{"id":33,"date":"2008-06-06T17:19:08","date_gmt":"2008-06-06T22:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freemansgarage.com\/blog\/?p=33"},"modified":"2019-09-16T22:08:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T02:08:59","slug":"mikes-neo-geo-mame-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freemansgarage.com\/index.php\/2008\/06\/06\/mikes-neo-geo-mame-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike’s Neo Geo MAME Cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Neo<\/a>
My Neo Geo Mame Cabinet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is my MAME cabinet conversion made from a Neo-Geo MVS cabinet. MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an excellent arcade emulator that will emulate the hardware of many arcade games perfectly. It will play almost all arcade games on a relatively low end PC. If you grew up in the 80’s like I did, you will remember the local arcades and all those quarters you lost in games like
\nGalaga<\/a>. Well here is a chance to have all those games on one machine in your own home.
\nMy cabinet is an old NEO-GEO MVS<\/a> cabinet made by SNK that I paid $100 US for last month from a local arcade that was closing its doors. It was complete with a working 25″ monitor. It was important for me to buy a cabinet that had a working monitor because I wanted the “real” experience that is hard to obtain using a PC monitor. The control panel (where the buttons and joystick are) was not too important when selecting a cabinet because I was willing to add buttons and update it to the modern configuration. Check out Craigslist<\/a>, Ebay<\/a>, and your local arcades to find a cheap unwanted cabinet.
\nMake sure to check out the Build Your Own Arcade Controls<\/a> Web site for excellent tips and help from the experts.
\nVideos of the cabinet are at the bottom.<\/p>\n

CABINET<\/span>
\n\"Inside<\/a>
\nHere is the inside of the cabinet. You can see the monitor on the top, the original NEO GEO arcade board mounted on the side, and the power supply in on the bottom. I removed the power supply and the NEO GEO board since they will not be needed for the MAME conversion.
\n\"neogeo<\/a>
\n\"Original<\/a>
\nHere is the original control panel. It’s not too bad but it does need two additional buttons for each player. The extra buttons are needed to play any of the modern fighter games (Like Street Fighter or Killer Instinct).
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nI used a 1.125 inch diameter hole saw to cut the additional holes in the console. This NEO-GEO console is made steel plate and not MDF. I had to make sure the hole saw was a “bi-metal” type that is made for steel cutting. Cost: ~$9US
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nDrilling the hole can be tricky. If you are not perfectly parallel to the console surface, the hole saw will “bite” the Plexiglas too much and crack it like it did to me. I had to go slow and level and the rest of the holes turned out fine. One tip I was emailed about said to run the drill in reverse while cutting into plexiglass. Reverse will cut just fine and not grab and crack the plexiglass. Once through the plexyglass, switch the drill into forward mode to cut the steel plate. I have not tried this but I think its a great idea.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nI ordered extra buttons from HAPP CONTROLS<\/a> which arrived promptly. My finished buttons ended up with a slight slant configuration due to the original button layout. It looks good to me. Hooking up the buttons to the system is covered in the hardware section.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MONITOR<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nMy monitor is a Wells Garner 25K7195 25″ CGA Monitor. These are neither a TV nor a PC Monitor. They require a 5 volt 15Khz signal and you can not just connect a PC to this monitor without some “help”. A PC will output 1 volt 30Khz and will destroy one of these arcade monitors in a very short time.
\nThere are some options to get around this.<\/p>\n