Posted by Tom A on 24, 2001 at 6:31 PM:
In Reply to: ***Opinions Please*** - Should I buy a Japanese sitdown cab or not? posted by Proph on 24, 2001 at 12:44 PM:
Proph,
Yes I did have one. Mine was a Capcom Impress with a 29" rotatable monitor. I have mixed feelings about it and ArcadeStuff. He was friendly with me at first but when I told him about how the monitor had a flickering problem he insisted that it was my fault somehow. I ended up resoldering the monitor pcb and that did fix it for the most part. Must have been a weak joint. Also, the cabinet I received was not in mint condition like was promised in his eBay listings.
But I could have got a worse than average unit, especially since I didn't buy it from an eBay listing. I contacted him directly.
As far as the cabinet goes, it had it's pluses and minuses. I liked being able to sit down, that was by far the greatest advantage. Even with gaming stools from Happs, my new cabinet isn't nearly as comfortable as the sitdown was. My wife liked the small size of the cabinet also. I personally despised the Japanese controls they didn't have that "arcade" feel that I grew up with. Both of my joys were worn out so I replaced them and added a Fultra spinner and Happ 2 1/4" trackball. This was very difficult as far as space is concerned but it can be done.
What I didn't like about the cabinet was it wasn't what I was familiar with when I was a kid. It didn't have the large glowing marquee or the lit red coin lights or large coin door. That may seem silly but this is nostalga, is it not? Also I like having the monitor behind plexi.
Also after fiddling with the JAMMA/VGA conversion I was ready for a straight VGA connection. My new cabinet (ArcadePC) uses a low quality SVGA monitor that gives the blurry picture we all have come to love while it still looks ok for Windows 640x480 games. I will add a trackball and spinner to the ArcadePC just haven't had time recently. I have the parts...
I am happy with my new cabinet but having said that, if I still had the Jamma cab, I would definitely switch the monitor to med res and configure it to use AdvancedMAME. When I had mine I was just starting to use AdvancedMAME and I have learned much more about the program than when I had the cabinet. I think I could set it up a lot better than I had before I sold it. Oh well.
I'm not trying to talk you out of the JAMMA cabinet, they are fun but just make sure you will be able to mount a D9200 or similar VGA arcade style monitor if you still want to do that. I was considering doing this but I didn't know if I would be able to get the monitor in properly. I didn't think the bezel would fit right, but I could be wrong.
-Tom A.
: I'm on the verge of possibly buying a Japanese sitdown cab from ArcadeStuff of Ebay fame. TomA had one, and some others here I think. Looking at a NeoGeo Candy 29" model.
: Before I do this, does anyone have any advice? Any reasons why I should NOT buy such a cab? Any reasons why it's a good idea?
: My intent is to ultimately use it as a combination JAMMA and emulation cabinet. Not sure exactly how yet, but in the future I would replace the monitor with a D9200 so it would have total versatility, and maybe add a spinner (or trakball if it can be done without looking ugly). I would get a 29" model, so the D9200 should fit inside. Any thoughts?
: And yes, I'm still alive. :P In fact, if I hear any interesting news I will still post for Saint. Sorry I missed the Advance MAME 37b14 news, next time I'll get it out here.
