Jamma or original releases?

[Spyke]

Hi all.

Some of you who know me on here will know I've got a fairly decent selection of shmups, spread over a range of consoles (see my sig). I play them all and like all the systems.

At a couple of game shows I've seen progfessionally built "bartop cabs" running Jamma boards, and I've always been tempted. Recently I actually made an enquiry and got some replies from the builder. I looked through the list of games that the different boards had, and there were quite a lot of games on there that I don't own and/or would like to own.

But the price of a custom built cab running a 512-in-1 to my spec could be £500 or so, and more if I chose the 2019-in-1 board, which does indeed have a larger number of games that I fancy.

But here's the thing. A lot of those games I could actually buy on console format and run on my own consoles, and to be honest it would probably work out cheaper. I ran my consoles through a SLG so can replicate the "retro feel" and am comfortable with the systems and joysticks etc.

I would also have to choose between a hori screen or a vert screen, and that would compromise games in the format that wasn't chosen, whereas I can TATE my current screen.

I'm talking about games like Zero Wing, Salamander, Gradius, Sonic Wings, Raiden Fighters Jet, Truxton, Guwange, X-Multiply, Battle Garegga, Esp-Ra-De, Batsugun, Aeroblasters, and some others. As far as I know, those titles (except Esp-Ra-De) are available on console format, so could be bought piecemeal, but there are also some games, like Progear and Armed Police Batrider that are not available on console release. (Correct me if I'm wrong?)

I'm just wondering what you would do? Have any of you been in the same situation? Is the no-compromise console release option better in the long run? Do the Jamma boards have issues running the games properly?

Any thoughts welcome.

Ant

[SpoonyBard]

I own one of the whatever-in-one Jamma boards and mine has plenty of issues. The sound levels differ wildly from game to game and you have to reset the board to adjust it. You can't change the sound from game to game, it only has a master volume for all titles.

The dips don't seem to be all there, and unless the menu navigation is a little more intuitive on the big 500/2000 boards, i'd imagine it would be a huge pain to change some of them. Some of the default settings on the games seem off.

Setting dips for continues (as a death will typically send you back to the game select screen) can be really difficult. And with some games it never sends you to a high score section. The 194X games on my board dump you back to the game select screen after a death, requiring you to add a credit and restart the game to enter a high score. Not much of an issue if you're on free play though.

Some titles don't save scores at all.

When powered off, some games will lose all high score information. Some games will keep the scores but lose the initials. Some games will lose all but the highest score (still lose initials). Bomb Jack on my board copies the high score for all scores on the board. I hit 650k on there and no one will play it anymore because they can't get on the high score list.

Every once in awhile my board will just display a red bar on the screen and must be reset to operate. It runs 24/7, and it can be disheartening for some to lose a high score they worked at for quite some time when it has to be reset.

Control setups for some games (Gun.Smoke, especially) can be kind of off, making the game difficult to play, and there's no real practical fix for it.


Overall, i'd say go with the console releases. PCB collecting can be fun, and in a lot of cases the boards are superior. But it's definitely costly to do it "right". The multi-boards are neat in a way, but overall you'll probably be more pleased with the console releases.

[dunpeal2064]

I use Mame

[fastbilly1]

Multiboards are Mame on a pcb. So go Mame or legit PCBs.

[ninjainspandex]

one day I will make a PC with MAME with JAMMA out, one day....

[Spyke]

Ok, thanks for the info.

So, to "do it right" I presume it would be better in terms of performance to buy individual PCB's for each game, but much less hassle to simply buy the console versions.

Some of the games are costly for console, but others a lot less so, and I see that Salamander comes in a compilation pack, as does Gradius, as does Raiden Fighters Jet, etc, so it looks like even though the might be a bit pricey to buy it would work out better value for money.



Ant

[ninjainspandex]

are any of these arcade multiboards with 1000+ games any good? Anyone have experience with the 2019 in 1?

I have most of the arcade boards I ever really wanted but there are always a few I only want to play from time to time that I can not afford or have the room.