Greg Potter's Power Pop Page

Donkey Kong MAME Cabinet

I purchased a Nintendo TKG-3UP at a yard sale for $20. It started life as a Donkey Kong machine and was later converted to Mario Brothers. Somewhere in between, I believe it may have also been a Popeye machine, as the bezel that I received was Popeye, turned around in the other direction. The machine was working when I bought it; however, the control panel was missing two buttons and the audio was disconnected.

Another shot of the original cabinet is here. And here is a picture of the original control panel.

First I purchased an ArcadeVGA card from Ultimarc and tried to use the original Sanyo monitor in the machine. The turned out to be very problematic. Nintendo monitors use positive video and require a video inverter to work with any other video inputs. I could not get my colors to work properly with the old monitor and was not interested in learning how to install a new capacitor kit. I opted to remove it and replace it with a Toshiba 19" color television. Luckily it fit perfectly in the cabinet without any modifications whatsoever. Here is a shot of the TV sitting perfectly where the old monitor used to be.

Next I installed a simple keyboard tray under the old control panel. I had to modify the wood box that held the old panel in place slightly, but most of the original wood is still intact.

I purchased all of the controls and an IPAC keyboard encoder from Ultimarc. I'm very happy with their T-stik joysticks, which allow you to switch from 4-way to 8-way control from the top of the control panel, simply by pulling the sticks upward and rotating. The IPAC makes wiring a breeze. This is an invaluable device when building your MAME machine.I purchased he overlay sticker from Classic Arcade Graphix.

I decided to keep the dimensions exactly the same as the old control panel in order to retain the integrity of the original cabinet as much as possible. However, the machine is very narrow and although I wanted to include a trackball, it was a little too tight. Here is a picture of the control panel before drilling, and here is a shot of the control panel in place before wiring.

I bought an original Donkey Kong bezel and marquee to restore part of the machine to its original look. The wood piece under the control panel is a little sloppy and still needs to be secured in place. The t-molding is very worn and replacing that will be my last project. I removed the coin box and the computer sits perfectly right inside the coin door. Audio at the moment consists of the computer sound card connected to the TV audio input. At some point, I may install stereo speakers on top of the cabinet. I've tried to modify the construction as little as possible in case the machine is converted back to its original state one day.