MAME a Donkey Kong cab and sell it?

[miles2912]

Amazing.  .. and he wants over 2 grand to boot. 

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/ele/733795736.html 

[RayB]

Yeah, we've discussed this guy before:

http://www.arcadehollywood.net/42601.html

[Turnarcades]

How is he continuing to get away with it? Do Craigslist take a cut like ebay? I know that's why e-gay allow it, much to their protests they don't.

It's damn sacrilige to MAME a classic, particularly ones in as good condition as they seem to be. It's frustrating as hell that he is openly selling with MAME for one, but to be proud of this butchering?!!

Oh no, he uses those ACME 'button hole' joysticks too. HATE HATE HATE those!

[TOK]

This machine has been listed dozens of times and never sold. I don't follow craigslist too closely, but this thing also shows up on the Philly craigslist, appearing to be a local sale when I search for arcade games close to me.

[RayB]

This machine has been listed dozens of times and never sold. I don't follow craigslist too closely, but this thing also shows up on the Philly craigslist, appearing to be a local sale when I search for arcade games close to me.

Did you see the list I linked to? All his previous sold aberrations.

[ahofle]

Yeah, we've discussed this guy before:

http://www.arcadehollywood.net/42601.html

Holy Hellcade material Batman!

[Ginsu Victim]

That site shows vertical games stretched horizontal! Oh, the humanity!

Donkey Kong and Dig Dug.....poor Donkey Kong and Dig Dug...

[miles2912]

That really hurts just to look at it ..  Painfull

[leapinlew]

I Mame'd a donkey kong recently. It started life as a beatup afterburner. I know the general rule is to not MAMe a classic, but I disagree with that as a blanket statement. Heres the results:





I have before pictures too.

I got rid of that gawdawful nintendo joystick and I used a red ball top instead of a black ball top. What the guy did is easily reversible. The real crime here is the price he's trying to fetch. A DK cabinet is only 22.5" wide and he has just WAY too many controls on there.

[RayB]

DK converted to... AFTERBURNER?!?!?! 

[leapinlew]

DK converted to... AFTERBURNER?!?!?! 

HA! Afterburner, Top Gun... you know what I mean. 

[Turnarcades]

That's not so bad as you've rescued it from a bad conversion and kept the panel classic.

[Timstuff]

2 grand for hellcade potentials? 

I'll admit, I'm not exactly a saint when it comes to preservation-- my cabinet began life as a Bagman machine, and I'm doing a pretty extreme Mame-over on it. However, the cab that Bagman used was actually used for a few games from that period, and mine had already been converted to death. I really have no sentimental feelings for Bagman whatsoever, and while I'm sure there's someone out there who does, to me it just did not seem like it was something that'd be worth my time to restore.

I think that there should be some kind of statute of limitations when it comes to MAMEing. Has the machine been converted to death already? Was the original game an actual classic, or just old? Is the cabinet unique to a specific game, or were there a lot of games that used the same kind? In the end it really comes down to the individual. The machine is your property to do with as you please, however you do need to exercise some judgment before Mameing.

Really, the simplest question to ask yourself before MAMEing would be this one: how badly is this cab going to be missed if I Mame it?

[leapinlew]

Really, the simplest question to ask yourself before MAMEing would be this one: how badly is this cab going to be missed if I Mame it?

Too many variables. Thats why this topic comes up again and again.

What it comes down to is... if you own it, you can do what you want to it. Everyone is using a different definition of "classic" and whats considered an acceptable amount of modification.

The one thing we know for sure, what he's doing isn't legal.

[Timstuff]

That's very true... I might not consider Bagman a classic, but I'm sure that there's someone out there who does (that "someone" would also include David Foley, since he saw it fit to include with his Ultraflop machines). This debate always continues to come up, but no matter how much the community may or may not approve of a certain conversion, in the end people can do with their property what they see fit.

[davidrfoley]

Many cabinets in the US were built up from kits anyway, especially in that era, so there was really no "original" cabinets for many products.  A lot of the foriegn PCB's came over to the states and were tossed into whatever cabinet was available to the local distributor.

As for the game, yes, Bagman, is a classic, and worthy of the title, but then again, I think most were. 

As for UltraFlop, insult me and my machine as you may, however, I was building multi-game classic arcade compilations 3 years before MAME existed, and my UltraFlop machine sold over thirty thousand units before Global VR killed it, so it is still the most commercially successful classic arcade compilation machine ever made.

[Singapura]

This is too much! It's a joke right? Can somebody sue this guy? The roms he's using aren't legal anyway but the way he's misusing the cabs and tries to capitalize on supposed "value" is downright unethical.  Anyway, that's probably the response he wants anyway. I think it's all a big joke.

[davidrfoley]

if he is selling illegal ROMs, then he can be stopped immediately.  The publishers of the ROMs will stop if notified.

[davidrfoley]

When I had a vested interest I would stop several 4 in 1 and 39 in 1 board resellers.  It was a full time job and we had a person at UltraCade that did it 5 days a week.  eBay will shut them down.