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Beginners Guide 2 - A guide to selecting the right machineStarting home arcade collecting - Beginners Guide Part 2WelcomeYour reading this because you are interested in starting out in home arcade machine collecting, or maybe you just want something to play that game you spent most of your money on back in the 80's and want to re-live some fond memories. The first step is to work out what type of machine will suit you and your available space best. The easiest machines to fit in a house would be a tabletop machine, these also double up as a coffee table so you might even be able to sneak it past the wife without her even noticing. The largest machines are cockpit / sitdown cabs. These are fine if you have an empty garage sitting doing nothing, but you would struggle getting one into your house. (I have several in my house but learnt the hardway that your probably going to loose a few door frames and rip alot of wallpaper) Some of these machines can take up the floor space of a small can like a Ford Fiesta, but I believe that with the largest screens and the best sound systems these give the best player experience. In the middle you have cabaret machines, these machines take up very little floor space (less then a tabletop machine) and therefore can be hidden away quite easily. Next up you have upright machines. These are the most common machines (think pacman, think space invaders) and are as their name suggests quite tall (expect 6-7foot tall for some) These are a good machine to own (if your wife will let you) as due to their size they are comfortable to play on, the control panel is in a natural position and you are not slouching down to reach the controls. With the exception of cockpit / sitdown machines, most will fit through a standard width house door, which is good news, some cockpit machines will also fit through a standard door, the problem you have with cockpit machines is when you try and move then round a corner and find yourself hitting walls Arcade Machine TypesDedicatedDedicated machines are machines that are designed for a specific game. An example would be 'Space Invaders' This machine is covered with space invaders artwork, has a joystick and buttons designed for Space Invaders and The connectors and the monitor inside the machine are desgined the work specificially with the Space Invader game pcb. There maybe other game pcbs that will work in this machine, but generally you won't be able to swap games easily without doing some conversion work on the machine.GenericGeneric arcade machines will usually have very little artwork if any. The lightup marquee with say something like "multigame" or "supergame" or any one of hundreds of variations, rather then having a specific game name. A generic machine will usually have basic controls such as a standard 8 way joystick and some buttons, rather then complex driving controls etcJammaA jamma machine is a machine which has a Jamma Harness inside. Most Jamma machines are Generic, but there are also Dedicated Machines which use Jamma harnesses. A jamma machine has certain stndards set to make changing the game inside with other games very easy. A jamma machine will have a standard resolution colour monitor. A jamma machine should have enough controls for 2 players (1 joystick and 3 action buttons for each player plus a start button for each player) The machine has a jamma harness which means that any Jamma game pcb can be plugged straight into the machine without having to make adapters or modifications.NEO GEOThis is virtually the same as a jamma machine apart from the fact that each player has 4 action buttons instead of 3. They were specificaly designed for the NEO GEO MVS cartridge based system. As they are almost identical to Jamma you can play Jamma games in a NEO GEO machine and NEO GEO games in a Jamma cab (but in a Jamma cab you will only have 3 buttons)UprightThe most common type of arcade machine, these are the standard sized, tall, upright machines. Most have artwork on the sides, have artwork on the control panel, usually on or behind the glass covering the monitor, and also have a light up marquee at the top usually with the game name.Cabaret / MiniThese are like Upright machines except smaller, generally about 4foot tall and take up a smaler footprint. These machines generally have 14" monitors in them and controls for 1 player rather then 2 due to the limited space on the control panel.Cockpit / SitdownThese are full size machines where the player will generally sit down inside the machine. These machines usually have dedicated controls (i.e. a steering wheel and pedals for driving games) These games usually boast the largest amount of artwork and fine detail, custom plastic mouldings, multi speaker sound systems and large monitors to engulf the player in the game.Tabletop / Cocktail TableCommon in pubs and bars in the 80's these are basically arcade machines like a table with a glass top.The monitor is under the glass top and the control panels are mounted on oposite sides. The players sit opisite each other at the table. On games where players take turns, when it is player 2's turn the picture flips over 180degrees so that player 2 see's the screen just as player 1 does. Table top machines have much less artwork then upright machines, and as is the case with many games some are very generic looking 80's woodgrain style. Most have a 14" monitor. UK table top machines generally are quite short, rectangular woodgrain tables with T shapped metal legs on the sides. Most have a 14" monitor. On the other hand US style tables are taller, rounder, have usually more artwork and are most commonly fitted with a 20" monitor. As with most things in life the US always get a better deal. Jamma explainedThis is a stndardised arcade machine harness connector. It is used on most machine built after 1987. It allows you to fit other Jamma games to the cabinet without having to make any adapters or modifications.Harness explainedThe wiring harness connects the game pcb to all the other parts in the game machine (the monitor, controls, power supply and coin mech)PCB / Game Pcb explainedPrinted Circuit Board. This is the actual game. With many machines (Jamma mainly) you can change the game just by changing the pcb. A Pcb is simular to a computer motherboard. It holds the various components that run the game. Some newer games even use PC graphics cards and hard drives. It is however not possible to change the software that runs on the board (with some exceptions) you have to change the actual whole pcb itself (See also cartridge based systems)Cartridge Based Systems explainedOn these PCB's the games are contained on cartridges simular to home consoles (like a megadrive or NES cartridge) Swapping the game is as simple as plugging in a new cartridge. (See also NEO GEO MVS)NEO GEO MVS explainedDo you remember the NEO GEO AES home console? Surely you do, with the very expensive games. Well there is an arcade version of this hardware it is called the MVS. It is a Jamma PCB (so you can plug it into a Jamma machine or a NEO GEO machine) and you put cartridges in the slot to change games.Monitors explainedSimular to a PC monitor they come in the following main sizes14" for UK table top machines and small cabaret machines. 20" is the standard size used in upright machines and US table top machines 26" is used in larger upright machines and cockpits 28" - 33" used mainly in sitdown Jamma machines are more modern dedicated machines Arcade monitors are avilable in 3 different standard resolutions. You need to have the right monitor for the games you want to play. Standard resolution is used by almost all pre-Jamma games and also by all Jamma games. Medium resolution monitors are used in some Mid 1980's Atari games like Paperboy and also in a small number of newer games. High resolution monitors are now used in most new games. Some companies still use standard resolution monitors in their games. Medium resolution are the least common. You cannot play a standard resolution game on a High resolution monitor. You cannot play a medium resolution on a standard resolution monitor either UpdatesPlease come back regularly to check for updates. New articles and guides will be added to the site monthly (at minimum) and existing articles, guides, information and pictures will be updated on a weekly basis (at minimum)This article is only an early draft so expect many more additions Thanks for reading ...
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