Look I didn't expect you guys to wipe out the Quija board and sacrífice a Gumba plushy to the dark gods of the Arcade to get the machine spirts to function again. But hey I appreciate you doing what you have to, to make it work.
"Your dedication to preserving and showcasing this piece of history is truly impressive! Thank you for letting us experience it through your work. It’s fascinating to see systems like these in action, especially since many of us have wondered what might’ve been possible with a stock Amiga in an arcade setting. I never realized such a setup existed back then! The attention to detail in testing and restoration is invaluable-going through visual inspection, cleaning, and thermal checks before diving deeper into the hardware. That’s a level of care that really resonates with anyone who appreciates these classic systems. I actually remember playing an early version of a similar setup at a computer show in Auckland It’s funny how nostalgia can blur the details, but the games, like Sidewinder with its unforgettable sound effects, have left lasting memories. It’s great to revisit those experiences through your videos!"
I had a ripped copy of the arcade Sidewinder modified to boot from floppy and set to free play for my A500 back in 1988 or so. I always thought it was a pretty good shooter even if the sfx were ripped from Star Wars!
This system is of particular interest to me because a while ago I was wondering, as a “what if..?” exercise, if using a stock Amiga as the basis of a low-cost arcade cabinet would have been possible “back in the day” - I never knew such a system actually _existed_ .
Several Laser disc arcade machines were Amiga based. American Laser Games produced Who Shot Johnny Rock Mad Dog McCree Mad Dog 2 - The Lost Gold Gallagher’s Gallery Space Pirates Crime Patrol Crime Patrol 2 - Drug Wars The Last Bounty Hunter
The official commodore RGB SCART cables don't wire the blanking/rgb-switching line, because they were meant for 1081 and early 1084 with SCART, where you manually switch between composite and RGB. Not getting an image with these cables on a TV is nornal. The cable is probably fine, it was just never meant to be used on a TV.
Very good point on testing. Visual inspection, cleaning, removable elements clean up and check, short circuit (tantalum warning) check, leak check then apply controlled power and do thermal inspection. And this is when you can kick out scopes, logic analyzer and all other heavy stuff, but at this stage at least all basics are checked already
Whoa whoa whoa that board bend at 4:50! If you've got boards that size and have to press IC's into it support it with some antistatic foam, a cloth or something. I've literally lost boards bending it less than that! 😬
@@Nukle0n If it's already flexed upward then that's bad too, don't flex the board in any direction, if you flex something back and forth over and over it eventually breaks! In any case glad they didn't break it!
I'd have loved to see it in the 2nd cabinet as it's so unique but am so glad you've got the cabinet you have its amazing, brilliant you've got it working
to me your all hero's restoring all this lovly good stuff i hope all the young people have a go on it and see that playability is better than just nice graphics .
its funny how much hardware was needed in addition to the amiga part itself. you'd think it would be a case of connecting up a monitor and joysticks to the existing hardware
will you guys make a replica of the pcbs so others can build it? I see these such rare systems be found and then never to be seen again as its in their personal collection that only few in your country could see. Would be nice to have an option to build it for other users, also have the roms dumped
Great to see one of those machines working. I've never seen one of these in person, but I was aware that these existed back in the days. I've read about them in in German Amiga or gaming magazine. They also listed the games that were supposed to be released for it and also mentioned that they are going to be released for the 'regular' Amiga at some point. I think I played most of those games back in the days and all of them were utter garbage! Xenon probably was the least unplayable of them and I still didn't like that one at all. No surprise that this system flopped dramatically. They could have made it work if they had some good games for it. Maybe with Speedball and... it's really hard to think of Amiga games that could work in the Arcade that aren't Arcade ports 🙂
I still like the American cabinet better and wish you could recreate it but glad you found an authentic cabinet to put it into cant wait to see the finished product
Office paper should never be overlooked as an abrasive source. I've used bits of paper and card to maintain my pinball table for years. It's damned near perfect for the job of cleaing connections.
I wonder if it is technically possible to combine the video-outputs of 2 Amiga's using a genlock(?) and synchronize a game running on both machines using a nullmodem cable to achieve more colors on screen and layers of parallax...
28:30 If you use traditional EPROM chips, the type where you need to use UV light to erase them, you're literally burning out fuses in the die, so "Burn" the ROMs is the correct term. Flash would be more appropriate if you use more modern Flash memory, or EEPROM chips.
It's so refreshing to hear edge connector and their fingers referred to properly. Thank you. A lot of console folks call them "pins" which is just silly to me. I think that trend came from Nintendo kids who didn't know what to call them and then it caught on after being repeated enough times.
Oh wow, it's only a couple months older than me. Probably in better shape, too. I don't mind the cabinet choice, it's a British machine even so. YO I LOVED SIDEWINDER
the player2 buttons being at an angle are also a thing on some Super Neo Candy cabinets, it is indeed shoulder management, player 1 joystick can be held without twisting your left wrist anyway so this side appears straight, but player2's hand will obviously come from more of the side of the control panel so it's a pretty neat ergonomic design
I do still like the idea of something like an acrylic side to the cabinet, so that you can see the works. It'd not just be interesting to see the insides of any cabinet, it'd be particularly so on this one because of the Amiga hardware.
I loved the original Leaderboard on my Amiga 1000. there were not that many quality games in 86 and 87 for the a1000 beside mind walker, defender of the crown, marble madness, just a hand full. And this headboard version has even more detailed gfx , much more than the 1986 version from the Amiga.
I remember playing one of these at a computer show in London just before it was released. I really wasn't impressed, it was running that ball game which looked pretty good but played really badly and didnt hold my interest for long. I do wonder if I played the prototype because I don't remember the graphics looking as bad as in the footage here. Sidewinder was a pretty good shoot em up with fantastic sound effects , one of the first Amiga games I owned due to it being on a magazine coverdisk.
Strangely this video didn't show up in my subscriptions because somehow I had become unsubscribed - I would never have done that as this is one of my favourite channels, so that's some weird RUclips stuff I can't explain. 🤔
We've just done a big update on that over on Patreon and will update here soon. Alex took a step back for personal reasons and has been popping in from time to time to make videos without the pressure of running the business, he's much happier for it. I then took 2 months leave to start a family, and now we're just getting arcade content sorted out. We have a whole summer of footage to work with.
Thanks for the update Neil. I’m looking forward to you getting that Outrun machine out.! I’ve just restored one myself - back in 1986, I saw it for the first time in Poole Quay amusements, and wanted one. Now I’ve realised my dream 👍😀
Bombjack Beer edition, Tinyus and Tiny Bobble should be put on the roms. The problem with this system is the games. They look like amiga games, not arcade games. The 3 mentioned above actually look like the arcade machines.
You would want Amiga Arcade Originals not arcade ports, for those you would use as well MAME - let's ask people like the devs of Metro Siege and Boss Machine
We've helped each other out on videos over the years, but in the coming months we'll be introducing a new approach to our work which sees us bringing all of the resources here at the mill together. We'll make a video to talk about this in detail and yes, I think introductions to remind everyone who we all are is a great idea!
No, Holly is very busy with the ongoing maintenance of arcades here but she's going to start filming bits and bobs so that I can share some more of that maintenance side of things with you all
BRAKING NEWS !!!!!! B'laster 16-PB-DS ProStraw Powerful Rust Penetrating Catalyst and Lubricant for Use on Automotive, Industrial, Marine and Plumbing Equipment, 11 oz works on hot chassis no sparks no smoke just to let you know =] so live light socket no problem =] did it hehe
Ah, its just occurred to me after watching a few more items by other people (Sorry, slow brain day). Its not the amount of advert breaks in the video, its that google (at least for me) has increased the amount of ads within those slots. For example instead of a 5 to 10 second slot they are now 40 to 60 seconds with multiple adverts within the slot. No wonder it felt like there was more, because for me there was. 😅 I'll shut up now, in the end it does not matter. Still a great watch.
