Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games  (Read 126362 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

vr_junkie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:March 15, 2011, 11:28:32 am
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« on: January 13, 2007, 02:06:09 am »
Hi,

I own a Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games. I know, I know... gee what a loser and what a POS - right?

Well, don't pass judgement too soon. I have made some pretty good upgrades to the cabinet and have significantly improved it and probably still not invested over 100 dollars.

I am the individual who submited the "An Insider's View (Internals)" to the Retroblast article on this machine: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games - http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/biggames.html

I am also the author of the mods articles at Retroblast: "You Just Bought a Big Electronic Games Midway Arcade Cabinet. Now What?" - http://www.retroblast.com/articles/BEGMods.html

Well I have several exciting updates... a newly discovered un-documented mode/menu, a new control panel, and Playstation compatibility.

I have discovered a secret undocumented mode/menu while working on a control panel update for my arcade.

If you simultaneously press and hold down; one player, two player, and forward (on joystick 1) for about 5 seconds - a special menu pops up on the screen. You have 3 options... Settings, Hardware Tests, and Exit.

Under settings, you can adjust various variables that effect gameplay. There is a custom tailored settings screen for each game and the options available vary from game to game... some common examples are; level of dificulty, number of initial ships or men, bonus level, high score reset, and many other options depending on the game. Button 1 on player 1 side scrolls forward thru the options, and button 2 scrolls backward through the available options for each setting.

I discovered this while pursuing the addition of Playstation capability to my Midway cab. I have a BUNCH of games for Playstation (including classic arcade compilations) and I want to play them thru the cab. On the Midway cab, there is a switch to change the video and audio inputs to another device, but there is no way to use the arcades controls with your game system.

Well, I have discovered a cheap and easy way to do this. Rather than use expensive solutions from Ultimarc which would require the purchase of multiple pieces, and entail extra expense and probably not fit within the small area available under the control panel, I went a cheaper route and hacked and gutted the adapter circuitry from a cheap Arcade controller I already have for the Playstation - it is one that used to be aviailable from www.redoctane.com, but I imagine you could use many others or even hack a old playstation controller.

All you have to do is run a single wire to the common ground on the Midway that goes to each and every switch (including each one on the joysticks), and also run a wire to each "positive" pin/wire on each switch.

I'm also upgraded the controls for my Midway cab... I made a new board, drilled holes (1 1/8") and placed new controls I purchased from X-gaming: http://www.xgaming.com/arcade_bundle.shtml in the Midway cab. This is a VERY good deal, you get 2 joysticks, 20 switches, and a 12 game arcade bundle for your PC - all for 29.95!

I highly recommmend these controls, they are WAY WAY better than what comes with the biggames arcades yet WAY WAY cheaper than what is available from all the other vendors.

I also drilled a couple 1/4" holes and mounted a LED I had laying around and also one for a momentary switch for the re-set function. I used a radioshack SPST mini momentary push button switch - P/N 275-1547. This allowed me to keep my complete original control panel intact for returning it to that condition (can't imagine) or for selling on e-bay as a spare!

While making the control panel upgrade I noticed that only buttons 1 and 2 were utilized on the player 2 side of the board, buttons 3-6 were totally unused. This gave me an idea... I ended up connecting up these buttons in parallel with the player 2 joystick in the familiar Playstation x,o,triangle,square, configuration. This allows me to use either the buttons or the joystick to control the player 2 directions. IOW, it allows you to play with 2 sticks, so games like BattleZone or other versions of Robotron, or simulation games can be played much more naturally - even if the are not written for analog joystick control - I LIKE that. I also got rid of the diagonal mounting on the player 1 side of the board - it's just 2 rows of three. And I switched the wiring on buttons 5 and 6 to make it similar to how the buttons are on a real Defender II/Stargate arcade.

I used a terminal block for the connections from the board to the switches and used spade connectors on the switches themselves - so it is real easy to change things.

Here is a view of the new controls wiring with the small front skirt panel removed. 



Here is the view from the top with everything buttoned up. Note Tempest running via Atari's Anniversary Edition Compilation on Playstation.


I am REAL happy now, especially considering how few dollars I have invested.

