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Pandora’s box 5


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Great for the price and plug 'n play.

 

Definitely not on par with a Mame PC as far as power, emulation quality and customizability. Of course the trade-off is that a PC will set you back more money, space and require lots of time and tinkering to set up correctly.

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I agree with what others have said, for the price and simplicity, Pandora's Boxes are great value as they are plug and play. Obviously MAME on PC (or even Raspberry Pi 3+) can perform better with some games, however will cost more and involve alot more time & configuration to setup.

 

Be wary as there are many clones of the original Pandora's Box (ironic considering the original is a emulator of arcade games).

 

3A Game Store is the original manufacturer of Pandora's Box. I have always purchased directly from their Aliexpress store with no problems. You may be able to purchase from other resellers, but you do run the risk of receiving a lower quality clone. Their store is here:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/937838

 

The original Pandora's Box 5 supports 960 in 1. Any Pandora's Box 5 advertised as supporting more games such as a 5S, 5+ etc is a clone/fake. This wasn't too much of an issue with previous versions of Pandora's Box ie 4, 3 etc as all manufacturers basically used the same CPU etc. However, with the new version 5, 3A Games have used upgraded newer CPU & more RAM for better game emulation, whilst also supporting 720P HD resolution output.

 

I have both the original 3A Games version 5 and 4S (815 in 1) and the performance increase in the 5 over the 4S is noticeable eg it now plays Mortal Kombat without any slowdown etc.

 

Just be wary that original Pandora's Box version 5 is 720P output and does not currently support lower resolution CRT type displays. So the boxes do not work in low resolution arcade machines via JAMMA. They do support VGA or HDMI connections to higher resolution LCD screens, monitors, tvs etc. Clone version 5S, 5+ MAY work on JAMMA lower res screens (I don't have one so cannot comment), but do not have the better CPU/RAM as mentioned above.

 

One final thing to note is 3A Games in order to become more "legitimate" with copyright now no longer supplies Pandora's Box version 5 containing any games. However they include a USB thumb drive and then email you a link containing a ZIP file to download the ROMs. After which you simply copy across to said USB thumb drive on your PC, before then plugging it into the Pandora's Bpx version 5 to use. More info here from their Aliexpress ad:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Pandora-s-Box-5-960-in-1-Jamma-Arcade-Version-HDMI-VGA-Output-HD-720P-Custom/937838_32845182085.html

 

3A Games also sell a "console" version that plugs in via HDMI to your TV and includes arcade wireless controllers:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Pandora-box-4S-680-in-1-game-Pandora-s-box-wireless-joystick-arcade-controller-zero-delay/937838_32813775619.html

 

Let me know if you have any other questions as I have used these systems for years and find the original versions to be quite reliable and a cheap plug and play alternative to MAME.

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I bought a clone Pandoras Box 5S from aliespress and replaced my MAME PC with it.

 

Personally I prefer it to the MAME PC as with Windows 7 Home I needed to keep changing the password on my arcade account every 90 days. I was using a boot hack on Windows to prevent the user being able to exit out of MAME.

 

MAME was also a pain in the neck with getting working ROMS only in the list of games as often the working games relied on non working ROMS, etc and when you download an archive sifting through it is a lot of work. Whereas the Pandoras Box all the ROMS are in a working condition.

 

One thing though that I found with my clone and MAME is you might want to sort through to turn off adult games if kids are going to be playing. My kids found a Bust a Move clone that they loved but I didn't realise that when they finished a stage a picture not appropriate fora 6 year old would pop up on the screen for their entertainment :redface

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I bought a clone Pandoras Box 5S from aliespress and replaced my MAME PC with it.

 

Personally I prefer it to the MAME PC as with Windows 7 Home I needed to keep changing the password on my arcade account every 90 days. I was using a boot hack on Windows to prevent the user being able to exit out of MAME.

 

MAME was also a pain in the neck with getting working ROMS only in the list of games as often the working games relied on non working ROMS, etc and when you download an archive sifting through it is a lot of work. Whereas the Pandoras Box all the ROMS are in a working condition.

 

One thing though that I found with my clone and MAME is you might want to sort through to turn off adult games if kids are going to be playing. My kids found a Bust a Move clone that they loved but I didn't realise that when they finished a stage a picture not appropriate fora 6 year old would pop up on the screen for their entertainment :redface

Bubble 2000. The name doesn't really give it away, does it?

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Bubble 2000. The name doesn't really give it away, does it?

 

That's the game yes! I thought it was a simple clone of Puzzle Bobble, which I guess it is, but yes, no indication of the adult nature and the fact that you need to play an entire stage to even find out threw me as normally you can pick the adult games from the menu.

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That's the game yes! I thought it was a simple clone of Puzzle Bobble, which I guess it is, but yes, no indication of the adult nature and the fact that you need to play an entire stage to even find out threw me as normally you can pick the adult games from the menu.

 

It's gold. Gives me flashbacks to being an impatient teenager with a 33.6k modem.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for this ... I've been in communication with A3 regarding the Pandora 5.

 

I wanted to get it to put in the cocktail table with a vertical screen (that can be rotated to horizontal) BUT now find out the screen doesn't flip for player 2.

