Hey everyone! First post (past my intro) and I figured I'd dive right into it.
Originally started with the idea of buying Unico's Nova Blast; after pushing out their release date, admitting their pcb (where jamma / hdmi / kick harnesses) didn't even fully work post og release date, watching how they screwed over early adopters of their Phoenix monitors (the same monitors in the Nova Blast), and falling out of love with the idea of purely going the JAMMA pbc route.... here we are.
It didn't take long to come to the idea of a Vewlix with my needs: no CRT (I just went through CRT hell with recaps and other issues, and I don't want to keep doing repairs, i just want to play the games on my free time), easy upgradability with modern parts, wasn't too large, and could play JAMMA if I chose to use a board or two in the future. Vewlix was the obvious answer!
I then started my research into Chewlix and Vewlix, essentially realizing that one of the Diamonds was my best choice, preferably the Diamond Black. After a botched deal where I got screwed over on the cab I picked out, I was actually reached out to by someone else who had a Diamond Black in really nice shape ready to go. I'm not naming names on either, I'm not here to create drama...but just sharing my process.
I'm going on a short vacation, and the Vewlix will be arriving shortly after I get back mid next week. In the meantime, here are the parts I've purchased for the build. I'll mark which have arrived and which I'm waiting on:
Arrived:
So yeah, that's step one! I'll include some pictures below of some of the parts I've received so far:
Originally started with the idea of buying Unico's Nova Blast; after pushing out their release date, admitting their pcb (where jamma / hdmi / kick harnesses) didn't even fully work post og release date, watching how they screwed over early adopters of their Phoenix monitors (the same monitors in the Nova Blast), and falling out of love with the idea of purely going the JAMMA pbc route.... here we are.
It didn't take long to come to the idea of a Vewlix with my needs: no CRT (I just went through CRT hell with recaps and other issues, and I don't want to keep doing repairs, i just want to play the games on my free time), easy upgradability with modern parts, wasn't too large, and could play JAMMA if I chose to use a board or two in the future. Vewlix was the obvious answer!
I then started my research into Chewlix and Vewlix, essentially realizing that one of the Diamonds was my best choice, preferably the Diamond Black. After a botched deal where I got screwed over on the cab I picked out, I was actually reached out to by someone else who had a Diamond Black in really nice shape ready to go. I'm not naming names on either, I'm not here to create drama...but just sharing my process.
I'm going on a short vacation, and the Vewlix will be arriving shortly after I get back mid next week. In the meantime, here are the parts I've purchased for the build. I'll mark which have arrived and which I'm waiting on:
Arrived:
- Intel NUC Phantom Canyon - This is the heart of the build, running both classic and modern games. I had two separate builds, prior, with an HP Elite Desk as my classic arcade game machine, but condensed the two. It's incredibly tiny and quiet and handles everything via emulation or modern fighting / shooter game wise with ease. In a weird bit of luck, it ended up being an engineering sample. I'm not sure how it got out into the public but, I'll take it!
- Right Angle Micro B USB 3.0 Cable - Cleans up the cables from my 5TB hdd to the NUC
- Hadouken Custom IO - This will translate my stock control panel harness to modern hardware
- TNP 4 Port KVM Switch - Comes with a remote control, so I can switch devices on the fly. While I don't exactly have a use for this atm, I bought it just in case I wanted to put a PS4/5 in there or something (depends how badly I get the urge to play Virtua Fighter I suppose...)
- Brook UFB - Plugs into the custom IO which translates Player 1 into USB for the PC
- A big ol' pile of 100 yen coins
- Vewlix Diamond Black
- Couples stool
- Crown / Samducksa SDB-202 30MM Buttons in White - As someone who grew up with American arcade machines, I prefer clicky buttons and sticks, but while I love the feel of HAPP hardware, they're ugly as sin and likely too tall to fit in this control panel. Crown buttons allow me to install Cherry MX switches, in which I put in Cherry MX Blues for the most annoying, wife rage inducing clicks money can buy. These also screw in, not snap in, and thus will last longer than equivalent Sanwas (in case I want to change them out in the future to switch up colors).
- Crown / Sanducksa SDB-202 24MM Button in White - for 1P button
- Seimitsu Bullet Lever Handle in White - I'm not personally a fan of balltops, and this allows me to grip like an American Stick AND a wineglass grip, both of which I tend to do. And the Seimitsu is very clicky, which will help with the wife enragement fetish
- Seimitsu All in One Universal Joystick Mounting Plate (allows Seimitsu sticks to Vewlix mounts)
- Sub Control Panel with volume knob
- Mini wireless keyboard / trackpad to control the PC
- Stream Deck Mini (to quickly launch Big Box and Steam games)
- Silent replacement fans for the cabinet
So yeah, that's step one! I'll include some pictures below of some of the parts I've received so far: