Final Fight arcade cabinet worth $200-$250?

[DogP]

I gotta agree that it's a little high... I've never paid over $250 for any of my cabs, but I usually only buy somewhat broken and cheap stuff (I really have to limit what I buy now since I have almost no room anymore :P ). I guess for a starter cab, it's not bad since it's fully working, and maybe in nice shape, but really, if you're wanting to learn, you'll learn a lot more fixing up a beat up/non working machine.

DogP

[Jasoco]

I talked him down to $200, and well, since he's a little hard up for cash, I thought I could at least help him out, and get an arcade cabinet to play with in the process.

So yeah, I will be getting it. And I will have questions when I do. So stay tuned.

[SuperGunGuru]

I talked him down to $200, and well, since he's a little hard up for cash, I thought I could at least help him out, and get an arcade cabinet to play with in the process.

So yeah, I will be getting it. And I will have questions when I do. So stay tuned.

Congrats on the cab Just be warned....it only takes one to become addicted

[Jasoco]

I talked him down to $200, and well, since he's a little hard up for cash, I thought I could at least help him out, and get an arcade cabinet to play with in the process.

So yeah, I will be getting it. And I will have questions when I do. So stay tuned.

Congrats on the cab Just be warned....it only takes one to become addicted

I know! Where am I gonna put them!!??

[Balloon Fight]

Nice deal for $200. Now you need to get some more jamma boards and you're set. Down here, a cab for $200 is a miracle. In the paper people will list the cab as "bad condition" and still want around $400.

[Jasoco]

Yes. Jamma will be one of my questions.

For instance and starters, where's a list of all the games that use Jamma?

[DogP]

Pretty much any game after 1986 is JAMMA... there are some exceptions, but do a search on www.klov.com and it'll tell you whether it's JAMMA or not, and if it isn't, then you can make/buy an adapter so it'll run in a JAMMA cab. There's also JAMMA+, which uses a JAMMA connector, but there's extra connectors besides just the JAMMA one, so it may not work, like Tekken 2 has 4 buttons, 3 are connected to the JAMMA edge, and 1 is connected to the extra connector.

DogP

[Jasoco]

Hmm. Searching for Jamma at KLOV doesn't turn anything up.

Also, controls were my second question. Obviously I will need more buttons eventually if I happen to want to play something other than Bubble Bobble. (Actually, does FF have enough buttons even for that? 1 Player, 2 Player and two action buttons for two players?)

Let me throw out some games I'm interested in looking into eventually..

Bubble Bobble (ould be my first choice. But I suppose I'd be happier with an actual dedicated BB cabinet. They never show up on eBay in complete form though.)
Simpsons Arcade (2 player would suffice)
Bells and Whistles (Playin this on MAME just doesn't cut it. I want to play this on a console or cabinet!)
TMNT Arcade
TMNT IV Turtles in Time
Donkey Kong (Finally, the missing Cement level.)
Mario Bros (For a little fun. Not high on my list, but still fun to look into.)
Popeye (Same.)
Rampage (Maybe)

For starters. Which would be easy to do and which would need work? How easy is swapping out a Jamma board? In other words, is it as easy as disconnecting the board, switching it with the new one and reconnecting everything up? Or are there more things to do even then? (Providing the game has the same amount of buttons in the first place.) I'm not opposed to putting a little work or money into a job if it's a game I really want to play.

[chadtower]

Pretty much any game after 1986 is JAMMA... there are some exceptions, but do a search on www.klov.com and it'll tell you whether it's JAMMA or not, and if it isn't, then you can make/buy an adapter so it'll run in a JAMMA cab. There's also JAMMA+, which uses a JAMMA connector, but there's extra connectors besides just the JAMMA one, so it may not work, like Tekken 2 has 4 buttons, 3 are connected to the JAMMA edge, and 1 is connected to the extra connector.

DogP

That's not correct... there are a LOT LOT of games after 1986 that are not JAMMA and they haven't made many JAMMA games in years.

[DogP]

I wouldn't say a LOT of games after 1986 aren't JAMMA, there are definately some (pretty much sega system 16, which is very close to JAMMA), but by early 90's pretty much all were JAMMA (except strange ones requiring weird controls, like steering wheels). And what do you mean that they haven't made many JAMMA games in years? Most games that they still make are JAMMA, unless they're non-standard like driving or some shooting games, but they wouldn't work in a JAMMA cabinet even if they did hook up (either higher res monitor, controls, etc). The entire Golden Tee series is JAMMA, Sega Naomi hardware is, Capcom CPS1, CPS2, CPS3, and a bunch others are too.

