New US developed Multi-Board available

[level42]

I'm surprised no-one yet mentioned it here:



The developer of the late "arcadeshop Multi board" has developed a brand new board that is now available through www.Phoenixarcade.com

Although this is "another" emulation board, it is in NO way comparable to the Chinese xx-in-1 boards available.
In every way possible they are better.

Here's a full list of features:


- 2 Gigabyte SD Card capacity for hundreds of games (sold separately)

· MP3 Jukebox Game (similar to Guitar Hero) plays back MP3 files from SD Card

· Quarterly projected (but not guaranteed) firmware updates (January, April, July, October)

· All high scores saved on SD Card and retained when game turned off

· Supports both VGA and CGA monitors (CRT or LCD)

· Supports standard 8-way joysticks, Happ style trackball, and Happ/Midway 49-way joystick controls

· 49-way joystick automatically translated to 4-way, 8-way, and diagonal-only sticks

· Lightgun control input supported for gun games

· Supports either amplified JAMMA mono speaker output, or line level pre-amp output for stereo sound

· Animated game icon menu navigation for quick game selection

· Access to all game and cabinet settings through PC setup application and on-screen menu

· SD Card stores statistics of games played, time played, coin counts, etc.

· Entire collection (as of 9/1/11) of upright and horizontal games fits on a single SD card

· Switch between upright / cocktail / horizontal mode from onscreen menu

· Purchased games unlocked by Serial Number, no codes to remember

· Small footprint 3.5" x 4.5"

· Dynamic menu system is automatically built with the games you load/select

· Animated menu with icons and game marquees

· Enable or disable games from menu

· Game variations (faster speed, auto fire, etc.) available from Game Options menu

· Optionally disable panel controls until coins are inserted

· All control axis/directions can be changed in setup (no need to re-wire your trackball unit)

· Arcade and free play modes

· All credits are global and can be shared between different games

· On screen configuration/setup menu

· Built in, on screen hardware diagnostics (tests video, audio, inputs, coin counters, LEDs, etc.)

· Test mode button on board (JAMMA harness "test" input also supported)

· CGA/VGA mode selection button on board

· PCB only requires +5 V.D.C. power (uses less than 1A at full volume)

· Software controlled volume adjustment

· Field programmable by the end user

· Built in two-channel lamp/LED driver (use for Atari 'cone button' lights & buttons, etc.)

· 30 Day manufacturer warranty covering manufacturing/parts defects (see warranty for details)

[level42]

Full game set downloadable in one go here:

http://destross.com/romsets/

[PaulSwan]

$300 is a lot compared to the $60 or so for the bootleg ones.

[level42]

Yep. But the extra money does buy a lot of extra nice features and GOOD sound and Hi-score saving...

[Etienne MacGyver]

I'm surprised no-one yet mentioned it here:

you did yourself:

https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2951.0

or is that something different ?

[zapposh]

Very nice card! I'm happy I did not order the chinese one yet. I also still need some decals from them, so it could go together. Just worried about what customs will say about such high values, and from what I read, they declare 100% of what is inside the box.

[level42]

I'm surprised no-one yet mentioned it here:

you did yourself:

https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2951.0

or is that something different ?

OMG I am getting OLD ....completely forgot I had poster that !

Well last time I asked Darin was willing to adjust the value somewhat but it turned out his wife shipped it and put full value on it.
Since Darin is in hospital now I guess his wife will continue the shipping so...

If there is interest in a group buy, I suggest to use a middle man in the US because for this kind of values that would be definitely cheaper even with the extra local shipping.

Oh, and I'm not running this group buy, for now, I'm not buying one of these boards myself.

[zapposh]

I suppose I would ask a friend to bring it over when he comes to visit, as it's pretty small and fits into a travelbag, not like the big  decal rolls.

The stupid question of the day, which does not concern this multi-card directly, but any sort of multi-card lime I had discussed in one of my posts.
Let's say you turn your Ms Pac-Man cab into a multi-cab with a few added fire-buttons. The joystick is 4-way, right?

So what's with playing games like Berserk, where you need the diagonals for example to shoot, so 8-way joystick movement?
Will it be fine, or do you need to replace the stick too?

[level42]

An original (and even probably non original) Pac joysticks are indeed 4-way.

Some joysticks have restrictors that can be removed. Not too sure about the original Pac stick....

Some Suzo sticks you can simply turn the restrictor from the underside (but that's not really practical for everyday changing).

BerZerk is unplayable without the diagonals so you will need to set up 8 ways.

[zapposh]

That will teach me a lesson to stop buying stuff before asking the right questions.

[SeTTleR]

PunkRockCaveman from this board has developed a circuit where you can change the joystick behaviour by simply pushing a button. The circuit recognizes where you push the joystick and "guesses" which direction you meant.
It is called E-Limitator and can be found in the german arcadeshop.de for example: http://www.arcadeshop.de/Encoder-E-Limitator_1049.html
I haven't tested it myself but people say that it works quite well.

[level42]

Mmmm, without notification my comments were moved to another thread. The comments were 100% relevant to this topic so I dont see why they were moved ??

[DarthNuno]

Ops, you're right, it has been moved here.

To start:

you cannot have perfect emulation. Well, emulation is NEVER perfect. Whichever way you turn it, it's emulation.

From my experience and from a 'rational' point of view, emulation can be perfect : my eyes see the same set of 224x288 pixels on a CRT screen, my ears hear the same sounds, the controls give me the same feelings ...whatever the game is generated by a board or a computer well configured 

See... I'm starting to argue too much on this post  The reason why I moved the post here. No offense of course.

[level42]

That is _your_ opinion Bruno.

Show me a real and an emulated Galaxian or DK with my eyes closed and I can tell you the difference between emulated and real.
Esp. the dedicated sound circuits of those games are impossible to emulate correctly (often they play samples).

Also, f.i. the star field in Galaxian are still not correctly emulated.

I wonder what Aart (who is world champion in both the original AND the emulated Galaxian) says about it. There are surely timing differences etc.

Sure, for some other games I can't tell the difference either !! Esp. the somewhat newer one's where the original sound processors are emulated and thus produce the correct sound. F.I. I was quite surprised that on Berzerk the voice is NOT recreated by samples but by emulating the voice synthesizer !

Again, I have nothing AGAINST emulation as an alternative, but it _has_ to be clear that this board uses emulation and THAT is why I mentioned it here., NOT to start another original hardware vs. emulation debate.

I don't really understand why you move this because of your personal opinion about this. If you want this forum to be an open and free platform for us it would be better to stay neutral about opinions on this forum, except when there are personal insults etc. (we've been there).

Also IF you move something I think it would be decent to inform the poster(s) by PM.

Jut MHO and also no offense.