Original Primal Rage Arcade Cabinet - MAME machine?

[jhbball]

Hey all,

I have chance to pick up an original Primal Rage (lol) arcade machine for $60 with a broken monitor. This seems like a reasonably good deal. I was hoping to convert to a MAME arcade if possible. I was curious if anyone here has any experience with this sort of thing, or could point me to any good guides.

Thanks!

 

[cmdrdredd]

I've always wanted to do that. If you do it, post some pics. I always admire custom arcade cabs.

 

[purbeast0]

just keep in mind that the cabs are HEAVY AS FUCKING SHIT!

i have a ki2 cabinet and it is over 400lbs and it is a huge pain in the ass to move. when i moved into my house i was going to put it in the basement where the mancave is, but it is sitting in my garage and i may keep it there or try to sell it. i always wanted to make it a mame cabinet but never got around to it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

No doubt...I worked a summer at a local arcade years ago and had to help move the vewlix cabinets around the floor to make room for all the DDR machines. Anyway, I remember it taking two guys plus a hand truck.

 

[smackababy]

The problem with MAME is it is coded for perfect emulation, not playablity. There are a lot of games that don't work well with certain main builds and you need multiple builds to run different games well. Honestly, it is a huge PITA. I wish there was a MAME branch catered toward ultimate playability, but as far as I know, there isn't. =(

 

[effowe]

Well if the monitor is broken couldn't that be removed before moving it making it weigh substantially less?

To the point, you can get a certain set of games running properly but you will need specific builds suited to your needs as smackababy pointed out. For that price I would get it as a project for fun.

 

[clok1966]

most likely you can pick up a LCD for cheap that is roughly the same size and all over EBAY are converter boards for about $30 instant Primal RAGE working.. As its a JAMMA cab, you can put most any (jamma) game in it.. many jamma boards are cheap.. Think of it as a giant Nintendo, jamma is just a slot you stick the board in.. think of it like a giant PCI slot.

if its an original Primal RAGE cab, its worth more then $60... (would HAVE RAGE wrote down the sides and the panels on front would all look broken up lava ground.) if its a upgrade( some other cab with the Primal RAGE board stuck in it) you should figure out what the cab was originally. In the back inside should be some paper with a name someplace.. Depending on shape some of the old dedicated are worth some bucks if it wasn't to chopped up to get the Primal rage into it. Keep in mind thre are GENERIC cabs.. with a jamma harness.. no value to those.

If you do mame it. I would suggest making sure the type of cab and such first.. It might be worth selling and getting another cab. otherwise its pretty easy.. I built my own instead of chopping up an old one.. I have a few originals.. CongoBongo, and a Race Driving. If you can pick up and old e8400 and a board that will OC you can play "almost" any game in MAME but a few very specific ones.. some google work and you can buy a 2 gig HD with "everything" all set up for about $200.. you put it in a good PC and just GO.. all the old Laser disc game .. all the old home consoles.. even PSONE and PS2,Dreamcast.. of course that is not legal..

all you ever need to know
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/

 

[jhbball]

most likely you can pick up a LCD for cheap that is roughly the same size and all over EBAY are converter boards for about $30 instant Primal RAGE working.. As its a JAMMA cab, you can put most any (jamma) game in it.. many jamma boards are cheap.. Think of it as a giant Nintendo, jamma is just a slot you stick the board in.. think of it like a giant PCI slot.

if its an original Primal RAGE cab, its worth more then $60... (would HAVE RAGE wrote down the sides and the panels on front would all look broken up lava ground.) if its a upgrade( some other cab with the Primal RAGE board stuck in it) you should figure out what the cab was originally. In the back inside should be some paper with a name someplace.. Depending on shape some of the old dedicated are worth some bucks if it wasn't to chopped up to get the Primal rage into it. Keep in mind thre are GENERIC cabs.. with a jamma harness.. no value to those.

If you do mame it. I would suggest making sure the type of cab and such first.. It might be worth selling and getting another cab. otherwise its pretty easy.. I built my own instead of chopping up an old one.. I have a few originals.. CongoBongo, and a Race Driving. If you can pick up and old e8400 and a board that will OC you can play "almost" any game in MAME but a few very specific ones.. some google work and you can buy a 2 gig HD with "everything" all set up for about $200.. you put it in a good PC and just GO.. all the old Laser disc game .. all the old home consoles.. even PSONE and PS2,Dreamcast.. of course that is not legal..

all you ever need to know
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/

Thanks for the info. Based on the blurry photos, it appears to be an original machine based on your description. I'm going to check it out Thursday. The biggest issue is that it weighs 325 pounds so moving it would be a huge PITA.

 

[smackababy]

Just get a dolly and it shouldn't be too terribly hard to lug around. It isn't some strange dimension you can't use a dolly, and it isn't like you have to be too careful. These things were made to withstand teenage kids banging on them all day.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Yes, I scratch built a MAME cab.

Yes, $60 is a good price for any cabinet. Buy it but before you gut it, make sure it is not a highly loved cabinet. People get pissed when classic and/or rare cabs get ruined.

Here's a link to my cab. And that is the forum you want to go to in order to learn.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,105534.0.html

FWIW: It is not hard to do. I highly recommend a 4-way/8-way stick. Don't get the u360 like I did. It's nice but knowing more now, I would not get it again. I wish I went with something like the Mag-Stik Plus.

http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html

Other things. Don't try to make a cab that plays modern emulators like the N64. Basically consoles that used analog controls suck on arcade cabinets. Nintendo emulation is pretty damned good along with SNES and Genesis. But remember, the best thing for a cab is Mame and 80s era and early 90s games.

You'll also need to learn about Front Ends (FEs). Pretty easy to use. I use Mala and recommend it if you want something that is easy to configure. There are some really cool front ends out there but they are harder to configure.

If you get a powerful processor, you can probably get some cool light gun based games.

What is awesome .... all the NBA jam games! Now that is addicting.

Before wanting a trackball, read about the games you can actually play with one. They are very limited and need alot of real estate on your control panel (CP).

Some day I hope to do a four player cab that uses that mag-Stik plus that i mentioned above. But not till a bunch of money lands on my lap.

I don't come to this forum often so PM me with questions.