I've decided to start some threads over the coming weeks with information about each game.
The IdolM@ster gets to be the first on that list!
That said, this is probably the most complicated (hardware-wise) of ALL the System 2X6 games, short of the unreleased StarBlade: Operation Blue Planet.
It's downright scary and a complete mess of hardware.
Out of the box, the game requires a connection to ALL-NET (long since discontinued), BUT in the last month of operation, Namco released instructions to run both the "Live Tower" and "Stations" in offline mode for operators that did not plan to upgrade their games to the Brain Training game (which incidentally uses most of the same hardware and was designed as an upgrade kit)
Most all machines got converted, however, and IM cabinets fetch a LARGE asking price at present. In addition, due to the use of rewritable IC cards, these are also worth a veritable fortune if blank.
To be honest, although I have all the hardware and IC cards necessary to get this game running, I have not had time (or space) to build the custom setup necessary to run this game (A goal for 201
, but I will start dumping bits of the information here.
The IdolM@ster gets to be the first on that list!
That said, this is probably the most complicated (hardware-wise) of ALL the System 2X6 games, short of the unreleased StarBlade: Operation Blue Planet.
It's downright scary and a complete mess of hardware.
Out of the box, the game requires a connection to ALL-NET (long since discontinued), BUT in the last month of operation, Namco released instructions to run both the "Live Tower" and "Stations" in offline mode for operators that did not plan to upgrade their games to the Brain Training game (which incidentally uses most of the same hardware and was designed as an upgrade kit)
Most all machines got converted, however, and IM cabinets fetch a LARGE asking price at present. In addition, due to the use of rewritable IC cards, these are also worth a veritable fortune if blank.
To be honest, although I have all the hardware and IC cards necessary to get this game running, I have not had time (or space) to build the custom setup necessary to run this game (A goal for 201
, but I will start dumping bits of the information here.
