Newbie Help on Romstar Sky Shark Arcade modified

[griam01]

Hello all. Please bear with me as I am a newbie to arcade. I am very technical, but have never done anything with an arcade system before. We recently purchased a Romstar Sky Shark arcade unit which was modified to a 39-1 system (PacMan, Ms Pacman, Frogger, Donkey Kong, etc.). I am trying to find out more information on several things.

1. The monitor will need replaced. After about an hour it goes fuzzy. Are there any guides on doing this? Where can I purchase the parts? I saw something about upgrading to an LCD, can this be done in this unit?
2. The joystick is very loose and I noticed when playing that it will move down on its own. Can I just replace the joystick or will I need the entire control panel for this unit? I see a control panel listed on ebay, but wasn't sure if I needed all of it or just can replace the joystick as the other buttons seem to be working fine.
3. Where can I find out information on what board is in this that is giving me the 39-1 games?

I am sure I am missing out on giving you information you may need from the unit to properly direct me, so please just let me know and I will gladly get you the information asap.

Thank you all in advance for your time and helping this newbie out!

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, Griam01.   

2. The joystick is very loose and I noticed when playing that it will move down on its own. Can I just replace the joystick or will I need the entire control panel for this unit? I see a control panel listed on ebay, but wasn't sure if I needed all of it or just can replace the joystick as the other buttons seem to be working fine.

Yes, you can replace the joystick.

Post a pic of the underside and we'll help you figure out which stick would be a good replacement.

For example this is a Happ Competition/IL Eurostick.

3. Where can I find out information on what board is in this that is giving me the 39-1 games?

Unfortunately, the 39-in-1 JAMMA board (like most X-in-1 boards) uses unlicensed ROMS.

Because of Rule 5, we can't mention who sells them or even link to the manual on a vendor's website.


Scott

[paigeoliver]

Your monitor doesn't need replaced, sounds to me like your flyback transformer is going out. They generally cost $25-$30.

Sky Shark was only a kit game, so that doesn't actually tell us what machine you really have, only what it was during its mid-life.

An LCD is a significant downgrade in these machines, it is not an upgrade. The people who put the LCDs in only do so because they can sell the crts for more than the lcds cost them and gullible people think the lcd is an upgrade.

You can replace just the joystick. I don't know what you have now, but what you want for the machine you have is this. It doesn't have to come from that vendor though. You probably currently have either an original shagged out joystick from the early 80s or a $3 chinese special, in either case is is probably an 8-way stick and most of the games on that board are 4-way (almost all the good ones are, so you want a 4-way stick).

https://www.focusattack.com/suzo-happ-replacement-4-way-ms-pac-man-galaga-joystick/

The board you have is a 10 year out of date bootleg Chinese multigame board. The currently used version has 60 games on it, but there is little reason to upgrade, as the older ones like you have were higher quality  and the games added are not all that great. If you want a high quality board that supports more games then the one to get is ArcadeSD.

Hello all. Please bear with me as I am a newbie to arcade. I am very technical, but have never done anything with an arcade system before. We recently purchased a Romstar Sky Shark arcade unit which was modified to a 39-1 system (PacMan, Ms Pacman, Frogger, Donkey Kong, etc.). I am trying to find out more information on several things.

1. The monitor will need replaced. After about an hour it goes fuzzy. Are there any guides on doing this? Where can I purchase the parts? I saw something about upgrading to an LCD, can this be done in this unit?
2. The joystick is very loose and I noticed when playing that it will move down on its own. Can I just replace the joystick or will I need the entire control panel for this unit? I see a control panel listed on ebay, but wasn't sure if I needed all of it or just can replace the joystick as the other buttons seem to be working fine.
3. Where can I find out information on what board is in this that is giving me the 39-1 games?

I am sure I am missing out on giving you information you may need from the unit to properly direct me, so please just let me know and I will gladly get you the information asap.

Thank you all in advance for your time and helping this newbie out!

[griam01]

Welcome aboard, Griam01.   

2. The joystick is very loose and I noticed when playing that it will move down on its own. Can I just replace the joystick or will I need the entire control panel for this unit? I see a control panel listed on ebay, but wasn't sure if I needed all of it or just can replace the joystick as the other buttons seem to be working fine.

Yes, you can replace the joystick.

Post a pic of the underside and we'll help you figure out which stick would be a good replacement.

For example this is a Happ Competition/IL Eurostick.

3. Where can I find out information on what board is in this that is giving me the 39-1 games?

Unfortunately, the 39-in-1 JAMMA board (like most X-in-1 boards) uses unlicensed ROMS.

Because of Rule 5, we can't mention who sells them or even link to the manual on a vendor's website.


Scott

Here is a pic of the underneath



Thank you for the help!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[griam01]

Your monitor doesn't need replaced, sounds to me like your flyback transformer is going out. They generally cost $25-$30.

