Nondestructive fun with a Sega Holosseum

[TravistyOJ]

So, I remember as a kid being just absolutely amazed by the Sega Hologram.  I remember playing time traveler, and being simultaneously frustrated (cuz the game sucked) and in awe.  Fast forward 14 years, today I saw one at an auction (has the game holosseum), and I got it for pretty cheap. OK, so i have had some time to fool around with this thing.  First off here are some pics of the thing taken apart.  Basically the game is simply the Holosseum JAMMA board, a Jamma to Sega 32 Conversion board (methinks), an RGB to NTSC converter, a Sony Trinitron TV, and a parabolic highly reflective plastic mirror. 


A pic of the mirror, the doofus who moved this for me cracked it, I will have to figure out some way to repair it.  I was so mad!  If anyone knows how to fix something like this please let me know.


A pic of the 3 big parts of the cabinet, the piece that houses the monitor, the pice that houses the PCB and mirror, and the overheard speaker piece.


Here is the TV in the unit, as far as I can tell, its original.


Here is the beast constructed after some cleaning


Heres a pic of the game holosseum, which really truly sucks.

OK so that is the system.  My thoughts are, I like how it looks, some ppl think its hoky, but i think its cool, but I didnt like the fact that the games sucked so much.  So here's my idea, I think some great games would be great as a hologram, image playing fing of fighters, galaga, ms pacman, etc.  A couple of things to get around here.  Keep in mind, I am not altering the cab in anyway, it will always be able to stay a Holosseum, I think this is one game too rare to hack up.

1.) The image has to be mirrored and upside down.  I have found if I run a game with the -flipy option, it comes out right. 

2.) I need to find a way to disable the background layer in certain games, so only the characters in fighting games or ships in shmups are showing, I will be looking into this.  I dont know if MAME supports it, please let me know if you can.

So luckily, I had an old computer that has compisite video out, so as a quick test, I hooked it up to see what it would be like.  galaga and mspac look awesome this way.  It is a new tiwst on an old favorite.

Here are some pics of....


Galaga


Ms Pacman

Let me know what you guys think, I am thinking of setting up a MAME system with everything configured to play games correctly on this system.  Anyone done anything like this?

Sorry the pics of the actual gameplay isnt very clear, I cant use flash cuz then you wont see anything.

[Redseven80]

I think that's an great Idea! good luck with the background prob, some of the older games would look good on there like Donkey Kong, Defender, tron etc.
The only hologram game I remember was the one when your an old Cowboy and an Indian tries to attack you, what was that called?

[TravistyOJ]

That was Time Travler, that one and holosseum where the only ones.

[MYX]

Hey,
Try Asteroids. Black background. Heck try all the vectors, I think that they would be prime as there were no solid backgrounds.

[TravistyOJ]

Thanks for the suggestions, I think these games look great like this, once i get the mirror repaired they'll look even better.   One thing i thought of, rather than making MAME flip the screen around, I will put in a Video Card I have lieing around and configure it to always flip the image.  Most decent graphics cards have loads of options to manipulate the image that is outputted.  This way everything running in windows works without having to rely on the software doing the work. 

[MrTroy]

Awwwww lucky! I wanted one of those to play around with.

[rohan]

Awesome work...My Holoseum is in excellent condition, but I had originally planned to convert it back to a Time Traveler...The cool holographic marquee, laserdisc, and laserdisc player were easy to find, but Time Traveler PCBs and harnesses are non-existent. Mame is probably the way to go in the mean-time. The Novus 3-step process, and a spray of compressed air will really improve the effect of the mirror.  Also using a black-light instead of a regular fluorescent gives the playfield an eerie and immersive glow.  Did your cabinet come with a Holosseum manual and/or flyer?  I can't seem to find those two things anywhere, if the actually existed.  I can take close-up pics of the instructions if you're planning on a Holosseum restore.

[TravistyOJ]

Yeah, I really wanted to get time traveler up and running on this thing too.  Thanks for the blacklight and novus tips, I will try these out.  The cabinet didn't come with any docs in it, but I did find a time traveler manual online.  I am thinking about doing a full restore, one question i have is that the white paneling is in really bad shape, almost every piece has chunks taken out.  Is this something thats repairable, or do i need to replace the paneling completely?  Where can i get smooth glossy paneling like this?  Thanks.

[Matthew Fisher]

OK, you got me.     I just about crapped my pants when I saw the title to this one.  Sorta like "Announcing Computer Space-MAME conversion!  The game really blew but the cab was cool, sooo..."  I really thought someone was going to hack up a Holoseum! 

Although I never played either of the holos (?) in the arcade, I would love to have one and am truly jealous.  Good luck with the project.  I agree that the vectors probably would look pretty cool in there. 

[TravistyOJ]

OK, I guess I should change the title of this post, it is a little misleading.  My plans for this cab are to restore it, and I will never do anything irreversible to the cab.  Albeit obscure and sometimes criticized, it is a part of game history. 

[ChadTower]

I used to play a Time Traveler when I was in college in about 1997.  Very cool.  Cheesy, but cool, and I would love to have one myself.

