Restoring the classics…
Posts tagged Donkey Kong
Long Time No Post
Dec 10th
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything of significance. Essentially, that means I haven’t been doing any work. No work on the arcade collection and no work on my basement remodel. The basement remodel was intended to be a winter project. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much done last winter as planned. Most of the framing was completed and a little bit of insulation work, but that’s about it.
I started working on the basement again in October and have made pretty good progress. New recessed lights have been installed to replace the hideous ceiling fans that the previous owner had installed. I still need to run the wiring from the switches to the lights. Most of the insulation has been put into place. All of the wiring to the outlets is in place as well as Cat-5 cable and cable for the satellite system. More >
Another Donkey Kong Machine
May 20th
2 weeks ago I picked up another Donkey Kong cabinet from a high school friend (thanks, Nick!). The cabinet is in good shape and complete with the exception of a monitor. I have a monitor I could use that would require an inverter board, but I’d prefer an original Sanyo 20EZ monitor. I have a couple leads on a monitor but nothing set in stone yet. I planned to use the spare monitor in my Centipede cabinet, which has a serious case of burn-in.
My intention is to run Donkey Kong Jr. in this cabinet. Here’s the question…leave the cabinet original colors, etc. and just run Jr. in it, or completely convert it to a Jr. cabinet with orange paint, new side art, bezel, control panel and marquee? Pictures later.
Donkey Kong Reproduction Control Panel
Jan 13th
Due to a variety of reasons, posting has been light over the past month or so. I hope to change that today, with a rare “double post” update. Hopefully, after the second post, you’ll see one of the reasons that my free time has been so limited.
First up, my Christmas haul for this year. Really, it wasn’t a haul, just the one item that I had asked for (other than a pinball machine which I did not get). I managed to score a reproduction control panel for my Donkey Kong cabinet, along with a reproduction joystick. These are available from Mike’s Aracade and I’m very pleased with the quality. It is not installed on the game yet, more on that in post number 2. Here are a few shots of the control panel and joystick that I snapped on my way out the door this morning. I was in a rush, so the quality is not the best: More >
Way Cool Jr.
Sep 5th
My Donkey Kong Jr. boards finally showed up on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. As I’ve discussed before, you can easily play a Donkey Kong Jr. board in a Donkey Kong cabinet. It’s simply a matter of moving the connectors from one board to the other. What I didn’t realize was how easy it was going to be to mount the Donkey Kong Jr. boards in the cabinet along with the Donkey Kong boards.
If you look at the following picture, you’ll see the the position of the Donkey Kong board in the cabinet: More >
Donkey Kong – High Score Kit Installed
Apr 18th
Anyone familiar with Donkey Kong knows that one of the most frustrating things about the game is its inability to save high scores on power down. Powering off the machine results in all 5 top scores being erased and the high score resetting to a measly 7,650 points. Fortunately, a high score kit is available to remedy this frustrating problem.
The Donkey Kong High Score Save kit was developed by Scott Brasington of Braze Technologies. The kit is fairly simple to install and permanently remembers the top 5 scores and initials. The kit also adds some extra features, such as deluxe free play, the ability to play game sounds while in attract mode, a self test on powerup and on-screen settings (no more dip switches!). Unfortunately, Scott has exited the arcade business but his kits are still available at Mikes Arcade and Arcade Shop. Mine arrived in the mail yesterday.
