My Quest for an Arcade Cabinet

[TrakMastaTom]

Due to my room mate moving out, there is a room sitting in my home with nothing in it. I had this fantasy that I never thought could be a reality of putting an arcade cabinet in there, or maybe a pinball machine. I was checking out craigslist listings in Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis when I ran across an ad for a Stargate (Defender 2) arcade cabinet in full working condition. The guy that wrote the ad says he would sell the thing for 500 or consider trading it for a Wii.

A Wii for a Defener 2 cabinet...what do you guys think?

Edit: Actually while I am at it, do any of you guys own arcade cabinets? If so, what did you pay and are you happy with them? I really want to buy one of those Neo Geo ones and get Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown, but I can't find any locally.

[Kugyince]

Originally Posted by TrakMastaTom

The guy that wrote the ad says he would sell the thing for 500 or consider trading it for a Wii.

Since a Wii is what, $250, I would make the trade and just go buy a new Wii.

FYI: if you're buying it as a collector make sure it hasn't been modded. If it has, its value it significantly decreased. The more authentic it is, the more it will be worth if you ever decide to sell/trade it later on.

[TrakMastaTom]

Originally Posted by Tenser

Since a Wii is what, $250, I would make the trade and just go buy a new Wii.

Exactly what I was thinking.

FYI: if you're buying it as a collector make sure it hasn't been modded. If it has, its value it significantly decreased. The more authentic it is, the more it will be worth if you ever decide to sell/trade it later on.

Thanks for the tip.

[Slime Slayer]

weve got a final fight here at i work, i beleive it was $100

[TNTisKING]

I would love to own a simpsons arcade cabinet someday.
There was also a promotion mountain dew was doing over the summer, and an arcade system preloaded with over 100 games and the ability to download more was one of the prizes. I wanted to win that thing so much, and now I see people selling them online who say that they didn't even want it

[TrakMastaTom]

Originally Posted by stevencassidy13

weve got a final fight here at i work, i beleive it was $100

That's a deal.

I'm finding these Neo Geo 1/2/4 slot cabinets all over ebay for reasonable prices, but they are all too far away for me to go get, and I don't even want to mess with shipping one.

I guess I will wait patiently til I find one closer...

[Kugyince]

Kong sells arcade cabinets with 1,000+ games in them.

[TrakMastaTom]

Appealing...

But I am afraid of shipping arcade machines. Well, mostly afraid of the price.

Plus I am a poor college student. I only have 3 or 4 hundred dollars to spend.

[laserboy1134]

Originally Posted by TrakMastaTom

Appealing...

But I am afraid of shipping arcade machines. Well, mostly afraid of the price.

Plus I am a poor college student. I only have 3 or 4 hundred dollars to spend.

then don't buy an arcade cabinet until you get more money. Be patient.

[Kugyince]

I want D&D Tower of Doom

[TrakMastaTom]

Originally Posted by laserboy1134

then don't buy an arcade cabinet until you get more money. Be patient.

Well I have enough money to buy some I want, just not enough to buy and ship it, and I can't find any good ones locally.[br]Posted on: December 01, 2008, 06:18:51 PM_________________________________________________I emailed a guy that is a few hours from me about a Neo Geo 2 slot. He says it needs a cap kit. I don't know anything about that, anyone know what that is and if it an easy part to find?

[Kugyince]

http://arcade.50megs.com/capkit/capkit.htm[br]Posted on: December 01, 2008, 07:20:57 PM_________________________________________________I 've seen that done before but have never done it myself. Supposedly, its an easy but dangerous process.

[Kong]

I used to get used cabinets and put a computer inside them that would run emulators. You would get the arcade look and feel along with nearly every game. Right now I have a similar setup in my house on a large projector screen. The projector is nice because you can just kick back on the couch and lounge while playing but standing up at the arcade feels more exciting.

I suggest making sure what ever game you get that it is a fun multi-player game that you can play over and over and check it for damage before paying - no nicks or dead pixels or rainbow colors on the monitor, solid controls etc.

[TrakMastaTom]

The guy said he would get it fixed for me for an extra 100 dollars. He also said the part was a 10-15 dollar item. So what I could probably do is get the part myself, and then find someone locally to fix it and it would probably be less money, right?

I suggest making sure what ever game you get that it is a fun multi-player game that you can play over and over and check it for damage before paying - no nicks or dead pixels or rainbow colors on the monitor, solid controls etc.

The cabinet I am considering is about 200 miles from me. I am kind of scared that I may drive up there and the machine will be nothing like I expected, and then I will have wasted 6 hours and a bunch of gas.

Edit: Oh yeah, and the cabinet comes with one game, but I don't know which one yet. I asked. Regardless, I know that I can get my hands on Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown, 2 games I will play with my friends forever.[br]Posted on: December 02, 2008, 12:45:55 AM_________________________________________________I just wanted to update you guys on my quest.






;D

[Kugyince]

That reminds me, I was going to talk you out of it.

[TrakMastaTom]

Don't worry about it, I got it for a steal. And I regret nothing.

Well, I regret having to go to the super ghetto in East St. Louis to get it. That was kind of creepy.