The Novus idea is a solid one and I recommend it.  Use REAL Novus, though, not something else. 

I'm kind of surprised that it uses a TV, but hey, makes sense I guess.

[vader]

Out of curiousity, I know the mirror is cracked, but are the pacman galage pretty clear, once the mirror is repaired will it be like monitor type resolution.  I'm trying to picture this in my head.

Tim

[TravistyOJ]

Pacman and galaga are pretty clear, just a little faint, and the crack creates a jagged picture.  You can kind of tell from the pic where the crack is.  Sorry these pics suck, but it is really hard to take pics of this.  With flash on, you cant see anything.

Ive decided how I will repair the mirror, I will probably use plastic super glue, apply lighty, and just do it very slowly, and apply enough pressure so that the seam isnt visible. Then with it in place, apply a couple coats of the novus stuff.  I think the novus scratch remover stuff may help get rid of a visible seam.  Ill be pretty busy over the next couple of weeks so I dont know when ill be able to get this done, but I will get it done.

As for the resolution of the picture, since the size of the picture is so small, I dont think you can tell the difference since the picture is coming from a TV. 

[ChadTower]

I'm still in the dark as to how you expect putting glue onto something will make it disappear? 

[vader]

I really hope this works out for you.  Like other have said, you have nothing to lose by trying it.  I was looking around the web as I'm sure you have done for countless hours now trying to find you a replacement, I want to see this work.

Tim

Edit:  There are some two part epoxies out there that you can buff to a high polish, but I'm not sure if the may harm the plastic.  There's a good chance it will be worse either way you go or may ruin it, but otherwise you've got noting to lose

[ChadTower]

Well, with the new knowledge that he actually has multiple breaks and a broken off piece... it's now a whole new ballgame.

I would say, now, get that new piece glued back in, sand it down, and try to coat the WHOLE THING with a new reflective coating.

[vader]

Ditto to what Chad say......recoat the whole thing

Tim

[romperwomb]

Awesome work...My Holoseum is in excellent condition, but I had originally planned to convert it back to a Time Traveler...The cool holographic marquee, laserdisc, and laserdisc player were easy to find, but Time Traveler PCBs and harnesses are non-existent. Mame is probably the way to go in the mean-time. The Novus 3-step process, and a spray of compressed air will really improve the effect of the mirror.  Also using a black-light instead of a regular fluorescent gives the playfield an eerie and immersive glow.  Did your cabinet come with a Holosseum manual and/or flyer?  I can't seem to find those two things anywhere, if the actually existed.  I can take close-up pics of the instructions if you're planning on a Holosseum restore.

I don't know if you know that Digital Leisure released Time Traveler in several formats that I imagine would work well if it is that hard to track down a PCB.   Available for only $19.95! 

Edit: WOW, they even have a High Rez .eps of the Time Travler "Marquee" that would be perfect for use in a restoration.

From the Digital Leisure site:

The CD-ROM version requires Windows 95/98/Me, a Pentium-speed processor or faster and 6x CD-ROM drive. We're sorry but Time Traveler is not compatible with Windows XP.

Hologram Time Traveler is available now for CD-ROM and DVD-Video/PlayStation 2."

I was always fascinated with this crazy optic-technology and would love to have one of these in my collection!

[TravistyOJ]

Cool, I eventually want to make this a Holosseum/Time Traveler, I will look into this since original hardware will be really hard to find.

[ChadTower]

The problem with the DVD version, of course, being that it sucks hard.  The delay between scenes is so long that it is pretty much unplayable in 90% of DVD players.

[TravistyOJ]

The problem with the DVD version, of course, being that it sucks hard.  The delay between scenes is so long that it is pretty much unplayable in 90% of DVD players.

Anyone heard anything about the computer version?  Is this game emulated by anyone?

[ChadTower]

Look up Daphne... I think that is the name.  That would be the program used to emulate Space Ace and Dragon's Lair. 

Is Holosseum a laserdisc game, actually?

[romperwomb]

The problem with the DVD version, of course, being that it sucks hard.  The delay between scenes is so long that it is pretty much unplayable in 90% of DVD players.

Anyone heard anything about the computer version?  Is this game emulated by anyone?

The fact that it lacks XP supported dosn't bode well for the CD-Rom version either...   

It doesn't appear that it's currently being emulated in Daphne Laserdisk Emu or MAME.  Looks like the Digital Leasure stuff is the closest you can get.

one question i have is that the white paneling is in really bad shape, almost every piece has chunks taken out.  Is this something thats repairable, or do i need to replace the paneling completely?  Where can i get smooth glossy paneling like this?  Thanks.

You can use car body bondo on the chunks, sand and paint with a highgloss paint or what you'll likely have to do is apply new Laminate it's the stuff used on Kitchen counters. You get this at Home Depot / Lowes.

[romperwomb]

Look up Daphne... I think that is the name.  That would be the program used to emulate Space Ace and Dragon's Lair. 

Is Holosseum a laserdisc game, actually?

Nah, Holosseum was run just off a PCB.  It is currently emulated in MAME.  Pretty crappy fighter.