NOOB-Modified Target "Konami Big Arcade"

[FrankieViturello]

Hey all,

Just wanted to say that your forum inspired me to do some (admittedly noobish) cabinet and hardware modifications to my Konami Big Arcade game.

(Similar to the Midway Big Arcade unit & the kind you can buy at Target, Wal-Mart, Sports Authority, etc. that have 12 games on a MAME on a CHIP)

The first thing that made me want to mod this thing was the large open cabinet space in the bottom. As satisfied as I was with the original hardware ... from the first day I had it, I found myself saying "wow, with all that space down there, there's no reason why I couldn't put a CPU with MAME on it"

But I quickly dashed my own thoughts on that due to the fact that I have little to no skills with modifying controller boards / soldering, etc.

So, what I did, was open up the front panel, where I found that the main CPU board had a computer monitor output. Which, logically ran to the back of the unit into a 15 inch computer monitor propped up on it's side. You can see the cpu chip (with the monitor cable disconnected in this picture.



Next I removed the back panels and looked at the power situation, and found (as detailed on a post about the Midway machine) that the power supply was actually just an inexpensive power strip encased in a black box so you couldn't really access it without un-screwing a security device. I did that and then added another power strip to the one available plug spot, so I could plug in :

- A set of $20 speakers / sub-woofer
- My laptop computer
- A USB Hub



The middle back wood panel had a hole cut in it for the original power wire, but I decided to re-locate that board to the bottom panel section so I could run the wires from everything USB, monitor and speaker wise to the laptop computer in the bottom (as you can see in the above progress picture).



The final steps of my mod involved turning off the sound on the Konami arcade games (as there's no easy way to cut the power to them, but you can easily do that in the Konami arcade setup screen) and installing a keyboard to the top front of the unit (for easy access to the mame / Windows software or web browsing / rom downloading) and a wireless mouse.

I'm using XBOX 360 controllers for the current setup as they have a great compatibility with Mame and Windows XP.

I've ordered an analog Monitor Switch-Box (you know, the old tan-colored things with the black dial switch) so I can switch back and forth between the CPU and the Konami board .... but I have to wait for that in the mail.

Currently I have MAME running with about 315 compatible games, and it's a simple show of what you can do, even as a NOOB with a setup like this.

The hardest part was figuring out how to get my Windows XP to display SIDEWAYS for a monitor on it's side ... and it actually IS possible from the display setup on my CPU (might be different for yours).

This was a totally no-solder job ... but I'd imagine if you guys with your awesome skills were tasked to, that you could EASILY convert the controllers on this unit to work with a USB cable. (Though I don't mind the XBOX 360 controllers, they're just great!)

Thanks so much for the inspiration to open up a $400 bit of hardware ... not sure I would have had the courage to otherwise!

Here's some pics of the 99% finished project (sans switching box)

-Frankie

[shardian]

Hey, good job and congrats. As to rewiring the controls, you could get a parallel port switcher box and wire the controls thru it. The konami wiring will go to one parallel cable, and an ipac could go to another. Then the controls would be on the output side.

[shardian]

You may also find this article a worthwhile read, if you haven't already:
http://www.retroblast.com/articles/BEGMods.html

[FrankieViturello]

maybe someday I'll meet somebody capable of doing that for me in person.

the wires look like they're security glued in post solder, so I'd probably have to take the board off, make a map of where the wires go, get rid of all the glue and solder re-cut the wires split them to the swticher, etc ...

... and while I'm electronically adept, I'd probably just wind up ruining the whole thing in the process, lol.

In any case, I hope more people like me will stumble across this example and make a big cash investment have exponentially more value through MAME!

[FrankieViturello]

Yeah, that article helped me a lot when I read it ... it was a big help in the "proof of concept" area, and I was glad to see that the harware wasn't too different.

Thanks though!

[shardian]

the wires look like they're security glued in post solder, so I'd probably have to take the board off, make a map of where the wires go, get rid of all the glue and solder re-cut the wires split them to the swticher, etc ...

... and while I'm electronically adept, I'd probably just wind up ruining the whole thing in the process, lol.

Don't overcomplicate it, just snipe the wires in half somewhere, and splice them into half of a printer cable as you go. It actuall would be pretty easy. Once you cut in half a printer cable, write down all of the colors on a piece of paper, and assign buttons accordingly so you can keep everything straight.

[FrankieViturello]

wow, great idea.

I'll definately remember that one if I do get ballsy and try to do the joystics.

(I recall putting a mod chip in a PS1 many many years ago stripping and using a regular telephone wire because it had pre-multi colored wires instead of the coil of red wire that my friend had used on his PS1)

Thanks again!

[Crowquill]

I think the control panels are the biggest complaint I have against these things. Put in some 8-ways, or better yet a U360 or Mag-stik plus. I'm sure you'll see a big improvement in gameplay. I really don't know how they expect you to play Hyper Sports with those buttons. You could probably just replace the entire CP.

I think my only other gripe is that they used the Japanese names for several of the games. Shao-lin's Road was Kicker in the US, Green Beret was the ever-so-cleverly named Rush N Attack.