Nintendo VS - dual screen cocktail cabinet

[contessamy]

a friend of mine has one of these machines and is looking to get rid of it.  i was wondering what you guys think it may be worth?  i'm not looking for the deal of the century, and he isnt looking to get rich from it.  it has rbi baseball on one side and top gun on the other one, i think.  i will probably build my own cabinet eventually, but i was thinking of buying this cabinet from him for the purposes of making it a mame machine.  any tips or advice you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

i ordered *the* book today, i cant wait to get it!

CJ

[paigeoliver]

Those things generally sell for monitor value (ie, about $100-$125). Not worth all that much money.

Also, it might be tough to squeeze two computers in there to do a dual-mame cabinet.

[MinerAl]

I think one of those would make a great 4-player cabinet.  Have players 1 and 3 on one side and 2 and 4 on the other, with the monitors both carrying the same signal...  

Since they are plentiful and not worth much, they are perfect candidates for mame-ing.

[mp2526]

Also, it might be tough to squeeze two computers in there to do a dual-mame cabinet.

Very tough.  I'm in the process of trying to squeeze two 17 inch monitors in mine, and its not easy.

I think one of those would make a great 4-player cabinet.  Have players 1 and 3 on one side and 2 and 4 on the other, with the monitors both carrying the same signal...  

I thought of doing the same with mine, but decided against it, because the monitor is not centered and it would be difficult for players 3 and 4 to see the screen.

[contessamy]

cool, thanks for the quick replies.  i was thinking about $100 for a machine in good condition, so your estimates were within my guesses

i was thinking of either turning it into a 4 player mame machine, or making it into a dual mame cabinet.  getting 2 computers in there could be difficult, but i was thinking i could use the smaller form factor motherboards (micro atx?) to save space.  hopefully they have tv-out, or i'm out of luck.  i could always build some kind of compartment underneath the machine to hold the computer(s).

or, do you guys think i may be wasting my time with this?  would i be better off building my own?  i can already tell i'm going to get addicted to this hobby.

CJ

[paigeoliver]

The only feasible way to use those with Mame is to use the original monitors, as there is almost no way you are going to get any sort of other monitors in there like that, the darn things are nearly touching each other as it is.

[contessamy]

yeah i'd have to use the original monitors for space reasons, if no other reason.  i wish i had the thing in front of me right now, so i could see what could be done with it and what couldnt.

what games do you guys know of that are 4 player capable?  thanks again.

CJ

[Tilzs]

Other than the monitor these things aren't worth much of anything. The problem with them along with any other larger than normal cab is their size. Most anything that is big has a really hard time selling. A star wars cockpit is an exception of course.

[Arcadiac]

I just bought 2 of these, both working, with extra boards/chips for $400.

[MonitorGuru]

If anyone wants to run the same signal to both monitors, get a dual head analog vga output video card. Most of them send the same signal to both monitors when in dos without special drivers. That way you dont need to deal with amplifiers or dark pictures/adjusting up the brightness.

However, since these are Nintendos, you would need to deal with the negative/posive video issue (either adding an inverter board or bypassing it).

I have never seen one in person, I didn't think they'd be THAT close together inside. They seem to tilt and are offset, so I would expect you could replace them with 19" computer monitors and have enough room, if that's what you wanted to do.  

But yes, Nintendo cocktails of any type just are not worth as much as any other brand of cocktail or any uprights. The parts are definitely worth more than the sum.  Buy it, sell off the parts you don't want/use and you'll end up paying for what you keep I'm sure.

[mp2526]

I have never seen one in person, I didn't think they'd be THAT close together inside. They seem to tilt and are offset, so I would expect you could replace them with 19" computer monitors and have enough room, if that's what you wanted to do.  

Trust me there is no way two 19" computer monitors will fit.  Yes they are offset, but there just isn't enough room, I tried.  I think I will be able to squeeze two 17" Dell monitors, but they had to be a specific monitor (I forget which one off hand) as it was skinnier in the back and I think I'm still going to have to cut away some of the plastic case to get them both in.

It would have been nice to have the original monitors, but they are usually the first thing to go missing out of these cabinets.

I guess if I just wanted to throw money at it I could use two 19" LCDs then I would have plenty of room