory card reader or install a replacement outright, replace A buttons with correct red color Sanwa button (oops)
Why I like it: I've liked NeoGeo since I was a little kid, I've been in online communities for it since 2000, and a NeoGeo conversion was the first cab I ever owned (in 2002, when I was 14, I saved up doing oddjobs for a summer to buy a cab for sale). Owning a NeoGeo cab again, in this form, feels like I've reached the final form of NeoGeo cab ownership. The size is small but not too small: it has 25" monitor, but it fits fine through doorways, isn't too heavy to move, and I'm pretty sure if I removed the control panel upper+lower I could fit it in my car. In terms of NeoGeo itself, it has a lot of games people recognize, so when I host meetups there's usually people on it playing something familiar or something new to them. The UniBIOS has a really cool feature where the 161-in-1's stupid menu is bypassed, with the MVS treating it like a ~100-slot MVS! People will see a neat attract mode, say "hey what's that", and try a game, whereas with the stupid menu I don't think they'd make a point to play stuff they don't know from its list. I like almost everything on the platform. I could type a whole essay about what I like, but I'll summarize and say I gravitate towards fighting and puzzle games, playing plenty of other stuff too. Also, I love the blue striped control panel, it's a refreshing change of pace from the red used in the American design.

Sega New Astro City: I bought this from a certain friend of mine. We recently replaced its monitor with a better condition one, and man is it crispy and vibrant. We also gave it some upgraded speakers and the sound is pretty nice now. Also, it's pretty clean, since when we had the monitor out before we cleaned the inside for about a half hour and got a ton of old nicotine off of its inner walls. I've got a couple of PCBs for this, notably DoDonPachi, a bootleg Battle Garegga with a ROM that makes it run like the original, a Puyo Puyo 2 conversion, an IGS PGM (needs repair), and a Konami System 573 (I have like 5 of these...). I'll probably get a JAMMA NeoGeo for it at some point because why not.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Honestly this cab doesn't need that much... maybe try some touch-up paint on a few dings, install kick harness wiring, get a 1P panel, paint the speaker shroud white, get new top logos.
Why I like it: This is one of the best candy cabs you can buy. The Nanao MS9 (or MS8 in a non-New Astro City) is reliable, and looks great when it's in good shape. The 29" screen size is big, and it's easy to rotate the monitor (there's no mechanism, but you can remove the front of the cab and take the monitor off and on its mount with a ton of room to work in). 2 player games don't feel terribly cramped or uncomfortable. The cab is easy to take apart, it's sturdy, and parts are extremely plentiful. Not to mention this is one of the more iconic candy cabs, so it's always cool having something that people recognize. I also happen to think it's a nice looking cab.

Bonus pic: The New Astro City didn't fit through the door in this room, so...
YCmsHgu.jpg

We did it this way.
 

DanAdamKOF

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20 Year Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2002
Posts
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Project cabs:
I have some machines in various states of repair in my garage.

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DrumMania: This is actually the Korean version of the cabinet, so it's technically called Percussion Freaks. This has a System 573 PCB which runs the first mix through 10thMix. I paid $50 to a friend who got this as a project, then never fixed it, took it really far apart, continued to not fix it, then needed it sold ASAP since he was going to move. The PCB wasn't booting, and the monitor was the same shit monitor as in a Korean DDR and looked awful. We cleaned it some, got the PCB booting (installed patched disc that removed the benign check it was failing), replaced the Korean CRT with a 29" Sony Trinitron TV a certain friend hacked an RGB input into (pictured above, BTW this is not as hard as you'd think!), and now it's halfway there.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Clean the rest of it, replaced dry-rotted dampener rings with new ones, replace all piezo sensors with replacements, reassemble circular pads, figure out reassembling the cymbals, figure out reusing Jubeat's old PCB in it for DrumMania V4-V8 (it's the same PCB! lucky how that worked out), grease the kick pedal, maybe paint the kick pedal, dampen kick pedal noise with some foam inside, replace a few lights
What I like: This is one of the few BEMANI games where playing it is an accurate simulation of the thing it's trying to be. The song list is amazing, consisting of a bunch of licenses and great original songs. I'm really shit at it and did not have a ton of opportunity to play in the arcade, but I played enough to know I like it.

