http://www.excellentcom.net/merchandise.asp#bok
Does anyone have these? I’m a bit curious if it’d work with supergun or if I’ll have to build it myself.
Thoughts? Opinions?
I thought about buying it because I wanted to convert my famma cab to dreamcast but the company opporates out of hong kong and I found that the price was a little high for me. something like $130 for the board and like $40 for the dreamcast kit or something like that. I was way nervous about getting it so i decided not to get it because in the end it seemed like way to much trouble then it was really worth. good luck though man. I hope that whatever you decide it works out for you.
heh so 170. I wish they’d list the prices of their items.
Anyway, seems like I have one of the games it supports so after I loom a jamma harness and make a mini supergun I can see how it’d operate (their pinouts are different from standard jamma to account for the more buttons on a DC/PS2/Xbox/GC controller has).
My ultimate goal is to make a CB type cab, and rather than trying to make mini converter boxes to plug a joystick into my PS2, I just use the ones for the jamma. And if people still wanna use a regular PS2 pad, I can plug that in the PS2 controller port. So it solves the best of both worlds. But if the board is universal, then to support different systems I would just need to buy the kit right?
For what I want, it should be perfect. Just wish they had a PSX game list, but of those games that would I would want to work, I plan on getting the arcade boards anyway so I can just supernova those.
Thanks for the reply. Now to figure out how to make a supergun 
i’ve been talking to excellentcom forever, and they seem to have difficulty understanding me. they say they’re able to make Coin-op compatibilty for all games, but when i emailed them about coding for GG Slash, SFAC, and Samurai Tenka, they try to brush me off and act all weird. >_< i ended up not buying the stuff. (the price is $110 per unit, then $20 per kit btw.)
don’t get an MGCD though. it’s pretty much the same, but the video quality is terrible.
you can email them for a PS2 game list. it’s not very extensive though.
EDIT:
The Dreamcast super is a different machine, so you won’t be able to use PS2 kits on it. 
ShinjiGohan, what is your main intent? Are you simply trying to run a console in your cabinet, or are you trying to set up a cabinet with a console on which you could also charge to play? If you’re simply trying to run console on JAMMA, check out www.ultimarc.com. Xbox, Dreamcast and PS2 support. I’m running an Xbox in my cab, and HSF2 was never so fun.
Even better (price wise). For communications… yeah but they’re from hongkong so I didn’t expect easy communications between them. Though you did offer to to sell your copy of the game to them to get it added correct?
multigame cd right? Or is that something different.
There is one on their site
http://www.excellentcom.net/PS2GameList(Ntsc%20&%20Pal).htm
and yes it isn’t much, but there aren’t that many fighting games on the PS2 though (well compared to fighters hay day in SNES and Genesis). But off hand, my main intention was to make a specific game work with an arcadish set up for MWC so Jason wilson won’t have any excuses not to run it next year lol.
Thats unfortunate. But I don’t have a DC so it isn’t much of a concern for now. But if I end up eventually hosting tournaments then a DC CVS2 would be the way to go… or MvC2 for that matter.
My main intent is to make a variation of a cigarbob cabinet that will run jamma and console to a regular TV (maybe eventually to an arcade monitor if I could ever afford one), with relative ease of switching controls from supergun to console. No charging people though, its just a solution to get it run at MWC (possibly other tournaments if it becomes feasable to take it down and put it in my car and drive to out of state).
IIRC the ultimarc was for mame cabinets right? I have no intention of running mame in here. Otherwise the process would probably be much easier.
How is the video quality on the super though? Seeing how its essentially taking the component connections on the AV port to the same pinouts for RGB, sync etc as jamma, it would be comparable to an arcades sharpness correct (on a dedicated arcade monitor, or TV with component inputs).
BTW thanks for the replies, you’ve all been a big help.
actually, the video quality is a MAJOR concern for me. i’ve tried asking them about that, but all they can ever tell me is “15khz rgb output.” i offered to GIVE them some burns (they use modchips. i know that because they sell HD-based PS2 setups.) and they just say “sir we have Samurai Tenka PCB $$$$$$$$ only”. :l
MGCD is a Dreamcast -> Jamma adapter that has coinop support from http://home.netvigator.com/~cosmicco/ . i have one of these, but the video quality is terrible. it looks like the R,G,B,and Sync lines were split from a composite signal instead of pure RGB, which they could have done through the DC AV Port anyway. :l i’m not sure if this is the same with the Super, since i’ve never really tried one, though i have a STRONG suspicion that some of these local arcades are using them (and they look good.)
you know, from the last few paragraphs of your post, it seems like the Super won’t help you at all. sounds like all you really need is a supergun. :B
Hopefully I can answer some questions for you here. I’ve built my own console->JAMMA converters in the past with great success.
Firstly: a super (or supergun as they are more frequently called) allows you to play JAMMA boards on your home TV. Console->JAMMA converters aren’t really “supers”. That’s some bad terminology there. But I’ll refer to it as a “super” from here on in.
For starters, most arcade systems use direct RGB plus typically a composite sync signal to drive an arcade monitor. These signals are generally 15KHz signals. The most common 15KHz RGB signal you’ll find coming from a video game console is via an RGB SCART lead. 15KHz RGB is THE BEST video signal you will get out of a game console if you use an analogue CRT monitor (ie: an arcade machine). Component is a mathematically equivalent signal, and technically as good, assuming your decoding hardware on your TV is of a decent quality (and IMHO, very few are). S-Video and Composite are both ugly as crap, and I wouldn’t use them if you paid me.
NOTE: SCART is a cable/connecter type. SCART does not mean RGB. SCART can carry RGB, but it can also carry S-Video and/or composite video information too. Just because you have a TV or device with a SCART plug doesn’t automatically mean it will be an RGB device.
31KHz RGB is the other most frequently used RGB output signal. Most of you know that as “VGA”, which is most commonly transmitted over DSUB15 connectors, and uses separate Horizontal and Vertical Sync signals, as composite sync suffers too much degridation over 25KHz.
The systems linked above essentially take the RGB output of your games console, boost the voltage via a voltage pullup circuit, split the composite video into composite sync and video, and then send the R, G, B and sync signals to the correct pins on a JAMMA fingerboard.
This is very easy and cheap to make. Complete guides on how to do it are here:
http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/
The reason ExcellentCom’s “super” units are so expensive is the coin circuits. These are wired up to understand game states (how many lives you have, etc) and close off input unless coins are inserted.
NOTE THAT IN THE USA AND MOST WESTERN NATIONS THIS IS ILLEGAL. You buy console games on a private, home-use license. Charging money for others to use this is illegal. If you don’t like that, don’t complain to me. Go talk to your local government representative and get the laws changed. (And good luck trying).
If you want to use your consoles AT HOME AND NOT FOR PROFIT in arcade cabinets (which is how I play 3S and Tekken 5 on my own 26" lowboy cabinet), this is perfectly legal. You don’t need to spend $170. $10 worth of parts and you can make your own converter easily. Likewise, pad hacks for the sticks and buttons is cheap and easy.
Caveat emptor: the default PS2 dev kit is crap. It generally spits out 480i (ie: interlaced) pictures. For 3D games, this is fine. For 2D, it looks shit. 3S on PS2 on an arcade cabinet is 480 lines interlaced. It looks flickery, and lacks the scanlines of the 240p (240 lines, progressive scan) arcade original. Still, for home use, it’s cheaper to buy a PS2 + 3S than it is to buy a CPS3 kit. That, and the PS2 doesn’t have a suicide battery. Moving on…
If you want to play JAMMA boards on a TV, then you need a supergun, unless your TV has direct RGB input (ie: an RGB SCART plug). These are common in Europe, but not anywhere else.
The most expensive part of a supergun is the transcoder. This device is similar to what most of you do when you encode a movie to DVD on your PC/Mac. It takes a particular signal (in this case, RGB) and transcodes it to YUV (the digital term, the analogue NTSC term is YCrCb, and YPrPb for PAL) and/or YC (ie: SVideo and/or composite, depending on cable type). These encoders are expensive to buy by themselves (around $100). But the easier way is to get an old busted console (find them on eBay for $10). Internally, all video game consoles render information digitally. This is then passed to a DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) which spits out RGB. The RGB is sent through a converter circuit and transcoded into whatever output you want. These chips are often clearly marked on the chip/board itself, or is a standard component that you can look up online. Simply pass the RGB out from your JAMMA board (ensuring it’s at the right voltage - JAMMA RGB is 2-5V, so you might need some resistors to knock it down to the 0.5-0.7V needed for TV) through the transcoder, and on to your TV. You’ve just saved yourself $90 using an old console instead of a aftermarket transcoder.
Here’s a detailed explanation of someone who did just that over on shmups.com:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=7854
Some links:
Ultimarc’s range of console to JAMMA adapters:
http://www.ultimarc.com/console.html
These are great. Plenty of folks on the BYOAC (Build Your Own Arcade Controls) forums use these, and the quality is perfect (excluding the interlaced modes that some games force on you, but that is the fault of the console, not the kit). Or again, you can make your own.
PC2JAMMA (for those who missed it):
http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/
How to plug anything into an arcade monitor and make it work. Bookmark it today!
And for the brave, technical articles on different video enoding types, and how they work. Warning! Maths ahead!
So, that was a fun little post. If anything was not explained well enough, please ask and I’ll do my best to flesh it out.
Not particularly the answers I was hoping for, and so it seems I’m back at step one.
i didn’t really ask any questions either. >___>
thanks for the explanation anyway.
What exactly do you want to do? If you just want to slap your PS2 in a JAMMA cab, then check out the Ultimarc adaptors, or make your own using the guide on PC2JAMMA.