Below you will find a crude (not to scale) layout of the new control panel, as well as a wiring schematic/breakout depicting the ribbon cabeling and a breakout of the circuit board that crosses the ribbon cable wiring to individual wires that run to each switch.

Here is the layout



Here is the breakout



Hope this information is of use to someone "out there" looking for help in bettering the Midway cab!

Regards,
Lane




leapinlew

  • Some questionable things going on in this room with cheetos
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7906
  • Last login:March 19, 2024, 06:19:27 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2007, 02:42:08 am »
Look at you!

Thats some good hack'n. Hopefully someone finds all your hard work useful.

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2007, 11:26:07 am »
So the actual gameboard in this cabinet is NOT a JAMMA one then?

BobA

  • Trade Count: (+14)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5943
  • Last login:July 11, 2018, 09:52:14 pm
  • What Me Worry?
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2007, 01:17:40 pm »
Wow.  Really good  digging out that undocumented setup screen for that cab.   Good work in updating the controls and getting the info published on Retroblast.  The cab is definately not one of the favourites on this board but you have gone a long way in making it more arcade like.

Good Work :applaud:

 

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2007, 02:26:03 am »
It sure takes a looonnnggg time to see anything on the retroblast site. I get frustrated after waiting a half hour (I'm on a 28k dialup connection) and looking at a blue screen then it asks me if I want to install Flash. No way do I want Flash on my computer.  :angry:

I'd like to be able to read and print the information about the mods to that game, but geez that Flash crap is irritating and frustrating.

RayB

  • I'm not wearing pants! HA!
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 11279
  • Last login:February 24, 2024, 12:00:13 am
  • There's my post
    • RayB.com
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2007, 04:48:22 pm »
I dunno VR, I respect your opinion, but you also come off like you're trying a little too hard to justify your purchase and be nice about the cabinet.

Let's see, $400 for the cabinet (and guts), + $100 for the mods = $500.

Now, a REAL arcade cabinet (gutted) is $Free to $75 and usually comes with a real coin door.  A brand new real 19" arcade monitor is $170. Controls (if the gutted cab didn't come with some) could be about $70 for 2 players, seven buttons each. This totals at most $315, leaving still $185+ to invest into a used computer, keyboard encoder and shipping fees.

So I dunno. In the end, is it worth the crappy 13" tv, thin cheap construction, etc for the same price as putting together a "traditional" MAME cabinet?

NO MORE!!

vr_junkie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:March 15, 2011, 11:28:32 am
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2007, 12:59:50 am »
Ken,

No, this is not a JAMAA.  It's propritary - but Clay did the work so it plays like the real thing. Sounds are REAL good too once you get some powered speakers hooked up.


Are you REALLY on a 28k dial up... This is a joke - right? Anyway, you should be able to read the text and see the graphics following the direct links I provided without flash. If you really want, LMK and I'll put the stuff together for you in a straight html file.

Ray,

Regarding my purchase... I wanted to get something that was ready to go -  I did not want to have to buid it from scratch. At the time I decided I wanted one I did not know much about the internals how they worked etc. But I knew I wanted something - and I did not want to be limited to 1 game.

From my research, It was going to cost over 2 grand to get a fully functional cabinet delivered to my door.  And these 2 grand units were stripped down or limited in some way. The really nice ones are 3-5 grand! I make a pretty good living, I could afford a 3-5 grand unit if I really wanted to, but I didn't REALLY want to invest that kind of money to simply play Robotron, Defender, and Tempest (my 3 favorite games) ocassionaly.

Also a BIG iussue was space. My rec room already has a bar, full size pool table, 3 in one card/bumper pool table, Tornado foosball table, hand built chess table, dart board, and a home theatre setup - I truely have nowhere to put a full size cab - so the smaller size of this one was a real plus.

So while it obviously isn't for everyone - it was right for me. I would buy it all over again.

It's been fun using it, my kids love it, and when I have parties,  people  stand in line to play it  - children and adults. I have yet to hear anyone complain about the quality! 

And, it's been fun learning about these things and upgrading it. And it's proved to be tougher unit than I imagined... it's seen quite a bit of use for over a year now, and is still working fine.

BTW, I caught it on sale at Target last Christmas, talked them down over a scratch that would not show,  and got an additional 10 percent off for getting their credit card  -  my cost out the door was under  300 dollars!

