The cabinet in those photos wouldn't need to be reproduced; since it
appears to be a common Cinematronics cabinet... very popular for conversions. The
artwork would be the only requirement and that could be made up using Photoshop and/or
Autocad.
I recently did a PC-Engine->JAMMA conversion as part of a multiJAMMA project;
since the two-player-PCE-timer boards are few, far-between and prohibitively
expensive:
Hacking the RGB on a TG or PCE was pretty simple, with the expansion header...
One problem: It is very dim. It isn't much of a problem unless you're trying
to use it in a multigame with normal arcade boards; which I was... If
it's the only game, you can just adjust the monitor's brightness and contrast.
You can use a video amplifier to boost the signals to the same level as an
average arcade board. The one I purchased mixed all the signals, so I got a
horrible black and white picture out of it. Since mine needed to be installed
with other "standard" arcade boards; I ended up using the A/V cable and a
Video->JAMMA board which gave it a washed-out picture but worked.
The controller hack is another hurdle, though you could probably wire up a
breadboard with various chips to simulate the controllers and multitap; or
solder directly to the buttons of each controller and route them through the
multitap to the main unit.(the latter was my solution)
Magic Engine and a PC->JAMMA adapter is probably the way to go for
ease, though I find it more rewarding to run actual hardware instead of an emulator.
-Andy C
xxxxxx@gis.net wrote:
> That certainly looks like the same marquee. That cabinet would actually
> be really easy to reproduce. You could even put a regular TG in there
> hacked for RGB to interface the arcade monitor. Nowadays it would
> probably just be easier, though, to use a JAMMA cab and a low end
> pentium board with Magic Engine.
>
> Chad