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All posts for the month June, 2011

I decided to keep an eye on eBay for any decent PC monitors that would go well with the new cabinet. After using a 21″ in the last project, I was happy to go with a 19″ this time. The 21″ screens are much harder to come by, so replacing them is tougher. Last week, a monitor came up that I thought would suit this project well. It’s a black Dell 19″ monitor. Being black is a big bonus as I will not need to spray (or use contact) to turn it black. A $5 purchase from eBay – Five times more than my last two monitors for the last project 🙂

Not too long ago, I set about submitting some scores to Twin Galaxies. I recently found they were accepted. The games – Wonderboy (Sega Master System) and … Wonderboy – Wii Virtual Console (Sega Master System).

The scores give a more reasonable score for people to aim at, although there is plenty of room for improvement. The 500K on the virtual console was actually a personal best, which I was really happy with. When I get some more time, I plan to keep at it and submit some even higher Wonderboy scores for those platforms.

It was an interesting experience putting it together. First recording the sessions, then transferring to the computer and then creating an actual DVD of the gameplay.

Sega Master System – Wonderboy – PAL – Points

Wii Virtual Console – Wonderboy – Points

With some practice over lunch break in the last month, my Wonderboy scores have continued to increase. I generally only manage 1 proper game per day, but am now in the 490K – 510K range pretty consistently. Once I manage to get my new cabinet built, and the Wonderboy PCB installed, I expect to start pushing 750K+ in no time.

My current goal is to break 1,000,000. From there, I should be able to mount a serious challenge on the current Twin Galaxies top score 🙂

After finishing up my first Arcade cabinet recently, I decided I was not even going to bother starting a new project until I could acquire a Wonderboy PCB. An official SEGA one at that. The next cab I build will be to play this. I decided to put some feelers out there for one. They don’t appear to be all that common, and are currently going for around $230AU when they do.

Luck (or maybe fate) intervened, and with the help of a fellow member on the Aussie Arcade forums, I now have in my possession, an official SEGA Wonderboy board from 1985.

Wonderboy PCB

Because it’s pre JAMMA, it comes with an adapter. As with my last cabinet, it will utilise a JAMMA harness as I would also like to put in a 19 in 1 horizontal games board at some point.

So, the second cabinet is now under way. Slowly. Lack of funds is going to make progress on this cabinet slower than the last, but I still have some planning to do on the exact shape. I’m thinking of using the same Midway shape as my Galaga cab, but using different artwork. Perhaps Galaxian, or maybe even Pac Man. Time will tell.