I'm in love 









I need this... life size!

 

Back in September 2022.
I have the opportunity to get the legendary original gauntlet arcade machine. I picked up the 'modern' version 20 years ago (aka Gauntlet Legends, see here), but nothing can't beat the original version!
I love this game... I've had the opportunity to buy this game several times over the past 25 years, but I always thought that having it at home would kill its interest. Being by nature a multiplayer game, with a kind of 'pay to win' gameplay, with no possibility to 1CC. So as a solo player, I didn't really see the point of having it at home.
Bullshit! I love too much that game, I had so much great memories (on the arcade version, but also on the Amstrad CPC port).... cabinet is so gorgeous, and Gauntlet is definitively a title that belong to the arcade history. Now I've 2 kids (meaning more players). Oh and because, come one, everyone know the game "Gauntlet"! Finally, I'm such a fan of the CONAN movies... this game could have been called 'The Adventure of Conan the Barbarian'.

So after all theses arguments, I have the approval of the Barbarian and his Valkyrie to make this journey.



In order to 'size' this Adventure....


 
...but for once, it will be a road trip very close to home... only 111km to destination :



In order for the seller not to change his mind, I decided to go and get the game immediately. It was a kind of 'unexpected & improvised' road trip. So my first stop is the bank, where my favorite thief is waiting for me... warrior need money :



Soon enough, in the middle of the Cimmera land, the led "Warrior Needs Food Badly!" is on :



I should find something to eat in this tavern...



Problem solved :



Here I am at the French border, where I will continue under good escort from now...



...because this country looks very violent indeed and it seems very dangerous to want to cross it alone... (wind turbine spotted!)



In the midst of all this violence outside, it is with all serenity that I present you the amulet of protection that my son made for me... clearly mandatory for this dangerous journey!



It's quieter now, we're getting closer to the goal...



Here we are, the beast was hiding in that garage :



The history of this cabinet by the seller : the game was operated in the small pub from this little village. About 20 years ago, the seller bought the game from that pub. When he bought it, it wasn't the Gauntlet board anymore. The cabinet was already 'jamma' hacked.
At the time, he wanted to restore the orignal game, but in the end he didn't do anything at all. So the cabinet remained in its original state for almost 20 years in that garage.
Having no longer a particular plan, he put this cabinet for sale, and here I am.
The deal with the seller was : as is, no question... so let be it!



I'm not talking about the way home, which went smoothly.



(for my stats : 246 km / 5h23 on road / Belgium<>France)

Here's the beast inside the Nuno's Lair, ready to be resurrected and start a new life 



Do you want to life forever ?



... so let's bring back this game to its full glory!

21 of June 2023
...
INITIATE ROADTRIP
...
...
...
SCANMODE 110373
ACQUIRE TRANSPORT PRIORITY
PRIORITY 920101
...

...
...
DISABLE CAMERA EYE
ACTIVE HUMAN EYE
...
...
CHECK MIRROR

...
...
STATUS OK
IDENTITY DARTH NUNO CONFIRMED
DISABLE HUMAN EYE
ACTIVE CAMERA EYE
...
...
...
LOCALIZE TARGET
COMPUTE ITINERARY
PRIORITY 102812
...

...
...
SCAN MODE LEVEL 42
ASSESS VEHICULE
...

...
...
...
SCANMODE 120917
ACQUIRE SUPPORT PRIORITY.
CRITERIA MORALE SUPPORT
...

..
..
VISUAL :
MALE HT0506
ECTOMORPH
NAME : SAM
ASSESSMENT COMPLETE
FIT PROBABILITY 0.92
...
...
...
EXAMINE BAG
BEVERAGE MATCH
COMPATIBILITY CONFIRMED
...

...
..
IMAGE ENHANCE
MODE 423-6503
SEQUENCERS 20
SPEED PARAMETERS
...

...
...
UPDATING DISTANCE TO TARGET
666 MODE LOOK UP
TRACKING MODE
FULL ISO LEVELS
...

...
...
...
LATERAL SPEED 573 3589
TRAJECTORY 600 2372
BASE CORRECT 113 3553
ACCELERATION 328 5893
...

...
...
...
PRIORITY TARGET ACTIVATED
ANALYZE CLASSIFICATION
PRIMARY TARGET CONFIRMED
DISABLE CAMERA EYE
ACTIVE HUMAN EYE TO INCREASE IRRATIONAL ANALYSIS HUMAN MODE
...

...
SYSTEM INTERRUPT
...
...
DIAGNOSTIC
ALL SYSTEMS OK
LESS MONEY AVAILABLE IN THE ACCOUNT
...
LOADING THE MACHINE
...

