BinaryGrind Studios

Not forgotten

Its been 56 Days since my last post on my this here blog. I really need to update it more, and I start with a update on whats happend this last month and a half… Just not now. Seeing as its 2:00 AM right now, I’m going to catch some sleep and then post later this weekend.

The baby comes home

I was going to post this earlier but with finals going on I didn’t really have the time until now.

With the help of my sister and a friend, I was able get the cab home, but not with out incident.
Ever try an man handle a 300lbs+ arcade cabinate into a van, then into an apartment? Your bound to have a few crushed fingers, and a screaming back or two.

The first thing I did after getting it into the apartment was plug it in, and played a few bouts of Fatal Fury 2 and Alpha Mission II. Not because I wanted to (okay thats a lie, I did want to) but because I wanted to make sure everything survived the trek from the pawnshop to home. Also the built in hardware test was helpful too.

From there I did a survey of the machine and did a little cleaning. The cleaning was the hardest part, not because it was gross or horribly dirty, it just made me sad to kill a family of dust bunnies. However the bounty on their heads was just too great to pass up, $5 total in quarters that they where hoarding.

So here is a list of things that are wrong with the cab:

• The Speakers do not work.
  I’ve traced the cables and they all connect in to the Jamma harness. I’m going to try and replace them a bit later. Luckily for the time being, the Cab has head phone jacks so I’ve just plugged in a pair of external speakers.
• The coin mechs are fragged.
  One will not stay in place and both jam instantly on the insertion of a quarter. Also the switches seem to be broken as well they both seem to keep saying I’ve got a coin when they don’t. I’ll probably just out right replace them instead of trying to fix them.
• The Marquee light board doesn’t light up at all and makes this horrifing high pitched noise.
  This noise prompted my cats to stand on edge and hiss at the cab, and eventually attempt an attack on the noise source (that was fun to watch). Lightboard is unplugged for the time being but will eventually be replaced.
• The locks on the machine (all of them, coin box, back case, etc) are all busted up.
  They can’t be fixed and just need to be replaced.
• One of the floor stands is farked up.
  The wood mount point is hosed as well, I’m going to need to figure out how to fix that, but for now I just removed all the feet so it sits flat.
• The color Red bleeds a bit.
  I need to find out how to adjust the colors on the CRT.
• The Stickers are scratched up.
  Need to find replacement stickers.
• Two buttons where non responsive, along with a missing 2P joystick.
  They where easily replaced using the spare parts I got earlier. I plan on replacing the 1P stick as well as it is a tad slower to respond then the replacement 2P stick.

All in all, still not bad, I had done and initial survey of the cab when I first found it, and I thought it might have something horribly wrong with it, but I’m glad the worst things about it is that the floor stands and speakers are b0rked.

Heres a couple pics of the cab at home:

You can see all the pics of the Neo Geo so far in my image gallery.

Not quite, but almost

Looks like I didn’t understand the owner’s definition of the words “replacement control panel”. I went to his warehouse and picked up this:

Note very Neo Geo like is it? I like basketball as a video game, but only when its working. I promptly tore it down.

and ended up with a box of buttons and joysticks.

I will be picking up the actual Cab tomorrow with the help of my friend Kasey. I will post more once I get it home.

I have you now!

Well I just went back to the pawnshop and talked to the owner. I found out some more info on it.

It actually comes with 8 games:

• Fatal Fury 2
• Ninja Control
• Alpha Mission 2
• Mutant Nation
• World Heroes
• Art Of Fighting
• Samurai Showdown II
• And another that is missing the label so I have no clue what it is.

It also comes with the manuals and marquees.

The inside of the unit looks clean, and I didn’t notice any damage on the mainboard. The best part, he has a replacement control panel that came with the cab when he got it. He just never took the time to put it in.

Also while the screen is dusty it doesn’t seem to have any burn in.

The biggest thing is that its been sitting there for about a year and a half being used as a door stop. He says it takes up way to much space and just wants it gone, so he is letting me take it off his hands for $60!!!

I now own a Neo Geo MVS!!!

Neo Geo MVS Cab

So I found a Neo Geo MVS Cab at a pawnshop in my home town. Its a tad shocking as

1. Cedar City (AFAIK) has never had a arcade, the closest one I can seem to find is about 30 miles away.
   So someone hauled it to this absurdly tiny town.
2. Someone pawned it.
3. Its only $150!
   The closest thing I can find is about $500 but that cab is in worst shape.

Its a bit beat up, one of the joysticks is missing and the paint is peeling. It could make a great project with the potential to be worth alot when finished.

Here are a few pics of it: