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[BONUS:]

Hi everyone,

There's been lots of interesting content on this website in the past months.

I had been working gathering parts for sometime to complete a Final Fight project. This was probably the most ambitious restoration I've done yet.

Here's a couple of photos, and a more detailed write up is at the link below:

https://arcademade.com/pages/capcom-final-fight-arcade-game-cabinet-restoration

BONUS: there is actually a secret third button in arcade Final Fight that will let you parry grab attacks. When Andore and other bosses attempt to grab you, pressing this third button will actually allow you to escape! Your character will laugh and you will be free! I have wired in the start buttons so that if you get grabbed, a quick tap and you'll have a chance to escape. Who knew?!

After 30+ years, I recently played an Atari 5200 once again at an arcade expo and since picked one up along with many carts.

This was the first home game console I ever owned. I took quite a few years hiatus on playing video games of any sorts and then got back into it about five years ago collecting and restoring classic arcade machines. My first goal was to get all the arcade games that I had cartridges for on the 5200 growing up. Now that I've played the 80s arcades again for a few years, it has given me some new perspective on the 5200 Super System from how I saw it then and how I see it now.

Design and presentation: I always thought the marketing materials/art and the cartridges themselves looked nice and were very robust, still do. I have never used another console that has such reliable cartridges as the 5200. You plug them in and they work. Immediately.

Controllers: Yes, these are a bit of an odd ball, the joystick itself is nice to move, but it does make the games more challenging to play. The real issue is the soft buttons. Back in the 80s I remember squeezing the buttons so hard to make them react, and also taking them apart several times to repair them. With the internet age it is fun to read/hear about people who had the same experiences as you did. I've now picked up one of the official 5200 Coin Controls Pro joysticks which works quite well as it actually uses arcade switches and parts.

Trackball: I never had this accessory growing up but remember reading about it in the brochures that came with the games. This accessory is a must and a superb controller. The buttons could be a bit better but they are much better than those found on the joysticks. Centipede and Pac-Man were my two favorite games and I always wanted to try the trackball with Centipede, it was just too expensive back then. Now that I own several real Centipede arcade machines, I feel the 5200 version when using the trackball really is every bit as good as the arcade version. The trackball is the same mechanism and 2.25" that the arcade uses. The sounds are essentially identical due to the hardware.  I would actually say the 5200 is more challenging due to it being horizontal as there is seemingly less time to react/less lines before the centipedes get to the bottom of the screen. I scored 39k countless times on 5200 growing up, but never achieved 40k. Time to break that personal record.

Overall: The 5200 essentially is a system of arcade ports which I find quite polished and still fun to play. Most of the graphics are simply blocky versions of the arcades. Moon Patrol and Mario Bros are especially good games on the 5200. Look at that great parallax scrolling on Moon Patrol. Not even the NES version of Mario Bros has all the animation of the 5200, and the sound effects of the 5200 are more accurate to the original than the NES version.

Recent Ports: Jr Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr are also especially good games. I am looking forward to picking up a copy of Tempest and Track & Field. Brutal hard game play, which is on par challenge-wise with the arcade. Many times home versions are made easier than the arcade versions, but the games on the 5200 will absolutely school you. Brutal.

It's fun to once again crank up the 5200 connected to a wood grain CRT and rotate through the carts playing a game or two on each, just like back in the day. After having obtaining a pretty decent sized arcade machine collection, I thought I may not have as much desire to revisit classic consoles again, but I have found in fact that I am enjoying them as much as ever and it has only enriched my appreciation for their charm.

Looking forward to playing Robotron and Space Dungeon next...

I am looking for an adapter that will allow me to use an original NES Advantage joystick with a Gamecube and/or Wii.

Most of the ones that connect to a Wii mote have significant lag and do not seem to support the NES Advantage.

Has anyone used the Raphnet NES to Gamecube adapter? I'm guessing that an adapter going directly into the Gamecube port would be less likely to have lag and would probably support the NES Advantage as it would have more volts available perhaps.

My end goal is to use this with Wii homebrew games. I bought one Wii mote NES/SNES adapter but the lag is terrible with Wii homebrew. It does work on a SNES Classic nice though with no lag, but not with a NES Advantage. I wonder if I could add volts somehow with an external power source...

Other: I think the NES Advantage is one of the best controls ever. They can be bought very cheap, and if you have a NES to USB adapter they are ideal for playing MAME. With the select and start buttons you have a four button controller. I think people highly overlook the NES Advantage as a quality, cheap and functional joystick for MAME purposes.

Thanks for the input.

I realize I am years behind in doing this.... but recently I modded my Wii so I could play my SuperNES, Genesis and NES etc games on it.

My primary reason was so I could use component video out. When I grew up playing these, I was always using an RF cable or composite video at best. For me, a huge draw to going to the arcade was that the monitors and colors and sharpness of the games always looks so much better. This is because they were using RGB input. Playchoice 10 games looked so much better at the arcade than a NES at home, even when it was nearly the same game.

Using the Wii outputting to a high quality component CRT (I'm using a Philips 27" CRT with component in) is absolutely incredible. I have several component televisions, but this particular one has about perfect convergence and I just can't say enough about it. It's so good. It makes all the games look "arcade perfect". I have several Sony CRTs, but this Philips is just incredible. I also have a 27/29" trisync monitor that does 15khz, 24khz and 31khz and VGA 640x480 in my Capcom Impress Candy Cab that I am looking forward to trying the Wii on. I just need to get a VGA cable for it.

