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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: tmasman on July 28, 2003, 12:05:17 pm

Title: mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on July 28, 2003, 12:05:17 pm
I know TrickyFishy is doing a great job at building a couple of min cabinets, but have any of you seen the mini NeoGeo cabinets?  A local burger joint (Khaki's) has 5-6 arcade games in a tiny room in the back. When I went there yesterday they had a mini Neo Geo cabinet in there! :D

Has anybody else seen these in arcades ? ? ?

It couldn't have been more than 4'-6 tall, maybe a 15 or 17" monitor, with the typical Neo Geo CP. (I can't remember the game, I was too busy admiring the cabinet...)

I'm starting to like the idea of a miniature cabinet (or at least smaller than 6 feet tall!) with a couple of smaller stools.

I'll try & get back there to get a couple of pictures if anybody wants to see.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Aceldamor on July 28, 2003, 12:36:20 pm
I've seen one.  They are pretty cool. My distributer had one, with a 4 cart system in it.  That would be cool to have in like a kids room or the family room. It's small enough to be out of the way. The only downfall to it is due to the size, you would be limited to a 2 stick 6 button cp, and that woudl be pretty crunched.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: paigeoliver on July 28, 2003, 01:59:09 pm
It almost certainly did not have a 15" or 17" monitor. It had either a 13" or a 19". I don't even think they make standard res arcade monitors in 15" or 17" (or if they do, then no one sells them, and no games used them).
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on July 28, 2003, 02:14:58 pm
I could be wrong on the monitor size... It just seemed to small to be 19" and too big to be 13" from what I saw. Eh... Not that I know what I'm talking about or anything. I was just impressed to see this thing in a local arcade.

I just hadn't seen one in person yet and it definately got me thinking about doing exactly what TrickyFishy is doing (building scale miniatures)...

I could picture an arcade with a ton of office-type rolly chairs instead of stools, and a bunch of 4'6 cabinets lined up.  Of course the coolest thing would be to have EVERYTHING in the room/arcade smaller. Then you would look like a giant in any pictures you took in there... hehe...
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: AlanS17 on July 28, 2003, 02:29:19 pm
But then you would have to lower the ceiling and get smaller doors, etc.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Spaced Invader on July 28, 2003, 08:30:20 pm
Quote
It just seemed to small to be 19" and too big to be 13"

PC monitors are smaller than their reported size arcade monitors are not. 13"/15" confusion is understandable.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: TrickyFishy on July 28, 2003, 10:18:22 pm
That sounds cool!  Post a pic if you can get one.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: paigeoliver on July 29, 2003, 05:39:28 am
Quote
It just seemed to small to be 19" and too big to be 13"

PC monitors are smaller than their reported size arcade monitors are not. 13"/15" confusion is understandable.

Yes. A 15" PC monitor and a 13" arcade monitor have almost exactly the same size tube. You can actually put a decased 15" PC monitor in the monitor bays of most of those 13" cocktails/minis and even use the same bezel (it isn't a perfect match since the PC monitor is less curved, but it is good enough).

Also. A mini Neo Geo cabinet could be almost anything. I don't think SNK made any dedicated Neo minis. Whatever you saw was likely either a Japanese/Korean import cabinet (certainly is if it is plastic or metal), or a converted classic mini.

Did it have a two player control panel? Never seen a true mini that did. If it only had a one player panel then it is probably a converted classic mini. If it has a two player panel then it is likely an import cabinet. Also, import cabinets tend to be much shorter, but are often physically wider than US cabinets. Was this one narrow (20-22" like a US mini) or 24-30" like an import cabinet?
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on July 29, 2003, 10:56:07 am
I'll try and get out there tonight (or tomorrow night) to get some pics & measurements to post.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Malachai on July 29, 2003, 11:11:29 am
If that's in Arlington, I'll be over there this afternoon.  I'm gonna take a look, maybe get some pics (my digital camera sucks though).
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on July 29, 2003, 11:25:06 am
Khaki's in South Arlington...
on Little Rd just North of Hwy 20.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Malachai on July 30, 2003, 11:42:47 am
I went and checked it out, but I didn
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: JamieDeb on July 30, 2003, 05:41:06 pm
Pictures, pictures, pictures....Please  ;)
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Spaced Invader on July 30, 2003, 05:50:23 pm
Pics would be very much appreciated...please... ;D
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Spinch on July 30, 2003, 05:51:50 pm
I know that they had (at least, as of last year) a Neo Mini at arcade in Tomorrowland at Disneyland... although paying however much it costs now to go there just to see a cabinet doesn't really seem justifiable... *Grins*
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: OSCAR on July 30, 2003, 06:43:41 pm
There is a whole row of mini cabinets at the GameWorks in Auburn Hills, MI.  Very strange looking, they look like a wooden Japanese-style sitdown because they are only about 4' tall with a small bench in front of them, and 25" vertical monitors.  They have a Millipede, Tron, Centipede, DK Jr., Asteroids (standard horizontal vector monitor in this one), and a couple others.

These look almost like home-made cabinets because they are built like bookcases with a natural oak finish and typical trim molding that you see around your house.  However, I've seen better fit 'n finish on the MAME cabinet projects submitted here because these didn't seem all that well put together.  The marquees are huge, too.  They are probably at least 12" tall, and based on how washed out they look, it appears that they are just printed out on inkjet printer.

Has anyone else seen these anywhere?

Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: Aceldamor on July 30, 2003, 11:13:06 pm
There is a whole row of mini cabinets at the GameWorks in Auburn Hills, MI.  Very strange looking, they look like a wooden Japanese-style sitdown because they are only about 4' tall with a small bench in front of them, and 25" vertical monitors.  They have a Millipede, Tron, Centipede, DK Jr., Asteroids (standard horizontal vector monitor in this one), and a couple others.

These look almost like home-made cabinets because they are built like bookcases with a natural oak finish and typical trim molding that you see around your house.  However, I've seen better fit 'n finish on the MAME cabinet projects submitted here because these didn't seem all that well put together.  The marquees are huge, too.  They are probably at least 12" tall, and based on how washed out they look, it appears that they are just printed out on inkjet printer.

Has anyone else seen these anywhere?



I've seen them Oscar, they are quite unique and seem to play the "classics". Carnival, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Mario Bros.  If memory serves the little setup was next to the bar. And yeah, they are in the Gameworks here in Phoenix...I've also seen the mini Neo Geo...I'll see if my guy still has his in his shop...if so, I'll see if I can get pics.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: OSCAR on July 30, 2003, 11:31:01 pm
I've seen them Oscar, they are quite unique and seem to play the "classics". Carnival, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Mario Bros.  If memory serves the little setup was next to the bar. And yeah, they are in the Gameworks here in Phoenix...I've also seen the mini Neo Geo...I'll see if my guy still has his in his shop...if so, I'll see if I can get pics.


Heh, I was thinking I might smuggle in a camera to take a few pics, too.  Thanks for reminding me, the Gameworks here has Frogger, too.  I can't recall any others, but next time I go I'll make a list.  I wonder if these are something that Gameworks cooked up?  The Tron used the spinner from a Tron mini or cocktail (and was in surpisingly good shape) but the joystick looked like one of the newer Happ ones.  It was a real trick trying to control the light cycles without zigzagging all over the place...

Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on July 31, 2003, 08:26:41 am
My appologies for not getting pics up here yet... I've got some much stuff going on right now, that I just haven't been able to get back there yet. I know I'll have a chance this week-end though.
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: tmasman on August 01, 2003, 05:05:15 pm
I'm sorry I haven't gotten back there to take the pics lately, but in a freak surfing accident I found this image on some one elses site. This is exactly what I saw here locally.  You can judge the size by the cabinet next to it. Aparently this is a "2 slot mini" Neo Geo cabinet. The one in the picture & the one here locally are almost the same... The local one is 2 player... And I can't tell if this one has a joystick on the left... But then again, it would be silly to have the buttons on the left w/o a stick...eh...
Title: Re:mini cabinets...
Post by: 1UP on August 01, 2003, 09:37:48 pm
There is a whole row of mini cabinets at the GameWorks in Auburn Hills, MI.  Very strange looking, they look like a wooden Japanese-style sitdown because they are only about 4' tall with a small bench in front of them, and 25" vertical monitors.  They have a Millipede, Tron, Centipede, DK Jr., Asteroids (standard horizontal vector monitor in this one), and a couple others.

These look almost like home-made cabinets because they are built like bookcases with a natural oak finish and typical trim molding that you see around your house.  However, I've seen better fit 'n finish on the MAME cabinet projects submitted here because these didn't seem all that well put together.  The marquees are huge, too.  They are probably at least 12" tall, and based on how washed out they look, it appears that they are just printed out on inkjet printer.

Has anyone else seen these anywhere?



I've seen the same exact cabs in the local Gameworks in Orange County, CA!  Yeah, they're really weird, they look like something from a western theme park...  Seems they stuffed old PCBs and original control panels into their custom cabs.  The marquees look like pretty low-res inkjet like you said.  Still fun to play though!  There were also a Space Invaders and a Mario Bros too...