Dreamcast -- Making it more like an Arcade (coins, disc swapping, etc)

[sofakng]

I love the Dreamcast and I'll be wiring it up to my MAME cabinet very soon, but I don't like a couple of things about hooking it up...

1) No coins/credits  (this would be difficult if not impossible to add to the Dreamcast)

2) Disc swapping (having to reach behind cabinet, or open a door, etc, to switch games).

Come to think of it... that's really about it.  Are there any possible solutions to those two problems?  I realize that adding coins/credits to the Dreamcast would be nearly impossible or would look funky (because the games themselves don't support it), but what about disc swapping?

Can the Dreamcast be fed games from a PC somehow?  If it were possible to eliminate disc swapping it would definitely provide more of an arcade feeling.

The Dreamcast is somewhat old hardware... surely people have thought about doing this before... I hope it's possible...

[abrannan]

There's a device on ebay periodically that alters the games to take coins/jamma harness.  

As far as swapping the games, you may have to go with Chankast if you'd like that.  

Personally, the lack of coin inserts and the minor headache of disc swapping are more than made up for by all of the benefits of a Dreamcast (cost, outputs arcade montior signal, cost, cost and cost).  

[Dave_K.]

If you feel a dreamcast is going to deaden that authentic arcade expierence because of these "problems" then don't use one.

Its not like a Mame cab that someone built with a computer monitor, and Lazarus front end, and bizzillion controls, and PC speakers, running off a PC is going to make it any less arcade authentic! LOL

Now that I got that out of the way,  the (overly expensive) device that makes a dreamcast jamma compatible with "insert coin" msgs is   http://www.frolicker.com.tw/mgcd/mgcd.htm

As for the disc swapping...I dont see how this is a problem except for the lazy people out there.  It takes me 15 seconds to open the coin door, eject the disc and put in another.  Sure you could try Chancast emulator, but be prepared for unsupported games, and crappy frame rates.   I find myself leaving the same game in my DC cabinet for days, v.s. playing Mame and changing games every 5 minutes out of boredom (talk about deadening an arcade expierence)!

[mcdo15]

i plan on mounting ps2 and dreamcast on the outside so i don't have to reach in...make it apart of a wall or somthing..be creative.  

[Stingray]

You could always mount the Dreamcast inside the top of the cab with only the disc door showing. That way you can just reach up and open the door to swap disks, and you wouldn't actually be able to see it when standing in front of the cab. Just a thought.

-S

[mcdo15]

i might cut off the inner lid so you can see the cd spin...(i hope i don't mess up)  but i'm sure it's easy and fun and creative

[unicron]

If you want to make your dreamcast more like an arcade, don't buy anything extra to do so. You just have to invite people to your house to play your arcade.

You will not make it feel like an arcade by spending more time/money, after you have made the initial investment of getting your cab and your dc, and wiring them together.

The only way to make it feel like an arcade is to have a bunch of people having fun with it / around it!

Consider it an honor to swap your dreamcast's discs!

[derek1800]

Maybe I wrong on this but I faintly remember going to a friends house(long time ago) and playing dc (backup copy of soul calibur) and it had insert coin on the screen. Also for not swapping games maybe get a 50 cd changer and wire it up to the dc somehow??