Contrary to popular belief it's really hard to actually destroy a chip with static electricity alone. There was a whole video of people trying to somewhere on RUclips. But still for a "restoration" project, it's not exactly being careful. Contact cleaner that will remove tarnishing then use some IPA to get it clean and you're good. No need to wear down the pins 🤦♂
When you do this kind of work day in and out dozens of times.. hundreds of times.. you get to a state of "minimum viable effort to test". He would not ship this out to a customer that way. But when its not just a hobby but something that consumes a large percentage of every day, you learn to conserve effort when troubleshooting, modding for diagnostics, etc. Once you have solved all problems, you dress the pigs and polish the turds. Its not for a customer. The owner is right in front of him and satisfied with "it works now". There is still a massive amount of work to be done, in which one task will be to clean up the patches. Given the soft state of the board, they may opt for a final overcoat of something. But today was about "get it up and running".
If you'd like to support our museum and channel head to patreon.com and sign up to be an Official Cave Dweller. Thank you for your support!
Neil
Look I didn't expect you guys to wipe out the Quija board and sacrífice a Gumba plushy to the dark gods of the Arcade to get the machine spirts to function again. But hey I appreciate you doing what you have to, to make it work.
Super interesting thanks for sharing and keeping the past a live...
Crazy cool! Cecconoid is justvthe cherry _bomb_ on top.
Your dedication to the craft and pursuit of preservation is incredible. Thanks for sharing it with us.
"It's never the cable." Will be written on my grave. I have made that mistake so many times.
23:43 you go to the real bowling alley , where you can play bowling on the amiga, that bowlception
"Your dedication to preserving and showcasing this piece of history is truly impressive! Thank you for letting us experience it through your work. It’s fascinating to see systems like these in action, especially since many of us have wondered what might’ve been possible with a stock Amiga in an arcade setting. I never realized such a setup existed back then!
The attention to detail in testing and restoration is invaluable-going through visual inspection, cleaning, and thermal checks before diving deeper into the hardware. That’s a level of care that really resonates with anyone who appreciates these classic systems.
I actually remember playing an early version of a similar setup at a computer show in Auckland It’s funny how nostalgia can blur the details, but the games, like Sidewinder with its unforgettable sound effects, have left lasting memories. It’s great to revisit those experiences through your videos!"
I had a ripped copy of the arcade Sidewinder modified to boot from floppy and set to free play for my A500 back in 1988 or so. I always thought it was a pretty good shooter even if the sfx were ripped from Star Wars!
Marketing, the bane of every engineer
Thanks
This system is of particular interest to me because a while ago I was wondering, as a “what if..?” exercise, if using a stock Amiga as the basis of a low-cost arcade cabinet would have been possible “back in the day” - I never knew such a system actually _existed_ .
Amiga-based arcade machines are mentioned briefly in Brian Bagnall's Commodore histories.
Amiga 3000 machines were the core system of Virtuality Virtual Reality arcades. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuality_(product)
Several Laser disc arcade machines were Amiga based. American Laser Games produced
Who Shot Johnny Rock
Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog 2 - The Lost Gold
Gallagher’s Gallery
Space Pirates
Crime Patrol
Crime Patrol 2 - Drug Wars
The Last Bounty Hunter
Cracking stuff ladies and gents!
4:37 - somewhere, Mark from MarkFixesStuff sheds a tear. He taught the boys well.
A salty tear ran from my eye.
The official commodore RGB SCART cables don't wire the blanking/rgb-switching line, because they were meant for 1081 and early 1084 with SCART, where you manually switch between composite and RGB. Not getting an image with these cables on a TV is nornal. The cable is probably fine, it was just never meant to be used on a TV.
Gentlemen, you are uncovering arcade history. Amiga arcade, was almost a myth, but it really exists after all.
Cheers 🥂
Very good point on testing. Visual inspection, cleaning, removable elements clean up and check, short circuit (tantalum warning) check, leak check then apply controlled power and do thermal inspection. And this is when you can kick out scopes, logic analyzer and all other heavy stuff, but at this stage at least all basics are checked already
awesome work, guys. really enjoying this series.
Thanks Andy
Long time viewer, one day I might make the pilgrimage to the cave. ❤ really nice to see this being rescued.
Those Super Select System screens *are* very cool - I like those a lot
Whoa whoa whoa that board bend at 4:50! If you've got boards that size and have to press IC's into it support it with some antistatic foam, a cloth or something. I've literally lost boards bending it less than that! 😬
It only bends like that because it's flexed up a lot, so they're not stretching it beyond where it's already cupped from.
@@Nukle0n If it's already flexed upward then that's bad too, don't flex the board in any direction, if you flex something back and forth over and over it eventually breaks! In any case glad they didn't break it!
Great project!
Great part 2, I may have rewatched part 1 when this came out since I had forgotten everything in 3 weeks.
Some good detective work. Well done.
Amazing efforts! I love this projects, I love the team and what you do! Thank you very much for your work! ❤🕹️
I'd have loved to see it in the 2nd cabinet as it's so unique but am so glad you've got the cabinet you have its amazing, brilliant you've got it working
to me your all hero's restoring all this lovly good stuff i hope all the young people have a go on it and see that playability is better than just nice graphics .
Very kind thank you Jedi!
I was definitely in camp American cabinet but definitely think an authentic cabinet trumps that! What a find! Love your vids.
Been waiting for this. Looking forward to part 3 😁
What a piece of Amiga history!
its funny how much hardware was needed in addition to the amiga part itself. you'd think it would be a case of connecting up a monitor and joysticks to the existing hardware
My father is a former electrical engineer from Nortel (now defunct) and taught me to clean / polish pads using a white eraser, in a single direction
Love the retrocollective awesome
Always look4ward to an rmc 👍
will you guys make a replica of the pcbs so others can build it? I see these such rare systems be found and then never to be seen again as its in their personal collection that only few in your country could see. Would be nice to have an option to build it for other users, also have the roms dumped
Another brilliant video . Roll on part 3
Nice Top Gear-esque introduction there
Thanks! hehe
Great to see one of those machines working.
I've never seen one of these in person, but I was aware that these existed back in the days.
I've read about them in in German Amiga or gaming magazine.
They also listed the games that were supposed to be released for it and also mentioned that they are going to be released for the 'regular' Amiga at some point.
I think I played most of those games back in the days and all of them were utter garbage!
Xenon probably was the least unplayable of them and I still didn't like that one at all.
No surprise that this system flopped dramatically.
They could have made it work if they had some good games for it.
Maybe with Speedball and... it's really hard to think of Amiga games that could work in the Arcade that aren't Arcade ports 🙂
So true, I was 'fixing' a PCB the other day with the scope out, turned out a chip was in back-to-front
When he was putting the chips back in after cleaning... Flexing the board like that. Come on, I would never do that.
Did not expect so much witch craft was necessary to make this stuff work.
I still like the American cabinet better and wish you could recreate it but glad you found an authentic cabinet to put it into cant wait to see the finished product
Great to see progress on this project. Many years ago I had an interview at Electrocoin as a C Coder, sadly I didn't get the job lol.
Office paper should never be overlooked as an abrasive source. I've used bits of paper and card to maintain my pinball table for years. It's damned near perfect for the job of cleaing connections.
Yeah. That was a great tip.
Such a nice series! Looking forward to part 3!
So, in the end, the Amiga Arcade was real. Astonishing .
Super interesting vid. Thank you :)
Thank you for watching!
I wonder if it is technically possible to combine the video-outputs of 2 Amiga's using a genlock(?) and synchronize a game running on both machines using a nullmodem cable to achieve more colors on screen and layers of parallax...
Interesting! SLI Amiga games 🤔
Were there any guts in the cabinet when you bought it? What system was installed?
Just a JAMMA loom and CRT. No PCB. We will get into it soon
28:30 If you use traditional EPROM chips, the type where you need to use UV light to erase them, you're literally burning out fuses in the die, so "Burn" the ROMs is the correct term.
Flash would be more appropriate if you use more modern Flash memory, or EEPROM chips.
It's so refreshing to hear edge connector and their fingers referred to properly. Thank you. A lot of console folks call them "pins" which is just silly to me. I think that trend came from Nintendo kids who didn't know what to call them and then it caught on after being repeated enough times.
