Ms Pac and VS System

[Knave Jack]

Going to look at a Ms Pac and VS System tonight. I have never owned either. Any one have any advice on things to watch out for or look for before shelling out the money? I havent even seen picts of these yet, so it will be a blind look. According to the seller, both monitors are bad. Makes powering up a bit of a problem. I have a spare monitor i can take with me, but i dont know if it will work with the VS system. Didnt Nintendo do something weird with their video out?
Thanks in advance
KJ

[Kevin Mullins]

Number one thing is to see if they play "blind". (blind - no monitor to see)
Can you coin them up and hear them playing correctly.

The VS cab will most likely have a 20EZ in it. You could use a standard monitor to check the game out, colors will be all wrong and such. But the biggest problem is the connectors will probably be all wrong for any kind of quick on-site hookup.
Worst case scenario on the Sanyo will be a bad flyback.

But dead monitors can be fixed fairly easy..... and since you know they are both already bad base your judgment on the rest of the game. (artwork, controls, playing blind, etc)

[SirPeale]

The best advice I can give you is: DO NOT TRY AND FIX IT ON LOCATION!!!!!

I've heard too many stories about people who do fix it, then the sellers ask for more money!

Try it out, see if it plays blind.  If it does, that's okay.  If you hear nothing, base your offer on a DOA game.

[Knave Jack]

Thanks for the advice. I am rolling out the door to go see what they look like. Since they didnt post a pic, i am half expecting a Ms Pac board in a SF cab or some other silly thing.
I will let you know how it turns out.
KJ

[Knave Jack]

Ok, so i went to look. The Ms Pac could be restored.....if I needed a multi year project. I would be faster to make one from scratch than try and fix this cab. And it turns out the monitor works, its the board set that doesn't. It comes up as random static. I may have talked the guy into letting me fix the board though. We shall see about that. The VS was in good shape. The side art is shot, but that is an easy fix. The wood around the coin door has had several versions of lock bars installed, but that is easy to fix. It has Mario Bros and Exciter Bike in it at the moment. He will throw in Baseball as well. Exciter Bike has issues. The monitor needs to be re-capped, but works. The monitor glass was replaced at some point with just a pane of window glass. He is asking $200. I may offer a partial trade for a SF Rainbow board I have laying around that i will likely never use. If i decide to buy it, i will start a new restoration thread to show it off. Hate to say it, but i may turn it into a DK or DKJR instead of leaving it a VS. Your thoughts and advice are welcome as always.
KJ

[Pinball Wizard]

If you buy it I'd say convert the VS. system. VS. cabinets were nothing special and half of them were already DK at one point or another. When I had games on location in the 80's I had a DK that I converted to a VS. UniSystem. Nintendo cabs are nothing special that should keep you away from converting it.