Cabinet to Gut Question

[oneknightr]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the boards and this is my very first post! 

I was at Costco a couple of weeks ago and the Ultimate Arcade was marked down from $2000 to $1000. I almost bought it (for the price) but what held me back was the fact that most of the games on there were filler games. I only liked about 5 of them. I did a little research and found this goldmine of a site. Ok , on to my question.

I found a Pit Fighter arcade game that is in great shape with nothing wrong for $175. Is this a good cabinet to gut and use as a cabinet to build my own arcade? Any thoughts? I don't have much knowledge about building my arcade. I've been lurking on these boards off and on for the past couple of weeks. I'm planning on buying St. Clairs book but didn't want to pass this deal up if it is in fact a good deal. Any feedback is greatly appreciate. Thanks everyone!

[BASS!]

       A gutted cabinet and a cheap computer / monitor is an awesome place to start. Read read read on here first and decide exactly what you want to do with it. There are tons of gutts and builds on this site to give you ample information.  I know it is "cheap" for $175, but a completely empty cabinet in good shape might be available through your local Craigslist for around $50 or Free if you look enough.  The ultimate arcade is GARBAGE!!!!!!! Don't buy it. Any more questions just post post post

[TheShanMan]

Welcome to BYOAC!

I am totally unaware of what good prices are for cabs, but I think most would say it's always better to leave a working cab alone. If you can find a non-working cab, that would be a better candidate for conversion.

The book would of course be a great way to prepare for building from scratch, and probably for conversion as well (I haven't read it - just going on things I've heard about it). If you're totally new to the whole emulation scene, that book would be an excellent place to start. Reading these forums helps a lot too. Also be sure to check the Wiki (see link near top of page - "wiki", not "wiki discussion"). Lots of good info there, including info about "front ends" for making game selection in a cabinet easy.

Check places like retroblast.com for reviews of hardware, and groovygamegear.com and ultimarc.com are excellent manufacturers/resellers of arcade hardware.

And yes, this is a goldmine of a site.

[protokatie]

I found a Pit Fighter arcade game that is in great shape with nothing wrong for $175

If it works, and is only 175 bucks, keep it as a pitfighter game. I am no purist, but for 175 dollars, you can do no wrong with keeping the cabinet as it was intended...

[purpledrillmonkey]

I found a Pit Fighter arcade game that is in great shape with nothing wrong for $175

If it works, and is only 175 bucks, keep it as a pitfighter game. I am no purist, but for 175 dollars, you can do no wrong with keeping the cabinet as it was intended...

yes.... we need to keep pit fighter preserved as those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it....

[Fozzy The Bear]

I found a Pit Fighter arcade game that is in great shape with nothing wrong for $175.

Gutting fully working original dedicated cabinets is not looked on kindly in here! This forum is about building your own..... However if you find a cabinet that has already been gutted by an operator, or is so badly damaged as to make it impossible for anybody to repair, then that is an option.

From the front page cabinets section here: "Please do be mindful that we don't destroy what we're trying to re-create.  Many classic arcade machines are rare and worth a heck of a lot more intact than altered.  Ideal candidates for this type of project are machines that have already been abused by previous owners - artwork destroyed, poorly converted, etc..."

First of all buy Saint's book as you were planning to, and read it cover to cover, and note his further comments on the above in Apendix B.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[oneknightr]

Thank you all for the great input! It never crossed my mind to leave well enough alone if the machine is working properly and in good condition. I'm glad I posted my question here first.

Next step: Buy Saint's book! 

[Bluedeath]

If yopu really want to do a mame conversion on the cabinet whitout runining it just buy a j-pack interface and set the output of your video card to 15KHz (either with a software or by buying an Arcade vga) and realize a reversibile conversion.

[csa3d]

I found a Pit Fighter arcade game that is in great shape with nothing wrong for $175.

