Buying my first Arcade Game (Mint Ninja Gaiden)

[tau219]

Scored a great deal on craigslist. I found a perfectly working near mint ninja gaiden arcade for $100. Since its jamma i firgure ill be able to easily swap out other games and ive been wanting this game for quite some time. Went to see it the other day and physically it looks great but the monitor is a little faded and the characters are a little fuzzy (any way to fix this? new cap kit? Im a newb to arcades and have no idea). Anyways im going back later in the week to pick it up in my van. Hopefully the transport will go well. So any idea what the proper value is on this thing or did i only get a meh kind of deal.

cheers,
Mike

[Flack]

$100 is what I'd pay for it, though I've seen them go for more due to the popularity of the brand. It's a fun beat-em-up and worth at least $100. You're right, a cap kit will most likely clear up your monitor issues. I'm not sure where you are located but there are lots of people in this hobby who are willing to cap a monitor for you for a fee (if you don't plan on tackling it yourself).

[Trebuken]

I just lost a bid on ebay that went for just over $40 with shipping; just for the pcb; good find.

[XYXZYZ]

Start with a cap kit, but I had a monitor that was really blurry, wound up replacing the flyback transformer. (the SCREEN resistor was shot)

Was Ninja Gaiden a dedicated cab, or just a kit? The only one I've played was a kit applied to a Dynamo Big Boy.

[tau219]

Ok guys i just got back from picking up the arcade today and boy was it a trip. Took about 45 minutes to slowly work it up through this guys house and over a set of steps down to the curb. Used a minivan for the transport and laid it flat on its back. fortunatly nothing broke and it still fires up great. The arcade itself is an original dedicated game. Monitor has a little burn in unfortuantly but is really not visible when the monitor lights up. I dunno for now I may keep it the way it is because it still finctions perfectly. Im still probobly going to sand down some areas and maybe redo the side paint thats flaking a bit. For $100 this is definatly a steal. I cant wait to get some other cheap pcbs off ebay and make this a multicade. Eventually once I learn more from doing some mantinence on this baby ill install a cap kit. I just dont want to get blown up lol.

cheers,
Mike

[tau219]

Dang bad news. As it turns out it is a conversion kit. Orignially i thought the manual was not included but it was instead I found it in the very inside bottom of the machine. It says its a conversion kit. I found it a little odd there was no sideart but i fugured it had just been painted over by its previous owners. Oh well no biggie still an awesome authentic looking kick ass machine.

cheers,
Mike

[Flack]

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

[XYXZYZ]

Congratulations, but be warned that arcade games are like chips or cookies- once you get one, you've got to have another. And another, and another...

And I don't think Ninja Gaiden was ever released as a dedicated machine.

[tau219]

Well as I was playing my coin mech suddenly stopped working and after a few minutes of rooting around i managed to find the cause of the problem. Some wire had come lose from a contact to a box that recorded the number of game plays. Using a wire stripper and some electrical tape i quickly solved the problem (I will do a better soddered fix later) but it says the machine has been played 63045 times. Thats suprising considering the machine was supposedly only in the arcade for 3 years lol. Anyways this machine definatly has a lot of history behind it and its pretty interesting to slowly learn how it works by observing and fixing crap. Gonna start fixing it up soon by replacing some bulbs and giving it some fresh paint. Ill update later.

cheers,
Mike

[XianXi]

Dont forget you might wanna rewire Button 1 as on the Ninja Gaiden cab its on the stick.

[diskoboy]

And I don't think Ninja Gaiden was ever released as a dedicated machine.

I think this quote is correct. The only dedicated Tecmo machine I remember for around that time would have to be Tecmo Bowl.

Still... Any Ninja Gaiden machine, dedicated or not, at $100 is quite a bargain. Excellent find!

Now a bit of advice - Now that you have your fist arcade game, be prepared to have company over, quite often... I found this the case when I bought my first machine (It happend to be a Vs. Super Mario Bros).

[tau219]

Well i just ordered some new t molding to replace the somewhat beat up molding on my machine but what kind of paint should i use to go over the sides? Any suggestions?

[shawnbo42]

Are you painting over the sideart? If not, I suggest trying to find a paint that is the closest color/finish to what you have. That way, you don't need to get too close to the artwork to make the game look new again. If you are going to just paint it, I use oil-based enamel. Doesn'r peel, take a LOT of beating, and dries to a high-gloss sheen. (Of course, it takes like 2 days to dry, but you just can't have it all your way, can you?). If you are going to use tape on the artwork so you don't paint the edges, test it first!!! Sadly, I learned the hard way (way back when) that some silkscreened sideart really doesn't mix well with masking tape or blue painter's tape (as in, it peels off about half the silkscreen with it). Hope this helps you in your quest for a "new" arcade machine!! Definite congrats on the buy, by the way. I don't remember ever even seeing that game in my area ever.

[tau219]

There is no sideart currently, thanks for the advice on the paint though. Im gonna tackle the outside first then work on the insides (ie lightbulbs) later. Also i rather like having the third button wired into the control stick seems better to me over a traditional 3 button setup.