TRON - MAME or not to MAME ????

[BUCKETHEAD]

I picked up a empty TRON cabinet the other day.

See PICTURE below.

It was converted to a RAIDEN 2 game.

It still has the original Monitor Bezel, Blacklight cover with Blacklight still inside.

Control Panel (Hacked up)

It is missing Spinner, Joystick, Monitor etc ....

The original wiring has been hacked all to hell !

It has a JAMMA in it now.  But the Original transformers and Power Supply are still there.

My question is ?

Should i try to Restore this to a Original Tron ?

Or Mame it ??  Where it will play TRON plus more games?

I have heard the original TRON pcbs, Are know for having problems all the time.

If i MAME it , I will get the original Spinner, Joystick , Artwork .

I like the idea of making it a MAME cabinet because it will be more dependable.

Anyways just wondering what you guys think ?

Can you even buy a JAMMA to TRON  adapter ?

If i was to get rid of all that hacked up wiring and Old transformers + power supply

And wire it Jamma with the original Pcb's ?

Because like i said the original wiring has been hacked all the hell.

Thanks!

Bucket .....

[Bobbler]

If you are not on any sort of budget then I would do the Tron thing. But from what I hear its an expensive business - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63326.0 .
That one above had more bits than yours and there are quite a few posts regarding spending 100's or even 1000's on that cab to restore it...

[acevedor2]

I would normally say just Mame it but it's Tron and I am a Tron freak.  So I have to say save it.  In the end though, your time and budget will  ultimately be the limiting, and hence decisive, factors.
Cheers and great find!

[BUCKETHEAD]

This would be a easy call for me if,  the original wiring harness wasn't so hacked up?

I don't know if i can make heads or tails of it?

Now if i can take all that old stuff out.  And just Go Jamma with with a original Tron pcb.

Using a TRON/JAMMA adapter for the pcb.

That would make the choice easier.

Kinda like Markrvp did with his DONKEY KONG.   

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51522.0

But then would the original Spinner and Joystick work correctly with a JAMMA harness ?

[ArtMAME]

It does come down to how much time and money you are willing to spend...

Just restoring the cabinet and artwork itself will be very time-consuming and expensive...

Then if you want to go with all original hardware, you will have to find parts on Ebay or the forums, and hope that you can figure out how to hook them up... ... and hope that they all work  when you put them together... 

I bought an old Robotron cabinet that had been converted to a JAMMA game.  Not many original parts were left and the cabinet was in horrible shape.  The harness was all hacked, extra holes in the CP, etc. 

So what I ended up doing was:

I fully restored the cabinet and artwork.  Then I used a retired PC and an ATI Radeon 9250 card and Powerstrip installed to run Robotron in CGA resolution.  Works for me!!!  Check it out:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63639.0

I estimate I spent about $650 for the whole project, and the result is a totally Mint Robotron machine in my gameroom!!! Plus I had a lot of fun restoring it, and I learned so much in the process.  Well worth the price.

I plan on doing something similar with a Tron cabinet I have in the garage, which has a few more original parts in it.  But the transformer is rusted out, the cabinet is really dirty, and I am not very optimistic that the boardset works...

So I will restore the artwork, then use a dedicated MAME box to run Tron, and maybe Mad Planets and Arkanoid. 

[BUCKETHEAD]

Ahhhhhh !

Very nice Robotron Sir !

Excellent job !!

Mame is kind of the way im wanting to go with this.

More dependable, More Games.

I don't mind forking out the $$$$$ for the JOYSTICK, SPINNER and ARTWORK.

Now if i bought the original PCB and it broke down in a month or so.

Then that is what would get me Hot !!!   

Thanks for the advice my friend ! 

[(+_+)]

It really boils down to what you want to do. Be honest with yourself. Will you Tron it, spend lots of money and then kick yourself for limiting the number of games you can play. If so, sell it to someone whose dream it is to preserve one (if you feel preservational) and go ahead and build yourself one from scratch.

[ArtMAME]

...then use a dedicated MAME box to run Tron, and maybe Mad Planets and Arkanoid. 

Just thought of a few more... Gorf, and Satan's Hollow (Using Player 2 button for shields)... and how about Xevious?... heck... Galaga??? Why not??? Space Invaders...

Can you think of any more?

[TOK]

If you're just looking for a MAME project anyway, I say part it out (though even the remaining art looks pretty whipped) and find a better cab to start with. Its not really wide enough for a two player cab, and the art just looks corny if its not a dedicated Tron.

[BUCKETHEAD]

No, im not going to part it out.

I wanted it because it is a TRON.

I have 3 other BALLY / MIDWAY machines that are original.

PAC-MAN , MS. PAC-MAN , GALAGA.

I will restore it with all new artwork.  Not a problem at all there.

The dependability of the original PCB's is my concern really.

I have heard that they are not.

I love the game TRON.

And MAMEing it , To Play TRON and a few others maybe?

Is a thought i had?

I just wanted to see what other members thought about it?

Thanks for all of you guys input.

I really appreciate it. 

[Havok]

I say restore it and only put games on it that can handle that joystick\spinner control panel. Maybe add an extra button or two to handle Tempest, etc. Put a Tron themed front end skin on it, with a stripped down list of games, and enjoy! At least to me Tron seems to work perfectly in Mame, so it can be a Tron, and also can play a couple of other games to boot - which gives it better play value...

[More Cowbell]

I'm all about taking a crapped out cabinet and restoring the appearance of the cabinet to it's original theme but using MAME to run it. You're not doing anything to ruin the cabinet in case someone in the future (you?) decides to restore it completely. No harm, no foul, you have a working Tron that also plays some other games. To any of your friends it is for all intents and purposes a Tron machine. I have done this with a Defender, Hyper Sports, and Berzerk. All of which were painted black and had some other crappy fighter shoved in them before I got them. Now they look great and I feel good that a lost game has been restored. Everyone wins.

[BUCKETHEAD]

You're not doing anything to ruin the cabinet in case someone in the future (you?) decides to restore it completely

No that is not the case at all !

This cabinet needs the coin door redone.

The whole cabinet has been spray painted Black.  ( Looks like crap i might add )

The Spinner, Joystick and marquee is missing.

All that is there is some original hacked up wiring. (PISS poor job i might add )

Somehow they worked a JAMMA harness in there ?

Blacklight and Monitor Bezel.

I want to restore the outside of this cabinet to it's former glory.  (TRON all the WAY !!)

Let's put it this way?

Anything i choose to do with this cabinet will make it better off than it is now?

Should it be MAME it or not ?

Does that make the situation sound better ?   LOL !

 

[ArtMAME]

I'm all about taking a crapped out cabinet and restoring the appearance of the cabinet to it's original theme but using MAME to run it. You're not doing anything to ruin the cabinet in case someone in the future (you?) decides to restore it completely. No harm, no foul, you have a working Tron that also plays some other games. To any of your friends it is for all intents and purposes a Tron machine. I have done this with a Defender, Hyper Sports, and Berzerk. All of which were painted black and had some other crappy fighter shoved in them before I got them. Now they look great and I feel good that a lost game has been restored. Everyone wins.

Hey More Cowbell... I remember that thread where you got 4 cabinets at one time!!!  I finally got a project Track and Field to restore... I am gonna go dig up that thread and see if you have made any progress... and also to ask for some tips on the T&F/Hypersports restoration...