DadsGlasses

[DadsGlasses]

My name is Robert. I decided it was time to give a brief introduction.

I was born in 1979. My first gaming system was Coleco Vision. My favorite games at the time were Donkey Kong Jr, Venture,  Turbo ,and Cosmic Avenger. Next came NES. This was probably the console that played the longest single role in my gaming life. I lived and breathed NES. Favorite games for NES: Excitebike, Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. Next I got Sega Genesis. Most played Sega games were Ecco The Dolphin, Flashback, and Mortal Kombat. When I went to college I got exposed to N64 and Goldeneye. Goldeneye and MarioKart exposed me to multiplayer gaming. I enjoyed it, but never as much as I enjoyed solo gaming. Years later I moved into XBox and spent way too many hours playing Halo 2 online multiplayer rounds. PS3 followed and eventually XBox one.

One consistent theme for me was that as the games got more "advanced" by gaming standards, I became less interested. Graphically beautiful, theatrically pleasing, drawn out campaigns just do not hold my interest the way the classics do. They never have, and I'm not sure if they ever will. I'd prefer to play a text based adventure like Zork rather than many of the newer games. (Super Meat Boy is an exception to this. I love that game!)

My children have inherited my love of gaming. Most notably my 4yr old son. He's has some issues in his young life, and video games have provided a very positive outlet. When he was in the hospital recovering from open heart surgery, a Nintendo 3DS helped comfort him. (And my wife and I)

I recently decided to build an upright MAME arcade cabinet. It may sound weird, but I thought it would be healthier for my son to play video games while standing up rather than sitting down. So I built the cabinet and we love it.

I started playing Donkey Kong on the cabinet about 3 weeks ago. I decided to look online for some strategy advice. That is how I located this forum. I decided I just had to buy a Donkey Kong cabinet. I like the idea of the HSL and I wanted to be able to submit scores. I also wanted the personal challenge of doing it on a dedicated arcade machine. I don't want to practice save states in MAME. I want to learn and improve one credit at a time!

So I found a pretty decent DK Jr cabinet in the next state over. I decided to buy it and I swapped out the boards. Eventually I plan to add a Vector Labs Switcher so that players will have the option to play DK or DK Jr.

That's how I got to where I am today. Current personal best is 132,600. I've got a long way to go. My plan is to run the boards (for the most part) until I can get a kill screen. I would like to beat Billy Mitchell's longstanding high score and get into the high 800,000's. Once I reach that goal, I'll decide what's next.

I've been having some issues setting up a good video capture device. I'm limited by my old MacBook laptop. Hopefully I'll sort that out soon.

Thanks for all of the help, support, strategy, and comraderie.

[TheSunshineFund]

Hi Robert and welcome.

Best of luck in your gaming endeavors. 

[tudose]

welcome to the forum mate. good luck

[xelnia]

Get this man the blog badge!

[DadsGlasses]

Thank you for all of the kind welcome messages.

[DadsGlasses]

It has become immediately clear that I need to make some changes to my video capture setup.

1st: It looks ugly.  My wife doesn't like the appearance it gives off when you enter the room.  I tacked this together quickly using a spare piece of trim I had in the garage.  I am going to make a more low profile mount for the web cam.

2nd: My computer is so very out of date.  I'm currently using a 10+year old MacBook. It's the only laptop that I own.  I am looking into a replacement so that I can stream through Twitch.  With my old laptop it just doesn't seem feasible.  I'm using a Logitech 720 c270 webcam.  Unfortunately there is not much support for MAC, so I have little to no control over the capture settings.  I am considering purchasing a "cheap" laptop to use for video capture/streaming.  I just need to make sure I cover the basic requirements.  Currently I am capturing a HUGE .MOV file and then importing it into iMovie and compressing.  Then I'm loading that file onto a thumb drive and transferring to my desktop iMac.  Then I upload the video to YouTube.  With all that, I am wasting time that I could be playing and improving.

3rd: I need to decide what works best for my setup once I upgrade.  Twitch streaming vs YouTube, etc.




 

[DadsGlasses]

A Lonely Companion.......



I currently have a non-working PolePosition sitting in the room next to my DK Arcade Cabinet.

When I picked up the machine it was working fine.  I decided to remove the leaky battery from the PCB.  Unfortunately in doing so I messed something up.  Now I just get a blue screen with a RAM 8 error message.  I have played with it a little, but I fear doing more damage.  I think I am going to send it to Eldorado Games for repair.

[DadsGlasses]

Last in the room is the MAME cabinet that I built.  We love it.  So many great games that really stir the nostalgia.  My 4yo son absolutely LOVES the machine.  Currently I am trying to figure out how to get the PAULINE hack onto my MAME cabinet.  I have seen a few step by step guides, but they require a Windows PC in order to alter the .bin files.  I can't figure out how to do it on a MAC.

[DadsGlasses]

Hand positioning:

I always find quirky things like this to be interesting.  I'd love to hear how others position their hands while playing DK.

Here's what I do:

My left hand rests on the control overlay.  I use my left thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger to hold the joystick.  I place my thumb directly over the set screw hole.  If my thumb is not directly over the hole, my hand just doesn't feel right at all.

For my jump button, I rest my right hand on the control overlay.  I simultaneously use both my pointer and middle fingers to tap the jump button.

Does any of this matter?  Probably not.  I just find it interesting.

[DadsGlasses]

Music:

I enjoy listening to music while I play video games.  It adds to the nostalgia of being in the arcade as a kid.  There was always music playing.  So what do I listen to and how do I listen?

I have a Sonos speaker that sits directly on top of my DK cabinet.  I listen to the 80's Rock station from Pandora.  Perfect atmosphere for playing an early 80's arcade classic.

My wife HATES it.  I LOVE it.

Is the music annoying in the background of my streams?

[TheSunshineFund]

I think I am going to send it to Eldorado Games for repair.

Don't do that, you are just asking for more trouble.  See if you can Dick Millikan's info on KLOV and see if he's taking on repairs.

[DadsGlasses]

I think I am going to send it to Eldorado Games for repair.

Don't do that, you are just asking for more trouble.  See if you can Dick Millikan's info on KLOV and see if he's taking on repairs.

Thank you for the advice. I will do that.

[TheSunshineFund]

I have no experience with either of them but I've heard plenty of El Dorado horror stories and nothing but good things about Millikan's work on Atari boards.  I think he used to actually take non-working in + cash for working bulletproofed pole position boards.

[DadsGlasses]

I have no experience with either of them but I've heard plenty of El Dorado horror stories and nothing but good things about Millikan's work on Atari boards.  I think he used to actually take non-working in + cash for working bulletproofed pole position boards.

That is certainly something I would consider.

[TheSunshineFund]

For reference as to Millikan's prowess with those boards, here's a FS post actually mentioning that the PCB was bulletproofed by Dick as a selling point.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=329296&highlight=millikan