...
...
SEARCH FOOD MODE
PRIORITY 800618
BURGER KING LOCATED
...

...
CRITERIA
...
CALORIES 630
FAT 34 GR
SATURATED FAT 11 GR
SODIUM 1080 GR
CARBOHYDRATHES 58 GR
FIBER 4 GR
PROTEIN 25 GR
SUGAR 12 GR
....

...
...
LOCALIZE HOME
COMPUTE ITINERARY
PRIORITY 444719
SHUTDOWN AND REBOOT AT LOCATION
...
SYSTEM INTERRUPT
...

...
DIAGNOSTIC
ALL SYSTEMS OK
SAVING DATA
ROADTRIP TIME ELAPSED 9H04M
DISTANCE 496 KM...
...
UNLOADING THE MACHINE
HUMAN SAM ON GUNS
DEFENSE MODE 1678
...

...
ASSESSMENT WASTE OF AMMO
...
SCAN MODE LEVEL 22
NO DANGER
T2 SECURED IN GAME ROOM
MISSION SUCCESFULL
ALL SYSTEMS SHUTDOWN
...
SYSTEM INTERRUPT!

And this is it! T2 Arcade is now in the game room 



I think I have the best security guard here for this particular game 



It's time to play this game... but for some reasons, my youngest child doesn't dare to come and try the game?   



 

I'm looking for a Zaccaria SCRAMBLE curved marquee in order to complete my ongoing project right here.

Here's the condition of mine   



Badly broken   



If you have an other Zaccaria curved marquee (other than Scramble), I'm also interested!   

May 2023, got a first issue on my beloved DariusBurst cabinet... one of the two screens is not working anymore   



This happened after moving the cabinet inside my game room. So it shouldn't be a big issue, probably a disconnected cable or connector...
So I've done all the basic checks : all the video cables are in, monitor is powered, Taito X2 is sending picture to the right screen... I permuted everything between left and right monitors to diagnose,  I tried it 'outside' the cabinet, and the conclusion is... the right monitor doesn't work anymore!



I disassembled all the parts of the monitor, unplug / replug all the connectors, cleaning the dust... but it didn't help!
Sending this monitor to Taito Japan for repair would cost a fortune, and I'm even not sure they will do the job as I'm not an operator!

Whatever, this monitor is a 'simple' 32" flatscreen monitor made by LG, and I should be able to found a similar model.

Luckily, I own since 5 years a LG 32" monitor I'm using to do home working  So let's plug it to the Taito X2 and power on the cabinet ->



The game doesn't boot! There is an EDID (*) check during the boot that verify if the original monitors are plugged.

(*)Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) is a metadata standard that lets display devices like monitors, televisions, and projectors communicate their capabilities to the video source. When using HDMI or DVI, the EDID from your television tells the video source what the dimensions of the screen are.

But that check is done only before starting the game. So I plugged the defect right monitor again (which is luckily working enough to communicate the EDID data to the computer, although no more able to display something on the screen anymore), boot the game, and then I'm plugging my LG PC monitor screen 



I'm quickly 'dropping' it in its location... yeah! That's gonna make it... but here's now the challenge : how to fix it correctly? ...because it will have to be adjusted to the millimeter, the two screens must be perfectly aligned...



So the plan is to replicate the original fixation you can see on the right monitor below for my replacement one (the left one)



Some wood working and it's ready for the test  



Hurrah!   



The difficulty is to have the monitor screen as close as the wood bezel you can see below ->



OK, now let's fix the EDID check during the boot... which the help of this device   



First, let's clone the EDID from the original monitor 



Done! Now this device  -inserted between the computer and the new monitor- will communicate with the computer exactly like the original monitor did :-)



So the Taito X2 will be 'tricked' and the game will boot, passing the EDID test! 



It's a wrap! 

Funny to think that my LG 32" monitor used for years to display boring/serious stuff for my job will now end its live by displaying such enjoyable pictures... such an half/inverted screen of Dariusburst games   

I wish you an happy new year 2023 
Well, yeah, there's nothing really new to see here (  ), but happy to see some of you are still coming to this place from time to time.

Heys guys,
My web host provider urge me to move this website onto new servers, which also force me to upgrade this forum as it still running on a very looooow php version, long time out of support  . So that's what I did since yesterday morning with almost no sleep 
Migration is almost done as you can see, and of course with side effects (lost of forum themes, gallery gone,...).
I currently working on that, so expect to see some strange things happened 
In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact me if you experience bugs or anything else:::