Building a cab with ONE game

[Bayne666]

Hi everyone.

I was wondering your opinion on building a cabinet with only one game like in the old days.

Is this considered taboo in the community? like, would you be like "why would you do such a thing when you can just have all the games you want???"

[Generic Eric]

It is a great idea!
What game are you going to build around?

[Alistair Keith]

You can build a cabinet with one game if you wish.

It will probably cost around the same price (maybe marginally cheaper) to build it with one game.

What game are you thinking of?

[DeLuSioNal29]

Depending on the game of course, it may be cheaper to get the actual Jamma board in there.

+1 on the "What game?" question.

D

[Bayne666]

I actually have several ideas but in the first run I was thinking about making an Aliens cab with the Aliens game OR an AVP one with the beat'em up.

I'm also thinking about making a Kirby cab. (oh yes, it will be pink!)

Right now I need to finish my Tattoo cab http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139127.0.html, which will have about 20 games.

I also want to make a Mega Man cab with ALL the Mega Man games

[Louis Tully]

.

[BadMouth]

It's done occasionally and the cabs are always well received. 
They're usually done by experienced people who already have more than one MAME cab.

How about one game that only uses one button?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,131662.msg1350763.html#msg1350763

also see:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,132853.msg1366114.html#msg1366114

The only thing that would be considered taboo is if the emulated game were put in a public location and earning money as if it were the original licensed hardware.

[Louis Tully]

.

[Generic Eric]

Some one made a fix it felix jr.

I'm also thinking about making a Kirby cab. (oh yes, it will be pink!)
 
I also want to make a Mega Man cab with ALL the Mega Man games

You should do these things.  Would you consider doing a non-traditional profile like Burger Time?

[yotsuya]

I have two "dedicated" cabs running 1 game each because otherwise it would be too expensive to restore it to the real thing (both are vector games - the price of one working monitor alone would probably be more than what I paid for BOTH cabs). No one other than me can tell the difference.

Go for it!

[thomas_surles]

You should do something totally different like an earthworm jim cab or a zelda cab.

[Malenko]

ONE game? only if it s a great one (like Galaga or Arkanoid), otherwise I'd at minimum make it a JAMMA cab, so you can swap boards easy peasy.

[Bayne666]

You should do something totally different like an earthworm jim cab or a zelda cab.

An Earthworm Jim cab would be freakin awesome! I'll put it on my list

[Bayne666]

ONE game? only if it s a great one (like Galaga or Arkanoid), otherwise I'd at minimum make it a JAMMA cab, so you can swap boards easy peasy.

Since I'm still a n00b I don't really know what JAMMA means... care to break it down for me?

[ed12]

here u go

JAMMA stands for Japanese Arcade Machine Manufacturers Association, a set of standards developed for board pinouts. This was designed to make board changes easy, just take out the old game and plug in the new.

The JAMMA wiring standard was introduced in 1985. Arcade cabinets wired to the JAMMA standard can be made to play all games built to this standard, simply by installing the circuit boards for the new game. By the 1990s, most new arcade games were JAMMA standard. As the majority of arcade games were designed in Japan at this time, JAMMA became the de facto world standard.

Jamma connector pinout
Solder Side    Parts Side
Ground    A    1    Ground
Ground    B    2    Ground
+5V    C    3    +5V
+5V    D    4    +5V
-5V    E    5    -5V
+12V    F    6    +12V
Key    H    7    Key
Meter 2    J    8    Meter 1
Lockout 2    K    9    Lockout 1
Speaker -    L    10    Speaker +
Audio Ground    M    11    Audio +
Video Green    N    12    Video Red
Video Sync    P    13    Video Blue
Service Switch    R    14    Video Ground
Tilt Switch    S    15    Test Switch
Coin 2    T    16    Coin 1
2 Player start    U    17    1 Player start
Player 2 Up    V    18    Player 1 Up
Player 2 Down    W    19    Player 1 Down
Player 2 Left    X    20    Player 1 Left
Player 2 Right    Y    21    Player 1 Right
Player 2 Button 1    Z    22    Player 1 Button 1
Player 2 Button 2    a    23    Player 1 Button 2
Player 2 Button 3    b    24    Player 1 Button 3
(Player 2 Button 4)    c    25    (Player 1 Button 4)
Not used    d    26    Not used
Ground    e    27    Ground
Ground    f    28    Ground

ed

[Bayne666]

ok gotcha.

but making; let's say; a JAMMA Mega Man X cab would be out of the question then? since Mega Man X is an SNES game?

