Owning your own Arcade Machine-Birdman's Experience

In the late 80's through till the mid 90's one of the greatest joys of being a gamer was going down to the arcade and slapping down some quarters and just playing with your friends and strangers alike and having fun. The arcades of yesterday are mostly nothing but a memorable and live on mostly as parts of some restaurants and overpriced amusement parks and now we have Xbox live and the like but what if we want that old experience back?

This past year I was sitting down and reflecting on that great time in my high school years in the arcades back in Owen Sound and I got an idea.
"What if I just bought an arcade machine or maybe built one?

The idea sounded insane at first but slowly took more hold as I started to research it and the idea just kept gathering steam as I realized how affordable this process really is. I spent an afternoon looking around on Ebay and seeing what the prices were and suffice to say, I was both surprised and saddened at the same time. Alot of people that want to buy an arcade machine want one that is near factory perfect and in perfect working order and that is not an unreasonable request 'till it comes to paying for it. I wasn't prepared for what I was about to find and I was disheartened a little bit, however what if I bought pre-loved and looked around a little harder.

I did some looking around in some of my forums that I frequent and got some more inspiration and then I figured out another great idea...Craig's list and Kijiji. Craigs List and Kijiji are both sites that have a reputation for not being reputable but I threw my post to the winds that I was inquiring about a machine and seeing what would happen while I waited. Checking around these sites can be useful starting point for someone who wants to buy a machine straight up and not ask a lot of questions, but as always buyer beware because you can get burned and burned bad if you don't do your research. The Sellers on both sites did have some great bargains but I was wary because I was still researching what I wanted and how about much I wanted to pay for it and finally deciding how much work I wanted to put into it.

The Short answer was
1) Not a lot, and no more then 500 bucks
2) Next to nothing except regular maintenance

The research however continued and I read up on what I could do to bring the arcade experience home. I learned bizarre new terms like MAME and Supergun and lastly JAMMA and what they could mean to helping me have a machine in my living room. I did discover that there are ways you can turn a home PC into an arcade machine through programs like MAME which stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulation or I could buy a thing called a Supergun which could turn any JAMMA board into something I could use on a TV with an S video input. The idea of building my own machine sounded very exciting until I realized how much work I would have to sink into it while rewarding and very much a personal experience, I am not that experienced nor am I that patient. I did see some really cool custom cabinets but then looking at the cost of building one and plus I am so inept that I failed Shop class in high school.

I decided building was not the best option for me at the moment. I also discovered that electricity is not my friend and that if your not careful when building your own machine, you could potentially kill yourself with the monitor inside the machine and so I went in search of more answers. I did discover more about electronics and switches then I thought possible, but it did make some sense. So I figured I might be able to install some of my own buttons and joysticks, but even there it seemed shaky at first since it's been years since I soldered but still I soldiered on. Learning more and more about the inner working of a machine, I did decide on what kind of a machine I wanted...I wanted a Capcom machine based on several factors

1) Street Fighter 2, it's a classic and I want to be the #1 world warrior
2) Looking at the various board and connections, Capcom has a system called CPS-2 which works kinda like a cartridge system and is easy to swap out, However it did have a thing called the Suicide battery which could kill the board but thanks to research, I could work around this if necessary
3) There are TONS of them available from Ebay to sellers on Craigslist and are inexpensive if anything
4) It's easy enough that with enough research and confidence I could install it myself

I dived back into the net and did more digging and still getting excited to have a machine in my living room but I felt like I was out of options and decided to take a break from the dream to go visit one of the places that still had coin op machines to get some inspiration.I was walking through a local mall in Hamilton and I saw one of the machines that I was thinking I wanted to buy, an X men vs Street fighter machine and I decided to game on it for a few minutes and then it hit me.

Why not just buy this machine?

Its just sitting here and clearly not doing well since it's tucked near a furniture store and One of those fly by night cell phone places... and c'mon Ryu and Wolverine on the same machine, sure it's no Marvel vs Capcom 2 but it's as close as I'm going to get without selling out a fortune and my soul.
I glanced upon to the marquee which was an old Street fighter Alpha one and it had the number of the company that owns the machine and I decided to chance it and give them a call. The worst they could tell me was "No" and life and the hunt would go on if they would not sell to me. I made the call and after some negotiations and I managed to talk the guy down to a reasonable....300 bucks total.

This was a STEAL and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for!

The cabinet was in good shape, no real wear and tear except for the control panel layout
Buttons were in good working order except for maybe 1 which I could get replaced easily enough
Monitor was in great shape and had no discoloration despite the age of the machine
CPS-2 battery was in good repair and person was VERY surprised when I asked about this and I think it helped when haggling over a price.
Sideart work was in great shape except..it wasn't a SF vs X men, it was Smash TV but it was either professionally painted or was a hell of a good shape decal.

I've seen some good machines go cheap but nothing like this and the fact that it was local and the machine was in really good shape really helped cement this as a good deal. I made my purchase after inspecting the machine and having it demonstrated for me by the person selling it to me and asking questions like

"How do I program this?" and "Can I set this up to freeplay?" and "What do I need to know about caring for this at home?"

Also I made sure to keep the contact information if I have more questions or if there is something that needs fixing that I might be beyond doing myself.

Eventually I got this monster home after renting a dolly...and you will need one that has straps so I recommend checking out things like UHaul and you will need a trailer or a Pick up truck to move this thing or a REALLY large and long van. I did make a huge mistake after doing all this research and reading and it's an easy mistake to make too....MEASURE your hallways and door ways as I found out.

I was 2 inches too short to get this sucker up my stairs and into my living room. No matter how much we fiddled with it and it would not fit. So as a word of warning...MEASURE where you want to put this thing and measure the machine before you buy it It's an easy step to over look but could mean you having a great machine or a rather expensive doorstop. Luckily I had a large downstairs stairwell and it fit rather well and kind of tastefully and so it all worked out in the end.

I got the machine home and it was cool and I had many great fights on it but I decided it wasn't enough. I wanted more....and I wanted my machine to do MORE and so I hit the nets back hard.
I stumbled across Jammaboards.com and sites like it that offered multi game boards and I found a sweet ass 18-1 Capcom CPS-2 that would fit into my machine.
I did however find out that some of these boards could have problems but by doing proper research and asking people questions I was able to find all the info that I needed and I confidently made my first board purchase.

Installing I did however a professional to do it because I wasn't that confident in my abilities but in retrospect it did look easy enough. One of the things that is important to remember and take note of is that once you purchase the machine, it's yours and may not have a warranty or the like on it so buyer beware when you get your new toy.

However not that I have my new 18-1 Capcom Machine and a newly redone marque for X men vs Street Fighter and ordered some new buttons and joystiqs to optimize it for fighting games, I'm very satisfied with it and very proud of it. Buying an arcade machine proved to be a great adventure and a really good experience with learning more about what happens on the other side of the coin slot.

Now I have an arcade machine and have one of the best pieces of my childhood back in my life. This is pretty damned cool and well worth pursuing if your ambitious and have that love of the arcade flowing in your blood and want that experience in your own place.

Sources:
http://www.arcaderestoration.com/
http://www.arcadeinabox.com
http://www.jammaboards.com/
http://www.mamemarquees.com/
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm
http://www.multimods.com/
http://mamedev.org/
http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/suicide.html