Deciding I wanted to collect gamecube is what sent me down this disgusting path of needing to own everything. I'm ashamed with myself but now I just contacted a guy selling a Neo Geo cabinet.
I know what you mean. When I start collecting something I go fucking overboard. I while ago I got a bug up my ass to get a japanese candy cab. Spent months looking for one down south but they are next to impossible to find. I got super lucky (like the PVM haul) and found a couple of guys on Reddit near me who tried starting their own barcade in New Orleans but failed. I PM'd the guy (this was like two years after they posted),and low and behold they still had them and were willing to sell for pretty cheap. Now I got three of these Blast Cities in my living room and kitchen in various states of repair (one is fully restored) and a whole spare room filled with arcade hardware. I couldn't just buy one,no,I need one tate and one yoko,and I figured I bought two of theirs,might as well get them all.
You think Geometry on a PVM is annoying to fix? Having to stick magnetized pieces of tape near the anode cap on a running arcade CRT will give you nightmares.
I have no idea why I bought the third one,I barely have room for two (b-a-r-e-l-y). I thought, "these are impossible to find in the south I might as well snatch them while I can". I got the empty one on Craigslist,hoping to trade for a game collection or something,lol.
What kind of monitors do the candy cabs use? Could you jam a PVM in there or would it be better to use the original?
I'm asking because a friend of mine is looking to sell his candy cab, and I'm trying to find out how easily I could put up a system where I could put a multi-cart in there? Or do I need to use these various arcade boards.
Or would it be better (=cheaper) to set up a supergun to use with my PVM.
Depends on the candy cab. The Sega ones tend to use Nanao chassis and can switch multiple res (depending on model). The best is the MS-2931 because it automatically switches resolutions,the older models you have to manually do it.
No you can't just jam a PVM in there,they have a special frame that fits around the monitor so it can be rotated. Most tend to be 27" for the Japanese style,but it depends. Also,many will have various levels of burn in from running attract mode 12 hours per day,so always ask about that. If one goes out on you good luck finding someone to repair it,and finding things like spare flybacks and full replacement chassis are next to impossible and very expensive. Not trying to scare you,just letting you know what you might be in for.
My advice would be to look into a Groovymame setup. Its essentially a lagless version of mame that runs at native 240p,I believe it was designed by someone on the shmups forum. Pair it with a nice front end like Launchbox and its all you'll need. Its what I have on mine and your best bang for buck. Arcade PCB's are CRAZY EXPENSIVE (Batsugun is like $800) I can make a video of mine for you if you'd like.