To the others posters,

Thanks for the compliments... I didn't make this post to wow any of you elite builders here, but to offer some help to anyone else who may be looking for a way to enhance their Midway cab - there is almost nothing on the net about these except critical comments.

Regards,
Lane


Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2007, 02:11:15 am »
Have you also modified the Konami version?

vr_junkie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:March 15, 2011, 11:28:32 am
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2007, 11:57:59 am »
Ken,

No, I have not. I believe it is EXTREMELY similar though. The controls look to be identical. So I think it could be modified just like mine... the only extra part you would need to do is put your own audio video switcher in if you wanted to run a console through it. The Midway came with one. Honestly, they did so much other work to run  a console thu the midway - I can't figure out why they didn't give you a way to use the controls.

Lane

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2007, 12:04:39 pm »
I see they also have a Golden Tee Golf out now. It's in a much different cabinet than the Midway one and more like the real commercial Golden Tee dedicated cabinet.

Has anyone modified/improved the "Arcade Game Room Classics - SNK Version" tabletop game by jazwares yet?
« Last Edit: January 17, 2007, 12:08:21 pm by Ken Layton »

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2007, 10:33:20 am »
I see the Midway circuit board is inside a box. Has anyone opened that box to check out the circuit board? I wonder if a person could hack it for R-G-B-sync output to run to a normal arcade monitor?

vr_junkie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:March 15, 2011, 11:28:32 am
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2007, 02:15:36 pm »
Ken,

I've wondered about this myself, I would think it could be done. They are supposed to sell parts for this machine and I have heard some went out without the cartridge - and they had to send one out to the customer.

Is anyone here good at reverse engineering things like this and be willing to do it if we happened upon a spare cartridge?

Lane

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2007, 12:23:37 pm »
The only "support" I see on Big Electronic Games (www.mybiggames.com) is downloadable cabinet assembly instruction sheets and a poor excuse for a troubleshooting sheet.

I wish they'd have wiring schematics for the cabinet & control panel. Even better would be schematics to the gameboard.

RayB

  • I'm not wearing pants! HA!
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 11279
  • Last login:February 24, 2024, 12:00:13 am
  • There's my post
    • RayB.com
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2007, 05:18:17 pm »
I'm pretty sure that Clay himself stated somewhere that it's not hackable to get RGB.....
NO MORE!!

master doggy

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4
  • Last login:March 26, 2007, 01:06:59 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #14 on: January 31, 2007, 02:32:03 pm »
Just wanted people to know that the Midway Arcade cabinets are now on clearance at JCPenney.  I purchased one for $129.99 on 1/28/07 at the JCPenney store in Glendale, CA.  The price was after the clearance price was discounted and then another 50% was discounted off the clearance price.  I think I got a good deal and it works great. 

-Chuck

EVEGames

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 117
  • Last login:February 15, 2018, 05:14:39 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2011, 02:16:59 am »
May the forum gods forgive me, I am knowingly posting to a 4+ year old topic.  But I deem it appropriate in this instance, because the original post by VR Junkie gives the reader many tools to accomplish a specific task, and I want to simply augment that wealth of information with one additional piece, because I think that over time, people will continue to find this topic useful for a very specific purpose - to convert one of those old Target Midway cabs, circa 2006-2007, into a MAME machine.  I think there are still tons of them out there, in varying states of neglect and decrepitude, and with a little know-how and elbow grease, these are much better candidates for Maiming than an original dedicated cab which could be restored instead.  That said, here is my contribution.

This cabinet uses a simple (and seemingly unnecessary) PCB as a go-between from the thicker, color-coded control panel wires to two sets of thin, 15-conductor ribbon cables.  The original post, while providing a great wiring breakout for the wires connected to the actual controls, did not give a clear mapping to the wires of the ribbon cables, which I feel are better suited for wiring to the keyboard encoder.  So for those who want to go the route I went, snipping/ripping/stripping the two ribbon cables and wiring those to the encoder, here is a quick and easy ribbon cable wiring breakout diagram:



Note the lingo for these cabinets, they refer to all the buttons on the control panel (except for Player 1 Start, Player 2 Start and Reset) as "Fire" buttons, hence the terminology "F1" through "F6" above.  I know this additional information will be of use to someone in the future.  For now, I just ask that this topic be allowed to quietly slip back into obscurity.  :)

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #16 on: March 16, 2011, 03:12:29 pm »
It's good to bring back this thread. The links posted by the original poster are now invalid. Here is one that was archived:

http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/articles/BEGMods.html

I understand that Big Electronic Games went out of business two years ago so finding any kind of support is going to be tough. This thread will help in compiling some information on the machines.

