LGR - Setting Up & Playing Arcade PCBs

If I had the space to make a dedicated area for this kind of thing, I might take the plunge since it seems so fascinating. Partaking vicariously works fine for now, though! Still in awe of what an absolute monster the Primal Rage board is, jesus.

Valora Inverse

Anybody else think that LGRcade shold actually be a thing? :p

Robert Butler

Neat little machine! The next cabinet I plan to get will be a 2-player vertical display one along those lines. It'd be great to have for all Raiden games and other shooters I have.

LGR

Thanks, I'm happy you enjoyed :)

LGR

NICE

LGR

The restoration is definitely half the fun. After that, the most fun is having people over and watching them experience it! Actually playing it yourself is somewhat low on the fun list before long, heh.

LGR

That is actually an RGB SCART cable! Just one end is an 8-pin mini DIN, mentioned later on in the video when talking about the Parsec Supergun. Here's the cable: https://retro-access.com/products/8-pin-male-mini-din-to-male-rgb-scart I'll clarify it in the final video though 👍

LGR

I'm a bit late to this one. First off, great video, enjoyed it very much. An interesting insight into a subject I occasionally wondered about and never knew anything about! Only one possible bug: 4:26, "insert a scart cable" ... that's no scart cable! Presumably an S-Video to SCART adapter!

DeepestBlue

Great video mate. Makes me miss my pinball and arcade restoration days. Still got an NBA Jam TE and TMNT cab (running a 6 slot Neo Geo) in storage back in Australia. With adulting, ie less time for full blown console games, I always found arcade games great for a quick 15 minute pick up and play fix or great for when friends are over. But half the fun is in the restoration (especially pinball), as the same games can get a little boring...

Mick Carroll

As an aside, perhaps it is a choice to not use it (based on your using the OSSC remote around 14 minutes into the video), but just in case you weren't aware: the latest firmware update for the OSSC has an option for an on screen display that mirrors the OSSC's little screen text as an overlay on the monitor which is incredibly convenient.

aaaaand now I own an MVS... woops

José Jacob

Very cool! Too much work for my impatient mind. But, still a great vid. Keep up the good work!

Good video Clint! I wouldn't mind getting one but would first need an arcade PCB! One suggestion for future videos like this, slightly down the page was the option to buy the PCB only with bill of materials for $35 delivered. Plus the $75 delivered parts and a little time you don't have to deal with the waitlist... if you can solder decently! I just thought it would be a good mention for those wanting to save a buck or want a kit like that NOW. Keep up the good work!

Christopher Bassett

On the topic of cabinets, this is my baby: https://i.imgur.com/S8Lx1f9.jpg It came with an OG Pacman board, but it was beyond repair, so I replaced the board with one of those 50-in-1 JAMMA boards. Thankfully the guy I bought it from already had a Pacman to JAMMA adaptor ready to go. It's only got 1 joystick, but it supports hotseat 2-Player as was common back then. I spend a lot of time tweaking the CRT, getting the convergence right. It's still not perfect, but much better than when I got it.

RetroSwim

Clint! What a fantastic video! Thank you for being an awesome human being, That is all.

Eric Barch

Ooh neat, I had no idea! That's a bit later era of arcade game than I've ever messed with, but nonetheless good to know 👍

LGR

Hey Clint! Great video. Just wanted to touch in the gbs board for a moment. Some games like to change resolutions, for example my DDR machine has menus in 480i and gameplay in 240p. A lot of these line doublers and ossc cause issue with the switch, but oddly enough people out there have made custom firmware for the gbs board that handles it beautifully. If you are ever in need of that kind of pinch, check it out. Saved me when I upgraded to a nice 29" full res wells chassis in my ddr. :) https://github.com/ramapcsx2/gbs-control

Definitely a bit of future potential here! Collecting my most-wanted games before they go up even higher in value. I'd love to build complete machines for most of these games.

