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Hi All,

Just a quick update on the ol arcade cabinet.  I ditched my old front end Maximus Arcade, and replaced it with Hyperspin 1.3.  I really wish that the MA developer would have come back, but it's a dead project that is no longer supported.  Hyperspin can be a major PITA to set up, and I have a ton of configuration hours poured into it, but the eye candy and finished product is like no other.  The sounds, game videos, game themes, etc are stunning! 

Currently, I'm running MAME, which plays every known arcade game to mankind from the 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 2000's.  I also run Daphne, which plays the laserdisc arcade games from the 80's like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, etc.  Last but not least, I also run Visual Pinball.

I also removed all of the old dinged up black t-molding and replaced it with white.  It really makes the cabinet pop!  Chrome t-molding would look great too, but for now, white it is.

If you noticed the coin door...this was added as well.  Everyone that sees the cabinet thinks that the coin door is real, but it's actually a super high resolution decal of a real coin door, and looks absolutely real.  I just don't have the time to install a real door.  Maybe in the future I will, but for now it will do. 

Anyway, I put up a video to show you the front end.  It's really a nice improvement, and I recommend it to other cabinet owners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ctYpzmYeEok (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ctYpzmYeEok)

Thanks,
Jason

I've heard a lot of negative feedback on Mame set ups and multicade, (60 in 1, 19 in 1, etc) saying that the actual games lag while playing and the are sounds are pretty bad on some games, how true is this in your opinion? I may need to mention that this info comes from people that consider anything but an "original, non altered game, cabinet, monitor, etc. is a travesty. I want to build either a Mame set up, Ultracade or a 2477 in 1 for myself, I mainly want it for games from the late 70s, early 80s and Dragon's Lair-laser disk type games and Golden Tee games. What do you think?

Jason,  I Like it for sure.  K+ :259-. B.

Looks clean, sounds great, and the previews are amazing Jason!!  The white T-molding fits in perfect too and makes it pop just like you said.  I have a 60/1 which I love but the number of good games and the intro's blow away anything an original machine ever had.  I am wondering a couple of things though.  First most of your games there were originally Vertical games.  Your monitor looks to be set Horizontal so wondering how that works with black bars on the sides and isnt the game kinda small when set on a horizontal screen?  Also any plans for a trackball in the future?  That is one I wish I had but dont want to mess up my nice galaga contol panel?  Finally I would be sold if you had a steering wheel for the racing games--can you just plug one in since it is a computer?  Again awesome job and thanks for sharing--I love it!   :3-
 :205- :259-

Wow, I guess the original photo didn't show the glowing blue trackball very well.  It sits dead center on the control deck.  

See photo.

Thanks,
Jason

MAME has some killer artwork and bezels that can be added to enhance the experience.  I hated the black bars too.  Take a look at the photos below.  The scanned bezel images fill in the black bars.

Jason

One more of my favorite game!

Jason

Another cool feature, speaking of artwork, are the backdrops.  Without the backdrop scanned images, the arcade experience would not be correct.  Take Asteroids Deluxe and Warrior.  Without the artwork, the player would only see the two "vector" warriors fighting, and the "vector" spaceship and asteroids floating around on a black background.  The scanned images as shown in the photos below complete the colorful backgrounds that were in the original arcade games.

Thanks,
Jason

Yeah totally missed the trackball!  Couldn't see it very well on the video.  You gotta have one of those for classics like Centipede and Missle Command (and others).  Nice!   I like the border pictures on the sides of the vertical games to take up the bars.  That is a nice touch too.  I think that would be a decent tradeoff so you can play horizontal games too.  Horizontal games on vertical screens just dont work--way too small (IMO).  Definitely a lot more you can do in the MAME environment making it flashy.  The coin door sticker looks good from what I can see of it.  Great result overall!

Yeah, the vertical games are actually pretty good visually on a larger monitor.  I run a 27" Kortek arcade monitor, so it's not bad at all.

Thinking about light guns and a steering wheel.  Stay tuned...

Thanks,
Jason

Nothing is better than the "real thing" from a purist's point of view.  I agree.  However, MAME has come a looooong way, and most of the games now are identical.  There are a few games that use samples for certain sounds.  Some are accurate and some need work.  Better than nothing.  The laser disc games are spot on perfect as I remember them.  Same with Golden Tee.

MAME dev is always making improvements with each release, but sometimes fixes can break other things.  Always a WIP!! ;)

Jason

YES!!   :212-    :151-