Oh wow, it's only a couple months older than me. Probably in better shape, too. I don't mind the cabinet choice, it's a British machine even so.
YO I LOVED SIDEWINDER
the player2 buttons being at an angle are also a thing on some Super Neo Candy cabinets, it is indeed shoulder management, player 1 joystick can be held without twisting your left wrist anyway so this side appears straight, but player2's hand will obviously come from more of the side of the control panel so it's a pretty neat ergonomic design
Would live to see the cave at some point and spend a good few hours testing the games on offer.
Great video as always👍
I'm betting it won't be long beore a modern recreation shows up for the homebrew fans
Been looking forward to part 2 of this
Has anyone ever said Richard Heber is a dead ringer for Steve Backshall. 😆
Many times!
Tenstar pack owner here!
Thoughts and prayers
Excited to watch this one after work!
I hope they at least try those updated Roms in Part 3. Even if they keep using the older Roms. I'm just curious to see whats on the newer Roms.
I do still like the idea of something like an acrylic side to the cabinet, so that you can see the works. It'd not just be interesting to see the insides of any cabinet, it'd be particularly so on this one because of the Amiga hardware.
I loved the original Leaderboard on my Amiga 1000. there were not that many quality games in 86 and 87 for the a1000 beside mind walker, defender of the crown, marble madness, just a hand full. And this headboard version has even more detailed gfx , much more than the 1986 version from the Amiga.
Fascinating project
24:58 Never realized how tall Holly is.
It's usually something simple. Start small & work your way up.
you should also be able to get the arcade version of PETSCI Robots on it.
I remember playing one of these at a computer show in London just before it was released. I really wasn't impressed, it was running that ball game which looked pretty good but played really badly and didnt hold my interest for long. I do wonder if I played the prototype because I don't remember the graphics looking as bad as in the footage here.
Sidewinder was a pretty good shoot em up with fantastic sound effects , one of the first Amiga games I owned due to it being on a magazine coverdisk.
11:03
Can someone please tell me what kind/brand of switch is that on the lower left corner, the red one with the bulb?
Thank you!
Search for QuickTest mains connector.
Silkworm, Swiv, Xenon 2 should be in there....
Strangely this video didn't show up in my subscriptions because somehow I had become unsubscribed - I would never have done that as this is one of my favourite channels, so that's some weird RUclips stuff I can't explain. 🤔
Dark forces are out to get me! Welcome back and thanks for checking.
Idk why but that Heber logo and name evokes more of a German company which makes concrete, windows or something like that ;)
The cabinet looks in suprisingly good condition (at the moment) all things considered.
Sidewinder and Aaargh! Whats not to like.
Second player buttons might be angled so the second player can use his right hand easier.
Love these videos they are so good want more more more and breath lol
What is happening with the Arcade Archive? Is Alex atill involved? I have been missing his videos about the arcade machines and their restoration.
He sold his share back to the others, I think Holly runs it now. He took a break from RUclips but recently started a new channel called Al's Arcade.
We've just done a big update on that over on Patreon and will update here soon. Alex took a step back for personal reasons and has been popping in from time to time to make videos without the pressure of running the business, he's much happier for it. I then took 2 months leave to start a family, and now we're just getting arcade content sorted out. We have a whole summer of footage to work with.
@@RMCRetro ok hope we can see him now and again.enjoyed his videos and obviously very passionate about the arcade history.
Thanks for the update Neil. I’m looking forward to you getting that Outrun machine out.! I’ve just restored one myself - back in 1986, I saw it for the first time in Poole Quay amusements, and wanted one. Now I’ve realised my dream 👍😀
Oh nice! I used to live in Bournemouth but far too late for Outrun. I did enjoy Sega World though
Bombjack Beer edition, Tinyus and Tiny Bobble should be put on the roms.
The problem with this system is the games. They look like amiga games, not arcade games. The 3 mentioned above actually look like the arcade machines.
