VectorGamer

I wouldn't say that Donkey Kong and Zaxxon were the only popular ones - Defender is one along with Galaxian, Frogger, Mouse Trap, Carnival, Turbo and Burger Time. There are others, but I don't want to waste the bandwidth. The 5200 has an awesome lineup in their library (although I cannot personally comment on the quality of most of those titles), but the bane of that system is the stock controllers. I have limited exposure to the system but I have seen enough to understand why there is such an outrage over these controllers. I have never had any problems using the Colecovision controllers, incidentally. The most problems I have had with that system are the sprites caused by the power supply and that can be a pain in the arse. I am finding myself playing less and less of the carts in the 2600 library. Of late I've played mostly the Colecovision, 7800 and just the last few days the 5200 as I now prefer to play the carts that are the most faithful to their respective arcade counterpart. I find it easy to pick up 2600 carts like Space Invaders, Galaxian Arcade and Circus Atari because in those cases the game play exceeds the graphic quality. But, the question being Colecovision vs 5200 the answer for me is Colecovision. Although, I am happy to also own the 26, 52 and 7800 systems.

Where can I find more information on installing this equipment? I need to be able to add the controllers and cash box as well. I need more info to assess if this is something that is cost effective and if it would be something I could support myself. I'm an experienced IT guy, but I need to see if I can support this myself since I'm not a prodigy in electronics.

OK, see the attached pix to get an idea of what I am working with. I purchased the book "Project Arcade" which I am sure others have, and unless I missed it, the author completely skipped over the steps that were taken in the actual mounting of the monitor. The only thing I saw was the shelf was installed and at the end of the monitor chapter a pic of the monitor in the cabinet. I may not have an option, but I desire to use the existing "skeleton" of the cabinet to mount the monitor and control panel. The control panel should be relatively easy so I won't waste time on that. The cabinet is Satan's Hollow and to me it was a good fit to build a dedicated Galaga cabinet. I have seen people create "MAME" cabinets (complete with the marquee advertising as it a MAME cab with 15 controllers and buttons everywhere) but honestly that's not my cup of tea. My goal is to build a cabinet, a replica if you will, of Galaga. I would like to go as far as being able to hide that a computer is running the thing. According to KLOV's database, Galaga had a 19 inch monitor which Satan's Hollow can accomodate since I measured the thing before buying it. I'd like to see recommendations on securely mounting the monitor in the cabinet. The pix show the front and back to give you an idea with what I am working with. Also, one of the pix shows some of the damage to the plywood. Aside from patching the damage, has anyone tried adding a moulding to a cabinet that doesn't look horrible? Lastly, notice that I will have a gap of several inches between the control panel and the monitor. I had an idea of filling the space with a blank marquee, if you will, that would have a glow like the effect Tron had in its cabinet. I thought that might be pretty cool. Any ideas on this would be a plus. I'll have more questions down the line, but this is a good start.

Would this be the appropriate forum to post questions regarding modifying a gutted arcade cabinet? I purchased a gutted Satan's Hollow cabinet and I am seeking various tips going forward.

Okay, if it's beyond cleaning, then it is. For exchange, it doesn't really matter. Basically, so long as they're good usable shells. Everything else gets replaced. Like I mentioned before a couple times though, it's hardly worth trading them in. They only give you $5 each, and by the time you pay to ship them to Best, you may as well just forget the trade-ins and buy the new Gold sticks direct as you're basically donating the trade-in sticks. I wouldn't have bothered buying any sticks to begin with, as it's just not worth it. Could have had half Gold stick for the $20-something $ already spent. But, OTOH, at least now you have some spares to rebuild, and one currently-working controller, so it's not all for nothing (still truly amazing that one is working!) He doesn't upgrade the exact controller you send. He has a stockpile of finished ones, he just sends you a new ones once he credits yours. The ribbons (I assume you mean the flex circuits?) or whatever also don't matter as they're replaced. On the site is a list of all the parts that are replaced (I know, it's a hard site to navigate and read!), and if you inventory the list, you'll see that pretty close to everything is replaced, even the silver nameplates on the outside. If you total up all the parts it would cost you to rebuild it yourself the same way, you'll see that he's only charging like $4-5 to rebuild the thing. Has anyone posted instructions with screen prints for replacing the parts inside these controllers? I was not able to find any.

Nice weather yesterday so I continued working on my arcade cabinet, therefore a slow night for gaming. Pac-Man (5200) 15 min

Colecovision

The RF Shield is beyond cleaning. I think a new one is like $15. How does the joystick exchange work with Best? Does it matter if my keypads aren't 100%? Does he upgrade the actual controller and ship it back or does he send you one that he already has in stock? What if the ribbons inside the controller are suspect?

If he ever gets back to you let me know, he had a few things I was interested in. I heard LarcenTyler was a troll and since I havent seen the game they promised me, I would assume that is true as seemingly no oe has got anything that this member was supposed to deliver. All it takes is a few like this and people wonder why a good thread ends abruptly. It should be no surprise. I'll still contribute but if i dont know ya, you better be putting something up immediately and you are paying shipping whereas if I know ya, I will pick it up on anything under a pound in general. Cheers I asked for Stampede quite some time ago and had contact with this person but nothing further.

