I only have firsthand knowledge on the iCade, everything else I found via google and this site. A quick google search, and remembering an article here on TA, I would recommend you stay away from the Gamer Duo. It's only compatible with Gameloft games, and is expensive to boot. You wouldn't be able to use it with any Mame games or, IMO, any quality games at all..
The coin and start buttons in an ideal setup would be 24mm and the 7 fire buttons would be 30mm. This way the top buttons don't take up much space and stand out as being different than the regular buttons used during game play.
Very nice stick. I would buy the icade core and put the parts in that. The icade sr is a nice unit but is not practical. If you sit at a bar with a stool it might be ok but I like playing in my favorite recliner and for that the core is ideal. I can sit back and just play for hours without hurting my back or putting stress on my spine. Of course your mileage may vary but IMO the core is a superior unit that just makes more sense overall. But you will need a soldering iron for the joystick and a Dremel for the buttons. The holes are just 1mm too small to fit the Sanwa buttons. I think most American style buttons use a 29mm hole vs 30mm like Japanese arcade parts. But it's easy to do and the difference will be huge. I have a modified icade I'd sell with Sanwa parts if you are interested. It's the one in the picture.its pretty nice, just not as portable as the core.
The worst part is in the mid west (Illinois) candy cabs from Japan are very hard to find. I got lucky and found two within the span of about a year. The first one was a dedicated 4 slot neo geo setup. It was in great condition when I bought it. I just cleaned it up a little and put it in its spot in my game room. The second unit I actually bought from a guy much closer to me and he had about 12-15 arcade machines in his basement. I was in awe when I picked it up. Anyhow long story short the second machine was actually quite beat up when I bought it. I ended up turning it down when I first seen it and then went back a week later and bought it as a project. It was good enough to have in his collection but to be in mine it was going to need some work. I had to tear it down completely, band out some dents, remove a bunch of black marks, replace the plastic screen and overhead information bezel, strip the paint off the plastic (why in the hell anyone would paint on top of plastic is beyond me), sand out and buff the cigarette burns on the control panel, and then recap the monitor. It took me about a week to complete the project. Oh and of course I rewired the entire cab and put in new joysticks and buttons. I can't stand playing on used controls, lol. In rewiring I took the time to reroute the wires correctly and zip tie them together so the space under the control panel wasn't so messy. I also ended up making my own info panel bezel replacement out of smoke colored plastic, kind of proud of myself actually. I bought a piece of plexiglass and had to cut it, finish it and then bend it 45 degrees in order to fit the area. By the time I was done it looked better than a new cab from the factory! Ahh well good times. I love arcade machines and restoring them is like therapy.
I really wish I could find my pics of the consolized neo geo mvs 2 slot. It was a thing of beauty. Google 2 slot neo geo mvs and you can see what it started out as. I had to take the top cover off, sand out all the rust, bang out any dents and imperfections, drill and cut my holes for the coin buttons, audio and video outputs and power supply hook up. Of course I also had an illuminated on off switch. I then took the cover to a local body shop and had them prime it and paint it with blue metal flake candy paint. It looked purple at certain angles, was pretty cool. Then I had to install the jrok video converter, power button and wire up the terminal for the power supply. On top it had two chrome coin in buttons. One for player 1 and one for player 2. It was also mounted with aluminum spacers on a clear plexiglass board with clear rubber feet underneath. I bought a neo geo decal from Europe and installed that on top under the two slots. I also had lights inside with el wire that lit up blue when the unit was turned on. Anyhow needless to say it was the most blinged out consolized arcade board I've ever seen in my life! I actually put about $600 in parts and labor into it but once it was done it was worth every penny. And that was just to play neo geo games on my television set, lol. Once I got my first candy cab I told the wife I'd sell my consolized unit to help pay for it. Oh the things we do for our toys, ha!
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to gamestop (only place around me that carries it) tomorrow and get the core. I should start gutting the fightstick. I have a buddy that might be interested in the modified icade with the sanwa parts. How much are you asking.
Well I paid $70 for it and put about $50 in parts into it. Shipping would be expensive, prolly $20 or so just for freight. I'd et it go for $100 shipped in the USA.
Best buy has them as well. In the store you are likely to pay about $60-70 for the core and $80-100 for the sr. The core is by far the best solution IMO.
Just tried Street Fighter 3 Third Strike on my Iphone4s. It runs at 5-6 frames for second, unplayable, better running it on IFBA!
Yes it is. All devices with Bluetooth is compatible.. If you mean, does it sit securely in the iCade, I would think it does, it's a simple slot it's resting in. You could put an iPhone in the slot, enable Bluetooth, pair it to the iCade and off you go. It would look pretty stupid, but it'll work.
just ordered the icade core off of amazon for 38.00. cant wait to get this bad boy to play all my favorite games on my ipad 4 and mini.
