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MachineGex
10-22-2008, 12:30 PM
I got a few questions about the above board. First some background information. I had a Ms. Pacman cocktail table that had an old multi-pac chip in it. It was like a 20 in 1 pacman chip(not sure exactly). It ran off of the old pacman board. Well, after I moved, the machine stopped working. I finally found someone to work on it. Turns out the board was bad. I was amazed at the sloppy work that was inside. It was a complete mess. The guy suggested I replace almost all of it. He said the Pacman board was 25+ years old and I might as well put in a jamma 48 in 1. He completely rewired everything including a different(slightly used)monitor with a cap kit, along with new power supply, new PCB 48 board, harnesses, coin mech, lock, all new wiring, etc. Cost was $420 for everything. Seems reasonable and the work was very neat & tidey.

Now for the questions: :)
1) Are these Jamma multi 48 in 1 boards any good? Are they well made? I am happy with the games and titles(much better games than my old multi-pac chip), just wondering how they hold up. Only complaint is a few games like arkanoid and centipede are almost unplayable (for me) with a joystick.

2) Is there an easy way to add/change the button layout? The buttons are on the worng side of the joystick for me. I need the fire buttons on the right side of the joystick, but the player one/ player 2 buttons are there now. I was thinking moving the player 1 & 2 buttons to the front or side of the control panel housing and add a few fire buttons in there place. Is that easy to do? Can you have two buttons fire buttons(they both do the same funtion).I also thougth about adding the new fire buttons to the side of the control housing. This way I would leave the player 1&2 buttons alone. It also seems pretty comfortable this way.

3) Also, now that the machine is Jamma, are there any other multi boards to look at? He said there is a 60 in 1 board that supports the track ball, but I am not about to stick a trackball in a cocktail. Any other boards that I could get and just plug and play(so to speak)?

skaar
10-22-2008, 01:30 PM
I have one of those boards in a Frogger cocktail cabinet.

It works fine, but I have some minor complaints - the main one being that you can't seem to put more than one credit into a game at the same time. So if you put in two quarters and choose Pacman, you're back to the menu after each game over. It seems to remember exactly where you were when you choose the same game again, but it kinda breaks the retro feel when you go back to a selection menu all the time.

Make sure you wire in an extra switch - there's a service mode and a testing mode (I forget the terminology, but they're different) - one will give you free quarters and you need to hold down the other button when you turn the system on to get to the setup menu.

Also DO NOT LOSE THE MANUAL - information online is a little sketchy so it's nice to have the book specific to your board to look up pinouts, etc.

As far as buttons are concerned, since you're wiring to a jamma harness now as far as I know you can have a bunch of different buttons do the same thing pretty easily. I'm running through a converter board since I didn't want to mess with the original wiring for Frogger. You should be able to follow the very well documented wiring process for jamma for your new buttons.

I looked at "upgrading" to the 60 in 1 but it didn't have any more games than I wanted. I considered a mame PC or something but didn't take it that far. I'm happy with some Donkey Kong action once in awhile ;)

MachineGex
10-26-2008, 12:10 PM
Has anyone noticed that the Donkey Kong has an extra level in it? I swear I dont remember a pie level. The level has been added later? Are there any other changes? I have only got to 90,000 on my new board. I remember getting around 200,000 back in the 80's and there was not a pie level.
Anyone?

icbrkr
10-26-2008, 12:15 PM
Nope, the cement factory level is very much an original level. It was taken out of most home versions of the game though.

channelmaniac
10-26-2008, 01:06 PM
What are you going to do with the old board? If you still have it, I wouldn't mind picking it up from you.

RJ

GrandAmChandler
10-26-2008, 01:13 PM
Get the 60-in-1, trackball support, as well as optical spinner support for Arkanoid.

Flack
10-27-2008, 06:18 AM
Hey Stonic, what's the easiest way to get these 48-in-1 into setup mode? The cabinet I stuck mine in doesn't have a test switch.

MachineGex
10-27-2008, 10:06 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions. I am having a blast on this machine. I waited almost 3 years to get this fixed. As far as Donkey Kong, I wonder if there are pirate boards that didnt have the pie(or cement)level. I know for a fact I have never played that level before. I put hundreds of quarters(as a kid) in a DK machine and scored well over 100,000, yet never saw that pie/conveyer belt level. Oh well, I am starting to get alzheimers at 40.

Channelmaniac-I gave the old board to the guy who fixed the arcade. He did alot of work for me (in a rush) and was a great guy.

Flack
10-28-2008, 05:25 PM
Well I thought I would be cute and just short out pin 15. That worked, but I didn't know that I was going to need to keep pressing it to get through the menus. After realizing that I went ahead and wired a button up. Works good ... now I just need a place to mount it inside the cabinet somewhere. :) The main things I wanted to do was change Ms. Pac-Man back from hearts to "beans", set the cabinet on free play, and turn down the god damn sound. All three missions accomplished!

skaar
10-30-2008, 02:06 PM
I still haven't wired up a button, I just keep a taped up wire floating around and ground it when needed.

I really should do the button.