LGR

We all know you are just collecting parts for LGRcade with all the full size machines for everything :)

Yoshizard64

She's right, there's nothing sensible about this 😁 Luckily, sensible is rarely in my vocabulary of video idea descriptions! It's mostly the nonsensical and impractical that ends up as an LGR thing, it seems.

LGR

A boat may actually end up being more affordable in the long term.

LGR

Wow, this is a whole realm of tinkering, and collecting I was unaware of. Ironically I spent the entire weekend attempting to adapt a new Oodroid C4 (which is fantastic, by the way), to use as an all in one emulation, and video entertainment system, somthing which was MUCH HARDER than I ever could have dreamed using Android. Now that I have watched this video, I think I can stop feeling sorry for myself. I guess in the end, that 15 minutes you have time to play Crazy Taxi 2, after 10 hours of work, is an acceptable reward. But I'm glad my girlfriend worked all weekend, because she thinks this kind of obession is just plain Crazy 2.

Dinty's Hideaway

Go for it! Even a cheap supergun like the Retroelectronik Essential Basic I showed will make the job a lot easier than rigging things up with a JAMMA harness.

LGR

Heh, yeeeeaaaah. Back when Game Sack did a video talking about the HAS Supergun a similar thing happened, so I have no doubt.

LGR

I kinda dig it myself, actually. Not sure it works for the energy level I was going for, I'll render the next edit with and without music here in a bit and see which way feels better!

LGR

Thank you, providing a broad overview was the main goal! Each component could easily be its own video with how many variables and configuration options there are.

LGR

And it cost me one whole dollar! Good ol' Goodwill, hehe.

LGR

Indeed, the lack of stuttering or slowdown is quite nice for the era of games I'm most interested in! Mid-90s titles were using all kinds of unique hardware and software trickery that emulators have traditionally had a challenging time replicating.

LGR

Awkward adapters adapting accurate arcade action. Ehh I think I'll just buy a boat.

PiraTed

Great video Clint! I've got 2 JAMMA boards which I've had lying around for years with the intention of putting them in a DIY cabinet (one is a Tekken 2 board and the other a bootleg Street Fighter II board), but I felt like hooking up JAMMA boards was a bit daunting since I knew absolutely nothing about it, and only really attempted to hook them up last summer. I bought an arcade power supply (similar to the one at 6:34 in the video), a gbs-8220, a VGA to HDMI cable, and a generic JAMMA harness, hooked everything up, briefly got an off-colour picture from my Tekken 2 board which stayed on screen for a few minutes, then - nothing but a green screen. So, I figured that the gbs-8220 was faulty and bought a new one, tried it out and at least this time around all the menu options were appearing as they should.. but, still no picture from either of the two boards. Maybe the power supply I had was faulty, maybe the boards are dead.. but ehh it's anyone's guess. So yeah, my experience with rigging one of these up has been kinda frustrating, but I'd love to get them working at some point! Maybe I should try an ATX psu with a supergun instead, seems like an overall better way to go.

after the video goes live the waiting lists will boost to 5 years ^^

Tom Schaack

Hey if his hands are gonna be all over YouTube I hope they’re well maintained!

The lack of intro music is kind of refreshing tbh

Alyxx the Rat

This is a great video. I've seen bits and pieces over the years, knew some of the buzzwords, had an idea of the general concept -- but you really did a great job of giving an overview of how things work, what you need to get started, etc. Well done.

Chris Munch

Even with all the juicy arcade hardware on screen in that first shot, my first thought was "Oooo look at the Trinitron".

MrFortyFive

LGR's perfectly manicured hands flashing PCBs at us that have nothing to do with PCs??? Sounds like a great time! Also, sounds like you could get lost swapping out parts just to see what works better.

Jason Wellband

I was you, just last year. No knowledge of the home arcade experience, happily playing emulated games... I am now cursed. I must spread the curse.