Big Electronic Games Ltd.
29/F Wing On Centre
111 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong
sales@mybiggames.com

USA office: 1-800-749-4345

Manual for the Midway version:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Kits%20and%20Hacks/Big%20Games/Midway-Instructions.pdf

Manual for the Konami version:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Kits%20and%20Hacks/Big%20Games/Konami-Instructions.pdf

Manual for the Golden Tee Golf version:

http://arcarc.xmission.com/Kits%20and%20Hacks/Big%20Games/Golden-Tee-Instruction.pdf
« Last Edit: March 16, 2011, 09:58:01 pm by Ken Layton »

peloquin17

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12
  • Last login:February 24, 2012, 08:49:20 am
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #17 on: February 08, 2012, 01:01:07 pm »
this is super helpful!!!

i just garbage picked a konami 12-in-1 this morning.

cabinet is mint, and everything works.

the joysticks are crap though.

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #18 on: February 08, 2012, 05:17:21 pm »
Yes, it does appear that Big Electronic Games is out of business. Perhaps someone will do some more mods to these machines to improve them?

MTPPC

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 535
  • Last login:November 26, 2021, 02:25:46 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #19 on: April 01, 2012, 01:32:31 pm »
I'm thinking about buying one of these and slapping an LCD into it. Is it the same size as a typical cabinet? How wide are these things? Are they 3/4" MDF or 1/2" plywood? It seems like a nice base to put a loaded hyperspin system in.
Pinball and Video Arcade Repair in Billings, MT USA
http://pinballmd.com/

MTPPC

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 535
  • Last login:November 26, 2021, 02:25:46 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #20 on: April 01, 2012, 02:09:53 pm »
Found my own answer after posting: Midway Dimensions: 62 x 22 x 24-inches (H x W x D approximate), weight approx 128lbs, 13 inch monitor.

I think I'll pass.
Pinball and Video Arcade Repair in Billings, MT USA
http://pinballmd.com/

brin68

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1
  • Last login:June 18, 2012, 07:49:25 pm
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #21 on: June 12, 2012, 08:38:49 pm »
I cracked the plastic control board on the Midway Arcade Cabinet. Does anyone know where I could source another one ? thanks

Gray_Area

  • -Banned-
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3363
  • Last login:June 23, 2013, 06:52:30 pm
  • -Banned-
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #22 on: June 15, 2012, 04:31:16 pm »
I cracked the plastic control board on the Midway Arcade Cabinet. Does anyone know where I could source another one ? thanks

Ace, etc, plexi.
-Banned-

ed12

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3972
  • Last login:March 31, 2018, 03:44:39 pm
  • it is what it is..."Nobody Said It Was Easy"....
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #23 on: June 16, 2012, 09:07:34 pm »
hi
thk-u ppl for this interesting thread

clearly marked in the midway stuff pg10
is a switchable module,ie aux audio/video
if u were to hack into it
this is where i would start

these cab's look interesting from a build yourself point of view
lot of neat drawing's in there for home builder's

ed
Shipping something from the U.S. to Canada for repair/exchange?  Please use USPS to avoid (additional?/excessive?) shipping charges.  PM me if you have any questions.

DSGEER

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1
  • Last login:January 07, 2013, 12:09:01 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #24 on: January 07, 2013, 12:05:58 pm »
I purchased one of these on Craigslist...got it home, powered up and it’s stuck on the setup screen. Anyone have any experience with this piece of junk. It’s almost as if the joysticks etc aren’t connected. All connections are correctly seated etc.  Any help on getting this thing un-stuck would be appreciated.

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #25 on: April 01, 2014, 11:15:36 am »
Is there any sort of following for these machines still?  I picked one up and appreciate the ideas for some updates, but was looking to see if there are people still actively maintaining/upgrading/modding these.