Gutting fully working original dedicated cabinets is not looked on kindly in here! This forum is about building your own..... However if you find a cabinet that has already been gutted by an operator, or is so badly damaged as to make it impossible for anybody to repair, then that is an option.

From the front page cabinets section here: "Please do be mindful that we don't destroy what we're trying to re-create.  Many classic arcade machines are rare and worth a heck of a lot more intact than altered.  Ideal candidates for this type of project are machines that have already been abused by previous owners - artwork destroyed, poorly converted, etc..."

First of all buy Saint's book as you were planning to, and read it cover to cover, and note his further comments on the above in Apendix B.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Something tells me you never slept well keeping lightning bugs in a jar either..   Just messin' with ya.
-csa

[Fozzy The Bear]

Something tells me you never slept well keeping lightning bugs in a jar either..   Just messin' with ya.
-csa

Good job we don't have any Lightning Bugs in the UK isn't it. 

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[shardian]

Post some pictures of the Pit Fighter if you can. If the monitor is in good shape, that is an ideal cabinet. The dedicated cabinet is very generic. You could cut a new control top the same size as the orignal and you would have plenty of room for 2 sets of controls and a trackball.

[oneknightr]

If yopu really want to do a mame conversion on the cabinet whitout runining it just buy a j-pack interface and set the output of your video card to 15KHz (either with a software or by buying an Arcade vga) and realize a reversibile conversion.

That was all Greek to me, but thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll understand what you're saying after I read the book. 

[Bluedeath]

If yopu really want to do a mame conversion on the cabinet whitout runining it just buy a j-pack interface and set the output of your video card to 15KHz (either with a software or by buying an Arcade vga) and realize a reversibile conversion.

That was all Greek to me, but thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll understand what you're saying after I read the book. 

It's "tecnical" jargon is more easy to understand once you are into it, just don't do anything that can't be undone to the cab. Honesttly i hated pit figher but tell to you to gut it (especially if is in good condition) would be a crime, an original unmodified cab is a rare specimen.

[DrumAnBass]

Funny, those Costco arcade games is what got me interested in this hobby as well, back when they carried the $3000 Ultracade... Once I found this site I realized that I could build something better for way less $$$. I combed ebay and craigslist for a few months before finding a super pacman "project" cabinet listed in the Videogame category on ebay instead of the Collectibles / Arcade-Jukebox category, that happened to be a few miles from me. Won it for around $70. I did a reversible Mame on it; keeping all the parts to easily convert it back to it's original form. Have fun!

[Sir Auros]

If it's a Pit Fighter, then I see no harm whatsoever in gutting and MAMEing it. Hell, I wouldn't pay that much and keep it dedicated...although maybe the post about preserving it to avoid repeating such gaming mistakes in the future has some merit. Of course, there will be people who'll butt into your project thread and harass you for mutilating a "classic," but just ignore them.

If I were just starting out and had access to a crappy game like Pit Fighter with a working monitor, coin door, and controls, I'd bite for that price for a MAME cabinet.

[shardian]

Pit Fighter is a borderline game mainly because it is a crappy cabinet. Much like SFII, it is a dedicated cabinet, but not really. It is a generic black cabinet with square decals on the side, and a very generic original overlay. There was no designer "love" put into the game, and thus isn't really a restoration candidate.

[csa3d]

Here we go with this thread again..

[Sir Auros]

Pit Fighter is a borderline game mainly because it is a crappy cabinet. Much like SFII, it is a dedicated cabinet, but not really. It is a generic black cabinet with square decals on the side, and a very generic original overlay. There was no designer "love" put into the game, and thus isn't really a restoration candidate.

I know that, but it's also a horrible, horrible game. Wasn't a lot of love in the programming either, IMO. 

I mean, if I were gutting it, I'd save the board and anything else to hand off to some poor, tortured soul who was interested in the game for some diabolical reason.

[protokatie]

I remember when Pitfighter was ported to the SNES, and they made a huge deal out of how it had digitized graphics in it... Would have been better if it had cell drawn graphics, it would have been much more playable...

[MaximRecoil]

it's also a horrible, horrible game.

That's funny. I was going to post the exact same thing (including the two "horribles"). I wouldn't be surprised if the saying "Good graphics doesn't necessarily = good gameplay" was coined with Pit Fighter in mind. 

[Sir Auros]

it's also a horrible, horrible game.

That's funny. I was going to post the exact same thing (including the two "horribles"). I wouldn't be surprised if the saying "Good graphics doesn't necessarily = good gameplay" was coined with Pit Fighter in mind. 

I'm guessing you've been hitting the bottle pretty hard tonight, because I thought Pit Fighter's graphics looked pretty bad even back in the day. My younger brother on the other hand, thought it was unbe****inglievable.

On a slight tangent, I left my NFL Blitz cabinet's sideart as intact as I could (there are some new carriage bolts for the TV shelf), even though I have absolutely no interest in NFL football. Something like Pit Fighter though, that doesn't have full sideart AND would just be shameful to own...

[MaximRecoil]

it's also a horrible, horrible game.

That's funny. I was going to post the exact same thing (including the two "horribles"). I wouldn't be surprised if the saying "Good graphics doesn't necessarily = good gameplay" was coined with Pit Fighter in mind. 

I'm guessing you've been hitting the bottle pretty hard tonight, because I thought Pit Fighter's graphics looked pretty bad even back in the day. My younger brother on the other hand, thought it was unbe****inglievable.

"Bad"? It had digitized graphics in 1990. Actors were motion-captured on film and that was scanned in digitally to use for the graphics. It looked like a scene from live action, standard resolution TV. How can looking real look "bad"? That's like saying a photograph has bad graphics. Mortal Kombat used the same process a couple years later, and also had good graphics. It is kind of hard to have bad graphics when your graphics are scanned-in photos.

Everything prior to this was manually drawn cartoonish sprites. It was like switching the channel on a TV from a cartoon to a live action show.

And I know that Journey (1983) did it first, but it was to a very small degree; nothing like the fully digitized scenes in Pit Fighter and Mortal Kombat.

[Sir Auros]

Let me clarify, the digitized sprites looked ok, the animations did not. I say just "ok" for the sprites, because they were still like looking at a 64x48 rasterized picture that had been blown up to 800x600 if that makes any sense. I guess I mean the sprites and animation as a whole when I refer to graphics.

I dunno, I think MK did it much more impressively.

[MaximRecoil]

Let me clarify, the digitized sprites looked ok, the animations did not. I say just "ok" for the sprites, because they were still like looking at a 64x48 rasterized picture that had been blown up to 800x600 if that makes any sense. I guess I mean the sprites and animation as a whole when I refer to graphics.

I dunno, I think MK did it much more impressively.

I agree that the animations weren't that great. Even though the animations were "real" in a sense (taken from motion capture film of real people), the fluidity wasn't that great; kind of like watching live action video with a reduced frame rate.

The problem with the sprites wasn't that they were low-res and blown up. The res was suitable for standard resolution displays, it is just that the color depth was somewhat low—kind of like making an animated GIF from live action video. At low resolutions, an animated GIF can look like film/video, but in reality it only has 256 colors maximum, because that is all a GIF supports.

MK is also lacking in color depth in the same way, but still looks good on a standard res display. The improvement in MK over Pit Fighter is mainly in the area of higher resolution sprites and improved animation.

In terms of digitized graphics, I think that Street Fighter: The Movie was pretty much the height of achievement. Unfortunately, that game sucked six ways from Sunday.

I would like to see the process revived. Imagine what could be done with digitized graphics today.

[Chris G]

Welcome to the hobby and board!

I was actually in your exact situation about a year and a half ago.  I had no tools or woodworking experience so I decided to buy a working cabinet to convert.  It was even a Pit Fighter!  I'll be posting a Project Announcement thread soon, so if you decide to do this, hopefully that will be helpful for you.