[ed12]

yes u can
u just need the nessary converter's
jamma just define's your button's/power/monitor/coin-door/service-switch/test-switch
etc

ed

[Malenko]

ok gotcha.

but making; let's say; a JAMMA Mega Man X cab would be out of the question then? since Mega Man X is an SNES game?

Welp if you're gonna focus on consoles (weather it be emulated or actual hardware) JAMMA wouldn't be the way to go, I thought you meant a single arcade game. For me it wouldnt be worth building a cab for a single console game, if you do one for MegaMan, wouldn't you want ALL the megaman games on it?

[Vigo]

Around here, sky's the limit. You can make cabinets as focused or as broad as you would like. We will love to see what you come up with.

My only caveat, when basing a cabinet on console games, is that most console games are based on long sittings. You do a mega man cab, it takes away from the sit and quick play kind of feel. You might want to think about adding save state and load state buttons, that way you don't have to start from the beginning every time you sit down and play. Press one button and you are right where you left off.

What you can do, if the controls are not overly specialized is make a machine that is "stealthly universal." Lets say you make a dedicated Kirby cab, you could make a machine kirby themed that starts up into Kirby on startup, but you could make it go into an menu of additional games when a special combination of buttons is pressed. Whether you want everything available, or just 10-50 favorite games you would like to have on your machine.

[thomas_surles]

Around here, sky's the limit. You can make cabinets as focused or as broad as you would like. We will love to see what you come up with.

My only caveat, when basing a cabinet on console games, is that most console games are based on long sittings. You do a mega man cab, it takes away from the sit and quick play kind of feel. You might want to think about adding save state and load state buttons, that way you don't have to start from the beginning every time you sit down and play. Press one button and you are right where you left off.

What you can do, if the controls are not overly specialized is make a machine that is "stealthly universal." Lets say you make a dedicated Kirby cab, you could make a machine kirby themed that starts up into Kirby on startup, but you could make it go into an menu of additional games when a special combination of buttons is pressed. Whether you want everything available, or just 10-50 favorite games you would like to have on your machine.

+1 on all of this

[leapinlew]

Do what you want. Many of these guys have cabs that play 0 games.

[BadMouth]

Do what you want. Many of these guys have cabs that play 0 games.

  

[wp34]

Do what you want. Many of these guys have cabs that play 0 games.

I resemble that remark!   

[pbj]

Attention seeking troll is successful.

[Alistair Keith]

The only thing that would be considered taboo is if the emulated game were put in a public location and earning money as if it were the original licensed hardware.

+1 on this

That would be illegal. So don't do that. But for personal use, I don't see a problem with that.

[Bayne666]

Around here, sky's the limit. You can make cabinets as focused or as broad as you would like. We will love to see what you come up with.

My only caveat, when basing a cabinet on console games, is that most console games are based on long sittings. You do a mega man cab, it takes away from the sit and quick play kind of feel. You might want to think about adding save state and load state buttons, that way you don't have to start from the beginning every time you sit down and play. Press one button and you are right where you left off.

What you can do, if the controls are not overly specialized is make a machine that is "stealthly universal." Lets say you make a dedicated Kirby cab, you could make a machine kirby themed that starts up into Kirby on startup, but you could make it go into an menu of additional games when a special combination of buttons is pressed. Whether you want everything available, or just 10-50 favorite games you would like to have on your machine.

thanks man That's a great load off my mind

[southpaw13]

This is crazy! One game?  Then use original hardware.

