Author Topic: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two  (Read 91156 times)

Superully

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[Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« on: April 13, 2012, 02:03:37 PM »


Almost two months ago, a guy put up a post on a german arcade forum that he had been given two nintendo cabinets from a friend for free. they had been sitting in a basement since 1989 - untouched! at first everyone thought he was probably talking about some generic cabs with bootleg boards inside, but when he posted pictures of the beauties everyone was in awe :shock:. he wanted to keep one of them for himself because his wife is a huge nintendo fan, the other one, an extremely rare nintendo space firebird, he wanted to trade for a generic mame cab. mr punkrockcaveman himself came to the rescue and offered him one of his hellomats in exchange, at first everything seemed to work out fine, but somehow this deal never happened!

fast forward a few weeks, the same guy posted on the german forum again that he was planning on converting the space firebird into a mame cab :o. WHAT? as you can imagine, the reactions "of the crowd" weren't positive (to say the least), so i contacted him and asked if there's anything i could do for him ;). he still wanted to have a mame cab and - of course - as soon as possible. so i thought about the stuff in my storage but couldn't really come up with anything good except for an empty taito cab which he could have used as a shell. however, before i made my offer, i wanted to make sure not to go behind joerg's (aka punkrockcaveman aka prc) back who had the initial deal with the nintendo guy. joerg told me that he was no longer interested in the cab, but offered me a deal of his own instead - a deal which i couldn't pass on and which eventually led to my latest roadtrip. so lean back, ejoy, here's what's coming up :arrow:



although i'm on holidays, i have to start pretty early, because i won't be travelling light.



first order of business: two pallets - transported my superpowerully 8)



why two pallets? well, because i will be transporting two cabs up north. ok, make that 1 1/2, because the first one is merely a shell: an out run cab which an arcade guy from bremen wants to use as his first mame project!



let's load it up



because the weather forecast is predicting scattered showers, i have to project the cab on the trailer!



as for the second cab i'm bringing, have a look inside my alien-infested rear view mirror



have you been able to guess correctly? right, it's my german amidar cab which will be traded in for something else ...



time to set my navigation device: 3.45h is the estimate without a trailer, so make that estimate an hour longer!



breakfast on the road - i love it :-*



looks like it has already rained here, so far clear sunny skies



while taking a short break, i spot this nice still life on a picnic area: looks like someone's got his lights knocked out and he lost his reigning champion crown! :twisted:



i also spot this albert einstein crown cap :P



the last forty kilometers take me through some beautiful scenery



my first stop is coming closer and closer (check out the sign on the right), but as you can see the weather is getting worse!



someone's already waiting for me at mcdonald's - and although he's in disguise (normally he's wearing a hat which he has exchanged for a cap this time) i quickly recognize him!



have you been successful in unmasking him? no? NO??? c'mon, that's obvious, it's the famous HAMBURGLAR!!!



need proof? here you go :arrow:



ok, after successfully protecting my big tasty bacon burger from the hamburglar aka joerg, let's complete our mission before it starts raining heavily! and this takes me back to the initial deal joerg had offered me - a "triangle deal" (sounds strange in english): he would prepare a hellomat mame cab for me in exchange for my amidar cab which would then allow me to trade the hellomat in for the nintendo space firebird! make sense?

man, that hellomat is really small!



time to let others do the work ... ;)





with the hellomat now loaded in the back of my car and a huge THANK YOU to joerg for making this possible, i can head out to the nearby location of the nintendo guy



in the meantime it had started pouring down and some poor guy almost got hit by a train :o



here i finally am!!!



"nintendo house" located



the object of my affection (on the left ;D): an uber rare nintendo space firebird. on the right, the guy named micha who kindly agreed to exchange this cab for a hellomat mame cab (nice shoes by the way ;))



fortunately, the rain has stopped again, so we can "download" the out run cab (which will be picked up shortly by the bremen guy) and "upload" the space firebird - with maximum protection from the rain!



but wait a minute, this roadtrip is entitled ninten-two and you were talking about two nintendo cabs that micha got out of the basement, so we wanna see the second one as well!!! ok, ok, i give in :arrow:



holy ravioli - a dedicated donkey kong :o :o :o

since i had made contact with micha i had been pestering him about the donkey kong: some gentle remarks first ("what a great looking cab, would look perfect in my collection"), some more obvious lines later ("i already have donkey kong junior and donkey kong 3, this is my missing donkey kong puzzle piece"). but it didn't look as if he could be convinced to let go of it, when suddenly out of the blue he dropped me a pm entitled "congratulations". in it, he basically said that he had talked to his wife and they had both agreed to sell it to me. of course, it didn't come cheap (as you can imagine), but i had to get it - had to had to had to!!! so let's push this baby a little bit closer to the edge ...



... and down into my car (backdoor is present, just not pictured)!



OH - MY - GOD!!! :shock:



the arcade gods are shining down on me ...



... so let's get out those sunglasses! 8)



or not >:(



basically it's raining all the way back to lauda (good thing that i gave maximum protection to the space firebird), so i'm following the sign's advice by taking my time



a mere 25 kilometers from home, the sun's coming out again ...



