Never Really Finished

Something has become clear to me as of late, your never really done with these projects.
Truth be told could be the quality of work that I put in requires me to come back, could be the desire to always make them better, could be boredom ! I don't really know.

I had some buddies over on Sunday for a poker game, had all four machines fired up and playing.
I learned that I play these machines like they were fragile eggs, tapping buttons, not SMASHING buttons !
During play my buddy was hitting the buttons so hard on DK Jr that the E-Clip came off the jump button.
My other buddy was so rough with the joysticks that a micro switch in the joystick went.
Not only that, but I learned that I need to secure my control panels in place, as several times the panels almost came off my Popeye and Mario machine.

When everybody left the poker game I was downstairs doing my repairs.
I still need to add some latches to my Popeye control panel. My Mario panel however is so full with the 2 player, 6 button layout that the latches when raised interferer with the wiring. So for Mario I'll need to find another solution to lock the panel down.

My Mario cabinet was also plagued with the fact that connections to the iPac were forever coming loose.
I promised myself while on vacation I'd get the inside of Mario cleaned up and all wires secured properly!
Truth be told I should have done  this the first time when I did the install! Ah well, another lesson learned, another reason why I'm NEVER DONE with these machines.

Anyway vacation for me has started, I'll be off the majority of December and to be productive I pulled out the trusted iPhone and did the all too familiar "To Do List."

Topping the list.........................FIX MARIO !
And I'm happy to say today that I did just that.
PC mounted to the inside wall of the cabinet, iPac mounted to the opposite wall.
All wires nicely wrapped and not all wrapped up together.
Everything done, and fired up for testing, happy to report all was working.
Another project off the to-do list ! Now all that remains is install side art!
Oh I also added an additional support to the back of the cabinet where the monitor is.

I needed this to hold the blackout paper in place and stop light bleed thru.

Final Four...........Near Done!

I have a few buddies involved in this coin-op hobby that feel exhausted by it.
Seems for many they are always working on machines and never enjoying them.
And while I would not say that is true of me, I'm not always working on them, I seldom enjoy them.
This is such an amazing community to belong to. The internet is full of information and amazing tools.
Sites like EMU MOVIES, forums like CGCC.CA, BYOAC, and KLOV are great sites.

Of my "final four" machines, the only four that made into the basement, Mario MAME was not yet complete.
The PC of this project was a daunting task as I mentioned prior. I had some issues with Dreamcast emulation. In the end I decided that older systems with a maximum of 6 buttons would be best suited for this cabinet. Consoles that features both analog and digital sticks are slightly more complex.
In fact one of my buddies was doing something similar to myself in the aspect that he included console emulation. However he was using the USB equivalent of the console joystick.
Which reminds me when I see him I'll be picking up two USB SNES joysticks.
I'll probably source of a GameCube and N64 version also.
Until such time I've prepared Mario MAME with NES, SNES, N64, SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, and even some DREAMCAST games.

This weekend I decided I would wrap this project up and do the final assembly. I had previously installed the marquee light fixture and speakers. I also mounted the monitor and cut the inner shroud (black out). Of course for me nothing can ever go to plan. The iPac I bought used off a CGCC member quite some time ago didn't work ! It was my fault for not testing it prior. I ended up spending $10 and sending it back to Andy @ Ultimarc to look it. In the event that it could not be fixed I ordered a new iPac VE.
I then moved onto my Rocketfish Smart Strip, I've used one of these prior in my DK JR. I love it, you have a "master" and four "slave" spots on the powerbar. When you turn off the master the slave items also turn off, likewise when you turn on the master the slave items turn on. This is awesome in an arcade ! For example for me (in both cabinets) the PC is the "master" and the marquee, monitor, and speakers are slave. PC power on....all systems GO! PC off...........everything off ! However in Mario it didn't work. I replaced the smart strip, but the same result. The manual says perhaps the item  draws too much current, however I tried to use the speakers and monitor as alternates but the result remained the same.

For Mario I had to end up housing a power bar inside the coin door, I'll need to open the door to power up the machine. It kinda sucks because I had mounted a button under the control panel that provides power to the PC. I had never done this before, its kinda bad ass if you ask me. Would have been sick if it had worked. I might in the future try a different brand of power bar with the same feature. For now I'm ok with the result.

The Unknown...........What Will I Be ?

Here is the Bad Dudes, Final Fight, WWF Superstars, combo of both, perhaps all 3 project to date.
Monitor installed on the weekend.
Board testing tonight, more this weekend.
Fate determined this weekend ?

Arghhh.................I'm so confused. LOL!

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy !

So my Popeye cabinet is all set up and working great, WWF Wrestlefest installed and gets some decent amount of play. Mario MAME (as I've nicknamed it) is still at the "mostly complete" stage,  the PC side of this project is taking long. I wanted to (want to) complete my ultimate project, full console emulation with a pair of Aim Trak guns. I've got a few emulators installed and configured, but more work is required. I really need to make the final push and get this tossed in, even as is. For what it's worth I'm not opposed to housing the PC inside with the emulators istalled as of now. I have NES, SNES, Sega Master System and Turbo GRAFX 16 installed and working well.