Well, at this point I have 1.5 working 5200 stock controllers. The .5 controller has one working fire button and the keypad does not work. This is my first experience with a 5200. So last night was the first time I could experience first hand what the fuss was about regarding these analog controllers. I can understand the fuss but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I had more problems maneuvering around the maze in Ms. Pac-Man than I did in Pac-Man. Centipede presented no faults in working the joysticks. Dig Dug, however, was difficult in stopping my guy and as a result I was getting killed too easily due to the fact that you have to get close to the monster to blow them up. Overall, the 5200 is a poor design. The switchbox is unorthodox and I had sparks shooting out of it the first time I messed with it. The stock joysticks are a problem especially when you need pinpoint accuracy. It certainly takes away from the gameplay when the sticks are a hinderance and not an ally. Additionally, Atari did a disservice to users by not finding a way to get the 2600 joysticks compatible with this system (after all, they work with Colecovision and the 7800). Maybe someone knows a better way on how to adjust the joystick calibration pot on the motherboard with a cartridge inserted and game on. From what I experienced, you need the cover to lock the cartridge into position. With that, I had to adjust the pot by raising the cover a half-inch with the cover still on and cartridge inserted to see the onscreen results. The output to the screen is admirable. Aside from the eyes missing in Pac-Man, I found it to be an excellent port of the arcade game. I really liked the speed of the game as well. I will probably go ahead and replace the rusty RF Shield and buy additional games for the system. Maybe I will luck out and find a better joystick at a reasonable price. All in all, it certainly isn't my favorite console but it is playable. I don't understand what Atari's design philosophy was at the time.

Centipede (5200) 60 mins Pac-Man (5200) 30 mins Ms. Pac-Man (5200) 30 mins Dig Dug (5200) 15 mins

Here's also what I found... The joystick pulls to the left. In Centipede, I cannot go right or down unless I move the joystick all the way to the left and then up. Movement is fine the rest of the game. Nevermind. I found that pot the others were talking about in other posts and it works like a champ.

Here's also what I found... The joystick pulls to the left. In Centipede, I cannot go right or down unless I move the joystick all the way to the left and then up. Movement is fine the rest of the game.

I received the joysticks today and here's something odd - Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man controls work fine. Two different Pac-Man carts and a Dig Dug cart I am not able to turn right or do down. What do you make of this?

Right - not a whole lot of action lately but a worthwhile thread. I think with the recent "criticism" (for lack of a better word) of newbies of late as it pertains to this thread, they are the ones that perhaps get things rolling. When someone rediscovers or begins collecting for the old consoles, they can look to this thread to help build their collection, which is what I did.

Sure, I was just thinking it through for myself. How would you handle it -- some sort of policing mechanism to remind people what the thread's for? I would have to say to go with whatever the popular opinion is.

While I wouldn't go quite so far as to say it sucked the credibility out of the whole thing, and I would hesitate to criticize the person who dedicates his time to keeping track of our play time, I do agree that it would be nice if this were just for playing games on the actual hardware. But, then, how would we know? Heck, we don't even know if we're all being honest about what we play and for how long we play it. So on second thought, it's probably best for me not to get too worked up about it. I'll just imagine that we're all playing our games on real hardware, and ignore any posts that blatantly point out they're using emulators. Yes, I understood all along that it was an "honor system" approach to the reporting times. However, I thought the intent was to record the times spent on the classic hardware - not modern day equipment.

Galaga (7800) 30 mins Centipede (7800) 30 mins

I didn't see an "official rules" post but I have only seen time credited for actual hardware consoles to this point, not PC emulation. I've been crediting emulation. It gets counted as if it's the system that's being emulated. That's too bad - that just sucked the credibility out of the whole thing. In my mind, the whole fun in this was playing the game on the actual console. Selecting "START | RUN | COMMODORE 64 EMULATOR" or "START | RUN | MAME32" - that's just too easy.

I didn't see an "official rules" post but I have only seen time credited for actual hardware consoles to this point, not PC emulation.

Centipede (7800) 45 mins Mouse Trap (CV) 60 mins Defender (CV) 15 mins Pole Position II (7800) 30 mins Frenzy (CV) 15 mins

I recently got a 7800 and I honestly like it. What's disappointing though is the minuscule library written for the 7800 (and for the Colecovision as well). I love the fact that I can pop a 2600 cart without having to hookup the 2600 console itself or plug in some expansion module. This is a plus over the Colecovision. I enjoy playing Centipede in Team mode. My son and I love it. Joust is good as well.

I like your setup. What type of turntable do you have? It's hard to tell but it looks like a JVC receiver and a dual cassette deck under it?

I searched for CraigsPal in the forums and I did not get any hits. If you use Craigs List, you need to get this software. http://www.craigspal.com/to_download.php Can you save searches, set up email alerts and the whole nine.

Well, an update that I won 5 joysticks at auction for $24. One that is in good condition and four that are missing one key per. So, if the good joystick is valued at $12 according to a price guide, the remaining joysticks costs $3 a pop. If you think I got screwed, one joystick from Best Electronics with the gold contacts costs $38 without trade-in. And, I have a 5200 that has been sitting for weeks doing nothing because I do not have controllers for it. I've never used a 5200 before so it will be interesting to see if the controllers are as bad as they say. From there I will decide if I want to invest an additional $15 to replace the rusted metal that covers the top and sensitive underside of the mobo. A few questions: I have not yet held one of these controllers, so maybe someone can tell me if the individual keys can be replaced or will the entire keypad have to be replaced? Is it even worth it? Has anyone replaced the metal mobo cover, which Best calls the "Internal RF Shield Set," and is there instructions for replacement? I have an idea, I just want to be certain. Someone uploaded a 2600 field manual online somewhere. Does one exist for the 5200? The reason I purchased this thing was to fix it up, so maybe I answered my own question of worth.