I printed out all of the sheets from this post and plan to use the Playstation hack, but was wondering if there was more going on.  Any forums/topics devoted to these?

Thanks!

Ken Layton

  • Guru
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7061
  • Last login:October 12, 2021, 12:25:59 am
  • Technician
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #26 on: April 01, 2014, 11:22:25 am »
I haven't seen anyone doing anything with these machines for a long time. I think interest must have died out.

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #27 on: April 01, 2014, 02:46:59 pm »
I haven't seen anyone doing anything with these machines for a long time. I think interest must have died out.

Thanks for your quick response.  This blows my theory that there is a following for everything on the internet!

I was able to get my cabinet back up and running.  The screen was so dark you couldn't make out the buildings in Rampage.  Fortunately, I was able to pull the tv out and adjust the brightness.  It was at 50% and still has some life left after cranking it up to 100%.  Also, one of the RCA cables was bad and there was no sound.  That was quickly resolved as well.

I plan to upgrade the controls once someone breaks them the first time and a new tv may be down the road, but I was more interested in hacks/findings on the game unit itself.  I'm getting some noise on the screen and didn't know if anyone had rerun the video wires or found any components that wear out.  Also, I was surprised it didn't store high scores when you flipped the switch on the side.  I'm wondering if there's a cmos battery or something in the game unit that was supposed to handle that task, but until I have time to pull apart the game unit, I broke out the game unit transformer and ran it to a UPS.  It stays on all the time now and even survives when I unplug the whole unit from the wall.  I can flip just the tv on and off from the side which will help prolong its life and reduce my power bill.  I was concerned about keeping it energized, but apparently it had been running 24/7 in the break room for years.  Hopefully it keeps going.

Despite the horrible reviews when it came out, I think it's a fun little box, especially since I only paid for gas to go pick it up.

Well, if this post finds anyone out there still playing/upgrading one of these boxes, send me a line.  I'm interested to hear from you.

Thanks!

SavannahLion

  • Wiki Contributor
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5986
  • Last login:December 19, 2015, 02:28:15 am
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #28 on: April 07, 2014, 11:46:43 am »
Interest in anything comes and goes. Trick is finding someone who currently has an interest. My wife asked me to write new windows drivers for her sewing machine. There is a hacking community of ZERO for the machine but TONS of interest. Conversely, there was a pretty big modding community around the original Carmageddon and tons of interest. Hundreds of car mods alone. Good luck finding any of those original files and anyone who cares about them now.

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #29 on: April 16, 2014, 09:29:39 am »
Well, I pulled the cartridge apart and there is no battery.  I'm confused why my scores aren't saving, but don't have any resources to figure out why.  That's too bad.  The wall of high scores is always nice for competition.

SavannahLion

  • Wiki Contributor
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5986
  • Last login:December 19, 2015, 02:28:15 am
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #30 on: April 18, 2014, 12:36:43 pm »
Not knowing what was inside them it's hard to say. If it used an EEPROM or Flash, it might be fried. If it used a battery, it might not be a CMOS. It could be very well a simple capacitor or a small Alkaline battery soldered directly to the board. Look for blown or leaking components on the board. Caps also swell sometimes before popping. If it dried out... well.... goodluck finding it. You'l have to study the board or find a schematic

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #31 on: July 21, 2014, 12:29:32 pm »
Interesting C1 and C3 are not populated.  Could anyone take a peak at their board?  I wonder if they pulled them on the demo system.  Might have to find a couple of caps!

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #32 on: July 22, 2014, 11:11:09 am »
Interesting C1 and C3 are not populated.  Could anyone take a peak at their board?  I wonder if they pulled them on the demo system.  Might have to find a couple of caps!

Crap.  No joy.  All of the other caps were 25v 10uF.  I found two 25v/10uF from an old motherboard and soldered them in but the game scores are still not saved.  I swear there is just an internal reset that happens when it goes into demo mode that clears all of the scores, but I've asked other people and they say the scores do in fact save.  Well, the hunt continues.  Maybe I'll find a replacement cartridge...

