Primal Rage MAME

[Chicken McNobody]

I am sure there is going to be a lot of negative response for MAMEing a classic like this.   

But a neighbor of mine has caught my bug and is picking this up today to start his own MAME project.  He will provide the finances, and I will do the majority of the work for him.  I like that because it gives me another cab to work on without The Wife giving me the stink eye for getting another cabinet.






I am noticing that this is not an original dedicated Primal Rage cabinet, and I was wondering if any of the experts here may be able to let me know what the original design may have been used for.

I am thinking it may be a tight fit, but maybe with a slightly bigger CP, we could get this as a 4P setup.  He is someone who would take full advantage of a 4P cabinet, he has groups of friends over all the time.  A few of them have been over at my place to check out my MAME cabinet, and we alway end up playing TMNT/X-MEN/ECT in rotation, since mine is only 2P.

[javeryh]

Primal Rage sucks.  MAME away!   

[shardian]

Do yourself a favor, just drill 2 extra button holes for each player and call it a day. Add a Jpac, account for the 15khz signal, and you are done.

[Chicken McNobody]

Primal Rage sucks.  MAME away!   

I totally agree, but he likes the game enough, that he wants to save it as much as possible.  That's why I want to see what this was orinigally, so we could change the theme to something better.  Which would be just about anything else.

Remember, this is his first time.  I need to be gentle. . .

[jeef]

It *looks* like Mortal Kombat? Is what I've based my design on: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8753

[mwong168]

I totally agree, but he likes the game enough, that he wants to save it as much as possible.  That's why I want to see what this was orinigally, so we could change the theme to something better.  Which would be just about anything else.

Remember, this is his first time.  I need to be gentle. . .

There is a working Primal Rage rom for mame and the game stinks in my opinion    I think the existing control panel is too small for a 4 player one.  You might want to remove it and make a new bigger control panel add-on to accomodate 4 players comfortably.

It *looks* like Mortal Kombat? Is what I've based my design on: http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8753

You could be right about it being a Mortal Kombat cabinet.  It's a damn shame that someone could even butcher such a beautiful original cabinet...  especially for such a crappy game.  Are the sides painted or did they wrap it in some sort of vinyl or laminate?

[Chicken McNobody]

Picking it up in an hour, will have more details at that time.  I thought it was Mortal Kombatesque, but I was looking at MKII stuff, and not the original.  I'll have more info, and maybe more pictures once we have put our hand on it. tonight.

[Chicken McNobody]

So we went to get the cabinet, and it's in a decent shape right now.  The sides are painted, and the T-Molding has got to be replaced, but its fairly clean, and a great start.  It turns out to be a Midway cabinet, but not MK, it was once a Smash TV.  My buddy wants to MAME it up in MK style, but we are just going to replace the CP wood VS. building a MK style CP right now.  He is not a purist, and it will keep the budget down foe now, maybe we'll do that down the road.  The monitor seems to be burn free, I can't find any at least, so that is a plus.  It needs some more color adjustments, but I got it looking pretty solid, and it's a nice big 25 inch, so color me jealous. 

On the subject of monitors, this would be my first project with the attempt to keep the actual arcade monitor in tact.  How do you go about doing that with a MAME computer set-up?  Any help or guidence would be greatly appreciated. 

The CP was drilled out to make it the 4 buttons and single joy per side, so it has the extra random holes, so it needs to be a new piece of wood.  We are going to do it up as a 7 button layout to simulate MK as well as SF as much as possible.  He has a friend who is a really good artist, who he will talk to about doing some custom sidework art.  Once again, he is not a purist, and this will be freelance work, so it keeps the cost down. 

I have to say this thing is a beast, it was not east to get down the stairs without a dolly, especially since we both live in new construction homes, so we had to be extra extra careful not to ding anything.  Almost got it done safely, but took a small dent in the basement wall, but nothing a quick joint compound and paint wont easily fix.  His woman is not too pleased about this in the first place, so we needed to keep her as happy as possible. 

Now, I am a huge fighting game fan, but this one is crap for sure.  But maybe is the satisfaction of our conquest, and the starting of a new adventure with a friend.  But I had the most fun tonight playing Primal Rage than I ever have had or will have again.

I'll get some pics of it all soon, it's almost midnight, and I have to get up at 5:30 for work tomorrow.  Thankfully it's a half day for me tomorrow. . .

