DDR Arcade Machine Refurbishment Project

[DarkStar]

Figured this would be a pretty good place to post an arcade machine project I'm working on.


I picked this Dance Dance Revolution Extreme up as a non-working machine, but with all parts present and accounted for. The laminate is in poor condition, but no wood damage and very clean inside.


For some historical perspective, this machine was imported in 2004 by Namco Cybertainment (now Namco Amusements) to be placed in arcades. Since Konami was completely sold out in US and Japan, Namco went to Hong Kong to have these variants produced. Inside is a Chinese PlayStation 2 with the retail version of DDR Extreme installed on a hard drive - this is all connected to a converter device for controller inputs as well as RGB monitor output (standard arcade monitor).


Somewhere along the way, this particular machine was installed in a local Century Theater (given the template token installed into the coin acceptor) and then later sold at auction.


The plan is to install a computer running StepMania and upgrade the audio system to make this a fairly modern machine.

[DarkStar]

A lot needs to be done to the cabinet (sanding, new laminate, etc), so the first step was to remove everything completely.


Something interesting they did, however, was that everything (except the monitor) ran off of 220 volt power. Because of that, they installed a 110 to 220 transformer. They also had a consumer grade power amplifier installed as well.

[DarkStar]

On the first image, you can see everything that was pulled off of the cabinet (the monitor is in another room). Not a whole lot when you get down to it.


The second image shows the original Chinese PS2 operating off of the 110 to 220 transformer that was in the machine. The little green board to the left of the PS2 is the adapter for the arcade controls as well as the RGB monitor output. I was able to get it to boot up successfully - later on I connected some small jumper wires and was able to verify the adapter board was functional as well.


In a couple of weeks, I'll be sanding the cabinet and getting new laminate from Home Depot.

[dancemaniac]

Looking good! I remember seeing this at the auction.
Definitely curious about your progress so far.
I own a DDR Solo cab and just bought another pair of DDR arcade pads recently that I'm fixing up and plan to bring to next con.

[superjaz]

AWESOME! 
I am jelly, I love DDR!  Sadly it doesn't transfer over to ps3 (the pad like reverses the directions) and haven't really been able to play outside the occasional arcade.  I really want to get back into it to lose my baby belly.  We have a couple of padded mats but they slide so much on carpet. 

[DarkStar]

Unfortunately I was having issues with the laminate and couldn't get it done before the weather got too cold (I'm doing most the work on a patio since I don't have a garage). Since then I've re-capped the arcade monitor and verified it is functioning 100% now and have purchased most of the replacement components for the main cabinet so they can be installed as soon as the laminate is completed.


I haven't even touched the pads yet as I really want to focus on the main cabinet for the time being. Hopefully things will improve and I'll get some 60 degree F days starting in late March/early Apr!