In retrospect, I would rather have built my own from scratch - little did I know I would get into it as much as I have.  However, it was the right decision for me at the time since I was anxious to relive my youth and wanted to take my time customizing the controls, art, etc.  And I have done the conversion in such a way that it can be reversed, which will make the purists happy. 

So if you're in the same boat, if you like the cabinet ok, the monitor works, etc - I'd say it's a great one to convert and that's a good price.  Or if you're feeling more adventurous and can wait, BYO!  Either way, it's going to be a blast and you will learn a lot.

[oneknightr]

Welcome to the hobby and board!

I was actually in your exact situation about a year and a half ago.  I had no tools or woodworking experience so I decided to buy a working cabinet to convert.  It was even a Pit Fighter!  I'll be posting a Project Announcement thread soon, so if you decide to do this, hopefully that will be helpful for you.

In retrospect, I would rather have built my own from scratch - little did I know I would get into it as much as I have.  However, it was the right decision for me at the time since I was anxious to relive my youth and wanted to take my time customizing the controls, art, etc.  And I have done the conversion in such a way that it can be reversed, which will make the purists happy. 

So if you're in the same boat, if you like the cabinet ok, the monitor works, etc - I'd say it's a great one to convert and that's a good price.  Or if you're feeling more adventurous and can wait, BYO!  Either way, it's going to be a blast and you will learn a lot.

Thanks Chris! That's funny how I'm where you were a year and a half ago. Let me know when you start your thread. I'd love to read it. I too have hardly any woodworking tools and little woodworking experience. I'm still debating whether to buy the Pit Fighter or build my own. I'm in no rush. I feel the more info I get before I start, the better.

Also, thanks for bringing this thread back on topic.    It was turning into a "Is Pit Fighter worth saving or not?" thread. I don't mind, it's definitely good reading. 

[Sir Auros]

Uh...we were having that discussion to...um...help you decide if you wanted to buy and MAME the Pit Fighter. Yeah, that's it.

[Chris G]

Thanks Chris! That's funny how I'm where you were a year and a half ago. Let me know when you start your thread. I'd love to read it. I too have hardly any woodworking tools and little woodworking experience. I'm still debating whether to buy the Pit Fighter or build my own. I'm in no rush. I feel the more info I get before I start, the better.

Also, thanks for bringing this thread back on topic.    It was turning into a "Is Pit Fighter worth saving or not?" thread. I don't mind, it's definitely good reading. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77308.msg805858#msg805858

[oneknightr]

Does anyone know how big the Pit Fighter monitor is? I was trying to google this info but couldn't find anything.

[Fozzy The Bear]

Does anyone know how big the Pit Fighter monitor is? I was trying to google this info but couldn't find anything.

The original monitor is a 25-inch W&G.  just in case you confuse that with the width if the monitor, the 25 inches refers to the diagonal size of the tube.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[severdhed]

I say, if the cabinet is in good shape and is the style of cabinet you are looking for, then go for it.  You could always change it back to a pit fighter if you choose to at a later point in time.  I was looking for a cabinet like this when i first started my project.  I had very little woodworking tools or experience, so i figured buying a cabinet and modifying it was a better option for me.  I ended up calling around to a few local places that service arcade machines and asked if they had any old gutted cabinets. The guy told me he just got one in that I could have for $20.  It wasn't what I was looking for(i wanted a fighter cabinet) but the price was right.  I couldn't pass it up, and it wasnt really even gutted completely.  he took the game boards and power supply, but left the metal control panel, 3 buttons, a 3" wico trackball, speakers, marquee w/ light, and a working coindoor.  IT took some heavy modification, but I managed to get it to the way I wanted using only a jigsaw, a drill and a dremel.  So, if the pitfighter is what you want, go for it... if not, try looking in your area for arcade service companies, you might get lucky. If you can't find any, go to a pizza place or something that has a few arcade machines and find out who services them.