Making various console->JAMMA adapters is the easiest if you have 1 JAMMA cab and multiple consoles. That way swapping consoles in and out of the cab is literally a few seconds work.
If that’s not what you want to do, give me some details and I’ll recommend a few options. Like all things in life, there’s always a few options for any given solution.
Given said solution, it would seem to be a lot easier to just forgo the entire Ps2 to jamma conversion and work with the standard AV out of the PS2 and try making many controller hacks to get the generic arcade sticks to work with a PS2 or whatever else I decide to stick in there (which was what I was wishing to avoid since its so much clutter >.<).
I didn’t really believe that I could convert a console to standard jamma pinouts, maybe with something similar to a CPS2 kickharness it might be feasable. So they could at least share the same controller ports. But I’ll have to rethink the project thoroughly before I post here again.
But thanks for the help everyone.
-updated-
I took a look at ultimarcs solution, and it looks promising. Couple questions though, would it be possible to use their controller adapter for only 1 controller and use a PSX pad for the other (for universal usage, as some people prefer pads). 2nd question is what how did they get all of those PSX buttons on one jamma connector without a kick harness…
-updated 2-
crap, looks like those extra controls have to be screwed onto the j-pac. Thus ruining any kind of hopes to being able to get this to run on one supergun (rewiring the CPS2 kick harness or the joysticks every time I want to switch between an actual arcade board and console is hardly a worthwhile option).
Yes. Unplug player 2, and plug in a control pad. Dead simple.
Screw terminals. If you want, make your own kick harness.
Again, there’s nothing stopping you making a kick harness and adding it to the ultimarc solution. I do something similar with my custom setup. Buttons 1-3 are on the JAMMA board, and buttons 4-6 are on a molex quick-connect. Swapping my PS2 for my DC in my cab is literally a 30 second job. My 5 year old kid can do it.
Arcade “electronics” are dead simple. It’s a matter of playing “connect the wires”. There’s no difficult electronics involved. If you want a CPS2 kick harness, go down to your local electronics shop, buy the approrpiate molex headers, and add them in. It’s childsplay.
While essentially its dead simple, I haven’t had any experience with soldering and such so it may take me a while to get it down.
Also the electronic shops local to me suck. I didn’t even have an 8 pin header for the memory card adapter that I was a thinking of making.
But thanks for your help. I’ll see what I can do when I get enough money to buy the parts needed lol.
The beauty of JAMMA type stuff is that the soldering required is quite macro. No crazy tiny little micro pins to hit. Compared to doing a PS2 mod, it’s like hitting the side of a shed with a handful of cow shit. 
http://www.jammaboards.com/ and other places have excellent parts. Their JAMMA fingerboards are clearly marked and they even have “JAMMA+” fingerboards (their JB-2 units - these are what I use) with dead-easy kick harness attachments. I get all my parts from these guys, and I’m in a different country!
Making your own parts is a hell of a lot of fun, and more importantly you get EXACTLY what you need, not what someone else thinks you’ll need. Plus it’s a LOT cheaper than buying all the premade parts out there on the market.
Take, for instance, ultimarc’s gear. You need:
Control adapter: $35
AV adaptor: $26
J-Pac: $57
Grand total: $118. Let’s look at the alternative:
2 hacked up controllers: $5 a pop or less = $10
Jamma fingerboard: $5
SCART cable for hacking: $15 or less
LM1881N sync circuit, caps, etc: $10 or less (I got mine for $4 from Thailand!!!)
Grand total: $40 max. At that price you can make one for XBox, PS2 and DC to meet the $120 needed for just once console from the Ultimarc parts.
I love the Ultimarc guys. Andy (site owner and bossman) is a great bloke. But his stuff is pretty expensive for what it is, especially when you consider that mass production brings the cost of items DOWN.
Then call me stupid for not thinking of getting 2 kickharnesses to switch out lol.
Well, for now I’ll probably go with the ultimarc until I get comfortable hacking controllers and scart cables (hopefully finding one won’t be too hard for here in the US).
Gonna have to make my own supergun eventually too lol. Hopefully it won’t take that long to get all the parts and start putting them together.
I get mine off eBay. There’s dozens of sellers there who import them in bulk from Asia and sell them for pretty reasonable prices.
Quality wise, it’s all the same. It’s a 30cm pin-to-pin cable. Spending twice the money won’t get you a cable “twice as good”, as generally they all come from the same 2-3 factories anyway.
Do you know if SCART cables work with consoles not released in Europe (IIRC, thats where SCART TV’s are most common)? IE american TVs don’t have scart so companies in american never tried to release a AV scart cable.
can you post pictures of your console to jamma solution Elvis?
Mine is being updated and i’ll post pics as soon as i get it back.
Depends on the console.
DC, XBox and PS2 all support 15KHz RGB output for US consoles. I know that for the PS2 you need to choose it in the console’s setup (you can choose either RGB or YCrCb component out manually). Not sure if the XBox supports it via autodetect or if you have to manually choose it.
The Dreamcast supports it via autodetect.