Donkey Kong Forum
General Donkey Kong Discussion => General Donkey Kong Discussion => Topic started by: YesAffinity on May 07, 2015, 06:10:39 am
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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!
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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.
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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?
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Inside of back cover and inside of cab.
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Transformer and PSU. Are both correct for an original DK cabinet?
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Does everything check out on this board (specifically, rom numbers)?
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Monitor serial sticker.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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).
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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 Kreygasm
Edit: wow I cant get over how clean this thing is Kreygasm , 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.
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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.
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Nice cab! Looks legit to me. Get some coin decals for that bad boy 8)
Gratz!!
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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.
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Very nice Kong. I looked over your pics and everything looks correct. Congrats!
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Thanks, guys. I appreciate the feedback and the warm welcome. I'm excited to be a part of the community!
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So I was reading the rules for submitting a DK score to Twin Galaxies, and while the requirements are rigorous and lengthy, one caught my eye: "Show processor at position 7C (must read 780c or Z80)". Below is a pic of the processor on my board, at 7C. Is this processor original to the game board? And, will it be acceptable to Twin Galaxies?
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That's a Z80.
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Thanks ebinsugewa, for the confirmation.
One minor fix to the cabinet completed: service button properly affixed. I found some nuts and bolts in my stash of old hardware from random computer parts, which are a perfect match. The retaining bracket for the service switch is threaded, and the thread of the bolts matches exactly. In addition, it is bolted. Can't get any more bullet-proof than that, in my mind...except for maybe if I had some locking washers to match, but that would just be asking too much.
Anyway, I've got 2 spares if anybody else out there has a dangling service button in their cab, and needs a way to properly secure it. Reach out to me via PM if you need them.
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Couldn't fit the last pic of the secured service button in the previous post...
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Great looking cab. This shows many signs of having been in the hands of an "arcade guy" and restored in several respects (no DK cab would ever naturally look that good after 34 years, unless it was in a closet the whole time).
- Control panel looks new overall, but at any rate, the buttons are not original. Colors and plungers, etc. are different.
- It's a good paint job (never seen one where they painted the INSIDE of the speaker holes!), but it's not factory. DK's came originally with either a fiberglass gelcoat, melamine, or formica (depending on where and when the cab was made). Feel the material on the inside of the control panel (where the latches are). Unless this was a super-detailed restore, THAT will still have the original finish and you'll be able to feel the difference. The fact that the inner-finish is "DK blue", though, means that this was a DK originally.
- If the paint job is new, then that of course means the sideart is. :)
- The instruction sheet on the back door is DK (not Junior, Popeye, etc.) So assuming that particular back door is original to the cab, that also shows it to be an original DK.
- That isn't a stock DK isolation transformer. You have a PT-8A. Standard with a DK is PT821B (pic here (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178066&d=1398775616)). The 821B is smaller and a different color. But it's hard to imagine anything that could possibly matter less...
- Probably not worth mentioning, but somebody had some fun diddling with the coin meter. Obviously there has never been a DK machine (or any other arcade machine), that logged damn near a quarter million plays.
- In my experience, an intact Service Switch button cover (the black nub that you press on) is rare. Cool that yours has one.
- Also cool that your cab has the horizontal monitor mounts installed. This will be very handy if you ever want to play Popeye or Mario Brothers. Mine does not have the horizontal mounts (or even the holes for them), so when I want to play Popeye, I just pull the monitor out, turn it, and let it hang loose in there, just letting the shelf support the monitor. Wouldn't want to move it that way, and the screen ends up being a couple inches lower than it should be, but it works.
- The coin slot wiring is just the two wires (orange and brown). To connect both slots, you have to cut the wires and splice one set at the terminals to continue to the other terminals.
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Hi ChrisP,
thank you for the feedback.
Any idea what the PVC tube extending from the interior of the front panel/speaker panel is?
The paint now becomes even more of a mystery. Okay, seems likely that the front panel/speaker panel is re-painted, since the grill is painted and that is not factory. The side panels however, have probably about 20 nicks and dings, at least 1 or 2 serious gouges, all of which have been touched up with a very good paint match (but when looking close enough, is clearly a touch-up). So, that would mean that the sides were re-painted and re-stickered, and then the re-paint has been subject to all this damage and subsequently touched up. I'll have to take a closer look at the side panels, compared to the front panel/speaker panel and some of the other painted areas. It's more of a curiosity now, based on the info you've provided. :)
What colors were the original buttons? Mine appear to be very new, and I'm not surprised to hear they are replacements.
Also, the ball top on the joystick has a small hole in the side. It doesn't appear to be drilled, and is actually "tiered" for lack of a better word. I can't imagine what it would be for. It is very dusty inside the hole, and appears to have been there for quite some time, if not original to the ball top. Can you provide any insight into the hole in the side of the ball top? Again, just another little thing that is a curiosity.
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There's a fitted <Allen> screw that goes in that hole on the joystick; it secures the ball to the shaft, lo
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There's a fitted <Allen> screw that goes in that hole on the joystick; it secures the ball to the shaft, lo
I see what you did there..
You can get a replacement set screw at a hardware store. It's a M4 4mm x 8mm. You will need a metric <Allen> wrench.
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Okay, good info, thank you. Maybe the screw is there...I'll have to take a closer look.
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So here's a pic of the hole on the balltop. Not completely sure what I'm looking at inside that hole, other than uncounted years of finger funk and dust. I can't tell....is the set screw in there? I can tell you that the balltop is firmly secured to the stick. I tried holding the stick and rotating the balltop, and the two are firmly joined together.
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It looks like it's in there. Especially since the ball won't come off.
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If the ball won't come off, the screw is there (since that is the purpose of the screw).
Some people find the screw hole annoying, but I always liked it in a tactile sense for some reason.
Being able to remove the ball means that you don't have to disassemble the entire joystick to remove the control panel overlay or the dust ring if you need to do those for whatever purpose (like cleaning them). This has actually come in useful for me a couple of times.
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I agree, I like the hole. I position it toward the screen when playing, and it acts as a grip for my forefinger. <Roy>
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I agree, I like the hole. I position it toward the screen when playing, and it acts as a grip for my forefinger. <Roy>
Similarly, I use it as a grip point for my thumb.
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Anybody else a fan of the ball hole? Kappa
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I go back and forth with the ball hole. Sometimes I like to put my finger on it Kappa and other times it just pisses me off.
I also didn't realize a complete service button was so rare...mine is in great condition.
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Beautiful cabinet. I am on the hunt for one myself up in New England. Thanks for sharing.
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I got back and forth with the ball hole. Sometimes I like to put my finger on it Kappa and other times it just pisses me off.
We are still talking about the joystick, right? Kreygasm <Roy> Kreygasm ;D
Beautiful cabinet. I am on the hunt for one myself up in New England. Thanks for sharing.
Good luck with your search, hope you find one soon. Nothing compares to the awesomeness of the original arcade hardware.
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I happened to be trolling ebay the other day, and a coin box came up in the suggested listings. Picked it up for $30 shipped. Pretty excited to have my cabinet that much more complete.
Funny that the "meter" card on the back of the box is blank, but the owner decided to right on the box itself, in ink. Looks like there is an original meter card which is now covered up.
Is the "N" on the bottom of the box normal? Is that for Nintendo?
Ah the curiosities, for things nearly 35 years old, which may never get answered. 8)
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Looks good. Nice score.
I'll check the box in my DK Jr cab and see if there is an N on it.
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I finally got around to swapping in the replacement monitor today, which I bought off someone locally, a couple months back. I am detailing that more in my blog. But, I wanted to post this here, as well as my blog. Once I removed the original monitor and video chassis assembly, lo and behold, the cabinet nameplate. 90% confidence that this bad boy is an og dk is now 100% confidence. ;D