Help: want to buy dedicated cab, but don't want to get in over my head

[Dougmeister]

Our buddy Lloyd in MD is apparently liquidating, and I may finally get the "Spy Hunter" I've dreamed of for so long.

[88mph]

Well, $275 to go through his parts in order to mix and match a WORKING Spy Hunter isn't a bad deal. 

One thing you need to realize is that Spy Hunter is a particularly difficult game to repair for someone just getting into dedicated cabs.  I speak from experience--my first arcade repair experience was with a totally dead Tron machine.  (boardset, monitor, power supply and lighting were all toast!)  These games all run on MCR II hardware, as does Satan's Hollow and a few others.   The boardset for this machine is a 3 board sandwich, with interconnects that can be REALLY flaky.  The fix for this is to purchase SCSI cables from Bob Roberts. 

Anyway, before I digress, let me answer some of your questions.  If you're looking to purchase a tested working 3 board sandwich for Spy Hunter, I would say it might run you around $100 on rgvam.  If I recall correctly, Spy Hunter also has an additional daughter board (squack and talk?) that does the Peter Gun theme throughout the game.   I think you can also get another MCRII boardset and swap roms.

These machines *CAN* have lots of issues.  The linear power supply board was prone to failure due to the location of a backup battery on the board.  These batteries often corrode the power supplies to an unusable state.  If you buy a machine that has the original battery in it, cut it out!  Run to the window and throw it as far away from your power supply board as possible!    Another big issue with this machine is the flakiness of the interconnects on the 3 board sandwich as mentioned above.  If you want to really bulletproof one of these machines, I highly recommend getting a switching powersupply with the MCRII conversion kit from arcadeshop.com.  ($75)

If you buy the dead machine for $65, count on another $100 for a boardset, $10 for SCSI cables, and $75 for a switcher and adaptor.  (This is a worst case scenario, but plan on it if you buy an MCRII machine!)  So we're talking about $250, and that's assuming no problems with the monitor, sound, controls or lighting.  So, if someone is offering you a completely working machine for $275, that is the safe route.  I would still recommend getting the switcher and adaptor though.  Why?  I recently had my fully working Tron machine experience a failure on the linear power supply, which caused a yet unidentified fault on my 3 board sandwich.  I got tired of trying to shotgun the board and ended up buying a new boardset and the switcher.  Had I put a switcher in there earlier as a preventitive measure, I could have possibly saved myself the expense. 

Anyway, I'm not trying to scare you off, but I thought you should know that bringing a Spy Hunter back from the dead is more difficult that some other games.  It's not the hardest game in the world to get going.. go read some vector horror stories if you're looking for the ultimate challenge.  If you do decide to take the plunge I'd be willing to help with information. 

I guess you need to ask yourself this question:  am I looking for a project or am I looking to play some Spy Hunter?

Good luck!

88mph

[Dougmeister]

Thanks, 88.  I'm looking to play.  I love projects, but like most folks, I don't really have the time 

My wife would thank you for your reply if she knew about this