 

IYHO - can you advise what Pandora, Pando, clone (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/999-in-1-Game-Board-VGA-output-For-Arcade-Cabinet-5S-arcade-game-board-999-multi/32841455615.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.274.30453c00v99o8H) I should be looking at for this situation?

 

It appears the stickler is the screen MUST flip for player two and I just am having difficulty finding a unit that does that.

 

I have found these https://diyarcade.com.au/vertical-game-board but again very little information if they flip.

 

The closest I get is that Game Elf flip on player two and Pandora and clones don't.

 

All feedback gratefully accepted.

 

Regards,

:cool:

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Thank you for this ... I've been in communication with A3 regarding the Pandora 5.

 

I wanted to get it to put in the cocktail table with a vertical screen (that can be rotated to horizontal) BUT now find out the screen doesn't flip for player 2.

 

IYHO - can you advise what Pandora, Pando, clone (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/999-in-1-Game-Board-VGA-output-For-Arcade-Cabinet-5S-arcade-game-board-999-multi/32841455615.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.274.30453c00v99o8H) I should be looking at for this situation?

 

It appears the stickler is the screen MUST flip for player two and I just am having difficulty finding a unit that does that.

 

I have found these https://diyarcade.com.au/vertical-game-board but again very little information if they flip.

 

The closest I get is that Game Elf flip on player two and Pandora and clones don't.

 

All feedback gratefully accepted.

 

Regards,

:cool:

 

First thing is to make sure if your cocktail is wired for JAMMA. Some older cocktail cabinets are not JAMMA wired and you will then need either a cable harness to JAMMA adapter or to rewire the cabinet to JAMMA. If your cabinet is newer and/or already JAMMA you are set. However, please attach a pic in your other "AA Intro thread post" and some members there can assist you with that. If you do end up using a Pandora's Box (or clone), you may need an extended JAMMA harness to ensure you have buttons 4,5,6 per player wired up if you wish to play games that use 6 buttons ie Street Fighter etc. You can usually purchase an extended JAMMA harness with a Pandora's Box.

 

As for Pandora's Boxes that flip to player two, I'm not really aware of PB's that offer that functionality. It is usually only vertical games that flip and very uncommon for horizontal games to flip. There used to be an old 276 in 1 multicade board that would flip all games from a few years ago, but I don't believe they are being sold anymore.

 

However, if you want vertical games that flip to player 2, your best options would be as follows:

 

60 in 1 Arcade Classics icade/Multicade vertical board (~ AU$45):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Jamma-60-in-1-Classic-Game-PCB-Board-Jamma-Multi-Game-Board-for-Upright-or-Cocktail/32612694453.html

 

Pandora Box clone that can be hacked (~ AU$80):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-2017-new-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME/3209072_32838625347.html

 

If you purchase this specific PB clone, it is a hardware version that you can simply swap out the MicroSD card with a new MicroSD card and download hacked software/image online which includes more games, better emulators & can also include home console games ie SNES, Sega MegaDrive whilst being displayed in a nicer interface ie Emulation Station etc.

 

Download one of these images and write it to a new MicroSD:

 

Vertical cocktail image with ~ 130ish games 8Gb MicroSD card required & will screen flip on player 2:

https://mega.nz/#!rNonjDAZ!bCVD3-NMKbbvK7i-Zu3O9MIUdI5E4T3gzNeTIa_07O8

 

RetroPan 32gb MicroSD card required (includes home consoles etc):

https://mega.nz/#F!fhMwERZC!D2NZnO8LccAqQ1AJ-nuBbw

 

RetroArcade 16g bMicroSD card required (Arcade only):

https://mega.nz/#F!mkEAAbAa!EroFuPbWPRYKGTQLg6m2Ew

 

The two Retro images above can also start in vertical mode if you hold P1 button whilst powering on your arcade machine, otherwise they will start up in horizontal mode by default.

 

Once you download any of the above files, extract using WinRAR, insert your new MicroSD card of the correct size into your PC and use Win32 Disk Imager ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ )to write the file to MicroSD card. Then just unscrew the Pandora's Box, remove the existing MicroSD card from the motherboard (keep it as a backup) and insert your new card with the freshly written image. Plug it all back together and you should be good to go.

 

More info about the images, hacking Pandora's Boxes and assistance with using them can be found here:

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=86191&PN=1&title=openpb4-project

 

You can also get a vertical shoot 'em up/shmup Pandora's Box that includes only more recent vertical shooting style games. However this does not do screen flipping on player 2.

 

King of Air 51 in 1 (~AU$60):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Hot-Selling-Vertical-Screen-The-King-of-Air-51-in-1-Flight-Shooting-Jamma-Arcade-Game/937838_32506489706.html

 

Sorry this is a long post, hope it helps!

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As for Pandora's Boxes that flip to player two, I'm not really aware of PB's that offer that functionality. It is usually only vertical games that flip and very uncommon for horizontal games to flip. There used to be an old 276 in 1 multicade board that would flip all games from a few years ago, but I don't believe they are being sold anymore.

