Collecting Arcade JAMMA Boards - Tips, Tricks and Hardware Needed - "On a Technicality" - VGE

[@JasonALMS2010]

Been soooo tempted to get a super gun since discovering your channel last year. The mister is holding me off for now, but I sure would love to play the arcade systems that the mister won’t be emulating any time soon

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s worth it IMO if you want to play some arcade exclusives

[@victorthomas6571]

Thanks I will ask for help when I buy my game board to hook up

[@Michael-ur4nt]

Hey I’m just getting into the hobby and this is the cleanest explanation I have seen. It is a bit intimidating to break into. I really appreciate it!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Glad it helped you! I have plenty more tutorials already up and more coming too :)

[@fjdiazt]

You are the master of aesthetics, I mean look at that joystick and even the jamma harness looks awesome lol. Great video as always, but you lost me about the signal voltage though, and it's something I'm interesting in because I plan on modding a consumer TV to accept RGB input so I have to learn a lot more.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Basically TTL voltage from an arcade pcb was meant for certain monitors that accepted TTL signal voltage. Consumer tv’s and upscalers do not like this voltage as they aren’t built to accept it. So you need to bring the signal from some superguns down to a correct voltage to prevent damage to the stuff

[@fjdiazt]

@@VideoGameEsoterica can you name an example of a game or system which could behave this way?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Basically every JAMMA board ever. The standard is TTL

[@evanb4466]

Great video! I’ve actually built my own supergun out of a cigar box, and it’s served me well. You are right about that info on db15, since is all just about grounding pins and not involving shift registers it’s really easy to work with

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah anything without a “brain” is perfect for DB15. Always has enough pins and they are cheap and readily available

[@whatamalike]

I actually quite like the acrylic case you've put together there; very minimalist and with access to all sides :)

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah that was my goal. I didn’t want to build something needlessly complex and time consuming but I also wanted everything as one unit. The thing you don’t see (coming up in another video) is the power supply is quick removable. So I can plug in a 24 pin ATX to JVS power cable and use the supply on JVS stuff. I like to make things that serve dual purposes since space is always a concern and I don’t want multiple power supplies and setups for each type of pcb. Plus the plastic mildly protects everything lol. Not like I really drop pens on it accidentally but it got my point across

[@lustechsource5197]

Very awesome and informative video! Wish I had the space for some JAMMA arcade games, but I do enjoy watching other peoples setups.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Honestly a supergun and a few boards don’t take up much space. Issue is one board turns into two...which turns into five...into ten...into a storage nightmare haha

[@madrandomize5115]

Also I have the same supergun and I have the same thoughts about the signal coming raw from jamma.I have burned an old TV inputs (tv was already half dead though). And also I cannot get sound from the supergun when on my cps2, when on my neogeo I can... Which is weird, anyway now that I have the hdmi cps2 kit it will be awesome. Also if you can in a future video, consider taking about button decoders, encoders and converters. You can make a Arduino db15 to SNES controller encoder, and you can buy premade usb decoders for using a db15 jamma stick for use on pc.Or the cthulu encoders to make a stick for pc, or undamned of you want to make jamma to usb.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Encoders will come next year :) some are already shot. Just not released yet!

[@ChuChuFlamingo1]

The flexing of the jamma harness is a concern due to the weight of some of these superguns. Probably overblown but flexing of the pcb should be kept to a minimum. Then again nothing can be as bad as what some operators did storing them like trading cards on top of one another. Having a extension harness serves a few purposes. 1.)Routing/cable management. Plugging in these superguns directly looks like a giant spider electrical fire death trap with the power cord, video cord, and controller cords. Having an extension allows you to make it look a lot more presentable. 2.)A lot of these superguns are pretty heavy vs more jamma cabinets. Especially when you factor in a lot come with acrylic cases. 3.)With acrylic cases on fitting the supergun can be annoying on certainb oards (like CPS2 where it needs to be slightly above or hanging )or Hyper Neo 64 where the AUX connector metal panel connector cock blocks you from plugging it in. 4.)Wear and tear is on the jamma extender, not the expensive supergun. If you switch games often you are going to wear down your jamma connector. It is much better idea to wear out a extender than the pins on the supergun itself. And yeah that supergun you have sucks. There is more to video/audio than simply having the right voltage imo. 75 ohm termination on video rgb out and properly attenuated audio are good but you also need a video buffer before the outputs to protect your arcade boards.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Outside of not connecting the supergun directly to the pcb I don’t have much of an issue with flex at all, but I’m able to set everything up flat and alleviate that issue. That supergun to me is “fine”...not good, not bad, just functional. I’ll upgrade it at some point in time but the issue is stock....which is to say they are almost always out of stock lol. One day I’ll get around to building my own

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I will say that RetroElectronik supergun has zero customer support though. Half it’s bad rep is down to the fact the seller / maker does not correspond with anyone with issues. Granted I have enough of a background to make sure mine is functioning correctly / handle the voltages out for video / deal with any cold solder joints (which I guess have been an issue for people) It was honestly the only thing “in stock” when I picked it up and I needed one to test some things so it’s at least a +1 for availability 🤣 I’d love to design one and just sell them as kits but I don’t have the time to do it

[@funnyguy150]

I've had bad experiences with eBay JAMMA harnesses, so I'm interested in buying a quality one.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Let me find the name of the dude who made me mine. I make them on occasion as well but man it’s a process lol

[@BubblegumCrash332]

I. Love the look at those Capcom CPS2 boards

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah they are pretty visually interesting for sure

[@jorxe21]

Nice! JVS please

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

February :) already uploaded and ready to go

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

One on I/O boards and one on power

[@solidusgrcsnakegrc3322]

Would love to see a video about Neo Geo Mvs!!!!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Honestly I don’t even have an MVS. I’m one of the dummies who collects AES 🤣

[@solidusgrcsnakegrc3322]

@@VideoGameEsoterica then you are pretty lucky! I have a hacked Neo Geo Mini to play my neo geo and cps games. :(

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I just got into AES like 14 years ago so I was able to collect a lot before it became the wild pricing you see today

[@solidusgrcsnakegrc3322]

@@VideoGameEsoterica i was looking to buy a neo geo cd from japan, the prices are around 150€ but i don't risk it.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Right now shipping from Japan is dicey as well. I haven’t imported anything since Japan Post started shutting down for the pandemic. I haven’t looked into it lately but I’ve been staying away from importing this year

[@adrianebattilana2949]

❤️

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

:)

[@madrandomize5115]

Haven't watched the video yet, I am sure it will be great! I just bought a av-hdmi interface for my consolized cps2! And as soon as I opened KZbin I see your video :) keep up the good work!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Thanks! More in this series will be coming soon. Going to talk about where to find boards and how to deal with JVS stuff, as that gets a lot more complicated

[@energyzer_bunny1913]

JVS video please. I'm not too knowledgeable about it.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

They will start coming out in Feb. one on I/O boards and controls, one on powering, and one on the whole setup :)

[@dbdanShorts]

The thumb nail was eye candy ....bruh

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Lol and that’s like a tiny bit of the stuff I could have jammed in there. But yeah gotta love arcade hardware...just looks cool

[@dbdanShorts]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I’m a 90s kid it looks nostalgic too haha

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Lol same. CPS 2 was huge in arcades when I went on the regular as a kid

[@dbdanShorts]

@@VideoGameEsoterica my dads friend had pac man in the living room and since then that’s the dream . Dad had old pinball machines I think evil canevil and Adams family I like that style of game with the airbrush paintings and stuff

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah that classic airbrush look is pretty fun