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Lots of excellent advice in here. Only thing I disagree with is OK Babys are surprisingly decent, but you'll struggle to find parts if something cosmetically happens. Avoid all the other clone cabs though, they're a real mess.

A bit off topic, but I've been looking for an OK Baby for a little while now since I'm from Taiwan, and it's good to know that they seem to be decent cabs despite being a clone (of the Kyotaro Excellent from what I've seen). The last one I saw in person was briefly in Taipei Xinmending several years ago. I finally saw one FS local to me, but it was in such terrible condition (multi color rattlecan special) that I didn't pursue it due to fears of hunting for unobtainium parts and the cost/time of working on the body. I have a potential lead on another so the hunt continues...

Besides being JIS, another thing to consider when working with screws on the Astro City that took me by surprise was the amount of self tapping screws being used throughout the body. Be very careful with these screws, since you could not only damage the screw head, but the actual cab body itself if you wrench too hard or at an odd angle. Be sure to take a close look at the operators manual (widely available as a PDF on places like Arcade Otaku wiki), which has detailed diagrams on what type of screw goes where. Sometimes arcade operators use the wrong screw on these self tapped holes during field repairs, and jam machine bolts (which have much finer threads) into the body instead. This happened to me around the rear marquee area when I was going through the process of cleaning and repairing my cab.

If you experience a jammed or damaged screw, you may need screw extraction pliers like the Engineer PZ-58. I would highly recommend grabbing these for your toolbox sooner than later since I definitely wished I knew about it in my early days of owning cabs. It would've saved me a lot of pain, swearing, dremeling, and WD-40.
 
I would highly recommend grabbing these for your toolbox sooner than later since I definitely wished I knew about it in my early days of owning cabs. It would've saved me a lot of pain, swearing, dremeling, and WD-40.

I agree with the tool kit...

Hozan P706 for a crimper
Engineer PZ-58/59 for extraction pliers
Vessel JIS screw driver set
 
Anyone know what an OK Baby is going for these days? I seriously doubt I would want to go with one over an Astro City, but I am curious. If it is ludicrously cheaper I might get one alongside the Sega cabinet.
 
8-1200. Did see one pristine one go for 1400 a bit ago. You won't find one as easily as the Astro (and I'd wager you won't find one through one of the importers at all), but if you do they're pretty reasonable.
 
+1 for GndZero/Matt. I've bought a number of cabs from him and they've all been solid. Waiting is the worst part. CRT cabs are naturally pretty dirty and need some TLC. I'm in KY and have driven down to pick up cabs from him before, def a road trip and generally anxiety inducing but you can save a few $ doing that, assuming you have access to a vehicle to haul it in. After that experience I resolved to just pay the shipping cost but your mileage may vary.

Also it's absolutely worth investing in a good set of JIS screwdrivers for working on these since the screw heads are all that spec rather than Phillips. I got a set of Vessel Megadora drivers and they've been really great.

Same here +1 for Matt, he is one of the good guys. JIS screwdriver set is the best advice for every new owner. Those drivers will become your go to for everything afterward, including standard phillips and the like.

Anyone know what an OK Baby is going for these days? I seriously doubt I would want to go with one over an Astro City, but I am curious. If it is ludicrously cheaper I might get one alongside the Sega cabinet.

FWIW, I haven't seen one of these in the wild in Georgia since I started collecting (6 years?). I guess you could try an importer but shipping costs would be $600+ and like rewrite said, its highly unlikely they would want to track one down. Not alot of meat on the bone if they have to try to resell it IMO.
 
I had a decent experience importing a New Astro City from https://www.youngerarcade.com/

Just for some reference, the cab was $1000 (looks like they’ve been raised to $1100 since) and shipping to Saint Augustine, FL was another $1k. This was all about 6-8 months ago and during peak Covid times in China (where they’re located), which caused numerous delays.

They did a good job refurbishing the cab though. Re-paint was solid, new repro CP (4 buttons per side), new side art and a monitor that had only the slightest burn in on the bottom (insert coin text, but it’s hard to even see unless the monitor is off and you look at it at the right angle). They also put on new locks and supplied new keys. Buttons were Sanwa but sticks were generic. It was well cleaned and had minimal rust. Besides adding a kick harness for 6 buttons on each side, overhauling all the controls (which I was going to do anyway), and some monitor adjustments/calibration, I really haven’t had to do much.

It might be a good place to start if this is your first go-around. I know how tough it is to get Candys the further east in the US you go, so shipping in isn’t such a bad option.

The TLDR version:

Positives
- Cab arrived in nice working condition
- Minimal maintenance to get up and running
- NACs are very beginner friendly candy cabs
- Email communication was quick and videos and pics were provided throughout the process and when asked for
- They threw in a JAMMA board with it (KOF 03) which was unexpected and nice

Negatives
- Paying basically $2k up front and hoping for the best/trusting someone you’ve never met
- Waiting about a month for the refurb and then another six months for shipping (this was definitely impacted by Covid - from what I’ve read lately, freight shipping is getting slightly back to normal times/rates now)

PM me if you want the email of the contact I was using. He prefers communication via email or WhatsApp.

EDIT:

And to echo others sentiments, take some time (maybe while waiting for the cab to arrive!) and learn the basics, like the main parts of the cab, how the controls work/are wired, different arcade interfaces (JAMMA, JVS, etc), basic soldering/crimping, gather any necessary tools you might not have already (long shaft screw driver, good screw removal pliers, multimeter etc). Things will go wrong and will need to be disassembled, fixed and put back together again. If you already know some basic fixes (this forum is a great help too!) you can save so much time and headache instead of chasing someone down local to you who knows what they’re doing. ✌️
 
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Picture is from twitter’s isimorn — 1.10.2022 France 🇫🇷
15F7B351-167C-4D55-887D-FBF66E1AF2F8.jpeg
 
I recognize the Blast Citys and the Astro Citys, but what are the ones in front?
 
The only info I can find says they're rebranded OK Babys designed for casino use.
 
Just for some reference, the cab was $1000 (looks like they’ve been raised to $1100 since) and shipping to Saint Augustine, FL was another $1k.
That's the same price I was quoted from GndZero Games. Wherever he's getting cabs from seems to take much better care of the units as well. I think I'll just go through him. That way if I need other parts or repairs I can just reach out to him. If for some reason he is unable to source what I need I will get in touch though.
 
It took almost a year, but I'm finally getting a Sega New Astro City from GndZero Games. No closer to getting a MiSTercade for it though sadly.
Congrats!

MiSTercade is undergoing revision to free up a GPIO for dual RAM for new cores like Mortal Kombat. Not sure how long that'll take, but it might be a bummer to buy a v1.2 now only to be unable to play a bunch of future cores.

Edit: Found the tweet.
https://twitter.com/MisterAddons/status/1694069318261317933
 
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If I'm understanding that site correctly it looks like the JAMMA Expander doesn't let you use the HDMI out. I was hoping to be able to output to the cabinet and a modern tv at the same time. Guessing that might not be possible with dual RAM.
 
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