SavannahLion

  • Wiki Contributor
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5986
  • Last login:December 19, 2015, 02:28:15 am
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #33 on: July 28, 2014, 03:40:31 am »
Just realized that Clay Cowgill did the firmware for this hardware. He runs http://www.multigame.com/ as well as other sites. If the NDA ran out, he might be able to tell you what keeps the high scores. Hopefully you'll get lucky. According to Clay at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/rBBj7m_AOTk

I didn't look too hard but multigame is his business site so there must be some way of contacting him. Unfortunately the last update is from 2007??
Clay Cowgill wrote:
Quote
Chuk" <ch...@ourcade.com> wrote in message
news:A56mf.10180$l1.6422@fe26.usenetserver.com...

> Someone mentioned that the emulation was identical to the MW board, and
that
> the menus were almost identical.  Though I thought that arcadeshop had
hired
> them out to do that board.  I wouldn't think he could produce it for
someone
> else.  However, I have no idea what the actual situation is there.  Maybe
> Clay will speak up if he can?

Well, hey, I was just waiting for someone to ask!. ;-)

Of course I'm NDA'd on the subject as to most of the particulars, but yes,
we were involved with the product.  We worked under contract to do the
software development and help bring up the hardware design.  (Our software
solution is optimized to run on hardware with very limited RAM and CPU
resources-- a good match for a very cost sensitive device like this one).

The hardware wasn't directly done by us (we worked with another contractor
that implemented the ASICs and handled the final hardware design).  If
someone tears into it it's kinda anticlimactic-- a couple 'block blobs' (COB
packaging) and a little memory.  That's about it!

I must admit that I've been conducting a little science experiment
collecting the feedback here before people got any sort of bias knowing any
back-story about it.  :-P

(Clearly the product wasn't intended for readers of this newsgroup.) ;-)

That having been said, it really *is* fully emulated. (...and quite
accurately so with the exception of the TV output instead of a full-on
arcade monitor.)  One of the early comments to the contrary was from someone
who had pitched a competing design that we beat out.  I didn't feel like
getting in a pissing match over it.  No, it's not a Nintendo or Genesis. :-P

I will say that every 'negative' that people mentioned here was not the
first time it had been thought of...  When it came right down to it though,
the costs couldn't move and the delivery date was set in stone.  If the
retail price point was going to (really) be $499 and not $397 that might
have changed some things, but the channel buyers know what will sell at what
price points and the product needed to go out the door at the $397 mark and
still make everyone a profit at that price.

Like most engineers, given my druthers I'd probably just work on 'unlimited'
price stuff with 'open ended' timetables, but alas, that's not the kind of
thing you can sell by the truckload at Target...  That having been said, all
indications are that it's going to do quite well in its intended market.  I
suspect you'll see more.

-Clay

P.S. Some years down the road when the NDA's expire and if anyone's
interested in hearing them, I do have some good stories to tell about the
project. :-)

and
Quote
"Scott Caldwell" <lscottc...@excite.com> wrote in message
news:bGDmf.26948$BZ5.8503@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...

>  Seems like that could be sold
> for less than the existing Multi-Williams JAMMA
> PCBs, by a large margin.

Price is, of course, largely volume driven.  In the case of the Target unit,
the very first shipment that left the factory was more total units than the
sum of every multigame kit, JAMMA adapter, pacman daughterboard, etc. that
I've ever sold in the last *ten* years combined.  Suffice it to say that at
those volumes they can get a lot better deals on parts that the little guy!

They also kept the per-unit cost down by doing custom ASICs to integrate a
bunch of functionality down onto a couple IC's...  Then they ran a lot of
product through high speed factories which gets good pricing (because the
setup/teardown expense on the line gets smaller when you run the line
longer).  The problem for small volume products is that ASIC math just
doesn't pan out when you consider minimums and NREs.  (Even if you just put
one wafer through on a small process you wind up having to buy 5-6K parts,
plus the engineering costs up front, plus the cost of the ASIC designer. ;-)

> Clay, is the sound 100% emulated too?  The Target
> game I played sounded a little off.

Yep-- but the cabinet, speaker, and the audio output stages make a big
difference in the "sound" as you hear it.  I can't imagine the TV has a very
beefy speaker in it.  It's hard to get good bass without one, so higher
frequencies might seem more prominent.  The original games also all have
slightly different analog filtering in their audio path, so we did have to
compromise a bit to try to get things as good as possible across all titles.
(Having a steep rolloff on a filter to make the old Williams games sound
'just right', resulted in the other games sounding too muffled, etc.  We had
to pick something that was "good" for all, but probably not the best
possible for any one particular architecture.  You could likely 'fix' that
with some DSP on the sound, but there wasn't that kind of budget in the
hardware.)

-Clay

If the problem is with the ASIC, you'll probably have to live with it.

Good luck.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2014, 03:43:41 am by SavannahLion »

jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #34 on: July 28, 2014, 10:51:43 am »
Thanks SavannahLion.

I had wondered where that post had gone.  I had come across it a few months back and couldn't find it again.  I will see if he's responding to any emails.  I think I tried previously with no success, but I'll try again.

Yesterday I got to play hacker for a little while.  I found out that the PCB that plugs into the back of the cartridge is one pin longer than a floppy disk connector, so I modified a FD cable to accept it and then broke all of the wires out onto a PS1 controller PCB.  I plugged the PS1 controller into the playstation, loaded up Midway Greatest Hits and tested things out.  The MGH disk has all of the games the original 12 in 1 had, minus Wizard of Wor, but it also has another 13 games on top of that.  Player1 worked!  Now to find a second donor controller to set up player2.  And guess what?  It saves games! :-)  The loading times are a little annoying, but not too bad.  Played some Marble Madness, 720 (Skate or Die!) and Joust 2.  I couldn't get Spy Hunter mapped correctly.  We'll see about the other games.  I was very excited it worked on the first try and I can always plug the original unit back in.  Good times.

Thinking about a 20" (4:3) LCD upgrade.  Will see how it looks and possibly build a new face for the unit to house it.  Fun stuff!

pbj

  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10871
  • Last login:Today at 03:47:56 pm
  • Obey.
    • The Chris Burke Band
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #35 on: July 28, 2014, 02:43:16 pm »
Yeah, that was probably the biggest opinion flipflop in arcade collector history.  Up until that point, everyone hated those cabinets and thought the emulation was terrible. 

Then Clay announces he's the one that did it?  All of the sudden he was a programming genius that got very accurate results with very cheap components.  It was beyond ridiculous.


Only pinball one I've witnessed at that magnitude was when the Demolition Man swear ROMs were finally "released."  After years of, "I've seen a copy but I gave my word I wouldn't distribute them" it turned out everyone had had them for years.   :lol




jserrawi

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7
  • Last login:August 15, 2014, 04:05:30 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #36 on: July 28, 2014, 05:10:56 pm »
I have an old Sharp 20" 4:3 LCD that I thought would be perfect.  It kind of had to be old since you don't really see 4:3 LCD TVs anymore.  Anyway, it's always been a good TV, thought it would be good for a replacement screen.  Wow, was I wrong.  Static pictures look FANTASTIC.  Colors pop, pictures sharp.  As soon as you start moving around the screen, the picture look horrible.  All sorts of jaggies and blur.  Blah.  Will stick with the 13" CRT until a better replacement comes along.

EDIT: Maybe it was just 720 (Skate or Die).  I tried a couple of the other games and it was less noticeable, bordering on acceptable.  May keep the LCD option on the table or find a 20" tube tv for cheap/free on Craigslist.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2014, 10:26:02 pm by jserrawi »

SavannahLion

  • Wiki Contributor
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5986
  • Last login:December 19, 2015, 02:28:15 am
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #37 on: July 29, 2014, 10:42:49 am »
Yeah... that motion blur is really noticeable. Personally, I think the 120Hz screens make the problem worse, not better. But I suspect the root cause is different.

Plasma seems to do better but has a "jittery" look. Took me months to get used to it but if I switch to a CRT for awhile my brain resets and I see it again.

Given that CRT is toast it's a shame we're forced to live with that kind of tradeoff.

jbserra

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 66
  • Last login:October 26, 2023, 12:03:12 pm
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #38 on: February 16, 2015, 09:31:06 am »
Spent the $5 and started the upgrade :-)

New TV is mounted and very stable.  Just need a new skin for the front.


pbj

  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10871
  • Last login:Today at 03:47:56 pm
  • Obey.
    • The Chris Burke Band
Re: Midway Arcade Cabinet by Big Electronic Games
« Reply #39 on: February 16, 2015, 10:01:55 am »
ITT: turd polishing