Tower of Doom & Shadow Over Mystara

[PeripheralBlue]

Well, this'll be my first post, and, as it just so happens, the announcement of my first project... or pair of projects, rather. Please, hold the applause. Anyway, glad to be here!

Now, my first projects will be complete reproductions of my all time favorite arcade cabs: "Dungeons & Dragons Tower of Doom" and "Dungeons and Dragons Shadow Over Mystara". Geeky as hell, I know. Still, these old cabs do bring up some fond memories. Gonna be a long while until these're done, but I'll keep everyone posted on my progress... such as it may be.

[Queeg]

It takes a really man to start two projects at once 

Are they going to be dedicated or mamed?

[PeripheralBlue]

It takes a really man to start two projects at once 

Are they going to be dedicated or mamed?

Definitely dedicated. Gonna try to get 'em as close to original as possible. Repro side art, original JAMMAs, etc. 

Ah, right, as it happens... I've been trying to track down the dimensions of the 4 player Tower of Doom cabinet, as well as the specific materials used in the construction. I've managed to sneak a peek at a two player model of ToD and the four player Shadow Over Mystara cab, but I've had little luck with the original ToD. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Malenko]

sounds like a plan, I'd work on securing two working CPS-2 motherboards and pheonixed versions of the "carts"

[IG-88]

Now when you say "original" are you sure they had their own dedicated cab design? I may be wrong but I was under the impression that they always used converted cabs. At the very least they were generic Capcom cabs right? 

[emphatic]

Now when you say "original" are you sure they had their own dedicated cab design? I may be wrong but I was under the impression that they always used converted cabs. At the very least they were generic Capcom cabs right?  

I believe this statement to be true. I looked at the flyers for these games and at the KLOV pages for both, but none had what looked like dedicated cabs. It would be really cool though if you would take a Gauntlet cab (as it would fit the theme you're going for) as a building base, and blow it up somewhat on the back to fit a larger monitor (Gauntlet cabs use a 19"-20") instead of that huge bezel the original Gauntlet cab has.

I did a little mockup of how a Gauntlet typ build would look. It turned out pretty sweet I think:

[Turnarcades]

Also, if you were going for authenticity and dedicated cabinets did exist, making them from scratch would ruin the authenticity ethic if they're not the original cabs. Would be better if you were to find the originals and restore them, else you may as well MAME. This applies to anyone looking to create dedicated cabinets - if building your own, why limit yourself?

[emphatic]

While this is true, I for one applaud efforts to actually buy the real hardware and build a nice cab around it. I showed my mockup on another forum and someone Googled up this actual photo:



Seems I might not be too far off with my suggestions.

[IG-88]

That mock up looks pretty sweet emphatic!   That would make a sweet cab. I could see you also playing DDO on it too. Would have to add a few more buttons tho.

[push2reject]

These are great games.  They may even be better then Gauntlet or Golden Axe.  I would make one cab, all custom art, and use a Jamma switch for each board.  You may have to MAME it, I'm not sure how easy it will be source phoenix-ed carts.

[Lo_Wire]

I would get an old D&D cab and use a Jpac and mame it, that way you can still have the original and play other games like King of dragons, Knights of the round, Aliens Vs predator etc.

D&D is also my favourite game (one reason I went 4p on my cab) but it would getting boring eventually.