When I said to search KLOV, I meant search for the game that you want, and it'll tell you whether it's JAMMA or not. If you'd like to see an entire list: http://www.google.com/search?q=JAMMA+site%3Aklov.com , but there's 3,810 results .

About the ones that you asked about:
Bubble Bobble: No, Taito Classic
Simpsons: Yes
Bells and Whistles: Yes
TMNT: Yes
TMNT IV Turtles in Time: Yes
Donkey Kong: No, Nintendo Classic
Mario Bros: No, same
Popeye: No, same
Rampage: No, Midway Mono Board

There are some bootleg boards (JAMMA) that'll play multiple games, and those have some of the popular games like Donkey Kong, Galaga, Ms. Pac Man, Dig Dug, etc, but they're usually pretty expensive and low quality.

DogP

[Jasoco]

While I'm bummed about the Bubble Bobble and three Nintendo games, I'm happy Simpsons, the TMNT games and especially Bells and Whistles will work. Bubble Bobble I can play on my PSX or PS2 and get the same experience, besides, one day I plan to own an actual cabinet of it instead of a hack, so it's fine. But the other four, yay.

BUT my question is hw easily would those four games convert? Bells and Whistles I know only has two action buttons per player and two player buttons the same as Final Fight. But how many action buttons do the other three games have? Also, how easy do these games "install" so to say? I know it won't be like inserting a cartridge, but I would like to know. I'm curious to know if I'll have to be looking for more buttons or replacement controls.

[DogP]

IIRC Simpsons, TMNT, and Bells and Whistles all have 2 buttons, like Final Fight. To install a game, it's very similar to installing a cartridge, all you have to do is unhook the 56 pin harness from one board and connect it to the other. The only problem is that Simpsons and TMNT are usually 4 player boards, so you can only select the first two characters. If you end up getting those boards, I can burn the 2 player chips for you if you'd like, so you can select any character.

To add more buttons, it's very easy, just buy the buttons (and the switches), then connect the wire to the JAMMA harness on the pin for the third button, and then tie the other side of the switch to the ground shared with the rest of the buttons.

DogP

[Jasoco]

Allright. We'll take care of that stuff when the time comes.

Good to know it'll be easy for the most part. Guess the hard part will be winning the board I want. Especially B&W. I saw TMNT and Simpsons on eBay today so I know they're available, but I never see Bells which is what I really want the most.

A question that goes through my mind is what about games that use vertically mounted monitors? I think Bells is one of them. Would the picture be rotated? Or does the game use a special horizontal mode? If this is the game I want to play the most, will I have a problem monitor-wise?

Now, when you say "Can only choose the first two characters", does that mean what I'm thinking? For instance, in TMNT, you could only choose say Raphael and Donatello but not Michelangelo or Leonardo? Or in Simpsons, only select Bart and Homer but not Lisa and Marge? Or is it something else? If it's the first, then yeah, I'll want to make them 2-player versions.

[ClubNinja]

Unless you can get in there and rotate the monitor, your vertical games will display sideways on the horizontal monitor.

[Dimitri]

Now, when you say "Can only choose the first two characters", does that mean what I'm thinking? For instance, in TMNT, you could only choose say Raphael and Donatello but not Michelangelo or Leonardo? Or in Simpsons, only select Bart and Homer but not Lisa and Marge? Or is it something else? If it's the first, then yeah, I'll want to make them 2-player versions.

On Simpsons at least, the four player setup will decide your character based on which control set you're using, and you only get the first two sets with standard Jamma. The two player setup lets you select your character with the joystick when you put a coin in.

[Jasoco]

Unless you can get in there and rotate the monitor, your vertical games will display sideways on the horizontal monitor.

Heh. I figured that. I'll have to see it in person, but I wouldn't suppose it'd actually be easy to do that. Would it?

On Simpsons at least, the four player setup will decide your character based on which control set you're using, and you only get the first two sets with standard Jamma. The two player setup lets you select your character with the joystick when you put a coin in.

Neat.

Hey, how easy is it to set up a cabinet to not require quarters?

[chadtower]

Heh. I figured that. I'll have to see it in person, but I wouldn't suppose it'd actually be easy to do that. Would it?

That's dependent on the cabinet and whether or not it has mounting hardware for the other monitor orientation... or, whether or not your monitor has it. It could be fairly simple, it could mean some extra work.

Hey, how easy is it to set up a cabinet to not require quarters?

Again, dependent on the game. You COULD custom wire a button to be a credit button, but that's a crappy way to do it. Most boards have a built in freeplay setting either in software or via dip switches on the PCB. You can also leave the coin door unlocked so folks can open the door and manually trigger the coin lever, but that's only if you trust folks sticking their hands in there not to break anything or end up with +5v to the face.