Sky Shark was only a kit game, so that doesn't actually tell us what machine you really have, only what it was during its mid-life.

An LCD is a significant downgrade in these machines, it is not an upgrade. The people who put the LCDs in only do so because they can sell the crts for more than the lcds cost them and gullible people think the lcd is an upgrade.

You can replace just the joystick. I don't know what you have now, but what you want for the machine you have is this. It doesn't have to come from that vendor though. You probably currently have either an original shagged out joystick from the early 80s or a $3 chinese special, in either case is is probably an 8-way stick and most of the games on that board are 4-way (almost all the good ones are, so you want a 4-way stick).

https://www.focusattack.com/suzo-happ-replacement-4-way-ms-pac-man-galaga-joystick/

The board you have is a 10 year out of date bootleg Chinese multigame board. The currently used version has 60 games on it, but there is little reason to upgrade, as the older ones like you have were higher quality  and the games added are not all that great. If you want a high quality board that supports more games then the one to get is ArcadeSD.

Hello all. Please bear with me as I am a newbie to arcade. I am very technical, but have never done anything with an arcade system before. We recently purchased a Romstar Sky Shark arcade unit which was modified to a 39-1 system (PacMan, Ms Pacman, Frogger, Donkey Kong, etc.). I am trying to find out more information on several things.

1. The monitor will need replaced. After about an hour it goes fuzzy. Are there any guides on doing this? Where can I purchase the parts? I saw something about upgrading to an LCD, can this be done in this unit?
2. The joystick is very loose and I noticed when playing that it will move down on its own. Can I just replace the joystick or will I need the entire control panel for this unit? I see a control panel listed on ebay, but wasn't sure if I needed all of it or just can replace the joystick as the other buttons seem to be working fine.
3. Where can I find out information on what board is in this that is giving me the 39-1 games?

I am sure I am missing out on giving you information you may need from the unit to properly direct me, so please just let me know and I will gladly get you the information asap.

Thank you all in advance for your time and helping this newbie out!

Here is a pic of underneath of the joystick


Do I need a specific flyback transformer or how can I tell what I would need for the display issue?

Thank you again for your time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[paigeoliver]

Ok, you have an 8-way Wico joystick there. One of the best sticks ever made, but yours probably needs a new grommet to be serviceable again. You can either get a new grommet and stay with the 8-way stick you have or get the stick I suggested, which will make Pac-Man and friends play a whole lot better. In either case, don't throw the old stick away, there is demand for them, even in bad shape as people rebuild them.

For the flyback we need to see what monitor you have. Take pictures of your monitor circuit boards, being sure to show any stickers or model numbers on it. You can ignore the tube, any model numbers there will be worthless as they will belong to the tube and not the monitor.

Please take a picture of your whole machine too so we can see what you really have.

[griam01]

Ok, you have an 8-way Wico joystick there. One of the best sticks ever made, but yours probably needs a new grommet to be serviceable again. You can either get a new grommet and stay with the 8-way stick you have or get the stick I suggested, which will make Pac-Man and friends play a whole lot better. In either case, don't throw the old stick away, there is demand for them, even in bad shape as people rebuild them.

For the flyback we need to see what monitor you have. Take pictures of your monitor circuit boards, being sure to show any stickers or model numbers on it. You can ignore the tube, any model numbers there will be worthless as they will belong to the tube and not the monitor.

Please take a picture of your whole machine too so we can see what you really have.

Here are pics of the machine front. I will need to get it moved around and the back off to get inside for the other pics. May be able to do that tonight or tomorrow but I will post them when I can.

I would like to clean the whole system up. I see where some places sell decals etc to put on the cabinet but haven't decided what all I want to do to it yet.

I also noticed the test switch and credit button are not wired. I will need to figure out doing that so they work as well.

There is a key broke off in the lock as well. I plan to enable this for free play but would like to replace the lock at some point.








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[PL1]

I also noticed the test switch and credit button are not wired. I will need to figure out doing that so they work as well.

Test should be wired to pin 15, the left coin mech should be wired to pin 16 and the right coin mech should be wired to pin T.

There is a key broke off in the lock as well. I plan to enable this for free play but would like to replace the lock at some point.

You can get a replacement lock at Lowes/Home Depot.

Take the old lock with you to verify that you get the same diameter/length replacement.


Scott

[paigeoliver]

Ok, looks like a Pac-Man cabinet, probably has either an Electrohome G-07 in which case the flybacks and other repair parts are easy to find or a Wells Gardner 4600 in which case you will need to replace the monitor as that flyback isn't made (although it also almost never fails in that model which is why they don't make the part). It could also have anything else, as monitors get swapped around, but those are the 2 models that would have possibly shipped with it.