Best way to swap Dreamcast discs when it's inside your arcade cabinet?

[sofakng]

I'm going to be putting a Dreamcast inside my arcade cabinet but I'm wondering how to deal with the fact that I have to swap discs, hit the power button, and use the A/B switch (to switch between IPAC and DC pads).

From what I've read a lot of people go in through the coin door, but I don't understand how you can reach the dreamcast.  Do you guys have little shelves along the front of cabinet next to the coin door?  Put the A/B switch on one side and the dreamcast on the other?  The coin slot seems a bit small to keep having to reach inside of...

So how is everybody swapping their Dreamcasts discs...?

[TalkingOctopus]

This depends on what type of coindoor you have.  The standard happ over/under gives the dc plenty of room.  Since the dreamcast is pretty small, it can sit on top of the coinbox at the front of your cab.  To access the dc, you have to unlock the top door.

[Dave_K.]

My Midway cab has an over/under coinbox/door setup, so when you open the upper door, you can put the DC right there on top of the coinbox shelf so its simple to access.

[crashwg]

Ooooh oooh, you could set up multiple dreamcasts!  1 for each game!  That would rock!  Hook em all up to some sort of switching mechanism...  It may cost you an arm and a leg depending on how many DC games you want to have in your cab but you wouldn't have to switch games!   

[SOAPboy]

Make a drawer with a door on the side of the cabinet.. done and done

[Hiub1]

I had my DC inside my CP, since it fit there without a problem. Now I have it mounted on the side of my cab, and I just open the front door of the cab to access it. It is kind of a pain in the ass, but then again it fits with the whole thing of swapping PCB's in a real arcade. Just that switching PCB's is even more of a pain in the ass.

[owenowen]

Make a drawer with a door on the side of the cabinet.. done and done

I'm Building a cab with a dreamcast in it at the moment and yeah, a drawer is the easy way, i'm eyeing off some anti slam rolers from work at the moment. The plan is to have the console mounted on a center platform in the drawer all the games eighter side. So you open the drawer and its all there! What i've been thinking of now is a way to mount the memory card in there easily, but it looks like the only way is to pull the whole lot apart and just have the display and buttone there, i reckon this could look tacky though so i've got to think about this some more......

[hulkster]

i know the dreamcast is the love child of many people on here, but it seems to me that its more hassle than its worth.  why dont you just wait until someone releases a decent way to interface the dc (or wait until the emulator WIP works better) to the cab....otherwise...just build a cp for your tv and hook your dreamcast up to that.  id LOVE to put a dreamcast in my cab to play cool games like crazy taxi, fighter games, and blitz...but its just to inconvenient to have to change discs every friggin time you want to play a game.  am i the only one here?  please dont hate on me dc fanboys because i dont share the joy of having to open my coin door every time i want to change a game though

[TalkingOctopus]

i know the dreamcast is the love child of many people on here, but it seems to me that its more hassle than its worth.

[Stingray]

Just a thought, but you could mount it in the very top of the cab with the top of the Dreamcast protruding just slightly out the top. That way you can reach up above the marquee, hit the power switch and pop open the DC's door & swap disks.

-S

[Dave_K.]

i know the dreamcast is the love child of many people on here, but it seems to me that its more hassle than its worth.  why dont you just wait until someone releases a decent way to interface the dc (or wait until the emulator WIP works better) to the cab....otherwise...just build a cp for your tv and hook your dreamcast up to that.  id LOVE to put a dreamcast in my cab to play cool games like crazy taxi, fighter games, and blitz...but its just to inconvenient to have to change discs every friggin time you want to play a game.  am i the only one here?  please dont hate on me dc fanboys because i dont share the joy of having to open my coin door every time i want to change a game though

I've been playing my Dreamcast inside a cabinet since January of 2000, and never thought of switching games (or switching over to PC/Mame) to be a problem or hassel.  I think this issue of it being a pain arose from those people who have started out playing mame, and switch games like every 5 minutes because those old games get boring really fast.  When you have 1000 some odd games at your fingertips, you can't help but switch games quite often.