[YoGaBaR]

I did a custom bubble bobble to play just the original. Then I bought the other boards and put a switcher in for the second and third game. Then I put a computer in to play all games like bubble bobble. Now its back to just a dedicated cab. So yea build one they can be just like a  Swiss army knife.

[ChanceKJ]

Hmmm, dedicated Custer's Revenge cab...

[rCadeGaming]

I can't agree more with the suggestions of using original hardware.  There's no point in dealing with the complicated setup and added input lag of emulation if you're not getting the benefit of enormous game selection. 

If you're thinking of an arcade game, use the real board.  If you're thinking of a NES or SNES game, use the real system.  It's not hard to wire up the controls and audio/video of an old console into a cabinet; do some searches and ask whatever questions about it you need to.  It's also not hard to do so by wiring the console to a JAMMA harness, so you could swap between the console and an arcade board easily.

EDIT:  SNES, like most other consoles, would be simple to wire up, because it outputs RGB video just like an arcade board.  An NES would either have to be modded for RGB output, or the cab would have to use a TV with a composite input.

Luckily a decent RGB modding solution for NES is finally available:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47617

Works great for me, but I don't know what your skill level is with soldering etc.  You'd need to do a little bit of soldering to wire up any console to a JAMMA harness, but something that doesn't require internal modification to the console will be much easier.  SNES has Mega Man X-X3, Genesis has The Wily Wars (Mega Man 1-3) if you can find it at a reasonable price.

[Malenko]

SNES has Mega Man X-X3, Genesis has The Wily Wars (Mega Man 1-3) if you can find it at a reasonable price.

SNES also had Megaman 7 and Megaman Soccer (soccer prolly doesnt count.  If you have all the carts, Id advocate using the real hardware, its just neater that way.

[yotsuya]

I still think it depends on the game you want to run.

[southpaw13]

Ok!  Then if it used to be an arcade game, then keep it original.  If it is a hard to find game and you only have the cabinet, then invest in finding the rest and you will have no problem getting your money back.  Do not Mame a classic just because you didn't do your best to find the original parts!  Just say no to Maming something worth restoring!!!

[leapinlew]

Just say no to Maming something worth restoring!!!

I say something very similar to this. I say Mame the hell out of it.

[southpaw13]

Man up and buy a new cab for Mame and quit destroying our past.  Let someone who knows the importance of preservation have it.  Just say no to Mame!

[paigeoliver]

If the circuit board for the game you want to play is $200 or less then you are better off making a real machine than you are a mame replica.

[Well Fed Games]

Ok!  Then if it used to be an arcade game, then keep it original.  If it is a hard to find game and you only have the cabinet, then invest in finding the rest and you will have no problem getting your money back.  Do not Mame a classic just because you didn't do your best to find the original parts!  Just say no to Maming something worth restoring!!!

Man up and buy a new cab for Mame and quit destroying our past.  Let someone who knows the importance of preservation have it.  Just say no to Mame!

I don't think you are reading the same thread we are, the OP has only been talking about building a cab all along, and has already built one. In fact so far this thread has just been brainstorming.

Also, leave that knee-jerk preservation rage ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- at KLOV. 

[southpaw13]

Building a ground up Mame cab is crazy for just one game.  Use Mala to start with a single game and then exit to a menu of additional games.

Maming an arcade game for one game is also crazy.  Buy the original hardware.

[rCadeGaming]

Bayne, what are your thoughts?  There is an Aliens PCB and an AVP CPS-2 board on eBay right now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aliens-1990-Konami-Video-Arcade-Game-Pcb-board-/251528695108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a90474d44

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CPS2-Alien-vs-Predator-940520-B-Board-blue-USA-with-manual-/271486939119?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f35e1efef

The AVP board would need a CPS-2 A board to run it.

[Well Fed Games]

Maming an arcade game for one game is also crazy.  Buy the original hardware.

Well, that depends on the game, doesn't it? What if it is the builder's favorite game? What if the actual cabinets or PCBs are extremely rare or expensive? Or the builder is looking for a different form factor than the original cabinet? Your generalizations are helping no one here.

And part of me is pretty sure you still haven't read the thread.