... only to produce this fabulous sunset right in front of The Storage™!



the statistics - coindidentally the travelled mileage also represents something else this time - wanna make a guess?



and here's my new friend on the dashboard :P



one country, four counties, 750 kilometers, 12 hours 42 minutes on the road - this roadtrip is OFFICIALLY OVER! :arrow: ("geschafft" means done / completed / finished)



stay tuned for the unloading of the cab(s) ...
« Last Edit: April 13, 2012, 05:22:31 PM by DarthNuno »
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

Arch

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2012, 02:47:05 PM »
Cool roadtrip report! Thanks for sharing, Ully. And congrats with the new aquisitions!  :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
All I wanted was a Pepsi!
Currently looking for an original Wonderboy PCB.

Superully

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2012, 02:48:02 PM »
this morning, the trailer was still waiting for me with a late birthday present underneath



reveal!!! don't you just love that red? :P





unloaded from the trailer





the coin door is different from the later nintendo models



the control panel: buttons are not (all) original, an 8-way joystick has been hacked in, plexi has cigarette burns, instruction stickers are worn :'(



inside, it has the famous "sanyo monitor in a box" ...



... along with the monitor adjustment sheet tacked to the back door



at the bottom: the original power supply



unfortunately, the original space firebird pcb is no longer present, someone has hacked in a roc'n rope pcb :(



metal identification plaque - i would really like to know more about the story of that cab!



here's what i need now:
- space firebird marquee (from nintendo, not the sega / gremlin version)
- sideart (although i've been told that this might not exist at all. although it is pictured on the flyer, noone seems to have seen it yet)
- 2-way joystick (is it the mario bros type?)
- new instruction stickers
- space firebird pcb (is there a difference between the rare upright and the common cocktail table?)
- nintendo space firebird manual (looking for the upright version)

final shot: my new space firebird next to my old german donkey kong machine. it will be leaving The Storage™ shortly, now that i finally have my dedicated donkey kong cabinet!



time to quote myself from september 20, 2009: "i've given up hope to have a full american-style nintendo row (...) because those cabinets are almost impossible to come by in germany (and even in europe) and when you're lucky to score one, they usually cost tons of money. it IS possible to get one (as andré and bruno have proven) or you could scr3een one yourself , but a full row ..."

flash forward 2 1/2 years later, here i am: 6 nintendo cabinets under my belt - hell ya :twisted:

i haven't unloaded the nintendo donkey kong yet because my plan is to drop it off at my restoration outpost (aka my mum's place :D) along with jr and 3 to work on those nintendo cabs simultaneously - this is going to be an amazing sight!!! :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
« Last Edit: April 13, 2012, 02:51:30 PM by Superully »
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

Robinholland

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2012, 03:21:08 PM »
In one word WOW  :o

scr33n

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2012, 03:26:11 PM »
I have no word  :o 8) :spaceace:

i haven't unloaded the nintendo donkey kong yet because my plan is to drop it off at my restoration outpost (aka my mum's place :D) along with jr and 3 to work on those nintendo cabs simultaneously - this is going to be an amazing sight!!! :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:

I can't wait !!!  :shock:
PROJECTS FROM SCRATCH:

Galaga - PacMan - Donkey Kong Red Cab - Track & Field Upright - Tempest - Burgertime - Gyruss - Defender - Track & Field Cocktail - Robotron 2084

RESTORATIONS:

Q*bert - Timber

SeTTleR

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2012, 03:28:59 PM »
WOW!!!! Congrats Ully! This is a top score. I'm really really glad that you got those two cabs. I had already given up hope that the SF could be saved. You made my day!  :spaceace:  :spaceace:  :spaceace:

Can't wait to see your fully restored Nintendo Row!
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'

Tup

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2012, 04:01:49 PM »
Holy .... congratulations! A dedicated DK! You must be soooooo happy!!!! What a beauty!!!!!

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2012, 04:02:04 PM »
Very nice !  :spaceace:

I dont know if you can find original instruction stickers, but if you want repro's, scan them and you know where to find me  ;)

gyruss

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2012, 04:15:56 PM »
You lucky bastard!  :spaceace:

Where did the seller find these?

Laschek

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2012, 04:38:58 PM »
Der Duke!  :o ;D

Ahm, I have some Space Firebirds PCB thingys lying around...

PunkRockCaveman

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2012, 04:42:15 PM »
Congrats!! It's good that the SF goes to you ... I wouldn't have managed to restore it that good anyway ;) and also very nice to see the DK in good company with his brothers! If the ENV DK isnt promised yet, drop me a note, I'm ready for another crazy deal ;)

Ronald Reagan

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2012, 04:50:45 PM »
you win!!

amazing roadtrip. I like the red color of the cab. You are one lucky guy :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
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Muerto

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2012, 04:52:05 PM »
Great to see the deal came through Ully!
Great great cabs!!!

Belike

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2012, 04:58:44 PM »
Great story you lucky ba...rd, I guess most of us would trade a mame cab for some original Nintendo stuff. ;)
« Last Edit: April 13, 2012, 07:55:35 PM by Belike »

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Re: [Roadtrip] Ninten-two
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2012, 04:59:53 PM »
What a great find, it was certainly worth the wait to get them!
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