LGR

For me it was the 70s through to the 90s for the arcades and I spent a lot of time in them when I was younger. I'm making do with Mame these days as I can't afford to go for the real thing, but dang, they do look great and it's nice to see how they don't stutter at all. Especially games like Mortal Kombat. About the only thing missing though was the 80s and 90s music from the arcades. :)

Bryndal Dwyre

I had no idea this was a thing. I do not need to know about this... I spend enough money on un-needed hobbies. la, la, la, la, la... ah bliss.

Robert Sanges

Nothin' wrong with that! By all accounts the FPGA arcade options are fantastic these days. Never messed with one myself but I am intrigued by what I've seen online.

LGR

Haha, well I'm glad it was entertaining at least! I rewrote this script half a dozen times trying to simplify things as much as possible, it's easy to get lost in the weeds with all this stuff.

LGR

Roses are red, violets are blue Wololo Violets are red

LGR

The Tower of Power ain't got nothin' on this.

LGR

"ON DA GWEEN!"

LGR

That's the good stuff right there. Konami really made some fantastic arcade games, their sound hardware was legit.

LGR

Dang I meant to mention that, I think I'll add a quick section in the final video. It's actually a ROM swap!

LGR

I'll post a list of games and timestamps below the video once it's finalized. EDIT: Nah it looks way better with in-video text boxes, they'll be in the final vid 👍

LGR

Neo Turf Masters is the golf game to end all golf games. You got that bangin lounge music in the background, with the sick basslines only Nazca would dare put in a golf game, the incredibly (perhaps unintentionally) campy voice over, SO MANY FRAMES OF ANIMATION, and the most ridiculous of courses. If you thought it was cool when an Access golf game said "I think ya hit the tree, Jim", then you haven't heard "BIRDIE TRY!!!"

RetroSwim

This was a great watch. As much as I dig original hardware where I can, arcade cabs have always felt a bit too out of reach (for obvious space reasons). But it's been interesting watching how this all fits together. And gosh, seeing both 1942 & 1943 do making it tempting. But the space kills me - I think I need to just accept it's a MiSTer life for me on the classic arcades front ;)

Rob Caporetto

This was like.. the most complicated 16 minutes of my life, and I fly airplanes. That was more educational and better than about any college thesis, and this is a hobby? Well done, sir! I have absolutely no interest in owning arcade PCBs but I was still thoroughly entertained, and now my brain hurts.

Have you tried chanting Wolololo at the boards? I should help with conversion

Garoninja

Yo dawg I herd you liked converters so I put a converter on your converter and plugged that in to another converter

Joon Choi

I think it would be nice to show a little modal/placard/something to show the titles of the games you're showing off, since some of us (cough) aren't too familiar with arcade titles :)

Rush Robbins

I really admire this hobby but it's far too costly for me to partake.

Terry Lee

I wonder how many people are going to notice that TMNT there is the lesser known 2-Player variant? Actually, I'm not sure if the 2P/4P versions are different boards or a DIP switch setting...?

Kris Asick

Great video Clint! PCBs are something that really intrigue me, I wish I had the kowledge and budget to get a few myself. Just hearing that TMNT The Arcade Theme song at the end of the video game me all sort of flashbacks : a flashy arcade cabinet, a ton of fun with my friends, my whole weekly allowance disapearing in 10 minutes...

Frederic St-Georges

Heh, truth. This subset of the hobby should really come with a warning label.

LGR

Me, just finishing up organizing my game consoles: Ah, very good, should be all set. LGR: Heard you need a new obsession.

Tom Roseman

Glad to hear it! That was exactly how I responded when I first learned of all this stuff, and I've been wishing other YouTubers would cover it more in depth. Got tired of waiting and decided to do it myself :P

LGR

This was so much fun to watch! I love videos that introduce me into a new world of hobbies and electronics. I would absolutely watch a whole series about this stuff, thanks for making this!

Dan Fiscus