On my Dreamcast, I find myself switching games maybe once or twice a day at most.  And how much of a pain is it to open the coin door and hit eject?  As for switching back and forth to Mame/PC, I do that much less often (being the dreamcast has better games  ), but I just pop the control panel top, and switch around my molex connectors and video cable and I'm done.

Saying this is a pain to do, or waiting for a DC emulator with acceptable framerates and supported game list is just plain lazy.   These people just don't want to put any more work into their cabs.

[hulkster]

well it wasnt really as much laziness, as it was trying to maintain the fact that my cab is an "all in one deal"....meaning all in one interface.

[Dave_K.]

Technically the good old days would mean swapping PCBs...much more of a pain than a simple disc swap.

Anyway, I understand what you mean in that you want a single User Interface to start all your games, but I see this as just being spoiled by whats capable with Mame and FEs.

My definition of an "all in one" cab, is one that can interface (control wise) with any system: Mame/PC, Dreamcast, Playstation2, GameCube, Xbox... which mine does.   Its a shame you will be missing out on all these modern arcade ports just because you don't think its worth the hassel.

[hulkster]

My definition of an "all in one" cab, is one that can interface (control wise) with any system: Mame/PC, Dreamcast, Playstation2, GameCube, Xbox... which mine does.

[Dave_K.]

good point, but i want to maintain the clean look you know?  im also real big on the quarter games, so games like blitz and guantlet legends i want to play using coins.  guess ill be waiting for about 5 years...oh well.

You may want to check out the MGCD device.  It a DC to Jamma interface that enables "insert coin" play for naomi ports.  I don't see Gauntlet in the list (probably because its not naomi).

http://www.frolicker.com.tw/mgcd/mgcd.htm

List of Dreamcast supported games:
http://www.frolicker.com.tw/mgcd/dclist.htm

[geomartin]

If you remove the coin-mech stuff from your coin door, you can reinstall the front pieces for appearance.  Then build a shelf that sits behind the coin door.  I took my dreamcast apart and screwed the bottom of the case to the self for stability.  This allows you to control when a game is swapped out, i.e. you can lock the Dreamcast up.  This is handy at parties where there are children.

[Gunstar Hero]

1. Reach in coin door.
2. Open Dreamcast lid.
3. Remove current DC game.
4. Replace with new DC game.
5. Close Dreamcast lid.
6. Enjoy!

See. Easy money. 

[Stingray]

[Gunstar Hero]

Think of it as a Naomi unit if that makes it feel more authentic to you. 

[Sephroth57]

yeah gunstar i was gonna say the same thing, im getting a naomi system soon and to change games i will have to do the same thing, open coindoor reach in and swap the carts, just like a neo geo MVS also

[Dave_K.]

yeah gunstar i was gonna say the same thing, im getting a naomi system soon and to change games i will have to do the same thing, open coindoor reach in and swap the carts, just like a neo geo MVS also

Just curious which Naomi game(s) are you getting? 

[Luxury]

I built a shelf into the cab at the same height as the over/under coin mech panels.  Its the same as people stated above.  Open door, change disc. 

[Goz]

good point, but i want to maintain the clean look you know?  im also real big on the quarter games, so games like blitz and guantlet legends i want to play using coins.  guess ill be waiting for about 5 years...oh well.

You may want to check out the MGCD device.  It a DC to Jamma interface that enables "insert coin" play for naomi ports.  I don't see Gauntlet in the list (probably because its not naomi).

http://www.frolicker.com.tw/mgcd/mgcd.htm

List of Dreamcast supported games:
http://www.frolicker.com.tw/mgcd/dclist.htm

I have one of these and they nicely integrate the dreamcast. I might be selling mine soon though as I am planning on doing something else with that cab.

On my cab with MVS and TITAN carts I employ the same methods others mentioned, I build a shelf just inside my coin door.

-Goz

[sofakng]

I don't use JAMMA, but thanks for the letting me know!