You would want Amiga Arcade Originals not arcade ports, for those you would use as well MAME - let's ask people like the devs of Metro Siege and Boss Machine
@@simonebernacchia5724 No, those games are awful for this. How about the Lost Pixel?
I wonder if this was the same type cabinet used for Nick Arcade as their games were played on Amiga units.
wasn't "space ranger" actually called "TASAR" on the amiga?
Excellent. I'm sure it can be upgraded to have online capabilities for firmware updates 😊
Maybe I missed something but do you have a video introducing those guys appearing on your videos recently?
We've helped each other out on videos over the years, but in the coming months we'll be introducing a new approach to our work which sees us bringing all of the resources here at the mill together. We'll make a video to talk about this in detail and yes, I think introductions to remind everyone who we all are is a great idea!
Does Holly have her own RUclips Channel or what.
No, Holly is very busy with the ongoing maintenance of arcades here but she's going to start filming bits and bobs so that I can share some more of that maintenance side of things with you all
Might not be historically accurate but you could use a Neo Geo cabinet since was a multi system too
I like your thinking. Richard is currently refurbing a Neo Geo cab so we'll see one soon
well if you dont add the Lemmings arcade version you are mad !
Best avoid microfibre cloths when handling ESD sensitive components as they are often made out of polyester which can build up a charge.
Why do I hear "We are the Retro Collective" like I hear "We are the Borg"?
Resistance is futile
Your arcade will be rejuvenated. Corroding is futile.
Too bad about not using the original controls. 🙁 But i get it.
BRAKING NEWS !!!!!!
B'laster 16-PB-DS ProStraw Powerful Rust Penetrating Catalyst and Lubricant for Use on Automotive, Industrial, Marine and Plumbing Equipment, 11 oz works on hot chassis no sparks no smoke just to let you know =] so live light socket no problem =] did it hehe
Test the chips 1st. Then worry about the caps. Then just beep out everything.
M8
M8
M5 southbound
Mentions the rom and points at the CPU. Heh
The ROM is the one to the left of the CPU, it's tricky to line up the VO with the edit sometimes but I try my best!
Wow, there is a lot of ads inserted by youtube in this one
Oh! I’ll double check that thanks
Edit: checked and it’s 3 ads in a 30 min episode which I think is OK
Must be me. I'm sure previous videos only had ads at the start and end 😕 just ignore me.
Patreon members get ad free videos
Ah, its just occurred to me after watching a few more items by other people (Sorry, slow brain day). Its not the amount of advert breaks in the video, its that google (at least for me) has increased the amount of ads within those slots. For example instead of a 5 to 10 second slot they are now 40 to 60 seconds with multiple adverts within the slot. No wonder it felt like there was more, because for me there was. 😅
I'll shut up now, in the end it does not matter. Still a great watch.
Really? you watch adverts? why? Use Brave browser, not a single RUclips advert.
I audibly gasped as I saw these precious chips being rubbed with no visible anti-static gear anywhere. I always assumed they were easily zapped.
Contrary to popular belief it's really hard to actually destroy a chip with static electricity alone. There was a whole video of people trying to somewhere on RUclips. But still for a "restoration" project, it's not exactly being careful. Contact cleaner that will remove tarnishing then use some IPA to get it clean and you're good. No need to wear down the pins 🤦♂
also way more important in super dry places like Arizona. Maybe not so much in super wet and humid places like a musty English mill.
16:05 i appreciate Richards knowledge and his will to help a lot, but that patching looks rough tbh 😢
To be fair to Rich he did say he’d like to tidy it up, in the first instance it was to quickly find the fault
When you do this kind of work day in and out dozens of times.. hundreds of times.. you get to a state of "minimum viable effort to test". He would not ship this out to a customer that way. But when its not just a hobby but something that consumes a large percentage of every day, you learn to conserve effort when troubleshooting, modding for diagnostics, etc. Once you have solved all problems, you dress the pigs and polish the turds.
Its not for a customer. The owner is right in front of him and satisfied with "it works now". There is still a massive amount of work to be done, in which one task will be to clean up the patches. Given the soft state of the board, they may opt for a final overcoat of something. But today was about "get it up and running".