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davelrogers

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Hello friends,

New to the forum, and wanted to say hello. I’ve been into the RetroPie type modding systems for years now, but with my kids getting to an age where they are super into video games, particularly my 7 & 9 year old sons, I wanted to step it up a bit, and show them that nothing’s worth doing if you don’t do it right.

I’ve got a little wood working shop and build a 4 player cabinet for us, but wanted to fit it with something legit, rather than popping a PB6 into it (or even a Pandora Games 3D which looks like it has a more powerful PCB than the other Pandora’s.)

I don’t have problems writing a cabinet, and can do a little coding when needed (is C++ still a thing?), but will be looking for advice on a good multi game Jamma set up, including the motherboard/PC and game sets.

I might be yelling into the wind here, and that’s ok, but if anyone does happen to read this and is inclined to assist at all, I’m an appreciative newbie.

There are a few things in really interested in for my first cabinet build (it’s currently just wood and plexi:

- 4 player capability for my 4 player cab.
- Would love to have a stable build running for NBA Jams/Hangtime , the NHL arcade game, and NFL Blitz if possible.
- Fighting games to, but that looks rather standard on all setups.
- Outside of the 4 player sports games, I value stability and a clean UI much more than having access to unlimited games.
- I’ve been leaning towards a Jamma setup with a conversion kit for any non Jamma or pre Jamma boards.

appreciative of any and all advice, and will be happy to share and knowledge I am able to acquire once I’m dangerous enough to help.

thanks-Dave
 
Welcome Dave.
While you most likely won't find much to help you about Pandora's Boxes or Raspberry pi setups here, you sure will find a lot of detail on arcade connectivity.
This is a decent, generally drama-free environment.
Do your homework before asking questions, and we'll do our best to support.

There's a plethora of good brains here that troll the forums to help you achieve your step-up game.
 
Thanks for the welcome! Grateful.

Forgive me if I was not super clear above. The Pi mods and Pandora’s are not what I’m looking to learn about from this group. They’re easy enough to set up, but just not dependable enough for what I’m hoping to do.

I’m hoping to poke around old threads to find advice on good ideas and recommendations for a solid motherboard, appropriate switch, and then the specific Jamma (or other) boards I’ll need to set things up and have access to those few sporting games with a fairly standard multicade option built around those games.

Off to hunt!
 
Welcome aboard!

When talking about switching games with real arcade hardware, you are looking at swapping out PCB's by hand. Or using a switcher with a mechanical switch of some sort. There is no UI when dealing with switching between the Midway 4-player games or fighting games you've mentioned. Any switch you've seen for the Midway 4P games you mentioned along with fighting games in an actual arcade machine used emulation or a hack of some sort.

Now if you are talking about having a UI along with doing a little C++, then you are talking about MAME with a stable front end (I recommend Attract Mode). Having a well setup MAME emulation box beats the pants off Pandora's box, RPi Emulation, and is far more stable than those platforms, plus you gain flexibility for other modern games or other emulators. While we don't specialize in this, some of use are very skilled in this area. As a matter of fact, I find that the JAMMAizer, while much more expensive than J-Pac is the most flexible way to connect a MAME PC (or any source) to an arcade cabinet.

BUT, if you really want to know what we would recommend; it's real arcade hardware all the way. Each one of the games you mentioned however is going to cost $250 each. So if you are just getting into this hobby now, you might want to go with MAME then work your way up from there. That is actually how I started.
 
I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to point me in the right direction.

The (almost unbelievable) amount of information and options out there have paralyzed me to some extent, so I wanted to slow down and learn. That said, I’ma hobbiest for sure.

The four player capability is something that’s important and I don’t mind spending a little for the right processing power, stability, and easy to learn UI, for my kids.

There’s no doubt, this has all been asked and answered in multiple previous forums, so if there's a good thread or guide someone thinks o should start on, I’d be grateful for a suggestion. Is the Arpicade 3.xx w/ the 4 player card something that’s well received? Or any other preconfigured 4/2 player prebuilt systems I should look into to get started with? My first priority is just narrowing my focus a bit.

I’ll stop with that. I know it can get aggravating answer the same type of question a thousand different ways.

thanks
 
Let's keep your intro thread clean. Go ahead and post over at Arcade Talk to solicit some ideas from others. You can page me there (use the @<username> command).

Again, Welcome aboard.
 
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