Donkey Kong Junior (Junior)

[Kong Jnr.]

Hey all,

having finished my first cab (a cocktail cab) with 8-way joysticks, i've decided to take the plunge again, this time with a 4-way joystick dedicated to the classics, i.e Donkey Kong series, Galaga, Pac-Man etc.

I thought about designing my own again but for the sheer coolness factor, i've decided to build a replica Donkey Kong Junior cab at 50% the original size.

The brains behind the beast will be a G3 iMac which will run the classics well (with some tweaking). The benefit of a fan-less, all-in-one, CRT system coupled with my love of those old machines (and a bit of a challenge) has led me down this path.

I'll be documenting the build process at http://jnrjnr.tumblr.com

Hope you guys get a kick out of it!

[javeryh]

Cool idea but I'd only go as low as 80% for the small scale.  Anything smaller might be very uncomfortable to play.  An 80% cab is the perfect height for a chair (at least it is for my 80% cab based on the galaga/ms. pac-man plans).   

[Kong Jnr.]

Having just moved into a tiny, tiny place, space is at a premium so anything larger than 50% may be an issue. Plus, it's more a 'can-it-be-done' than anything else. 

[Donkey_Kong]

Nice going JR! Welcome to the forum and good luck with the project.

Don't forget to post lots of pics

[MinerAl]

If it's only going to be for games and mp3s I'd go with MacOS 9.2.  If you're looking to make it a multimedia machine with video and all, I'd go with OSX 10.3.

Do you intend to make it vertical or horizontal?

What will you do about CD/speaker access?

Excited to see where you go with this!

Good luck

[Kong Jnr.]

I was initially planning on OS 9 for speed and stability, though I'll do some tests with 10.2 and see how it goes. It's only purpose would be mame so mp3s or video aren't an issue. Finding a front end may be the hardest part, though I could just use MacMame's.

I'll be laying the iMac on its side to use up the full screen real estate, getting the OS to rotate its display is another challenge.

Using the iMacs internal speakers, but i'll be removing the bezel so will move the up to top L and top R.

I sourced an old iMac service manual pdf which will no doubt come in handy when taking it apart to maximize ventilation and internal cabinet real estate, let me know if anyone wants me to upload it somewhere.

Cheers!