Month: April 2020

Donkey Kong… one of my favorite classic games. I’m not good at it, I’m pretty terrible at the game play. But it was one of the favorite games (along with Centipede) from when I was younger. I’ve had the machine for 15 years now perhaps. I bought it broken, and repaired the monitor (which needs a bit more repair now.) The side art has always been bad, but it usually sat sandwiched between other games so I didn’t care.

During a black friday sale, Phoenix arcade had side art on sale. I grabbed a set. And it sat. For a long time. Finally motivation hit to get it done!

Partial art was present on left, and removing it was a PAIN. Goo gone and a plastic scraper is what it came down to. Rubbing alcohol also helps but the minute it evaporates the glue is fixed back in place. It took a lot of work.

I took lots of measurements and c-clamped stuff to the machine to help guide the art. That being said on the right I went a little quick, and had to peel it back and relay it down. This caused a small bubble in the art, smaller than a penny.

While I was at it I also took the opportunity to paint the base black. It was a re-creation done as the original one had deteriorated. I probably made the base 10 years ago and somehow it has held up, even though DK has been to MAGFest several times and a few events when I lived in Norfolk.

Anyways, here is a gallery:

Donkey Kong cabinet re-art

My trustly loved Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 1 finally got the long deserved attention it needed.

I tore down al the pads, vacuumed out all the crud. All sensors were replaced. A number of years ago I went in with Anthony Capobianco and we ordered 64 sensors, then split it 32/32 to get a price break. I finally got around to installing the sensors, it was fairly straightforward.

I also cleaned all the CCFL tubes.

I also pulled the Python 2 hardware and put it on a shelf. I migrated to a PC. I will keep the P2 system to go with the cab but in the meantime running it with a different I/O interface and computer.

The machine plays so much better, the prior sensors were original and many of them didn’t respond well. The game is night and day. The cost for the sensors was quite a bit, and retrospect I could have potentially milked more life out of the old ones but wanted to do it right. And it’s done.

DDR refurb