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Crackin' DJ: Before there was Project Diva, MaiMai, Chunithm, etc, Sega made Crackin' DJ. I got this for free from a friend who acquired one in better shape, and wanted his less-good one gone. It has a NAOMI and Netboot setup but no actual cart (my friend kept the cart and bought Netboot parts but didn't set it up). We used its CRT tube to fix a Sega Blast City that a certain friend had, which had a busted tube.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Not much! Install another CRT since this no longer has one, get Netboot setup running, clean it, put it together, replace a few lights. This isn't going to join my other cabs inside, it's not a popular cab. A certain friend of mine said we should try replacing its control panel upper with one that has sticks and buttons and play CVS2 on it... I'm not opposed. I might also take the NAOMI out sometimes to use with the other cabs.
What I like: This game has a really cool hip-hop aesthetic. The controls are a lot of fun to play with: the two turntables spin on their own, and you can stop and spin them yourself, and there's a fader slider as well (it's said that Crackin' somewhat inspired DJ Hero). The game is rather difficult, so it will keep me entertained while I try and get better at it. Also it's really uncommon, though it's too obscure to impress people with that fact.

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Jaleco Pony mk IV: This is actually the "Sigma Video Game" variant of this cab (same Sigma as the maker of the Raijin SuperGun). This was free from a friend. He had gotten this cheap from an arcade and just wanted it gone, but he was across the state. Luckily, a friend with a big SUV was coming from there up to my area, so I had him get it for me. I had other friends who had seen this cab, and said it was a real uphill project. I got it in-hand and saw for myself that they weren't kidding. The monitor wasn't working, it was filthy, and it needs some plastic repair. I got a replacement monitor with some noticeable Pop'n burn for free and put that in there.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Cap the monitor that's in there, maybe tube swap it for a spare tube I have. Clean it some more. Use epoxy to repair plastic. Fabricate a monitor bezel. Sell this thing since I don't really need this cab.
What I like: Speakers sound good. Monitor isn't the worst to rotate (no mech, but the monitor frame has these nice huge handles on it). Makes you appreciate a good candy cab.

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SNK MVS-U4 (#2): The guy on Craigslist with the MVS-U4 I wrote about above had two cabs. This one was missing its monitor. I think we tested it and it played blind. So I said before it's a 25" tube... it is and it isn't. It's a slightly smaller 25" tube than the size everyone means when they say 25" tube. This size is pretty damn scarce since not many games used it, and you can't just put the standard size 25" tube into it. The friend of mine who got my Crackin' DJ CRT managed to source a replacement from someone who lives across the state and had a friend of his take it up here, on the night before I left for a vacation in Japan. Late into the night, we installed the monitor ghettoly, and saw that it works. That was a high note to fly out on. Oh, and it has all its doors, they're just not pictured.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Monitor needs a cap kit, needs a bunch of misc nuts and bolts, needs a cleaning, needs some decals, needs a headphone + memory card PCB, needs new controls.
What I like: See above. Having two of these would open up some comfy head-to-head options. Maybe I could get some of the link-capable Neo Geo games (there are 3 I think?) and try those out.

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Taito Egret 2: AKA "Trash Bird". That certain friend of mine gave it to me with all that you see in it: nothing. I bought a cache of parts from a local friend of ours who had tons of spare Egret parts. I've got a Wells Gardner D9800 Trisync CRT that I will use with this.
Planned repairs/upgrades: Buy basically every nut and bolt that you use with this thing since it has none. Drill holes and install rivnuts to adapt the monitor mounts from an Egret 3 to bolt into it. Install all the parts from the box of parts. Wire up JAMMA harness from scratch. Install LEDs to light the top logo. Install monitor cap kit. Fabricate monitor bezel. Maybe try cleaning up some of the shitty paint coverups it has.
What I like: I think I'll leave this one horizontal, and the New Astro City vertical, so I can install both styles of games without having to rotate anything. Since the D9800 monitor should do 720p, I have plans to use it like a ghetto Vewlix-type cabinet, and run modern fighters and the like. 2 player games on it is decently comfortable. Speakers sound decent. I'll feel a real sense of pride when this is finished.



