Nintendo Red Tent Questions

MegaGraffin

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I'm planning on checking out a local red tent this weekend. I'm not overly familiar with them.

Is there anything special I should be looking for when I go to check this one out?

Seller says the monitor has some slight burn, sound and power are good. Controls are fine. The outside looks okay, a bit beat up but that's what I figured considering it's age. Comes w/vs Tetris, vs Castlevania, and vs Wrecking Crew (that's the real seller..vs Wrecking Crew..lol) How are these as home cabs and how easy is it to change the games? Just looking for any special tips from anyone familiar with these cabs.
 

HDRchampion

Before you sell me something, ask how well my baby
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Switching out game to the motherboard is pain in the ass & its pretty fragile too. I ended up ruining my Super Mario as the pins are very fragile. If possible try to get a motherboard per 2 game instead of switching them out. The PPU are expensive to replace so be extra careful on those.

Wrecking Crew i think is one of the more higher value games. Just make sure the chips are original & not burned.

If you do decide to pick up i would highly recommend putting casters on the bottom of the Red Tent. These work perfectly, would probably be a good idea to have them for easy transportation.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Soft-Touch-2-Rubber-Caster-With-Attached-Brake/21094644
 

Nerdygrrl

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Make sure that it is complete and both monitors are working 100%. The monitors are pretty hard if not impossible to find replacements for. Aside from that everything else can be sourced in time if you are patient.

It's a good, fun cab, but it takes up some space. As mentioned before swapping boards is pretty easy and each PCB can host two games. BLKdog7 has a really great site dedicated to the system in case you want to know what games are compatable with what boards/PPUS

http://johnsarcade.com/nintendo_vs_ppu_info.php


I highly recommend getting Dr Mario if you are into puzzle games or RBI-the dual head to head play is pretty fun. Scoring Wrecking Crew and Castlevania is a huge win. Both are harder to find PCB's and a ton of fun.
 

thieslo

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I guess I will pipe in as another Red Tent owner. Definitely make sure both monitors work and are acceptable. The smoked plexi will mask a lot of burn, and don't expect to find a monitor burn free. You will have varying levels of burn. If you find you don't notice it through the plexi and with a game, you are good.

As far as swapping out games, I would recommend getting a seperate Vs. board for each pair of games. The motherboards are about 35-50$ each working. Try to get them with CPUs if you can. The games (with the exception of those using daughterboards) are really just the PPU chip. These currently can't be reproduced (although there is a Universal PPU project ongoing), and the games are pretty much just 2764 chips and can be burned.

As far as checking if all of the chips are original, I wouldn't really worry, if it runs the game it is good. The PPUs are all original and if they work with the game that is good enough.

As far as your game selection you really won out. Castlevania and Wrecking Crew are definitely good ones to get. Castlevania in addition to being a harder one to find usually runs ~$130-150 lately for just the populated daughterboard. If you do plan on switching out the games, keep in mind they are just individual EPROMs and a PPU you are replacing, so just don't put too much strain on the legs (another reason to get another motherboard). As far as swapping motherboards in the Red Tent itself, super easy. Just lift the lid, unplug two edge connectors and slide it out. I can swap sets of games faster than I can on my Neogeo.
 

MegaGraffin

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Thanks everyone for the info. This is a major help. Unfortunately this past weekend the guy who has it said he was having family in town, so he couldn't show it to me. But on the flipside, I think it's good he's not rushing to sell it.

On the positive, he wrote me today saying he decided to recap one of the monitors. I'm hoping to check it out this weekend once again. I think, since I now know he knows how to do it, if I bought it I'd have him recap the other monitor as well. From the pictures, I can see the CP looks decent, the red tent portion/cap looks faded, and the legs appear to have corrosion, big paint chips, etc...Has the small marquees for tetris and casetlevania. He already put the casters on the bottom.

So basically, don't swap games, swap motherboards which hold two separate games a piece. I think exactly what he has now is one MB running Tetris and Castlevania, and said he had the eproms for wrecking crew and mach rider.

What's a good price for this? If we consider the overall condition is average but he says everything totally works. He said it has a low serial number too...901.
 

Nerdygrrl

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Without really seeing the condition it's hard to make a statement on pricing. The Castlevania board will run you over $100 on its own. We paid $550 for the Red Tent we got for our office. It came with like 5 games and was in really great shape. We have a Nintendo hungry crown where I live so these typically sell in the $500-600 range, but I know they can be had elsewhere in the country cheaper.

I guess it's all about what it is worth to you.
 

MegaGraffin

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I appreciate all the responses..Ultimately this deal, even to see it, fell through..The guy wrote me back saying, "Yeah, there is a guy ahead of you. He finally started to respond to my emails and he may buy this as part of a larger purchase so if that falls through, you're next."

At this point, I said to myself-Fuck that..I had cash in hand, great communication and wanted to take a look..And the person who doesn't respond to emails gets to go ahead of me? So yeah, he can live with that buyer..Funny enough..it did fall through, but my impulse to buy this has been soured and I don't even want it right now..I think a PC-10 is something I'd get more enjoyment out of anyways, plus lots of money being spent for both the PS4 and XB1, along with the KI arcade stick in the upcoming month or so...lol...
 

thieslo

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Sorry to hear it fell through, but I doubt it will really boether you much either way. I was really into the Nintendo Vs. because it is different from the nintendo counterparts, but now after adding the Playchoice 10 to my Red Tent, I find I prefer having it setup so I can run 10 games without changing anything.

Just take your time and something will come up :) Most of my regret purchases were impulse.
 

MegaGraffin

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Sorry to hear it fell through, but I doubt it will really boether you much either way. I was really into the Nintendo Vs. because it is different from the nintendo counterparts, but now after adding the Playchoice 10 to my Red Tent, I find I prefer having it setup so I can run 10 games without changing anything.

Just take your time and something will come up :) Most of my regret purchases were impulse.

I agree...I'm not losing any sleep over it..lol...So does your Red Tent have the official replacement swap for the PC-10? With the led timer? I saw a scan of the instructions on how to do the official swap and it looked complicated, but having a Red Tent with a PC-10 inside of it would easily be the best of both worlds...looks and substance...
 

thieslo

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Yup, I have actually owned two separate Red Tents. One was just a standard Red Tent, but then I found another nearby that I noticed had the PlayChoice instruction card and the expansion on the bottom. I hoped it had Playchoice 10 on one side with Castlevania and R.B.I. on the other side. When I picked it up, it was just Vs. Castlevania and R.B.I. on a Vs. board. The wiring, LED counter, and power supply were all available for the PC 10 conversion, just no Playchoice.

Bought a Single monitor board and installed it. Very simple install. The conversion is pretty simple and you can either use a timer or not. It is just a secondary power supply, the Single monitor wiring, and a box installed on the bottom. You then cut a hole in the bottom of your red tent to run the wiring to the PC-10 in the bottom. Have been thinking about adding a second Playchoice 10 board so I can have a Playchoice 20 :D
 

Nerdygrrl

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Sorry that you lost out on the Tent.

While I do enjoy the VS system, I way prefer the PC-10. It just has a better selection of games and you can now buy the NES adapter for it expanding the library by quite a bit.
 

thieslo

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I agree with you :) If you had asked about 6 months ago I would have told you the Playchoice was pointless as it is just an overpriced NES and the Vs. is the way to go, but after having a Playchoice, I find I really enjoy having the selection without having to change out the board. And the adapter makes it great to just take a cart and plug it in to play the obscure games that were tons of fun.
 
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