Arcade gaming at home - PCBs, cabinets, Superguns, JAMMA rigs - you name it!

[Click_Stick]

Ok, as of late my urge to obatin a Supergun unit has increased. Maybe I'm now realizing... eh, who cares. I want one.

There are many options, of course. Get a cab, buy a Supernova or HGA, have some one build you a beautiful custom Supergun (Mode7, I know you see this)... etc.

Well, I sure wouldn't mind having Matt hook me up with a JAMMA rig. I'm guessing it goes for something like $300.. If I'm wrong, please, do tell. I don't have room for a cabinet and the Supernova is nice and all, I guess, but come on... Matt's stuff is gorgeous. (Here's one 'damn you, Mode.')

Anyway, there are a few areas I am not too knowledgeable in. One: What kinds of problems would I have if I wanted to run MVS carts, CPS2 games, and uhh... 'regular' JAMMA-compatible PCBs...? I would need a one slot board for the MVS carts, I assume... But what about the CPS2 stuff?

And can anyone point me in the direction of some good, cheap, trustworthy PCB retailers? I know of only a couple.


Thank you all.

Edit: It might make sense to mention what kinds of games I'm after...
Shooters (Progear, ESPrade, etc.), some MVS stuff like Metal Slug blah blah.... and, oh yea: The Simpsons.

[Cheebs]

Pretty much all CPSII games are sold along with the motherboard needed to play them. Every now and then you'll find just a game PCB all alone, but more often then not they are together. Japanese and American CPSII games can play on the same hardware (I think) and other regions need their own specific CPSII motherboard. But like I said, chances are the motherboard comes with the game so it doesn't matter anyway. The BEST thing about having a CPSII collection is that you can officially brag about owning the biggest game carts in existence. Seriously, MVS carts look GBA-sized next to these things. The bad part about a CPSII collection is that it will kill itself if you don't keep replacing batteries.

[Click_Stick]

What kinds of batteries are we talking about? How easy are they to replace?

Thanks for the info., sir. I thought there was more to CPS2 than that... thank goodness.

[Werewolf]

I prefer a cabinet but if you don't have one a supergun type unit is nice, I am not sure if the units are exactly like cabinets but if they are you should be able to play any Jamma board, Jamma Plus board require an extra wire cable but most units can play these too from what I gather.

MVS games require a MVS board to play them on a unit or a cabinet, they come in 1, 2, 4 and 6 slot boards but if you use a unit all you really need is a 1 slot board.

I am not sure about CPS2 boards, I would think you could play them no problem, I have a CPS3 board and I didn't have to do anything special to play it in my cabinet.

As far as games try these places:

www.mdgamesales.com

www.videoconnect.com

and of course www.ebay.com , you can actually find some very good deals there

[padman]

If I lived in the US I would borrow a van and have an old skool road trip to pick up a white jap cabinet. Those things are cheeeeeap. It would cost $600ish to get it shipped here.

If one wants a white cab in old England then one is f***ed royally.

[lithium]

The battery replacement isn't too bad. Roughly the same level as modding a psx or something. But, if you mess up, bye bye board.

I used to have a homemade jamma setup with an MVS and CPS2, later replaced with an HGA. I currently own no arcade hardware.

CPS stuff you've just got to accomodate the extra buttons, which is easy enough.

In my experience daughterboards are mostly sold alone, but daughter/mother combos are also easy to find.

green(Japanese) and blue(US) daughterboards will work on both green and blue motherboards.

grey(Asian) and orange(apparently Latin America, know little about these)are interchangable with each other.

grey/orange will not work with blue/green and vice versa. A grey daughterboard will not plug into a green/blue mother board as an example.

Overall I liked the HGA, but it could have used some improvements. Which it probably has by now, it's been a while. The joysticks were poorly designed, long and narrow, no real place to rest your wrists. The sticks themselves were stiff as can be, I believe they where Happ ultimates with the stiff spring installed. I bought an ultimate 360 (the infrared joysticks) in hopes of swapping it in, but it wouldn't fit in the base, it stuck out the bottom.

I would recommend a two slot MVS. Carts are inserted vertically, tad easier to get in and out. Memory card port is built in. Volume controls as well. They have neo geo controller ports so you can play with those if you like (some one slots have controller ports, some don't).

[sleeve]

The best way to acquire the PCBs you want is to hang around message boards like Shmups to find out what people are selling. Quite a few of the members over there collect and sell PCBs.

But are you sure you really know what you're getting into, C_S? PCB gaming isn't cheap. A good Supergun will run you more than $300, and beyond that there are many other things to keep in mind, such as picture rolling due to differences in sync (Cave games scan lower than 60hz, for example). As Chibi noted, CPS2 boards are nickname "suicide boards" for a reason. Also, the boards you're looking for are quite expensive.

None of these things are insurmountable obstacles, but they shouldn't be ignored. Getting into PCB gaming isn't as simple as buying an off-the-shelf console. I've resisted getting into PCB gaming largely for these reasons.

[Click_Stick]

Those white sit-downs are gorgeous... Mmm...

[lithium]

Oh yeah, those white Japanese cabs are awesome. Same with Dynamo cabs (the large, cabs where they have a huge screen then the controls are a seperate unit about 2 feet away). When I finally get out of school and actually start making some money, you better believe I'll owning a few of those

[JM]

Hey

CPS2 batteries don't seem too hard to replace, but you need soldering skills. Another thing is, the bios resets its self once an hour. This means you theoreticly have an hour to replace it, but in truth you have an hour from the last time the bios reset. That could've happened 59 minutes before you started the switch. Since there is no way to tell when it resets, you are gambling with your PCB every time you do it.

Go to www.cps2shock.com for more info. I had a 19XX board that I dearly loved, but I traded it off because I wasn't happy with my odds. Id hate to have $175 down the drain just because of bad luck.

The best online PCB sales place is Cosmic, as far as I know. Mode7 can vouch for their prices & excellent service as well. I got my Raiden Fighters 2 for $165 (before money order & shipping) which is $75 -$100 better cheaper than any NA dealer I have ever found.

I see that you have talked to SevenForce over at Shmups.com, & I've heard nothing but good stuff from people who have dealt with him. He seems to get stuff even cheaper than Cosmic.

I would go with a RGB monitor & a Supergun. I may end up getting one because my monitor in my cab is pretty damn wonky.

I would reccommend Matt, but he is moving & may not be building them any more.

JM