My Donkey Kong Jamma Cabinet Multi-Game Project!

[TPR]

If any of you have followed my thread about my interest in wanting to get a multi-cade or MAME cabinet, you'll know where this all came from. (And if not, please check it out!) The feedback and help some of you guys all gave me was FANTASTIC and I really thank you guys for that!

So, short version of the story - I used to collect arcade machines years ago (had about 35 of them in my basement) but one thing led to another and I had to sell them all in 2002. It wasn't until recently that I'm moving into a new place where I'll have room for another machine, but my space is really limited.

My goal here was to get an original Donkey Kong cabinet as that was the very first game I ever owned, but I wanted it to play more than just Donkey Kong. Originally, I was inspired by this video:

Many of you gave me some really great advice on which direction I should go. Being *kind of* a purist, I didn't really want to gut a Nintendo cabinet for a MAME option and I wanted to keep as much of the hardware as possible, and then I discovered this video:

And I realized this was the direction I wanted to go in! So I did a whirlwind amount of research and here's how things will (hopefully) pan out!

First thing I did was locate a really nice, fully restored original Nintendo Donkey Kong machine:

The guy I'm buying it from does the restores and has worked on games for a long time, so he agreed to help me with this little project. There were many schools of thought on what type of multi-game system I should use, MAME, ArcadeSD, Game Elf, etc.... Well, I've actually decided to go with TWO of those options!

I went ahead and purchased both an Arcade SD from Pheonix Arcade and a 412-in-1 vertical Game Elf from Holland Computers.

Now before some of you scream at the screen going WHY WHY WHY DID HE DO THAT!?!?! Please...keep reading!

So now I need to get these items into the cabinet without doing too much damage and leaving the original wiring. Unfortunately, the two boards that were used in the second video above that allowed you to play a JAMMA board in a Nintendo cabinet are no longer available. But... there is another option! Putting out some questions today and asking around, I found out that ArcadeShop.com also makes a JAMMA to Nintendo adapter solely for the purpose of being able to play a Jamma board inside of a Nintendo cabinet! (Apparently I'm not only the one that wants to do this!)

This board essentially combines the two boards featured in that second video into one! Except...it doesn't include the inverter for the Sanyo monitor on the board... so that's something I also had to purchase separately. (Thankfully someone over at the arcade museum forums responded to my WTB and had one!)

So now I have most of the parts I need, but there are a few things I did want to customize. First of all, I did want to be able to switch between the two JAMMA boards (and I'll be honest, Q*BERT not being on the ArcadeSD was a main driving force for getting the other board. I would imagine I'll use the ArcadeSD the majority of the time) so I picked up one of these 2-in-1 Jamma Switcher boards:

I'm going to have switch installed on the underside of the panel that is above the coin door. You'll never even see it. The other thing I'm going to do, is I decided that I will install a second button next to the Jump button. (Like I said, I'm *kind of* a purist) I went back and forth on this a number of times and while I realized that I would be limited to 4-way stick games with one button, there were at least a few with two buttons that I wanted to play. And I've seen it tastefully done and it will look something like this:

And that is really the only major modification I will make to the cabinet.

Now for all of you MAME people who might be thinking "Why did he go the ArcadeSD route?!?!?" I just really felt it made the most sense for this machine. This machine really will be used to exclusively play early 80s vertical games. (DK series, Pac-Man series, Mappy, Amidar, Dig Dug, Frogger, Bagman, Burgertime, etc, etc...) BUT...I will be buying a second machine, this one will be a larger sized horizontal screen with a full MAME Hyperspin (most likely) configuration! So any of the games I'd want to play (Everything from Zoo Keeper to Final Fight, Defender to Viewpoint) that don't fall under the category of "early 80s vertical games" will be alive and well on my MAME machine!

Once I get the machine back with all the components working, I'll post some photos and videos of how it all looks! I'm super excited about all of this and I have a lot of you guys to thank for helping me find a good solution to my very specific arcade game needs!

Thanks again!

[JamesL]

You've got a really cool project going on there. I have an original Pac-Man full size arcade and put a 412 in 1 into it. I understand not wanting to mess with the look of the machine so I got another control panel to drill into for the other buttons. You actually need a 3rd fire button for the 412 in 1 in order to be able to do all of the on-screen setups. So you may want to get another control panel to "ruin" like I did. In fact, I actually put 3 buttons on each side of the joystick so you can play either left-handed or right-handed.

[TPR]

You actually need a 3rd fire button for the 412 in 1 in order to be able to do all of the on-screen setups. So you may want to get another control panel to "ruin" like I did. In fact, I actually put 3 buttons on each side of the joystick so you can play either left-handed or right-handed.

Ahh, I forgot to mention that. I was actually planning on wiring up a third button just for that, but keeping it hidden inside the coin box.

[ValkerieSilk]

What an awesome project... Man the paint looks fantastic...

[TPR]

Slight update! I found THIS GUY who makes reproduction Donkey Kong control panels and he's agreed to make me one with the additional button so I don't have to mess up the original one (which is an actual original Nintendo control panel!)

[+grips03]

You've got a really cool project going on there. I have an original Pac-Man full size arcade and put a 412 in 1 into it. I understand not wanting to mess with the look of the machine so I got another control panel to drill into for the other buttons. You actually need a 3rd fire button for the 412 in 1 in order to be able to do all of the on-screen setups. So you may want to get another control panel to "ruin" like I did. In fact, I actually put 3 buttons on each side of the joystick so you can play either left-handed or right-handed.

I'm looking to buy the 412 in 1, but was wondering if the "disabled" games would be listed. Do you guys know? I have 7 and 11 year old, hence the reason to hide some of the games.

[JamesL]

I'm looking to buy the 412 in 1, but was wondering if the "disabled" games would be listed. Do you guys know? I have 7 and 11 year old, hence the reason to hide some of the games.

There are definitely some games on it that would need disabled with children that age around. Once a game is disabled, it no longer appears on the onscreen list, and there are no spaces between the titles where those games used to be. But the onscreen list is numbered, so you'll be able to tell if a game is missing because that number will be skipped.

[+grips03]

There are definitely some games on it that would need disabled with children that age around. Once a game is disabled, it no longer appears on the onscreen list, and there are no spaces between the titles where those games used to be. But the onscreen list is numbered, so you'll be able to tell if a game is missing because that number will be skipped.

thanks

[Jumpman1981]

really good job, I've actually seen a similar type of game in public, it was a JAMMA cab made to look like a Donkey Kong where as you've done vice-versa and it's really cool! keep up the good work!

[Master Phruby]

That is an interesting idea. I have a Kangaroo cab that I don't want to change any of the outside of but could really need a new led vertical monitor since the monitor has a lot of burn in. It would be cool to add the 412-1 vertical game elf to it too. The machine plays perfectly right now. Even the coins work.