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Cab Project #2: PacMan

Posted by Andrew Burch on July 24, 2011
Posted in: Pac Man Arcade Cabinet. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

My second project is now starting to gather some momentum, so I thought it time to post something more than just a few pictures to share my thoughts, plans and progress.

After being very happy with the results on my Galaga cab, it was inevitable I would begin another at some point. Thanks to an Aussie Arcade member it was sooner than expected with his sale (and my purchase) of an original Wonderboy board. This means the cabinet will be fitted with a horizontal screen. Given the number of games I’ve been playing of my 60in1 board on the Galaga cab, I plan to also install one of those 19 in 1 horizontal game boards also. The thought of twin sticks for Robotron is very appealing 🙂

My first thoughts were to research a cab shape I liked. I couldn’t find anything for Wonderboy that impressed me. I actually can’t recall the cab shape I used to play on all those years ago. I love my Galaga cab – I love the Galaxian cab – and I can’t help but love a good PacMan cab. The colour and artwork is top notch – and a hot looking cab means it will be allowed to live in the home :). Given my experience with putting together a cab with that shape, I decided that was the direction to take. There will be some modifications though which will mean it’s not a proper PacMan cab:
– Horizontal screen
– Screen artwork (will be custom pac man themed)
– Control panel (again pac man themed, not authentic)

It’s also an opportunity to do things a little different this time by addressing some of the issues I encountered last time.

After that was decided, I went through my Galaga plans, and mapped out a purchase list along with a plan. Given I’m on limited funds at the moment, the plan will help get the parts purchased in a good order to keep me working on it and not held up.

First purchase was the wonderboy board:

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Monitor purchased

Posted by Andrew Burch on June 27, 2011
Posted in: Pac Man Arcade Cabinet. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

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 🙂

Twin Galaxies Records

Posted by Andrew Burch on June 22, 2011
Posted in: Wonderboy Scores. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

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

Wonderboy scores – June 2011

Posted by Andrew Burch on June 22, 2011
Posted in: Wonderboy Scores. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

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 🙂

Arcade Cabinet Project #2

Posted by Andrew Burch on June 8, 2011
Posted in: Pac Man Arcade Cabinet. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

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.