- Thread starter twistedsymphony
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I found a reasonably priced vacuum forming machine within driving distance... now it's a matter if I can fit this thing in my garage...
Supposedly this can do sheets 36x60
I could probably make quite a few repo cab parts with this thing as well as custom control panel and fight-stick housings. looking at my cabs nearly all the plastic parts on my Virtual On cab (and most Sega Twin Units and other driving cabs) are vacuum formed.
Supposedly this can do sheets 36x60
I could probably make quite a few repo cab parts with this thing as well as custom control panel and fight-stick housings. looking at my cabs nearly all the plastic parts on my Virtual On cab (and most Sega Twin Units and other driving cabs) are vacuum formed.
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jassin000
Wow!
Can I come up and watch you play/form stuff with that thing?
Looks awesomely wild!
Can I come up and watch you play/form stuff with that thing?
Looks awesomely wild!
I haven't bought it yet, I'm waiting to hear back from the seller on some specifics but if all goes well I'll pick it up Wednesday.
for the most part though I have zero qualms with buying tools. they're usually easy to resell if you end up not using them and if you do use them they tend to pay for themselves quickly.
I already have a bunch of ideas for things I can make with this, which is a good sign that I'll get some good use out of it
Today was a fairly warm dry day so I figured it'd be a good time pull out and document the PCB on Flash beats. I've dumped all the roms and took a bunch of high-res photos. I'm not going to post them all up here; I've sent them to rtw to give to the dumping union, of course if anyone else wants/needs them let me know and I'll send them your way.
Here are some highlights though:
This is the full PCB board in all it's glory. to remove this there is a single 2-wire connector in the center by the transformer and then 2 huge wire bundles on either side that need to be disconnected. This thing has so many connectors it's mind boggling. Thankfully they're all either uniquely shaped or colored so you don't have to worry about connecting the wrong one in the wrong place... god help you if you ever have to replace the whole harness though.
The cage on the top left seems to be a digital sound board similar to the one found on Model 3 games, it looks like it's only setup for 2-channel audio rather than 4 though. This makes a lot of sense since after seeing the main board before I was seriously confused as to how they fit all that audio data on just 3 EPROMs.
Here's the main board removed and separated so you can get a good look at it all. Interesting it's just got 3 EPROMS labeled ROM1, ROM3, and ROM4... no idea where ROM2 is
I don't know if this PCB is used anywhere else but if it's shared with anything it's likely shared with a crane or medal game or something else without a traditional video screen.
The underside has a lot going on too.
I was excited when I found some paper under the PCB board, unfortunately it turned out to just be a single photo copied page from the manual describing the dip-switches. nothing interesting here it's all just coin settings and 1 dip for enabling attract mode sound. I tried scanning the page but it was badly photo copied and didn't come out. so I'm typing up the dip settings andI'll post them once I'm done. You can find them attached below
Here are some highlights though:
This is the full PCB board in all it's glory. to remove this there is a single 2-wire connector in the center by the transformer and then 2 huge wire bundles on either side that need to be disconnected. This thing has so many connectors it's mind boggling. Thankfully they're all either uniquely shaped or colored so you don't have to worry about connecting the wrong one in the wrong place... god help you if you ever have to replace the whole harness though.
The cage on the top left seems to be a digital sound board similar to the one found on Model 3 games, it looks like it's only setup for 2-channel audio rather than 4 though. This makes a lot of sense since after seeing the main board before I was seriously confused as to how they fit all that audio data on just 3 EPROMs.
Here's the main board removed and separated so you can get a good look at it all. Interesting it's just got 3 EPROMS labeled ROM1, ROM3, and ROM4... no idea where ROM2 is
I don't know if this PCB is used anywhere else but if it's shared with anything it's likely shared with a crane or medal game or something else without a traditional video screen.
The underside has a lot going on too.
I was excited when I found some paper under the PCB board, unfortunately it turned out to just be a single photo copied page from the manual describing the dip-switches. nothing interesting here it's all just coin settings and 1 dip for enabling attract mode sound. I tried scanning the page but it was badly photo copied and didn't come out. so I'm typing up the dip settings and
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i'm a little late to this thread - but that's my old flash beats machine! That's my handwriting on the "2 Quarters" sticker. Quite a story behind this..
The control panel was damaged in shipping from Japan when it was delivered to Gemini Arcade Palace in Las Vegas, NV some time before 2011. Three of them were imported by Ken in Utah for Gemini iirc. This one was in the roughest shape, and was given to me as a gift from Gemini for helping them out. The machine was previously offered to Bemani Invasion (now Tokyo Attack), but they refused because they did not have a cost effective way to get it from Vegas to Virginia at the time. I was in Vegas a year later with a box truck, and when the machine was offered to me, there was no way I was going to pass it up. I had called the parties that ran Bemani Invasion to make sure they had passed up on the offer, and once they confirmed they did not want it, I loaded it in our truck, did a show in Los Angeles, and drove back to Maryland with it. About ten months later I was accused of taking Bemani Invasion's property and they began shouting up a storm on social media. It got kind of weird because the person that gifted me the machine was claiming that it was never a gift for me, and it was meant to be transported to Bemani Invasion. At MAGFest that winter they sent some of their underlings to have the machine removed from my area of games and placed on their truck. When I came down into the expo hall to learn of that, and to hear that they had already left the venue, well I can't really explain how I felt. It bothered me so much that I decided to not pursue the issue, learn a lesson, and move along.
A nice guy in the community who was present when it was gifted to me and knew the full story tracked another one down overseas, purchased it for me, and got it my way at cost. My current machine is one that I'll never sell, and serves as a constant reminder to not let myself get pushed around.
Lesson learned: get a contract - at least get things in writing, especially if/when someone offers you a rare piece of sega history for nothing. I just realized that I've never talked about this publicly and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I hate to go into personal details like that, but seeing that you appreciate Flash Beats as much as I do I figured you'd like to know the history on your machine. That being said, I am really glad that this machine is owned by someone who loves SEGA arcade hardware. That makes me really happy.
Anyway, this particular machine has been all over the place. It was at two Anime Expo events, two Otakon events, Katsucon for a few years, and MAGFest for a year. I kept telling myself I was going to get around to vacuum forming new control panel parts, but I never managed to do it. If you ever decide to get some pieces made, I would like to throw some money your way just in case something happens to mine down the line. Plus, I know of a few other people that have these machines that would love spare plastics.
It looks like it has developed a few new cracked plastics and bruises. If you'd like, I'm happy to get together so we can make molds out of my good parts. Not sure exactly what the process would be there, but let me know if I can be of any help. I have a copy of the manual. It's entirely in Japanese, but I'm sure we can translate it. I still have the keys, including the key to the coin door that someone decided to try and force open. I have absolutely no idea where they are, but I'll keep an eye out for you and I'll be in touch when they're found.
I always wonder how many Flash Beats machines are out there. It can't be many. I do have a really fun fact: one machine was produced in English - with an English instruction card, and an English announcer. This machine was located in Disney World, but I don't think the arcade is around anymore or it was downsized. I would love to get my hands on the English announcer data and instruction card.
On that note, I'm going to have a beer.
Sorry for the black duct tape,
- EH
The control panel was damaged in shipping from Japan when it was delivered to Gemini Arcade Palace in Las Vegas, NV some time before 2011. Three of them were imported by Ken in Utah for Gemini iirc. This one was in the roughest shape, and was given to me as a gift from Gemini for helping them out. The machine was previously offered to Bemani Invasion (now Tokyo Attack), but they refused because they did not have a cost effective way to get it from Vegas to Virginia at the time. I was in Vegas a year later with a box truck, and when the machine was offered to me, there was no way I was going to pass it up. I had called the parties that ran Bemani Invasion to make sure they had passed up on the offer, and once they confirmed they did not want it, I loaded it in our truck, did a show in Los Angeles, and drove back to Maryland with it. About ten months later I was accused of taking Bemani Invasion's property and they began shouting up a storm on social media. It got kind of weird because the person that gifted me the machine was claiming that it was never a gift for me, and it was meant to be transported to Bemani Invasion. At MAGFest that winter they sent some of their underlings to have the machine removed from my area of games and placed on their truck. When I came down into the expo hall to learn of that, and to hear that they had already left the venue, well I can't really explain how I felt. It bothered me so much that I decided to not pursue the issue, learn a lesson, and move along.
A nice guy in the community who was present when it was gifted to me and knew the full story tracked another one down overseas, purchased it for me, and got it my way at cost. My current machine is one that I'll never sell, and serves as a constant reminder to not let myself get pushed around.
Lesson learned: get a contract - at least get things in writing, especially if/when someone offers you a rare piece of sega history for nothing. I just realized that I've never talked about this publicly and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I hate to go into personal details like that, but seeing that you appreciate Flash Beats as much as I do I figured you'd like to know the history on your machine. That being said, I am really glad that this machine is owned by someone who loves SEGA arcade hardware. That makes me really happy.
Anyway, this particular machine has been all over the place. It was at two Anime Expo events, two Otakon events, Katsucon for a few years, and MAGFest for a year. I kept telling myself I was going to get around to vacuum forming new control panel parts, but I never managed to do it. If you ever decide to get some pieces made, I would like to throw some money your way just in case something happens to mine down the line. Plus, I know of a few other people that have these machines that would love spare plastics.
