Atari Area 51 arcade ... gut her, of repair her?

[XNIF]

I will get a Area 51 cabinet next week. It does not run (since 2 weeks before that i was fine). It gives something like a message during boot "disc drive not connected" or something.  Dunno what that means, but probably that harddrive or the PCB it self.  However it looks pretty nice. Should i mame it, or fix it?  What do you guys think? It was only 75 dollar....

[8way]

WOW $75, killer deal!! I would fix the PCB and sell it. That way you make your money back and profit. Then i would MAME the hell out of it.

[XNIF]

yeah maybe...  i'm also in the middle of another project . Making a low boy scratch build. Maybe i'll just fix it... and play a while with it. Then sell it. For some reason it kinda breaks my heart to kill such a nice cabinet.

[Donkbaca]

I say fix it and sell it.  Light gun games in MAME are frustrating. 

[flashiv]

Fix it.  I don't know why everyone wants to MAME everything.   

Off soapbox now. 

[XNIF]

Fix it.  I don't know why everyone wants to MAME everything.   

Off soapbox now. 

I think it has to do with THE fact that this is building your own arcade forum

[flashiv]

Fix it.  I don't know why everyone wants to MAME everything.   

Off soapbox now. 

I think it has to do with THE fact that this is building your own arcade forum

True, but restoration is also a way to build your own.

[XNIF]

Fix it.  I don't know why everyone wants to MAME everything.   

Off soapbox now. 

I think it has to do with THE fact that this is building your own arcade forum

True, but restoration is also a way to build your own.




Yeah... But i found out today that people at arcade controls think building = maning and the guys at THE arcade museum think building = preserving your arcade machine.

I was only into mame....this vintage arcade thing is kinda new to me...heheh

[flashiv]

Fix it.  I don't know why everyone wants to MAME everything.   

Off soapbox now. 

I think it has to do with THE fact that this is building your own arcade forum

True, but restoration is also a way to build your own.




Yeah... But i found out today that people at arcade controls think building = maning and the guys at THE arcade museum think building = preserving your arcade machine.

I was only into mame....this vintage arcade thing is kinda new to me...heheh

I've just started the vintage repairing part myself maybe one year ago, so I know next to nothing on repairing them (so far).  Built my MAME cab about 6 years ago (and it still needs touching up and improvements  )  I feel building can and should mean both MAMEING and preserving.  But a good machine like it sounds like you have I think should be restored.

[IG-88]

I say fix it. It's a cool cab. Build one from scratch for mame. There are only a limited supply of original cabs.

If you do decide to mame it try not to alter it in a permanent way. Then maybe somewhere down the road someone may have a chance on "restoring" it.

[opt2not]

I think it has to do with THE fact that this is building your own arcade forum

This is actually the Restoration portion of this forum, hence the 300+ posts of restoration projects listed here. Building a mame cabinet is great, and a good way to play everything, but it doesn't beat having an original of your favourite game.
Restoration plays a major role in the whole point of Mame/BYOAC, which is preservation, and should not be looked passed.
Lots of contributors to this site have more than just a mame cabinet, many of them have originals as well. Also, a lot of skills learned from restorations can be applicable to building/converting a mame cabinet.
Heh, even lots of people that start off in Mame cabinet building end up becoming collectors. So there's no need for the elitism. It's all in the same family.

I've just started the vintage repairing part myself maybe one year ago, so I know next to nothing on repairing them (so far).  Built my MAME cab about 6 years ago (and it still needs touching up and improvements  )  I feel building can and should mean both MAMEING and preserving.  But a good machine like it sounds like you have I think should be restored.

Absolutely.

To the OP, I haven't seen anyone restore an Area 51 before, so this would probably be a first.  Is it an original cabinet, or a conversion?  An original could be a fun project to restore...

[XNIF]

Well.... i got the Area 51 in my garage now. And man.... this thing is HUGE! And it weighs a ton!
I will make a few pics today. It's  not in the best shape ... some parts of the stickers are gone bad and some of the mdf is damaged. However, it still looks nice enough for 75 dollar (it was 60 euro... dunno the exact conversionrate).  And it was a big adventure to get it....  it was a very very tight fit to get it in my ford focus station  (the bottom was outside the car).

I have to admit, it might me too big for me. I think i'll fix it and sell it. Maybe clean it up and gluespray the stickers again....  sell it with a little profit and buy something smaller.

[XNIF]

well.... fixed the harddrive. It runs now...  it's awesome!