Any ideas on how to build a MAME cabinet specifically for...

[MaximRecoil]

...Punch-Out!!, Super Punch-Out!!, Arm Wrestling and Play Choice 10 games?

I'd like to start with an empty or not-so-empty but non-functional PO/SPO/AW/PC10 cabinet since that would probably the cheapest way to get a starting point.

[RayB]

Your best bet might be to just buy an actual cabinet and the boards. I used to have Punch-Out! and putting in Super Punch-Out was a direct board swap.

[MaximRecoil]

Your best bet might be to just buy an actual cabinet and the boards. I used to have Punch-Out! and putting in Super Punch-Out was a direct board swap.

If only you could just go to the local Super Wal-Mart and pick up the boards for $19.95, and count on being able to do it again 10 or 20 years from now. Locating and purchasing working boards for PO, SPO, AW, and PC10 + all PC10 game boards for it would be a big project.

Anyway, I just read in a thread here that an older version of the ArcadeVGA card had dual VGA outputs. Could that card work for what I want to do?

[TurboC--]

I REALLY don't think ArcadeVGA w/ dual output can put out 2 different screens at once.  But I am not sure.

Here in the Pittsburgh area someone has a stripped Punch-Out!! cabinet available for $50 if you are interested.

[MaximRecoil]

Here in the Pittsburgh area someone has a stripped Punch-Out!! cabinet available for $50 if you are interested.

I wonder what that would cost to ship to central Maine? Is the cab structurally solid? Do you have any contact information for the owner of the cab?

[TurboC--]

Shipping a cab is probably pretty expensive just cause of the dimensions alone.  An empty cab doesn't weigh a ton, but still...

The place is Knoch D Amusements, (724) 352-2601.  I called every single amusement vendor in Pittsburgh, and this guy is by far the coolest.  Some places won't give you the time of day.  He knew I wanted a cab so he made a list of his entire inventory in 1 day for me.  I felt bad I didn't want any of his cabs (all but 1 were working ones) but the Punch Out was his non-working cab.  I just had no use for it.  Well, good luck.

[Wade]

I'm a big fan of Mame and all, but it would be easiest and cheapest to just get the real deal and swap the boards.

Mame isn't any more future-proof than real video games.  Eventually, Mame might not be developed any more, and the way PCs are changing nowadays, you might have the same difficulty finding a MAME-compatible PC as you would finding the original boards.  At least, original boards are usually repairable.

I suppose, there will probably be SOMEONE around to port MAME to newer hardware.  But who knows.

Wade

[Silverwind]

I'm a big fan of Mame and all, but it would be easiest and cheapest to just get the real deal and swap the boards.

Mame isn't any more future-proof than real video games.

[MaximRecoil]

I'm a big fan of Mame and all, but it would be easiest and cheapest to just get the real deal and swap the boards.

I disagree. If what I want to do can be easily done with a pair of PC monitors and a typical dual VGA video card, then there must be a way to do the same thing with arcade monitors. If one of those newer dual VGA cards could output 256x224 (maybe with the help of Powerstrip?) then I would be almost there. Set that to a vertical span of 256x448 and that would be perfect...the only thing left would be getting it to do 15 kHz for 2 standard resolution arcade monitors.

Mame isn't any more future-proof than real video games.  Eventually, Mame might not be developed any more, and the way PCs are changing nowadays, you might have the same difficulty finding a MAME-compatible PC as you would finding the original boards.  At least, original boards are usually repairable.

X86 isn't going anywhere any time soon. It is far more future-proof than any arcade board. There are millions upon millions of PC's out there right now that can run MAME, with no end in site in the near future. Compare that to the production runs of the specific Nintendo boards being discussed here. Emulation isn't going to die; if not MAME then something else will take its place. I don't see Nintendo or anyone else taking up production of their old arcade boards any time soon though.

Yeah, I'd like to have the real arcade boards and I try to keep an eye out for them, but I want a working emulation setup as well, for reasons I have mentioned above.

[MinerAl]

I'm not sure but doesn't MAME put both of the monitor signals stacked on one monitor for those games?  What i mean is, I don't think MAME will output the top screen to one monitor and the bottom to another, I think it wants to put them both on one.

That's how it was a while ago when I quit paying attention to new increasingly slower less useful versions of MAME anyway.

If that has changed, well, cool!

[elvis]

I'm not sure but doesn't MAME put both of the monitor signals stacked on one monitor for those games?  What i mean is, I don't think MAME will output the top screen to one monitor and the bottom to another, I think it wants to put them both on one.

I think you're overestimating the complexity of dual-display cards.

Most modern dual-head video cards support a "span" mode where it considers the various screens to be a single large display.  That display just happens to be cut into smaller viewing windows.

If you have a MAME game that stacks the two images on top of each other, then simply set up a span mode in your video card config tools that does the same.  Then tell MAME to stretch the picture to the entire display area, and it will appear to the observer that there are two independant displays.

If you span two 1024x768 displays vertically, the system doesn't see two displays.  It sees one large 1024x1536 display.  Likewise you can do the same horizontally and have a 2048x768 display.  It's just up to you to stretch MAME across that large display, and conveniently have the display chopped in the middle by the limits of the monitors.   No need to tell MAME anything about your physical setup, only the logical resolution it needs to know about.

[MaximRecoil]

I'm not sure but doesn't MAME put both of the monitor signals stacked on one monitor for those games?

[Wade]

I'm a big fan of Mame and all, but it would be easiest and cheapest to just get the real deal and swap the boards.

I disagree. If what I want to do can be easily done with a pair of PC monitors and a typical dual VGA video card, then there must be a way to do the same thing with arcade monitors.

Feel free to disagree.  But realizing you are starting your argument with a big *IF*.

I'm simply saying that I think it would be easier to use the real boards.  Those games aren't even expensive to buy.  The game boards are what, maybe $50?  You might spend more trying to find a single VGA card that can do what you want.  And who knows if that card will be supported 5 years from now.  Like I said, I think it is even less future-proof than using the original hardware.  You might be surprised how many people can repair original boards.  They can almost always be repaired, with a few exceptions that have special processors.

Good luck on it.  If you find a good way to do it, I'm sure there will be others who are interested in doing a similar thing.

Wade

[MaximRecoil]

Feel free to disagree.

[romperwomb]

Another thing to consider if you do try this is the Sanyo monitors Nintendo cabs use have "inverted video".  Here is an interesting thread on this.

I have a PC-10 cab that was converted to Jamma/Blood Bros. that I plan to convert back into a Punch-Out/swapable.  I've picked up a Punch-Out and Arm Wrestling boards on the eBay.  I have yet to test them but they were sold as UNTESTED and that usually isn't a good sign.  Having a PC to throw in would be an interesting solution.

[MaximRecoil]

Another thing to consider if you do try this is the Sanyo monitors Nintendo cabs use have "inverted video".