Bought a DK Cab

[YesAffinity]

Hi All,

Been frequenting these forums, in the interest of upping my DK game.  Long time gamer, been infrequently playing DK since MAME'ing a bootleg Street Fighter 2 cabinet that 2 buddies and I bought for $350, around 13 years ago.  (DK was in the rotation of games we would play whenever getting together for a 'cade night).  Started playing less infrequently maybe about 5 years ago (King of Kong was a big contributor), started playing consistently about a year ago, and as of the last few months, playing more than I probably should (what with kids, work, school and all).  L9-2, 285.5k is my MAME PB, 247k (L7-?) is now my arcade PB (first run on this cabinet...haven't beat it yet).  The advice and info on this forum has been integral to me upping my game.

Anyway, I got a bee in my bonnet a couple weeks ago to at least get a legit DK board.  Thanks to jumpman on this forum, I did not buy a DK board on a whim, with the hopes that it would work in my other dedicated SF cabinet (horizontal monitor).  That surely would have turned out to be more headache than it would have been worth, and I am absolutely unwilling to do any major conversion to my dedicated SF cab.

The same day jumpman gave the good advise, a DK cab came up for sale on craigslist, approx. 2.5 hours from where I live.  I drove the 2.5 hours to see it, and approximately 6.5 hours after initial departure, at 1:00 a.m. in the morning, I was unloading this bad boy into the man cave.

I've got questions below, accompanying the pics.  Hopefully someone seasoned in DK cabs can provide answers/feedback.  Thanks for looking, I'm excited to be a part of the community!

[YesAffinity]

Minor cosmetic wear and tear.  Really good, for a nearly 35-year-old cabinet.  Imho, it adds character, and I would be extremely skeptical if it wasn't there.

[YesAffinity]

The back is missing both the metal serial placard, and most of the sticker.  Hmmm...is there any way to know for sure that this isn't a converted cab?

[YesAffinity]

Inside of back cover and inside of cab.

[YesAffinity]

Transformer and PSU.  Are both correct for an original DK cabinet?

[YesAffinity]

Does everything check out on this board (specifically, rom numbers)?

[YesAffinity]

Monitor serial sticker.

[YesAffinity]

This area probably requires the most attention.  Right side coin slot (from this view) is not connected, and doesn't appear to have the cabling necessary.  Service button screws are missing (but at least it works).  Coin box is missing.

[YesAffinity]

Control panel and sound work great.  What is that PVC tube extending into the cabinet?  There are no signs of it from the outside of the cab.

[YesAffinity]

Cabinet was also missing the blind cardboards, large and small (those are the part names according to the owner's manual I found on KLOV).  Does anybody know what the brackets on the left and right of the monitor are for?  I've seen video of other cabinets on youtube which have the bolts in the side of the cab, in the same locations as the bolts for these brackets, but those cabinets did not have the brackets.  I have also seen pictures of cabinets which did not have the bolts (and assuming did not have the brackets, although I couldn't see the inside of those cabs).

[YesAffinity]

Is the wood type and paint consistent with an original DK cabinet?  It appears there is only one coat of paint on all of the wood that I am able to scrutinize.  The side panels are a different type of wood than the control panel, front panel and top of the cabinet (CP, FP and top are a sturdier type of wood).

[f_symbols]

I will look at all the pictures more thoroughly after work, but I can tell you the extra bolts are for a horizontally mounted monitor for Popeye Mario, etc.  Looks really nice, congrats 

Edit: wow I cant get over how clean this thing is  , looks like you might have found a gem.  The best way to tell if it was converted is to see if you can find any other color paint, it looks, to me, to be original.

[YesAffinity]

Hi f_symbols.  Thank you for the feedback.  I don't see any signs of other paint colors.  The nicks and scratches on the sides have been touched up.  My wife (who is the artsy-fartsy one in the relationship, and knows a lot more about these type of things) said the touch ups were done with an acrylic paint, and were done really well as far as the color matching, and choosing a good paint that will preserve the wood.  She also couldn't find any signs that the powder blue is not the original coat.

I will be happy with the cab, even if it turns out that it was a conversion, it plays and looks great as far as I'm concerned.  The missing serial placard, once I realized it was missing after I got the cab home and did some more research on it, raised my eyebrows.  The more I think about it tho, it seems there is a possibility somebody removed it to attach it to another cabinet, which was converted to DK, to get more money for that cabinet.  I can't think of any other reason that someone would purposely remove it, and it doesn't seem that they are prone to falling off...are they?

Let me know if there's anything else I can post pics of.

[Shnypz]

Nice cab! Looks legit to me. Get some coin decals for that bad boy

Gratz!!

[jumpman]

That's a nice dk you picked up. Not sure what that pvc tube is. The metal brackets in inside of cab are for the horizontal games. You can buy a new replacement plastic monitor surround or make one out of heavy black poster board paper. It's hard to say if it came out of the factory a dk or not. A lot of cabs were factory converted others converted out in the wild. But it really doesn't matter you have a real deal dk now. If the curiosity compels you the best clue is on the back door instruction sheet. Compare the dipswitch info with dk dkjr Popeye and Mario bros to see what it matches up with. Most all Nintendo cabs I see have a date stamped in ink on the plywood inside the cab below the monitor. Sometimes stamped on the bottom of that plywood. That will give you day/month/year it was built. Most importantly just play it and have fun.