Atoning for past sins ...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

About a year ago, I burst forth on the DP forum scene with a misguided act of converting a broken Dig-Dug cabinet into a MAME cabinet.

I caught the requisite flack (the insults not the DP forum member) and did what I could to defend my actions as purely ignorant and not malicious.

Thankfully, the community is pretty tollerant here, some even were big enough to agree with the sentiment "it's your stuff, do what you want with it."

While my MAME cabinet lives on and is well played on a regular basis, I've always felt that I did a segment of cool people in the classic restoration community a minor disservice by hacking up the 'Dug.

This past weekend Stonic was awesome and selfless enough to sell and deliver to me what I consider to be a personal grail - a Mr. Do cocktail.

There were fleeting moments of a desire to re-wire it with a JAMMA harness and a multicade PCB, but after researching the hardware, I found that it was about 80% original parts (brand new monitor and repaired power supply) ...

... I thought, hell, this is an opportunity to fix my classic cabinet karma.

So, see the before/after pics below for how it all went down.

No shots of the interior, but it's pretty clean ... a bit of rot and rust, but no dust or cobwebs.

I cleaned everything, polished off any trace of exterior rust, cut new 1/4 inch plexi for the tabletop, gave the base and corners a sanding and a new coat of black oil based gloss.

I'll look for a new "Universal" label for the front in the future ... the old one wasn't salvagable, very water/age damaged. Other than that, I think it looks sweet.

While I've certainly never felt hated or black-listed by the classic preservation community, I hope this proves that I've learned my lessons over how to treat a well preserved classic machine.

Pictures. Enjoy.

Before

http://web.comporium.net/~scottith/ebay/mrdo1.JPG

After

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0085.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0092.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0096.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0103.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0111.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0113.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0114.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0126.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/DSC_0137.jpg

[Apollo]

Awesome! I'm glad to see that you decided to restore this one, especially considering it was a cocktail table, which I personally like more than regular cabinets.

[GrandAmChandler]

Sweeeeeeeeet. Looks great Frankie! A true treasure. Soooooooo, when are you going to bring that Dig Dug back to life in all of it's glory?

;)

-GAC-

[Nikademus1969]

Please, for the love of whatever god you may worship...tell me that's not Donny & Marie on the shelf in your bookcase :eek 2:

The cabnet looks great tho :)

[diskoboy]

Sweet looking cocktail!

Mr. Do.... Excellent choice.

All is forgiven.

Did anyone, besides me, absolutely despise those old cocktail cabinets where the joysticks and buttons were sticking straight out in front of you, instead of laying flat? I loathed Nintendo cocktails for that exact reason.

No offense to you, Frankie... That's a damn fine cab/game, you've got there. And the way you have it arranged makes it look like a school desk. ;)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Please, for the love of whatever god you may worship...tell me that's not Donny & Marie on the shelf in your bookcase :eek 2:

The cabnet looks great tho :)

Sonny & Cher actually.

They're Lissette's. :D Vintage actually, just a few years older than the cocktail table.

[MrSparkle]

Wow beautiful restoration work man. Can't say I've ever played this game though ill have to give it a whirl next time i see a mame cab.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Wow beautiful restoration work man. Can't say I've ever played this game though ill have to give it a whirl next time i see a mame cab.

Mr. Do is a very close gameplay cousin of Dig-Dug.

Tunneling, eating fruits, dropping items on monsters, but the action is much more intense and ramps up much faster than Dig-Dug.

One of Universal's most memorable games. I believe that the Universal licenses were in limbo for a number of years, but I see that Namco has distribution rights for the USA (at least on Mr. Do) and Universal's properties are now under the ArUze banner.

[An Hero]

Sonny & Cher actually.

They're Lissette's. :D Vintage actually, just a few years older than the cocktail table.

My mom has those EXACT same dolls! Along with CHiPs, the crew from Welcome Back, Kotter, and a bunch of other random 70's types.

[Sanriostar]

Did anyone, besides me, absolutely despise those old cocktail cabinets where the joysticks and buttons were sticking straight out in front of you, instead of laying flat? I loathed Nintendo cocktails for that exact reason.

(raises hand)

F-ing hand crampers, what they are! Gimme a later Midway or Atari Cocktail any day!

Also, anyone else weirded out by the controls for the cocktail Galaxian?

[Pantechnicon]

Speaking as one of the dogpilers from the unveiling of your Dig Dug MAME, I feel that over the time you've been on this forum you have more than demonstrated sincere enthusiasm and knowledge for and about the classic gaming hobby and in my own mind at least have long since stopped holding that against you. If mistakes were made...well...then who hasn't made mistakes?

All that being said, it looks like you did a very nice job on the Mr. Do cocktail, Frankie. (golf clap)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Thanks guys.

Like I said, I never felt hated or black-listed.

This is the best classic gaming web community ever, for sure.

[InsaneDavid]

As has been said, absolutely beautiful work. If a job interview goes well tomorrow I may finally be able to stop chasing an arcade grail of my own - Klax cabaret. :D

[XYXZYZ]

As I recall most of the crap you took in that other thread was from a guy who wandered in from KLOV. When Stonic delivered my pre-butchered Centipede I mentioned that when I show off the MAME job (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115393) I do to it I'll have to include a disclaimer that I'm not the one who did the dirty work. So Frankie's name came up, and Stonic said something like "Yeah, that guy stepped on a landmine with that one!".LOL But we both agreed that you turned out to be a pretty cool guy nonetheless. :cheers:

Anyway, nice work with the Mr Do. And if that was Donnie and Marie, the Swedish Chef makes up for it!

[Flack]

Yuck. MAME it.

(Just kidding. Nice job!)

[TVs Hasselhoff]

It's not 100% vintage complete until you attach the ashtray.

Vintage cocktails and cabinets always have ashtrays.

Still, it looks good. Could look better with the ashtray, but I wouldn't kick it out of bed.