jamma conversion

[roberts1k]

I have a donkey kong cocktail cabinet..I want to do a jamma conversion.  I have never done it.  I have a little experience.  Can I do it?  Also, will I be able to use kong anymore or will everything be jamma after the rewire?

[SirPeale]

Gah...why?

[Rocky]

DK cocktail is not a very good candidate for a mame machine.  Cramped insides, ackward controls.

To answer your question.... if you rewire it for Jamma, you won't be able to use the DK board in it.  For a lot of games, an adaptor will be all you'll need. Nintendo boards have their own special issues to overcome.

Also, with a cocktail cabinet, space for certain boards will be tight.

[RayB]

That monitor is also different than usual monitors. (uses an invertor and has onboard audio amp, if I'm not mistaken). Not a good candidater at all for JAMMA conversion...

[monkeybomb]

To answer your question.... if you rewire it for Jamma, you won't be able to use the DK board in it.  For a lot of games, an adaptor will be all you'll need. Nintendo boards have their own special issues to overcome.

But mikes has nintendo to jamma converters.  That isn't enough?

[roberts1k]

so if I get a nintendo to jamma conector I can hook it up to my nintendo wiring and play jamma games?and just take it off to play kong?  If so, what type of jamma boards can fit in the cocktail cabinet.

[RayB]

It's the other way around, you would use the jamma adapter in order to play Kong in a converted-to-jamma cabinet.

But as I mentioned, you need to look further into issues involved in converting that one to JAMMA, considering that the monitor video has an invertor and audio amp built in.

[hutch1980]

I too have a donkey kong cocktail but it's completly empty, and as the others have stated, it's not a great cocktail to work with because of the limited room. I'm planning on making mine a double donkey kong but i am going to make it jamma as trying to find the original parts for these nintendo cocktails like the power supply, sanyo 14" monitor w/ inversion board, cpo, & joysticks on ebay has not been going well at all. When a part does show up like the cocktail joysticks with the metal cpo, they go for over $100 just for that 1 part. So making it jamma (while not an easy feat in itself) makes it easier to get up and running. I still need to find a 13 or 14" monitor for my cab yet + the joysticks so i still have a long way to go.

As far as other jamma games, again you'll run into the problem of making it fit in the cab. The cocktail 4-board set is on a metal plate that slides into 2 vertical grooves in the cab. If you can get a jamma board to fit those same dimensions, then it shouldn't be a problem. Also, if your using the original sanyo monitor, you'll have to use that inverter from mikes to make the video display properly along with the sound amp.

[roberts1k]

ok let me get this straight.  I can make the cabinet jamma, but it would be a headache.

I could if converted to jamma play kong with a jamma to nintendo adapter.

BUT- I couldnt leave the cabinet as is and play jamma games using a converter to play jamma with nintendo wiring?

[RayB]

ok let me get this straight.  I can make the cabinet jamma, but it would be a headache.

I could if converted to jamma play kong with a jamma to nintendo adapter.

BUT- I couldnt leave the cabinet as is and play jamma games using a converter to play jamma with nintendo wiring?

You still have it backwards!  When you convert a machine to JAMMA, you basically get rid of the Nintendo harness, power supply and wire everything up to a JAMMA harness using a modern switching power-supply (that puts out +5 volts, -5 volts, +12 volts).

That means now you can plug in JAMMA boards (IF they fit in the tight space), but not Kong.

To play Kong, you need a Nintendo to JAMMA adaptor. Look: http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=NIN2JAMMA  Nintendo BOARD to jamma cabinet. Doesn't work in reverse.

[roberts1k]

I understand what you are saying, but what I mean is there is no way to do the opposite?  Make jamma play with nintendo wiring with an adapter?

[grueinthebox]

I understand what you are saying, but what I mean is there is no way to do the opposite?  Make jamma play with nintendo wiring with an adapter?

You probably could, in theory, make your own adapter to plug JAMMA boards into the Nintendo harness, but in addition to remapping the harness pins, it would have to compensate for the Nintendo monitor and amp setup among other things.  Wouldn't just be a simple pin conversion.  Nintendo cabinets are, for want of a better word, "weird".

[RayB]

What Grue said. You could make your own adaptor. I'm not sure how to handle the video inversion, but if you know, then yeah it's possible.

But check what voltages the nintendo power supply outputs. It would have to meet JAMMA standards.

Also remember the part about "IF THE BOARD FITS". Game boards come in a wide variety of sizes (there's no standard).

[roberts1k]

Thanks, I get it now.  How do I get a good cabinet and monitor for Jamma without buying a game equiped one?.  I want to play those later 80's games without spending a fortune.

[RayB]

Thanks, I get it now.  How do I get a good cabinet and monitor for Jamma without buying a game equiped one?.  I want to play those later 80's games without spending a fortune.

Project cabs with no game but working monitor can be had for anywhere between FREE and $100 depending on age, condition, size...

You could also probably score a box with no monitor, and then buy a brand new monitor for $170.

You could probably sell your DK cocktail and get enough for it to cover those costs.

[kjoel0123]

Nintendo monitors work off of 100v not 120v, also the power supplies in the dk units are crap.. Better off buying a jamma cab than to try to convert a dk cab..

[Stingray]

Thanks, I get it now.  How do I get a good cabinet and monitor for Jamma without buying a game equiped one?.  I want to play those later 80's games without spending a fortune.

You should have no problem finding a nice generic JAMMA cab for less than $200 ready to go (possibly much less). Please sell that DK cocktail to someone and buy a JAMMA cab, don't hack it up.

-S