Came back to the office from a walk to discover an express post parcel on my desk. It was my 60 in 1 multi JAMMA board. I’m very excited! Now to build a cab to put it to use in 🙂
Galaga Arcade Cabinet
Building a Galaga arcade cab fram scratch
Thanks to some advice on the aussie arcade forums, I ordered some parts from OzStick here in Victoria. I have placed an order for a JAMMA harness, buttons, Sanwa joystick and a few small bits and pieces for mounting the board. OzStick prices are pretty good, so its worth checking them out if you need parts.
My choice in Joystick was after some research on quality between brands. The most common brands I came across were HAPP, Sanwa and Zippy. The Zippy brand seems to be more of a budget joystick, while HAPP and Sanwa get the most praise. I found Sanwa to be slightly cheaper than the HAPP joysticks, but maybe with further shopping around that price difference could be reduced. Feature wise, the joysticks were basically the same – 4 and 8 way direction support, can swap knob colours and shapes and the ability to adjust the springs.
I went with cheap buttons. There are buttons from HAPP and Sanwa, some with built in microswitches, others without. There isn’t that much difference in price. You are looking at between $1.50 to $5 per button, depending on brand. The good thing is the buttons are easy to replace / upgrade so if the cheap option turns out to be bad, I can always get a better quality brand next time. I’m told the most important factor on the buttons is the microswitches. So you may want to consider getting the cheaper buttons, but better quality microswitches. I should also mention that there are a variety of button types too, round, triangle, rectangle, flat, bubble, dimple, and so on. It’s worth taking the time shopping around if you are after something specific.
The JAMMA wiring harness is a MUST if you are building a cab to use JAMMA boards. The wires are all ready to go. Plug it on the board, then plug all the wires into the buttons, coin mech, power, etc. I came across this JAMMA FAQ which was very useful.
I have ordered my JAMMA board today. $89AU + postage. Quite reasonable.
As I said in my last post, it’s a 60 in 1 multiboard. It includes some trackball games – so I need to add a trackball to my list of considerations for the cabs control panel. There should be enough room, as I will only have single player controls.
I have seen a few different types of 60 in 1 boards – most seemed to contain a core set of 30 odd games. The rest were a mixture of trackball games, speed up versions of other games or some random 80’s games. It’s probably worth having a look at few types to see which one best suits you. They seem to be easy to come by. Places like OzStick, GameDude and even eBay can help you out here.
The decision on Buy or Build has been made – Build.
There are a number of factors for this.
1) Getting the exact cab I want (Donkey Kong or Wonderboy) could be expensive and hard to come by. I might get lucky, but most likely would need to import (from the US).
2) It’s possible to achieve some excellent results with DIY. I have come across a lot of internet pages by people who have put together their own cabs and the results are fantastic.
3) I’m finding it very appealing to get under the hood and create one – it should prove very interesting and satisfying.
4) The DIY approach also looks to be a cheaper option overall.
The biggest negatives I could put against the DIY approach would be:
1) Time required to build. It seems that I could put the cab together in the space of a week, but when you combine a full time job, kids, wife and house duties, time is in short supply.
2) Tools required – Lucky I have a father in law who is much more skilled than I in building, and he has most of the tools I don’t for this project. But without that, building would be more expensive.
Something I had not originally considered was also a horizontal or vertical screen. I’ve gone with vertical, due to most of the games I want to play require a vertical screen (Donkey Kong, Galaga, Pac man and so on). It’s something to be aware of before building (or buying) for that matter. If you plan to swap JAMMA boards in your cab, make sure the cab you get can support the games you want.
Another option I considered was to buy/build a MAME cab. My research left me thinking it might not feel authentic enough. Since I’m going to support JAMMA boards, it will be easy enough to support additional boards in the future, so I’m not completely locked out of upgrading the game set.
Refurbish was yet another option, but I felt more comfortable with the DIY from scratch approach. The refurbish option might be something I consider down the track as a future project. I would prefer to have more knowledge on the construction of a cab first.
So my decision will be to build an upright cab, with a JAMMA board inside. It will be a 60 in 1 multi board using a vertical screen. There will just be the single controls.
After some initial hunting around the internet, the first decision I need to make is: Buy or Build. The two most important factors for me will be how authentic the cab feels, and also the price (I will be working with a budget). I came across a VERY useful site tonight – www.aussiearcade.com.au which appears to have a wealth of knowledge. Before making any decisions, I’m going to do some more reading here and see what I can find.
There are a number of places across Australia, and some in Melbourne who supply arcarde cabs. They are more expensive than I remember, although that could be because they are becoming rarer over time.
Another early decision I need to make is Upright or Tabletop. I’m not too fussed either way, although an upright would be preferred. I remember them being easier to play at over long periods of time, plus they take up less space. So if space is a factor for you, an upright would be the best choice.