[Beretta]

Primal Rage sucks.  MAME away!   

speak for your self i liked primal rage, and chaos golden shower fatality.. well thats just golden

how would you take it if i said donkey kong was a quarter munching P.o.S?

of course everyone is intitled to their own opinion.. point being if you're gonna draw a line for what is ok to mame, there needs to be a clear criteria for what would qualify.

your opinion on the game it self is really subjective since we're not robots we all like different things.

and rarity really is'nt a good gauge either.. since any game deemed "ok to mame" will at some point become rare with that mind set.

so to me the only thing i can think of left is teh cabinet it self.. it's condition, and rather it's an original dedicated.

then again maming a cabinet does'nt have to be permanent so is it really a big deal to mame a cabinet even if it's an original dedicated assuming you leave the side art intact? not really maybe a few holes inside but it can be done with minimal alterations.

the nice way of putting it is i find it very "interesting" that people will decide a game is mame worthy based on their opinion of the game it self.

[Chicken McNobody]

Very true, it is all opinion based, and my opinion of this game is low.  But then again, I have friends who would take a Street Fighter II cabinet and turn it into an X-Men or TMNT.  Not that those are bad games, but they could care less about SFII, and that is one of the best fighting games ever made to most, including myself.  But I would love to have this cabinet as my first, it has so many possibilities.

Most importantly, this will be the one and only cabinet that he will have, and he is aiming to get the most that can be got out of this.  He is 5 years younger than me, so the classic DK and the like do not appeal to him very much, so it will be the 90s that inspire this project. 

I am confused though, the inside has a Smash TV plate, but I don't see any images out there of a dedicated Smash TV with this style of cabinet, they are a lot smaller and with a smaller screen that I can find.  The paint is chipped in a few places and I would like to remove it entirely to see what may have been underneath, the colors showing through do line up with the Smash TV side art, but then again it is the same colors in the Mortal Kombat art as well. 

What is the best way to remove the paint to at least try and see what is underneath? 

[shardian]

It is definitely a Smash TV
http://www.appolo.com/projects/smashtv/smash_tv.htm

[CheffoJeffo]

EDIT: I see shardian beat me to it ...

[Chicken McNobody]

Thanks! I knew I could count on your guys, that answers those questions. 

NOw how do I make the monitor work with MAME, and how do I remove the paint while tying to preserve the art underneath?

[romshark]

For the monitor, you should be either able to use ArcadeVGA or  Soft-15khz.

I don't have any experience personally with either, but from what I've read, Soft-15khz loads in after Windows starts. So if the monitor is turned on before Windows is booted, the monitor may be damaged. So if you have the coin, I'd go with the Arcade VGA.

[Chicken McNobody]

Thanks for the help, I'll check it out with him. . .

[adidas1984x]

primal rage on mame only has 3 buttons but the real game requires 4 anyone know how to solve that problem,

[javeryh]

the nice way of putting it is i find it very "interesting" that people will decide a game is mame worthy based on their opinion of the game it self.

That is interesting!    I don't know... I'm usually not for MAMEing original cabs but my gut reaction was that the cabinet pictured was a conversion and stuffed in a generic cabinet.  I don't generally have a problem with MAMEing the SFII Dynamo cabs or something like that either.  I guess all cabs will eventually be rare because no one is making any more of them but other than a scratch-build you've got to start somewhere.  I shouldn't have based it on my opinion of the game though - it's really on the cab itself (although Primal Rage does suck!  ).

[mwong168]

For the monitor, you should be either able to use ArcadeVGA or  Soft-15khz.

I don't have any experience personally with either, but from what I've read, Soft-15khz loads in after Windows starts. So if the monitor is turned on before Windows is booted, the monitor may be damaged. So if you have the coin, I'd go with the Arcade VGA.

I think along with the ArcadeVGA you will need a J-PAC as well to work with the existing arcade monitor.


http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.php

My friend used one for his generic Dynamo SFII cabinet.

[Beretta]

Very true, it is all opinion based, and my opinion of this game is low.  But then again, I have friends who would take a Street Fighter II cabinet and turn it into an X-Men or TMNT.  Not that those are bad games, but they could care less about SFII, and that is one of the best fighting games ever made to most, including myself.  But I would love to have this cabinet as my first, it has so many possibilities.
...................
What is the best way to remove the paint to at least try and see what is underneath? 

ah, to be clear i would mame it also.. it does'nt have it's side art any more and it's been converted.. i was just say i get a bit annoyed seeing people decided what should be mamed basied on their opinion of the game, as that is so subjective.

im also curious whats the best way, paint stripper is to strong.. maybe some paint thinner diluted.. or something.. if it's a vinyal sticker art gently hitting it with a heat gun, might work.. might beable to gently scrape the paint off without cooking the vinyl.. but ya i'd like to know a good.. nearly fool proof way of doing it.. as a lot of times on conversions they just paint the cab black, sometimes right over the original side art if it's a rush job.

the nice way of putting it is i find it very "interesting" that people will decide a game is mame worthy based on their opinion of the game it self.

That is interesting!     I don't know... I'm usually not for MAMEing original cabs but my gut reaction was that the cabinet pictured was a conversion and stuffed in a generic cabinet.  I don't generally have a problem with MAMEing the SFII Dynamo cabs or something like that either.  I guess all cabs will eventually be rare because no one is making any more of them but other than a scratch-build you've got to start somewhere.  I shouldn't have based it on my opinion of the game though - it's really on the cab itself (although Primal Rage does suck!  ).

see now that i can respect.. i came to the same conclusion as you did.. it's a conversion.. no side art.. so go ahead and mame it.. i just get a bit peeved seeing people decide what should be mamed based on the game it self.. even on completely original working dedicated cabs.

ya i wonder what it will be like 10 years from now.. you hear about so many cabs being trashed or burnt.. who knows the cabs everyone has may just continue to rise in value.

there are a couple projects i wanna do but have'nt found the cabs for, trying to squirl them away before it becomes impossible to find, although im already not having much luck as it is already.

i may end up having ot build them when the time comes but im not to confident in my ability to pull that off.

[shardian]

A heat gun and patience will get those sideart stickers off no prob.

If you think the original Smash TV is under the black paint (Highly likely), then you could use 3M safest Stripper to uncover it. Otherwise, just leave it black.

[Chicken McNobody]

primal rage on mame only has 3 buttons but the real game requires 4 anyone know how to solve that problem,

It appears to be a strange JAMMA setup the start button and the fierce high attack share the same button.  So I believe, it is the standard JAMMA deal with the 3 buttons per side + start, just that the start is sharing double duty to avoid needing a kick harness or special wiring.

[romshark]

For the monitor, you should be either able to use ArcadeVGA or  Soft-15khz.

I don't have any experience personally with either, but from what I've read, Soft-15khz loads in after Windows starts. So if the monitor is turned on before Windows is booted, the monitor may be damaged. So if you have the coin, I'd go with the Arcade VGA.

I think along with the ArcadeVGA you will need a J-PAC as well to work with the existing arcade monitor.


http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.php

My friend used one for his generic Dynamo SFII cabinet.

Well, it would make hooking everything up a heck of a lot easier, and help preserve the existing JAMMA harness as well.

Now that I think about it, the JPAC alone would protect the monitor from the 31khz signal. Anything showing at 31khz wouldn't look good, but it wouldn't hurt anything either. Maybe if you could get soft15khz working, and use this as a filter (and controller interface)...

[MKFan4Life]

primal rage on mame only has 3 buttons but the real game requires 4 anyone know how to solve that problem,

It appears to be a strange JAMMA setup the start button and the fierce high attack share the same button.  So I believe, it is the standard JAMMA deal with the 3 buttons per side + start, just that the start is sharing double duty to avoid needing a kick harness or special wiring.

Yeah, I have a Primal Rage board, and it does share a common button for start and one of the attacks.  But it is definitely JAMMA.  Some people think it is not, because they have seen that little circuit board from the original cabinet that extends off the JAMMA connector on the board.  That is just a filter.  I bought mine off Ebay, and it works in a standard JAMMA cab.  I play it sometimes in my MKII cab.  I did have to jump the audio connection from the audio board to some pins on the main board to get the sound to route to the speaker connections on the JAMMA connector.  If you don't, it expects you to connect it to the dedicated cab which had a sub-woofer and all that.  I liked Primal Rage when it came out, but I always thought the fatalities were ten times more difficult to perform as compared to Mortal Kombat.  I still LOVE the dedicated cabinet for it though!  Cool graphics on there.