My buddy decided that he was out of the hobby and just going to keep two machines. His dedicated MK1 cabinet with Hyperspin, console emulation, and soon to have an Aim Trak gun attached. . His other keeper is a restored PacMan cocktail cabinet that is going to have Hyperspin V2.0 which has vertical support. He's going to let me copy his hard drive to a spare PC I have laying around, this PC I can always toss into Mario MAME if I so decide. OR............I could keep it for a future project.

NOW................... my two "for sale" projects.
I completed the 1st cabinet, a vertical 60-in-1 unit that I'm selling locally on Kijiji.
I think the machine looks good, all the parts are new, the color and molding really pop, however the interest has been minimal. I think it was this lack of interest that is keeping me from banging out the other cabinet.

I'm still on the fence. The blue 60 in 1 is %100 for sale. The yellow cabinet has taken on (in concept) many forms. It was to be "MAMEMANIA" a pure wrestling inspired MAME cabinet. It then was going to house my "Bad Dudes" board, from that it was going to be Bad Dudes and Final Fight (allowing me to sell the gutted Final Fight that I have). As of present day today I picked up two WWF Superstars boards, this has brought me back to the original idea of a wrestling cabinet.

I'm still torn! But things should be more clear when I do some tests. My Bad Dudes board was giving me an issue, which I press the ATTACK button it triggered ATTACK + JUMP, so the board could be damaged. I'm yet to test this to officially confirm. The WWF boards arrived not working and I'm waiting to get them to a friend to give them a look. If the Bad Dudes works I might go with a Bad Dudes cabinet, but also keep the WWF or Final Fight board installed simultaneously. Or I still might restore the Final Fight. It won't be done this year, however the yellow machine will be done this year.

Over the weekend I was able to install the monitor into the machine and I actually should test my boards today !

Painting & Some Progress

Mario project is still awaiting the completion of the PC.
I'm now looking into the best emulators to use, and which will  require modification to mimic the controls of MAME.

Over and above Mario MAME I've picked up a converted Stargate cabinet with a Final Fight kit in it.
I'm trying to pick up another Final Fight kit from Ebay then possibly scrap the Stargate and convert one of my projects into the Final Fight.

Here are some pics of the progress.

Coming Soon To A Games Room Near You

Working Final Fight $50 !
Thanks to buddy of mine this Saturday I'll be getting this awesome Final Fight cabinet.
This is one of the games I remember pumping quarters into as a kid.
Really a game I often play on various Capcom to collections via some of my many consoles.
Every now and again I fire it up in MAME and give it a go also.
Really it was one of my holy grails of gaming. Thanks to the generosity of a fellow gamer  who knew I loved this game I now own it. Sergio thank you again sir for really hooking me up with this. This was like a grand slam !

I don't think I'll work on it til the other projects are sold, but I'm happy to say it doesn't need any parts that I can't find. Monitor will need to be capped, body will need to be stripped, sanded, patched and painted. I'll also need to order some T-molding, but that's it.

MameMania and 60 in 1 Project

So as I said I managed to buy back two projects I had sold almost two years ago.
With my collection finalized (at least what will make it into the house!) and nearing completion I got the "bug."

I needed some goodies to work on and I'm excited to wrap these up. I've completed the body work, which is not flawless, but good enough for cabinets I don't plan on keeping. One is going to be DK blue, the other a nice bright yellow I picked up yesterday.

The master plan MAMEMANIA, a pure wrestling cabinet featuring MAME and console emulation.
Games ranging from Atari titles all the way up to and including some Dreamcast and PS1 titles.
Yellow paint, red t-molding ! Think Hulkamaina !

**** Right now in Ajax (Ontario Canada) its way too hot to paint. I'd love to be outside doing that now, but I've opted to chill in the AC ****

New Projects....More Info To Come !

Donkey Kong Jr MAME - DONE !
Donkey Kong 60 in 1 (jamma) - DONE!
Popeye Jamma w. Bad Dudes & Wrestlefest - DONE! ....and awaiting monitor swap.
Mario Bros MAME - PC still a work in progress

** My Mario MAME is coming along well but the summer months leave me with less and less time.
I've got pretty much everything done with the Mario Mame less the PC.
Setting up the PC with all the ROMS and emulators takes time. I'll do it, I want it done, it just takes time.
With that said I took on two new projects !

About two years ago when I got what is now my Donkey Kong Jr I picked up three more cabinets in the deal. One turned into my buddies Street Fighter II MAME and two I sold at cost to a co-worker.
Fast forward two years, most projects done, my NEO GEO sold, my MAME sold, my Virtua Cop 2 cabinet sold, and my Outrun cabinet spoken for I have a void !

I was able to buy the cabinets back at cost plus $20 to deliver.
One is going to be a 60 in 1 that I will sell and use the money to support the hobby, the other a custom Wrestling cabinet done Hulkamaina style !