Arcade cabinets (or Coin-Ops, as they are often called) marked an era. From the 70s until the early 90s, these entertainment giants dominated arcades, bars, and trade shows, offering unique gaming experiences that captivated millions of people around the world. But what is behind these legendary cabinets? What are the differences between the original components and the modern boards that many enthusiasts use to restore or recreate these machines? In an exclusive interview for ValorosoIT, recorded at Varese Retrocomputing 2024, I had the pleasure of speaking with Stefan Dawid of Gerundo Retrogaming, an expert in Arcade cabinets.
A blast from the past: the original components of the Arcade cabinets
The original Arcade cabinets of the 80s were real jewels of the technology of the time. The heart of each cabinet was the motherboard: the printed circuit board (PCB) that contained the game's hardware and software. Many older arcade cabinets used single-game cards, where each machine was dedicated exclusively to a single title, such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders. These games, which today we can safely run on emulators, required specific hardware for each cabinet.
With the growth of the Arcade cabinet business, the creation and diffusion of the so-called "bootleg" cards (pirated copies) began and therefore the original manufacturers ran for cover by starting to insert proprietary anti-copy chips in the PCBs of the games.
Capcom, for example, created a dedicated daughterboard (C-board) in its Capcom Play System 1 cards (CPS-1, 1998) and later introduced ROM encryption and a Suicide Battery in the CPS-2 (1993, with Street Figher II)
The monitor was another crucial component. In classic arcade cabinets, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors were used, which offered sharp images with color depth and impressive viewing quality for the time.
Another distinctive element were the joysticks and mechanical buttons, which guaranteed a unique tactile feeling and remarkable robustness, also thanks to electromechanical microswitches.
Finally, the last component described in the video is the multi-voltage power supply. In addition to the three supply voltages of the JAMMA board (+5V, -5V, and +12V), the power supply also had to generate the voltages to power the CRT monitor.
These original components have now become coveted among collectors and retrogaming enthusiasts. There are still manufacturers of joysticks and Arcade buttons, mostly Japanese companies.
The JAMMA standard and the evolution of Coin-Ops
With the introduction of the JAMMA (Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association) standard in the mid-80s, the world of Arcade cabinets underwent a real revolution. Before that, each Arcade game manufacturer adopted its own standard for connecting game PCBs inside the cabinet. It therefore made it difficult and expensive to replace or update games within an arcade. With JAMMA, however, it became possible to use the same cabinet for different games, simply by replacing the game card regardless of the specific game manufacturer. Since Japan designed most of the games, JAMMA became the de facto worldwide standard in the 1990s.
The JAMMA standard provides a 56-pin connection. In a single connector there are the power supply voltages, the signals of the joysticks and buttons, the coin mechanism and the monitor.
This type of modularity brought many advantages to operators, who could easily upgrade or replace the games without having to change the entire structure of the cabinet. Brands such as Capcom, Namco, Sega, Konami and then even Atari began to use the JAMMA standard for their titles.
During our interview, Stefan explained how the modularity of the JAMMA cabinets made it possible to update games, keeping the Arcade experience alive for several years, even when players' tastes changed.
The brands of Arcade cabinets
We cannot talk about Arcade cabinets without mentioning some of the most important brands that dominated the market in the golden years of arcades. Atari, a pioneer in the sector, with games such as Asteroids and Pong. Taito with Space Invaders: a legend (perhaps true) has it that the Japanese mint had to increase the production of coins to meet the demand of video game players. Namco with Pac-Man, initially called Puck-Man but modified to avoid dangerous assonances. Konami, with titles such as Frogger and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Capcom brought the fighting game genre with games like Street Fighter II. Finally, Sega with its OutRun driving cab.
Modern boards: FPGA and Raspberry
Today, the world of retrogaming offers several solutions for those who want to relive the Coin-Op experience without the need to have an original cabinet available. One of the most innovative technologies is the FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), which allows you to emulate the original hardware of Arcade cabinets in an extremely accurate way. For example, BitKit is a US production FPGA board that can run various classic Arcade games, faithfully recreating the behavior of the original boards.
Another popular solution for retrogaming enthusiasts is the use of the Raspberry Pi with dedicated software platforms such as Retropie, Recalbox, Lakka and others. You can emulate thousands of Arcade games and consoles on a single device, offering a modern Arcade experience at a relatively low cost. Not only can you use modern TVs and monitors, via HDMI, but also old CRTs (cathode ray tubes), through special settings and hardware options.
However, as Stefan points out, software emulation, while great for those who want a more accessible experience, doesn't always reach the level of fidelity of the original hardware or FPGA. On the subject of FPGA vs software emulation, there is also a continuous discussion and opposing fronts among purists, also considering the continuous evolution of both areas.
Stefan also told us how some enthusiasts are combining the best of both worlds, using original cabinets or reproductions of them, but with modern boards inside, see BitKit. In this way, it is possible to maintain the vintage aesthetic, but with a technology that allows you to load numerous games, faithfully reproduced.
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