Thank you for reading this far! If you're interested in finding out more, feel free to ask here. If you want to watch me play these games or ask me questions there, I stream regularly from these cabinets at https://twitch.tv/danadamkof
 

HDRchampion

Before you sell me something, ask how well my baby
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Looks great, always fun hanging out with friends. I have bi-weekly at my garage arcade. What are you using for a capture card for your arcade hardware?
 

DanAdamKOF

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Looks great, always fun hanging out with friends. I have bi-weekly at my garage arcade. What are you using for a capture card for your arcade hardware?
Thanks! I use a Startech USB3HDCAP with the hacked drivers from The Thrillness's blog. The latest drivers broke 15khz 240p capability. The VGA input can capture RGB in 15khz, 24khz, 31khz and up directly.

I wouldn't exactly recommend this since it's not the most user-friendly, I'd instead outright recommend an RGB to HDMI scaler + a nice HDMI card. However, you can find these cards secondhand for cheap if you're patient, so if you want to spend as little as possible and don't already have a scaler then this can work.

Here's an example capture from a recent stream (31khz anamorphic source):

Someone beat the piss out of the DrumMania. :hammer::loco:
It's a pretty old machine. I've found evidence it was a 3rdMIX at some point, so it's close to as old as the series itself. It was at a local arcade for a long time before my friend bought it.
 

HDRchampion

Before you sell me something, ask how well my baby
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Thanks! I use a Startech USB3HDCAP with the hacked drivers from The Thrillness's blog. The latest drivers broke 15khz 240p capability. The VGA input can capture RGB in 15khz, 24khz, 31khz and up directly.

I wouldn't exactly recommend this since it's not the most user-friendly, I'd instead outright recommend an RGB to HDMI scaler + a nice HDMI card. However, you can find these cards secondhand for cheap if you're patient, so if you want to spend as little as possible and don't already have a scaler then this can work.

Here's an example capture from a recent stream (31khz anamorphic source):


It's a pretty old machine. I've found evidence it was a 3rdMIX at some point, so it's close to as old as the series itself. It was at a local arcade for a long time before my friend bought it.

I actually have Startech USB3HDCAP. I can capture dreamcast 31k & 15k jamma just fine most of the time but i was having a hardtime trying to get Bass Fishing to work 24k. It was really shaky, i haven't tried that Thrillness driver, got a link to a current one? Also do you happen to have the settings if you use OBS?
 

DanAdamKOF

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I actually have Startech USB3HDCAP. I can capture dreamcast 31k & 15k jamma just fine most of the time but i was having a hardtime trying to get Bass Fishing to work 24k. It was really shaky, i haven't tried that Thrillness driver, got a link to a current one? Also do you happen to have the settings if you use OBS?
Maybe check that your Deinterlace setting in your driver is set to Weave (None) and that you didn't set OBS itself to deinterlace. If you captured interlaced stuff before you'll have to change those back.

beatmania 5keys is 24khz and it works fine for me. I might have put sync through a 150 or 300 ohm resistor into it, I kinda forget sorry, that might not matter anyway.

This blog post has a link to The Thrillness' hacked driver, and putting your PC into Test Mode (required to use it):
http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2018/02/startech-usb3hdcap-review.html

My OBS settings aren't anything unusual, I think my output resolution for the card is 640x480 with auto resolution scaling enabled in the driver, and deinterlace set to weave (none).
 

ebinsugewa

Rosa's Tag-Team Partner
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I'd love to visit sometime if I'm ever out that way.

A local place had a Crackin' DJ on location in great shape. Unique cab but the game is fucking hard. I can't make sense of the timing at all.

I like the ease of rotation of the Pony as well but for me the tube is too recessed into the cab making vertical games somewhat awkward to look at. The top of the screen is physically really far away from you unless you lean forward.
 
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