It looks like it has developed a few new cracked plastics and bruises. If you'd like, I'm happy to get together so we can make molds out of my good parts. Not sure exactly what the process would be there, but let me know if I can be of any help. I have a copy of the manual. It's entirely in Japanese, but I'm sure we can translate it. I still have the keys, including the key to the coin door that someone decided to try and force open. I have absolutely no idea where they are, but I'll keep an eye out for you and I'll be in touch when they're found.
I always wonder how many Flash Beats machines are out there. It can't be many. I do have a really fun fact: one machine was produced in English - with an English instruction card, and an English announcer. This machine was located in Disney World, but I don't think the arcade is around anymore or it was downsized. I would love to get my hands on the English announcer data and instruction card.
On that note, I'm going to have a beer.
Sorry for the black duct tape,
- EH
Thank you for the back story.
Hopefully this summer I'll get the vacuum forming machine up and running. I'm still having a very hard time sourcing the material though. So far the only material I've been able to find is either completely clear, or textured black.
So far I've given the machine a good surface clean, rebuilt the buttons and replaced all of non-original locks with 5575s. I still don't have a way into the cash box though. If you do have a key for it and could let me me borrow it that would be fantastic (Please Shoot me a PM)
I would also love to see a scan of the manual, there was a photocopied page of the dip switches I found in the cab which was useful but having high quality scans of the wiring diagrams would be invaluable if anything were to go wrong.
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I should also note that I dumped all of the ROMs and snapped TONs of detailed photos of the hardware to get this machine preserved. And from the dumps and photos there is already a preliminary MAME driver for it: https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/flashbeats.cpp
So maybe at some point people will be able to "virtually" enjoy this rare game.
If you do ever come across that rare English version try to get it dumped. (this is something I can do and there are dozens of people around the world with the ability to do this). there doesn't appear to be any security on the hardware so it would theoretically be possible to convert any machine to English with the right ROMs.
Hopefully this summer I'll get the vacuum forming machine up and running. I'm still having a very hard time sourcing the material though. So far the only material I've been able to find is either completely clear, or textured black.
So far I've given the machine a good surface clean, rebuilt the buttons and replaced all of non-original locks with 5575s. I still don't have a way into the cash box though. If you do have a key for it and could let me me borrow it that would be fantastic
(Please Shoot me a PM)I would also love to see a scan of the manual, there was a photocopied page of the dip switches I found in the cab which was useful but having high quality scans of the wiring diagrams would be invaluable if anything were to go wrong.
-----------------
I should also note that I dumped all of the ROMs and snapped TONs of detailed photos of the hardware to get this machine preserved. And from the dumps and photos there is already a preliminary MAME driver for it: https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/flashbeats.cpp
So maybe at some point people will be able to "virtually" enjoy this rare game.
If you do ever come across that rare English version try to get it dumped. (this is something I can do and there are dozens of people around the world with the ability to do this). there doesn't appear to be any security on the hardware so it would theoretically be possible to convert any machine to English with the right ROMs.
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the cash box key is yours - it's just a matter of finding it. I'll reach out to the engineering team at Unit-e and see if they have any ideas on a suitable replacement for the original material.
thank you for getting the ROMs dumped and in MAME. There's a few games that are floating around my warehouse that I know aren't dumped and I really need to get to that.
thank you for getting the ROMs dumped and in MAME. There's a few games that are floating around my warehouse that I know aren't dumped and I really need to get to that.
I'd heard rumors about this from a number of people and a number of people also claimed that this English version was in a Red cab as opposed to Blue.
So I figured SOMEONE would have caught this thing on camera if it was at Disney.
it seems it was on the 5th floor of Disney Quest unfortunately most people doing virtual tours seemed to walk straight past it to gush about the row of classics behind it.
2011 Disney Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziXYBCbwLP4&t=250
2013 Disney Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scftNTgyJSw&t=22
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvJMORuqKOU&t=1101
2015 Disney Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd-GQ1P519I&t=2165
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd-GQ1P519I&t=2515
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04CRmziQ5x0&t=47
Friggin John's arcade walked by it 3 f-ing times and didn't even mention it, and the arcade hunter guy calls it by the wrong name in one of his videos and in the other one he mentions it like it's something you'd find in any old arcade (meanwhile elsewhere in the video he spends 2 minutes on a game talking about how bad it is).
The only video I can find of the Disney Flash Beats being played is this one:
Now even on the Japanese cab all of the announcer voices are in English EXCEPT for the "tutorial" at the beginning of Easy mode, and a few words telling you to select the game mode when you first start a game. The video above seems to be some people a minute into the tutorial mode (after most of the voice work) but it seems like it is indeed in English.
no good pictures of the instruction card, though on the Johns Arcade video it looks like there are two large stickers on the P1 control panel with a paragraph of text each, not sure what these say but those aren't on any other FB machine I've seen. There also appears to be a red light where the coin entry should be... again not seen this on any other FB machine.
I've still yet to find the correct material for it 
