Greetings, ladies and gentlemen
I just saw that I didnt wrote an introduction for myself, shame on me
Ok, as you can imagine, my name is Andreas and I live in the beautifull country of austria. My age, close to 40.
I started to get closer with arcades about 2 years ago - well I mean when I was a child with an age about 6, I spent some spare coins on games like Ghost n Goblins, 1942, Mission Elevator, Choplifter and so on. For us kids, italy with his arcades were heaven and there we got some more coins from the parents.
Im a gamer since 6, started then with C64, video games ( Super NES, N64, ... ) and still love playing games on my PC ( doing simulator ).
My first arcade was a dedicated Tank Battalion Cocktail Table. Only fix is that the wood was soaked up from some water, so I already remanufactured a new one, ready to install.
Well 2 years ago I bought 2 arcade machines from my neighbourtown, a Moon Patrol and a Phoenix. You guys have to know that most arcades in austria were universal cabs from TAB. So the Moonpatrol is a TAB arcade too, the Phoenix is some german minicab.
So I made a mistake and didnt read much about TAB arcades because at home I realized, there is no PCB in the moon patrol chassis. On the other side, the broken Phoenix had just a sync problem which was fixed in 5 minutes ( after some help from the german forum ^^ ).
About a year later, I bought an outrun arcade which was, off course, a universal cab too. When I bought it, the price was ok for me - but I would buy it for this amount nowadays. The condition of this universal outrun was horrible, so I plan to rebuild that machine with joystick to play all my vertical games because I bought a few pcb´s from ebay.
Ok, since I love outrun from C64 days, I found an red arrow arcade. At an closer look, it was a bootleg version of outrun. Ok, the machine doesnt run like the first one, but its the same pcb in there like the first out run. And the cabinet and the control board looks like the original outrun game.
I also picked up an universal 4 player cocktail table arcade with an football game in. I fixed the monitor, the game ran for 5 minutes, but something is damaged again - I have to search for the error again.
This was also the point for me to think about my goals, what do I want. At the beginning, I thought ill buy 2 arcade machines, one with horizontal monitor, other one with vertical to play the pcb games. But I changed my mind and now im looking for dedicated arcades ( and maybe get rid of the universal ones ).
So I picked up an original House of the Dead arcade where - off course - I have to fix something. But its only some minor dmg at the cables for the light gun which is an easy fix. Ah yeah, the sideart isnt in best shape, but the game runs really nice and the guns work well when you hold the cables in the right direction.
So I already have a LOT to fix at home, but well, I guess you know it when you just look at ebay - just for information and you find a Sega Hang on for almost no money. Yes, the seller wrote that the arcade doesnt work, so I just stored it at my garage. After a few weeks, I gave it a try and wow, the game starts and I could hear the sound. After about 2 minutes, I had a picture too and played 2 credits on Hang On, but suddenly, the picture was gone. So it could be only some small problem, like an old lose soldering point and in this case, this was the problem. Resoldered the monitor chassis, soldered some cable over damaged conection and the Hang on is back to play. Ah yeah, the chassis is/was in horrible condition, like someone kicked it sideways. I tried to fix it as good as possible, but my goal wasnt to do a complete rebuild to new condition.
So now it works and man, I love Hang On. Its difficult but awesome.
So long story short, my games:
Dedicated:Tank Battalion, Cocktail
Sega Hang On, Standup
House of the Dead
Taito Trimline Phoenix
Rampage
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Style 2
Universal:Red Arrow
2x TAB cabinets ( Moon Patrol and Outrun )
1x 4 Player Cocktail Table
PCB:Tiger Heli ( graphic error )
Bomberman ( control 1 doesnt work )
Growl
Mr. Do
Time Pilot 84
Galaga
Silk Worm
Dragon Breed
Euro League
Wonderboy bootleg ( no sound )
Raiden 2
Gun Bird 94
MVS:4 in 1 Board
1x Board
King of Monsters
Ninja Commando
Art of Fighting
Puzzle Bobble
Puzzled
PinballTX Sector ( its an amazing pinball )
I hope I dont miss anything, pictures should be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/137286104@N07/7cLfp0Ah yeah, a Cruisin World should be here in january.
And at the end, I think I have the same problem like the most guys here ( except DarthNino ): space! So the only possibility would be to upgrade my unused loft/attic but then I have to build an elevator to the house. Because yesterday I tried to bring the Sega Hang On from basement to 1st floor - its a pita.
greetings
Andi