Here in the USA, I'll admit, I always had a bit of distain for the Mega Drive/Genesis because the graphics just didn't look comparable at all to the SuperNES. The Genesis used 64 colors on screen compared to the SuperNES's 256. They were also being hooked up here with an RF cable, which results in a blurry image. Using a component connection, though, the Mega Drive/Genesis absoutely shines and I think looks amazing. In Europe, where the Mega Drive was ultra popular, and where I also believe people were using a SCART connection, now I totally get it why people liked it so much. Sonic looks so colorful. Mega Drive/Genesis games also actually do have a nice speed and smooth/fast moving backgrounds. "Blast Processing" does seem to be a real thing.

Just incredible.

Basically I'm now using a modded SuperNES classic for playing games on HDTVs and the modded Wii for playing games on CRT TVs. They both do an excellent job for their formats. It is also fun to play the original consoles on the RF and composite connections like I did when I was a kid for nostalgia sake and I've kept a few woodgrain CRT TVs around just for that.

I could mod all my original systems to do RGB out or get special connectors to do that. For now I'm going to keep them original as right now I can just enjoy them already with the different connections and TV formats.

My favorite gaming system of all time now might just be the Wii, simply because it allows me to play the older games I like so much in such a great new way. The cost also makes it very accessible.

Maybe seems silly to say, but playing these games in component quality video on this TV feels like as much fun as when I first got my systems growing up. I don't wear glasses, but the experience and change from RF/composite to component video for retro games is probably like having blurry vision and then getting a pair of good glasses for the first time. It makes such a difference.

Before the internet most of the things we had to find out ourselves. What are some things you found in games that later became "a thing" or you have heard other people talk about in the decades since?

Here are just a few off the top of my head:

PacMan 5200
-After reaching a specific stage in the game, as long as you ate a power pellet and didn't eat a ghost, they would remain blue for the whole level. If you were careful you could avoid them and complete the level and do it again on the next level

Super Mario Bros NES
-When coming out of any pipe, hold down the A + B button until Mario lands on the ground. This will cause him to slide like he is ice skating across the ground.

Punch-Out!! NES
-When fighting Soda Poppinski, hold down to block when he goes for an uppercut. For some reason this will cause him to freeze in place. Punch him with a body blow while he is frozen and you will get a "special" star. If you press start and hit him with this special star uppercut he will be knocked down no matter how much energy he has left (even a full meter).

I'll perhaps return and type more later, just curious what things other people found in consoles, computers and arcade games back in the day...

Was doing some traveling seeing old classmates. Here’s a few retro game store collections that were nicely displayed. Saw a lot of modern arcade machines, many of which were sound/touch games.

Check it out: http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/index.php/interviews/569-rvg-interviews-zapling-studios

Here's a walkthrough video of an arcade game I recently acquired, and one I had been waiting 30yrs to play... This happens to be the Japanese version.

There is an online arcade tournament featured each week at: https://www.arcadeicons.com

Each week they feature typically an 80s arcade game and you can register and post your score as well as learn lots of strategies for the games. The winner chooses the next week's game. This gives you a chance to explore a new game you might not have played much before. MAME, arcade, online etc are pretty much accepted ways to play and it's all for fun.

Taking a game that is entirely riduculous seriously, in the pursuit of a high score, is what it's all about!

If you'd never played Pooyan, for example, give it a try.

Here's a Super Pac-Man arcade machine that I just finished restoring. I walk through the cabinet design, discuss a bit of the history of the game, and coin it up for a playthrough.

Did some drawing/photoshoot etc for this to come up with something classic and fun. I post some of the designs at http://www.arcademade.com. They've been sent to Asia/Europe etc, but just not through the site.

It was a great show this year. I brought an arcade game and also a couple of Vectrex consoles. There was a Reactor tournament and lots of very uncommon arcade games present. Jon from UK was there playing Pacman as well as many other record holders. New pinball machines, Dialed In and Ghostbusters were there for play. A Nintendo rep was there giving a playable demo of the new Nintendo Classic which was a lot of fun.

Something we can all agree on...

[Solve world problems at a fraction of the cost.]

Solve world problems at a fraction of the cost. New hand drawn sprites.







http://www.ArcadeMade.com Video game arcade t-shirt and poster.

Here's to the Mighty Vectrex!

I did a bit of monitor adjusting on this one, cleaned it up and applied one of the great Vectrex wraps. I think this wrap is my favorite. I highly recommend them and have one more wrap, VectorPilot, that I'll be putting on my other Vectrex. I thought about storing them forever, but I'm just going to use them. They are actually removable and the decal material is forgiving such that bubbles aren't a problem while applying.

This is a great little console and many games have that true arcade feel. I am a big fan of bezel graphics and so I really like this.

For all you candy cab lovers out there (and who doesn't like candy). Even available in dark chocolate!

http://www.ArcadeMade.com

The arcade restoration hobby can be challenging... but why not make some fun out of all those stressful situations...

"Arcade Guru Says"...

A brief run through of the arcade event featuring classic arcades, pinballs, and mechanical games. Even just as an ambient sound track without the video it is fun to listen to. I thought about just looping this and some other footage into an MP3 audio file and putting it in the game room for added sound effects. I brought the Super Punch-Out!! setup and Bosconian you see in the video.


I like at 3:04 a guy says enthusiastically to his friends:

"Remember all these games?! ... Defender and all these games?!"

Here's a brief run through on Super Dodgeball by Technos. The production quality of these videos isn't so great, but it's just for fun. I used to create videos professionally years ago with effects, storyboards etc and those certainly take a long time to do... I'm just keeping it simple.


This game came out near the same time as Double Dragon, and looking back on it I can see some of the similarities in the music tracks which weren't played in this video.

Here is a brief video review of Cobra Command: