Hi Kjoel0123, I have an ultracade unit but i dont want to trade or sell it. I do want to share some things with you though, and others here because I was not aware of alot of things about the ultracade before i bought one. It will end up costing you alot of money eithier way. The cab has a computer in it with a unique operating system ( joshua ), and unique interface board ( usblink ). I recently bought one at auction, and didnt get any manuals or disks with it.Even if it did unless they are the latest relase they are really worthless in my opinion. It did have around 35 games already installed in it , worked fine but just had 2 joysticks and 12 buttons...(.no trackball or spinner on it ) and i fiquired i could add more when i wanted.
Well i was right about that, but over the years that they came out, they had newer versions of the operating systems. So unless the model you get has the absolute latest operating system you might want to consider getting it for compatability with all the game add on packs. Its not that big of a deal i believe its around 20 bucks plus shipping. Then comes the game add on packs for the machine. The real big turn on for getting the machine. Well just like the operating system, the later models came with more "base games" that came with the machine when you bought it. Early models came with maybe a dozen wheras the latter models came with a "86 game base pack".
Fortunatly, even if you have an early model ultracade, you can use a later model "86 game base pack" in your system....you just have to pay to do it. The 86 game base pack cd is around 150 bucks plus shipping. Don't bother trying to download a copy of it somewhere or get a copy from someone eithier , its not that popular of a item ...and even if it was you still couldnt use it. It comes with a serial #. That serial # and your serail # of the machine has to be phoned in and you get a unlock code that works for the 86 game base pack cd just for your machine.
I will give one thing to mr foley or whoever he hired to design this system, he did make it nearly impossible to get the games without paying for them on the machine. Ok so now you want some of the game add on packs like dragons lair and pac man and donkey kong and such? Cool no problem. Ok past few years when ultracade was in production, you could buy the game packs from vendors that sold them. Ultracade gave a handful of resellers the rights to resell thier games, and as such you cannot get a deal on them from the company direct. Nor can you buy a copy second hand from jimbo, who already bought his copy and installed it in his machine eithier. ONce you install a game pack on your machine it becomes "married" to it BEFORE it starts to copy the games to it.So that game pack is useless to sell second hand, and is useless to use on your second ultracde machine should you have one. The game packs sold anywhere from 300 to 700 bucks a game pack with the pac man game pack being the rarest one I see. Don't confuse this regular ultracade with the "costco ultracade" or the arcade legends which is simialr but not the same game platforms. The games sold for those are different and will not work. Fortunatly now the game packs while they are harder to get are cheaper than the 300 to 700 bucks they originally sold for, but they are still not cheap by any means. So, you are left with getting them from people that bought them before global vr bought the ultracde platform. With the upgrade packs not being able to be resused, when buying them you better be sure your dealing with someone with a good reputation or you could be buying a used worthless game pack. Currently the best prices i have found on the various game packs are :
Trackball classics (10) 75
casino pack -8- 75
space invaders(3) 100
sports pack (28) 110
midway arcade (23) 135
Donkey kong ( 3) 150
taito classics (28) 225
dragons lair (3) 325
A while after i got my cabinet home, i was pokin around inside of it so i could plan on re-doing the control panel to add the trackball and found a unlabeled switch in it. No documentataion of it was in the online manual i found. So i flipped the switch to see what it did. It didnt seem to do anything, except turn off the cabinet from inside. Then i had a big surprise. See, ultracde keeps track of every minute every game is played and every quarter that is put in the machine. So you can tell exactly how many times dragons lair was run etc. Well that was a reset switch, no problem i reset the counters on all of it to zero. No big deal ok, until i went to play the games. It erased them too. No games, no big deal, except i didnt have the 86 game pack cd, or the operating system cd.
So having the system cd, game base pack cd and upgrade packs handy for reinsallation is not a bad idea, espically if something should happen to the computer itself or the hd.
I have never seen a pac man game pack for sale, nor any info on how many games are in it. So i can't comment on those. BUt you can see to have 190 games on the ultracade run you about 1500 bucks ( dont forget the highway robbery shipping on the game packs ) plus the cost of the ultracde itself. Pretty steep unless you plan on using it in a commercail setting and get your investment back.
Global vr put the ultracde platform to rest and do not have Forum for it. Their new answer to the ultracade is their global arcade classics. Ultracade came as a upgrade kit or a pre made cabinet you could buy already assembled. Even the kits that i have seen, sold for around 1200 bucks. Wheras you can still buy new premade systems for anywhere from 3000 to 5500 bucks. There is a upright system right now available with a 27" monitor and the 180 games for 4,000. The new globaal arcade classics have only been available since september of this year, so good luck on getting one used. Best price i have found one is at sams club online at 2600 bucks.
While the ultracde does present itsd own challenges, it is a legal multigame system you can use in a commercail environment. That is why i bought it myself. The 48 in1 isnt, and a person who operates one of those commercailly is setting themself up for a big lawsuit. Thats one of the reasons i have stayed away from them. Pac man is on that 48 in 1.....just to name one but namco still cares very much about people illegally using pacman commercailly. The ultracde system is much more valuable than the 48 in 1 to someone like me. Unless i can purchase all those roms someplace ( does anyone know where i can?
? ) and have them at the house to back up the board while i use it commercailly. Purchasing all the pcb's used will still run me alot more than dealing with the ultracade. I wish you luck in your trade, but now you are hopefully alot more knowledgable before your purchase/trade than i was and know what will make a big difference in alot of money with it....And if ultracade is what your still really want considering it is not being manufactured anymore.
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Topic: I want an ultracade cab! Trade my ms pacman 48-1 - All New parts (Read 3970 times)
