Hacking the new Jakks Arcade Classics

[deadpool18]

I picked up the new Jakks Arcade Classics plug n play today at Target for $16.89.  It has Pac Man, Pac Man Plus, Super Pac Man, Pac n Pal, Galaxian, New Rally X, Dig Dug, and Bosconian.  The emulation seems much better than previous attempts.

I was thinking about hacking this and using real arcade controls but, I am a newbie and I have a few questions for anyone who has done this before.

1.  If I use a 4/8 way switchable stick, will Bosconian work with 8 way control, or was it programmed as a 4 way game for this version? (I thought about a mag stick plus)

2.  How hard of a project is this?  Can I use the same wires, or will I need new ones?

3.  What kind of switch should I use for the on/off switch?

Any help would be appreciated!

[ARTIFACT]

interesting! are those the actual games, or ports with different feel/music/gfx?

[markrvp]

I actually hacked three of these and put them all in one cabinet using a switchbox.  Here is a picture that shows the wires going the PCBs.




Here is my project thread:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36591.msg322847#msg322847

I had more detailed information on how I hacked the PCBs and wired them up, but for some reason some of the posts/info are gone.

[deadpool18]

Wow, thanks! 

Any thoughts on the Bosconian question?

[markrvp]

Bosconian will play 8-way with an 8-way joystick.  I used a J-Stick which is 4-way/8-way switchable, but keeps the red balltop (which is a necessity for Pacman  ).

[deadpool18]

Is the J-Stik switchable from the top of the panel?

[MinerAl]

Nope.  You'll need a mag stick for that, or the GGG top switch stick.

Bosconian did work in the old Jakks Pac-man with 8-way.  You'll have to tell us if it still does

Good luck!

Study MarkRVP's thread, pretty much everything you need to know is in there.

[deadpool18]

Thanks for all of the help everyone!  I'll do a review on the new Jakks stick when I get a chance.

[knave]

I looked at target.com and couldn'r find any mention of a new Jakks plug-n-play.

Does it look the same as the old ones? Is it called the same?

Thanks.

[Level42]

I bought a couple of those last year in the US.

Does anybody know how to switch them from NTSC to PAL ?

They work, but colors are wrong on PAL TV....since there is no RGB out this can't be easily fixed....

[deadpool18]

It's funny, because nobody seems to have them in stock or even listed online.  I saw a preview for it on the gadget blog on IGN, and then I saw someone selling them on ebay.  Otherwise, they don't even appear on the Jakks site!  I always check target, and I happened to see one there this weekend.  It even rang up as the Super Pac Man stick. It actually looks different than all of the other ones.  It has a molded pac man and ghosts on the base.

Here is a link to the ebay auction:

eBay Link

[lotec25]

i got one of these.  has like 10 games on it.  got it at a Mall people all ways sale cheap stuff in the middle sections.  i think we payed 10 bucks for it.  works ok

[Grasshopper]

I see that once again they've put the fire button on the wrong side. 

[deadpool18]

Yeah, you wonder who designs these things...

[mcfreak]

I used 6 different ones in my Mini cabinet.  I have a new monitor I am putting in it and it should be here tomorrow.
Here's a shot --

[deadpool18]

Wow! that is incredible.  I'm afraid my first project isn't going to come close to any of these.  By the way, what joystick did you use in there mcfreak?

So far I've been a lazy retro gamer.  I bought a Quasicade Pro on clearance, printed a new marquee, and hooked up my xbox, PS3, Dreamcast, Gamecube, and mame computer (using a component scan converter).  I then bought an xarcade trackball and a SF2 anniversary stick to compliment it (I use them on a cart in front of the arcade).

Now, I want to actually make my own machine after reading the boards here for the last year.  I have limited space and absolutely no skills.  But, I do have a nostalgic longing for retrogaming!  I'm really dreading trying to wire a control panel.  I'm not even sure that I understand how to hook up a joystick!  I thought maybe using the new Jakks unit would be a little easier on my budget and my project skills.

Thanks for everyone that has posted so far; it's nice to have a helpful community.

[knave]

I couldn't resist...went to target and picked one of these up.  While I didn't see them on the website they were on the shelf with all the other PnP's. ( Arcade Gold - Pac-man )

Opening it up it looks like it would be an easy hack.  All the control wires are color coded and labled as are the output wires.  It's a nice small board, and is a plane rectangle (if that matters.)

I think I'll see about putting it into something...My only concern would be suplying it with the proper 6V.  There is no Power connecter so I'd have to find a random 6V power supply and hack it in. I wonder if 500ma would be plenty.  Probably. 1A would be overkill but would it do any harm? Any comments from the electronically inclined?

After I put it back together I played it for a while, as did my wife.  The joystik is so-so to craptastic depending on the game.  It is a 4-way with little tiny microswitches.   After looking at it if they had used a bit beter centering and given it a tighter feel it wouldn't be too bad for Pacman (which is 4 of the games).

Galaxian was iffy since the restricter plate (+ style) would tend to guide you up or down.
Bosconian was the worst to control as the joy just wasn't precise enough.
Digdug was ok but could be beter.
Pac-man and varients didn't give me too much trouble but still could be better.

I didn't expect the controls to be great and in fact for pacman and digdug they are better than I expected.  I found the gameplay to be close to the original.  My original galaxian is of course easier to play and I think the Jakks unit is faster.  Pacman seems fast too but I don't have anything to compare.

All in all it's worth $17.  I do think this would make a fun bartop so who knows, perhaps I have a new project.

[MinerAl]

...My only concern would be suplying it with the proper 6V.  There is no Power connecter so I'd have to find a random 6V power supply and hack it in. I wonder if 500ma would be plenty.  Probably. 1A would be overkill but would it do any harm? Any comments from the electronically inclined?

Go read MarkRVP's write up.  There are a few other write ups from a few years ago when we were all hacking these that'll give you a good idea what's involved.

I was able to go get a cheap +6V 300mA (I think) wall-wart, nip off the end, strip it, and hook hot to hot and ground to ground, and it just worked.

Mark did more complicated things with switches and whatnot, but essentially: find the leads to the battery pack, and make sure you don't hook it up backwards (although this didn't burn out mine).

[Ed_McCarron]

Also, verify that your power supply is either regulated or supplying close to 6v with no load.

I fried one with a '6v' wall wart that was putting out 13v unloaded.  I think these things are pretty touchy when it comes to power.

Or, get yourself a 7805 reg and pad the ground with a diode.  It'll give you 5.7v and should work like a champ.

[Grasshopper]

Uhh... everyone plays PacMan right handed.

Actually I don't but then I'm naturally left handed. Anyway the point is moot with PacMan as that game doesn't use the fire button.

I don't see why Jakks couldn't have put a fire button on either side like Radica did with their Space Invaders game.

[ChadTower]

I play Pac and MsPac left handed.

[knave]

I see that once again they've put the fire button on the wrong side. 

For me it wasn't as much a problem it being on the wrong (aka Left) side.  I found using my thumb to press the fire button was not as natural as tapping it with a finger.  (LOL )

[deadpool18]

For the power supply I'm using the Jakks TV Games one that they sold for a short time.  It screws in to the battery compartment.  I think I paid like $2 for it on clearance.

[MinerAl]

For the power supply I'm using the Jakks TV Games one that they sold for a short time.  It screws in to the battery compartment.  I think I paid like $2 for it on clearance.

Excellent.  I was going to recommend this but didn't know where to point you to find one anymore.

[markrvp]

If you are going to put one of these in a cabinet, I would suggest using a switching power supply.  You can turn up the +5V adjustment to get 6V and it will be a good clean source of power.  You can also get one of those 12V LED marquee lights from GroovyGameGear which will also run off the switching power supply's 12v out.

[knave]

I was thinking about a switching PS as well...I'll have to take a look at the cheepie power supplies at my local HSC (electronics store).  If they don't have one that will work for ~$5 I'll considder a switcher.

I was also thinking. It seems like it would be pretty easy to wire up the little jakks PCB's to an edge connector and make little cartrages out of them.  That way you can easily add any games that come out in the future. 

Hmmm the wheels are turning.

[MrMojoZ]

I play Pac and MsPac left handed.

Considering arcade default is joystick left buttons right, I'd imagine people using the left hand on joystick only games is fairly common.

[knave]

I take back any prievious coments about the stock jakks stick being "ok" for pacman. 

It sucks.

I found that as I got better I required more precision. The plus sign restrictor is really the biggest (but not only) problem.

Anyhoo it's still pretty fun and looks awesome on my meager 25" tv.

I also forgot to mention that I'm pretty sad how they emulated digdug.  they have it scroll vertically for a portion of the screen.  The Gameboy version didn't need to do this, I find it annoying.

[markrvp]

Pacman was the worst emulated.  None of the patterns work and the sound isn't right.

[SirPeale]

They're not emulated.  Well...they are, but not arcade emulation.  IIRC it's the NES on a chip using the NES games.

[Ed_McCarron]

Pacman was the worst emulated.  None of the patterns work and the sound isn't right.

Throw little Mark's rhythm off not having the patterns work?