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Lowlife
| Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:09 pm: |
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Anyone remember playing Double Dragon at your local arcade, mall or Laundromat? I used to play it at a pizza joint when I was about 10 years old. A couple months ago, one of my friends, in a moment of drunken brilliance, stated that a Double Dragon machine would be the first thing he would buy if he won the powerball. So, when I saw it in a pawn shop window a week later, there was no way I could pass it up.
I stopped in and asked the guy what he wanted for it... "It don't work, so you can have it for 25 bucks", he said. Score! I took it home, and pulled open the PCB drawer and found the problem in about 10 seconds. The isolation transformer, which feeds juice to the monitor was disconnected. Thats the dirty square thingy in the left side of the picture.
I was disappointed though, to find that somebody replaced the Double Dragon PCB with a Double Dragon II PCB. Anybody that has played both of them, knows there is no comparison. Original Double Dragon PCBs are a dime a dozen on the internet, and I wasted no time in picking up a replacement.
A few cosmetic tweeks were in order. The control panel overlay had cigarette burns, the pushbuttons were all clapped out, and the rubber centering grommets in the joysticks were junk. So, I got all new stuff.
I touched up the paint on the cab, and replaced the locks. It must have been owned by a distributor at some point, because there were dolly marks on the back. Anyway, I installed the new PCBs and it fired right up. A little playing around with the pots on the monitor, and I was gaming in no time. It now sits in my apartment. I think I spent a total of $150. I'd consider it 75% restored. Does it blend nicely with the decor? No. In fact, my girlfriend said "Tell me you didn't pay money for that thing!". As it turns out, new girlfriends are easier to find than mint condition Double Dragon machines .
Anybody else have some coin ops sitting in the basement? I had a blast putting this thing back together. Right now, I have a small collection of boardsets and marquees that I'm going to rotate into the cabinet. Its a nerdy but fun hobby. |
Oldog
| Posted on Sunday, August 27, 2006 - 10:56 pm: |
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COOL! |
Mr_grumpy
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 04:34 am: |
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You got any more girlfriends sitting in the basement? I'll do you a swap. |
Pwnzor
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:23 am: |
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I can get you as many girls as you want for an ORIGINAL Asteroids machine. The kind where you can hide your ship behind the score. |
Rubberdown
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:27 am: |
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This reminds me of an old Seinfeld episode. Is that you George? |
510toy
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:33 am: |
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i like the bottle of myers rum sitting beside the machine on the liquor cabinet. mmmmmmmm myers. |
Firebolteric_ma
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 11:35 am: |
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ORIGINAL Asteroids machine...i would kill for one of them. BEST video game ever. KIDS these days don't know what they missed! |
Doon
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 12:02 pm: |
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I don't have any Video Games yet. but will at some point. But I do have a couple of Pinball Machines in the living room. My wife can't wait till we get a house so we can get more (she is just as much a pinball player as I am). http://patrick.muldoon.us/gallery/pinball/pinball039 |
Lowlife
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 12:24 pm: |
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i like the bottle of myers rum sitting beside the machine on the liquor cabinet. mmmmmmmm myers. Meyers rum is my all time favorite. Nobody else seems to drink it though. Doon, those pins look like they're in nice shape. Is the Lord Of The Rings pin made by Stern? Last time I checked they were the only outfit still in business. |
Doon
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 12:34 pm: |
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lowlife, the LOTR is made by stern and I bought it brand new so it is in great shape The Demolition man I got used, and cleaned up, but all in all is in pretty good shape also, considering it is 12 years old. Stern was the only company making pins, but there is a guy in Australia who bought the rights to make Williams pins, and is supposedly re-releasing Medivial Madness and Cactus canyon. |
Gentleman_jon
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 12:39 pm: |
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The best possible way in the world to drink Meyers is as "floater" on a Mt. Gay Southside. The Southside , now the favorite drink of the Long Island country club set, originated on the Southside of Chicago during prohibition. It consists of lemon and or lime juice, sugar and Gin or rum. Mt Gay is the preferred rum at Yacht clubs. The mixture is shaken like a dacquiri, topped with mint leaf. Then you pour an ounce of Meyers on top, where it floats, a dark sea on a lake of lemon lime. Any questions on that subject? PS. Real nice job on the Double Dragon. (Message edited by gentleman_jon on August 28, 2006) |
Eboos
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 12:44 pm: |
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I would love to have a Galaga or Galaxian machine. Those games are just as fun now as they were back then. |
Madsx
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 01:10 pm: |
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Gotta love the Varitek picture behind the bar. Nice touch! |
Raceautobody
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 01:17 pm: |
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"Mad Planets" now that was a cool game. Al |
Lowlife
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 01:37 pm: |
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I would love to have a Galaga or Galaxian machine. Actually, I found a Galaga machine in the area for a reasonable price. That'll be the next one that I restore. Bally/Midway pumped out so many of those things, that parts are still easy to find. "Mad Planets" now that was a cool game. Thats one of the few classics that I haven't played. It was a Gottlieb machine IIRC. Not too many of those left. |
No_rice
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:08 pm: |
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JOUST! thats the one i want really bad |
G234146
| Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 10:36 pm: |
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Ah yes, the classics... Seems like games were made back in the day to be fun. You know, FUN! Now it's just graphics, graphics, graphics |
Bluzm2
| Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 12:54 am: |
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If you folks like the old games, you MUST fire up a MAME machine emulator. I've got a TON of the old games. Original ROM versions that run in the MAME emulator on a standard PC. Only tricky part is the conrols. But, the graffic's are EXACTLY the same as the original. check out www.mame.net or http://www.mameromlinks.com/ Cool stuff! Brad |
Skyguy
| Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 01:24 am: |
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I had a stand up Defender machine in excellent condition. Finally got offered so much cash for it I felt a fool not to let it go. |
Pwnzor
| Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 01:32 am: |
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I have all my old games from Apple, Commodore, Amiga and Atari on emulators in my PDA. I like playing Ultima II when I'm in line at the bank. Then maybe fire up some Zork I or Olympic Decathlon. Of course, the more recent games like Tempest and Missile Command are on the gameboy. God, I'm such a dork. |
Fester99
| Posted on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 05:41 pm: |
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Low and Bluz, MAME is the way to go fun cheap and dang near free. I have a MAME I built for around 300 bucks. I bought the cabnet for 50$, got a TV from Sams for like 150$, then the rest was spent for the boards buttons and odds and ends. I had an old 533 P1 laying around used some old HDs. It took me like a week or so works like a champ! Nothing better then drinking a few beers and playing anyone of the 5200 games I have. (pics to come) |
Thansesxb9rs
| Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 12:48 am: |
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Ya I have to say Golden Tee and a few beer is always a good time at Festers. |
Pwnzor
| Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 12:51 am: |
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I had an old 533 P1 laying around I'd like to see a picture of that. |
Fester99
| Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 12:53 pm: |
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"Celeron 533 mhz" sorry to upset the techies, basically an P.O.S system that was for the most part worthless. Here are the pics I promised.
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Lowlife
| Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - 04:29 pm: |
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Fester, that's a nice MAME machine. Fifty bucks for an undamaged cabinet is a smokin deal. I will put together a MAME eventually, but I need to sit down and configure a control panel setup first. I'd like to work a thumbwheel into the panel so I can play stuff like Tempest, Arkaniod, Breakout, etc... For now, I'm collecting mostly JAMMA boards, and artwork to put dedicated machines together. |
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