Fix-it Felix Machine

[pinballsmith]

Managed to snag this. It's actually my second one thanks to a friend who worked on the project for Disney. Not many out there.

[AuraLancer]

Gotta say, that's pretty sweet!

[E-Man]

Nice one! Does it actually work?

[pinballsmith]

Nice one! Does it actually work?

Yes, it's fully functional. I know someone already took the sprites from the game and uploaded them here, but that was from an earlier version when they were prototyping the software. I'll probably make my first upload here the final sprites and graphics from the cabinet. I collect arcade games and movie props, so this was the best of both worlds.

[Maxpphire]

If you need help with any issue that the machine itself has, please ask me.

After living with and working around arcade machines for a couple of years, I know quite a bit. Also since most of my friends are arcade machine owners, chances are if I dunno something, one of my friends will.

[pinballsmith]

If that time comes I will. I'm fairly literate with these machines, but I'm not an expert by any means. I did study under someone who went to school for coin op repair when that was still a common practice. This particular machine is actually running a PC hooked up to an arcade VGA monitor. It's using common Jamma components for the control interfacing.

I am having problems with my Space Invaders. The monitor recently died as a result of a bad flyback. Finding a replacement for a Toei GM-20 is impossible these days, so I'm actively looking for a standard B/W monitor to replace it with.

[Kosheh]

I love how the machine is purposely weathered to look like it's survived 20 years of abuse in an arcade.
What are the specs on the PC inside it? I imagine it wouldn't be very resource-heavy, especially if it's designed to only play one coin-op game.

Also is there any chance, ever that you might scan the bezel and marquee graphics? Ever?




If it's not too invasive for me to ask, though...how old are you? O_o
(You don't have to answer; only if you feel comfortable doing so)

The reason I ask is because collecting arcade machines seems like a pretty expensive hobby, especially if you're trying to maintain the conditions of each machine (you own TWO of these Fix-It-Felix machines, which I assume took some time to build, team assigned to script the game and all the man hours etc.) You'd need a pretty steady, lofty job in order to acquire these machines, and your electric bill must really be something. @___@;

If you've got a game room in your basement made up of classic coin-op games, AND you've got the technical experience to flash images from the game's cartridges etc.
...I think that pretty much makes you the Bruce Wayne of VGR

[pinballsmith]

Nah, I didn't build them, but I'm friends with someone who helped Disney with them. I'm an arcade/pinball collector. I run several little online businesses to help fund the hobby while I'm currently in school for engineering. The PCs came from a downsized office complex in Burbank, so they still have most of the hardware in them from when they were in use as office PCs. They used custom HP XW8400 workstations with an ultimarc VGA graphics card and two sata hard drives.

Disney supplied the artwork for the machines and only printed enough for the few cabinets that were made. I'm actively working with another friend fluent in illustrator to get the artwork reproduced accurately.

   

[Dazz]

That's really awesome. I know a few custom arcade cab creators, and making something like this would have been a dream job for them. I'm super jealous, to say the least, that you managed to snag this!

Do you have any other machines? And if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for this machine?


Looking forward to seeing some of your sprite dumps! I'm a huge movie buff myself, though don't have the funds or space to do any sort of collecting - and being from the UK, it's a VERY expensive hobby compared to those in the States. Hopefully when I move I can start getting bits together though!

[Kosheh]

Nah, I didn't build them, but I'm friends with someone who helped Disney with them.

oh yeah yeah i know, i'm saying that they were custom built for trade shows/expos, so I'd imagine they'd cost you a buttload (hence reinforcing the fact that your hobby is indeed very expensive)

Looking forward to seeing some of your sprite dumps! I'm a huge movie buff myself, though don't have the funds or space to do any sort of collecting - and being from the UK, it's a VERY expensive hobby compared to those in the States.

If you're referring to arcade machines, it's just as expensive here as it is there :/

There was a local arcade here that was auctioning off their old machines earlier this year, including a TMNT cab. Everything ended up going for like $600+. There was a DDR cab that went for like, $1500 and I'm kinda wondering where in the world they went now, lol

Like, a private collector like pinballsmith, or in bars, or...?

[pinballsmith]

My first one I got relatively cheap. I paid about what it cost to have them made. I ended up selling it to a collector in New York who offered a much larger sum of money for it than I thought these were worth. I recently started to miss it and noticed another one for sale a few weeks back in Tennessee. Not many people were interested in it primarily because people couldn't tell if it was real or not. There are so many replicas compared to only a few dozen real ones that most people get confused. I had the sources available to authenticate it and quickly purchased it and had it shipped to me. Disney values these at $3200, but I paid slightly more for this one just because they're almost impossible to get ahold of. Most are still with Disney on display at a few of the Disney park arcades.

[Maxpphire]

What are the specs on the PC inside it? I imagine it wouldn't be very resource-heavy, especially if it's designed to only play one coin-op game.

Probably not that high, as you can build a PC that runs Bemani games that require little to no lag in order to play properly for like $150. The only exceptions would be Pop'n Music which needs a beefed up Graphics card to run properly and the Gitadora series which now runs off of Windows 7 (while everything else runs off of WindowsXP)

So you could probably build a computer using the cheapest parts you could find and be ok, but thats dependent if it runs off of a computer or an actual IO Board. If you have an actual IO Board I'd actually suggest to find a way to emulate it instead because a lot of time if the IO board goes it's hella expensive to replace, and with some, it's damn near impossible to.


Also arcade machines can end up pretty much anywhere, like Brendan bought his IIDX Machine and is a private owner, however at the same auction, someone bought a BeatmaniaIII machine and put it in a Laundrymat, it is now in a Private collector's hands.

Also sometimes, a Private collector might just try to find an arcade or store to put their machine for public use.

[pinballsmith]

I do know the PC has some heavy graphics software to help the game file play properly. If any of them are disabled or removed, the game lags or doesn't play at all. The game wasn't programmed with efficiency in mind (especially with the XP OS it runs on).