 

However, if you want vertical games that flip to player 2, your best options would be as follows:

 

Sorry this is a long post, hope it helps!

 

WOW! Not sorry for the long post at all ... such wonderful help!

 

Images coming when grandson leaves and I can get to it.

 

Yes the box has the connector - engineer had put a 10inch LCD in it 2 months ago as the old CRT failed - the unit hadn't been turned on in at least 15 years!

 

Only Time Pilot worked - kind of - when hardwired in. All the others not working. They need a specialist to look at the boards and problem solve ... HENCE looking at a box with games. Not old school but at least grandsons and I will have fun playing it.

 

At Aliexpress I have the following in my cart: Which one should I get - I would like the biggest bang for my buck but somethging that works.

Retro Gaming:

Pandora 412 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Quality-412-in-1-Arcade-Games-Board-Vertical-Jamma-Multi-Game-PCB-For-CGA-VGA/32851611295.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.261.55c03c00VchY2l) and

5s - 999 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-arcade-game-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME-CRT/32842396225.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.270.55c03c00VchY2l) and

520(https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32835476884.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.267.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Time Harvest:

Game Elf 412 vertical (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Classical-game-276-in-1-vertical-versions-Game-PCB-for-Arcade-Machine-Multi-game/597015156.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.277.55c03c00VchY2l) and

1162 vertical and horizontal (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Multi-game-elf-1162-in-1-with-Jamma-harness-Have-vertical-and-horizontal-games-can-flip/32865703578.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.280.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Mr Arcade:

Game Elf 412 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Original-Jamma-Arcade-Game-Game-Elf-412-in-1-Game-Cartridge-Can-Work-With/32722985927.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.286.55c03c00VchY2l) and

Little Elf 540 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Factory-price-pandora-520-in-1-game-pcb-box-3-jamma-arcade-multi-game-borad-multigame/32726740325.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.289.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Retro Arcade:

Pandora 3 520/Pandora 4 645 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32843035024.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.295.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

SQ Arcade:

Pandora's bos 4s 815 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pandora-s-box-4s-plus-hd-pcb-VGA-CGA-output-for-LCD-CRT-815-in-1/32840737218.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.302.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

ALSO from 3A Game Store the RAR file of the games for the Pandora Box 5 becasue 3A don't sell the unit with the games on them anymore.

 

Trying to get the info from the shops has been difficult and somehow I found this site. Am I glad!

 

We're so not into fighting games per say but on the 999 game list there are the most I want - Super Mario, Packman, Wonder Boy, 1941 etc., Dragonball Z, Moon Partol, Tetris, Bouncing Bals, Donkey Kong, Time Pilot, Sonic the Hedgehog, Lady Bug, Space Invaders, Frogger.

 

I'm not sure what else to ask except digesting what you've given me above - which should be the best?

 

BTW - the monitor can be moved to the horizontal position for those games but only played with one player because I understand the horizontal's don't flip for player two.

 

Cheers muchly!~

:cool:

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WOW! Not sorry for the long post at all ... such wonderful help!

 

Images coming when grandson leaves and I can get to it.

 

Yes the box has the connector - engineer had put a 10inch LCD in it 2 months ago as the old CRT failed - the unit hadn't been turned on in at least 15 years!

 

With an LCD, it sounds like a VGA connector for video, so any of the recent Pandora's Box 5's should be easy to connect up and display a good picture.

 

At Aliexpress I have the following in my cart: Which one should I get - I would like the biggest bang for my buck but somethging that works.

Retro Gaming:

Pandora 412 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-Quality-412-in-1-Arcade-Games-Board-Vertical-Jamma-Multi-Game-PCB-For-CGA-VGA/32851611295.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.261.55c03c00VchY2l) and

5s - 999 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-arcade-game-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME-CRT/32842396225.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.270.55c03c00VchY2l) and

520(https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32835476884.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.267.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Time Harvest:

Game Elf 412 vertical (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Classical-game-276-in-1-vertical-versions-Game-PCB-for-Arcade-Machine-Multi-game/597015156.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.277.55c03c00VchY2l) and

1162 vertical and horizontal (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Multi-game-elf-1162-in-1-with-Jamma-harness-Have-vertical-and-horizontal-games-can-flip/32865703578.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.280.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Mr Arcade:

Game Elf 412 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Arrival-Original-Jamma-Arcade-Game-Game-Elf-412-in-1-Game-Cartridge-Can-Work-With/32722985927.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.286.55c03c00VchY2l) and

Little Elf 540 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Factory-price-pandora-520-in-1-game-pcb-box-3-jamma-arcade-multi-game-borad-multigame/32726740325.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.289.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Retro Arcade:

Pandora 3 520/Pandora 4 645 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32843035024.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.295.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

SQ Arcade:

Pandora's bos 4s 815 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pandora-s-box-4s-plus-hd-pcb-VGA-CGA-output-for-LCD-CRT-815-in-1/32840737218.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.302.55c03c00VchY2l)

 

Personally, if you are after a simple plug and play solution that will be easy to install and perform the best. I would stick with the original 3A Games Pandora's Box 5 960 in 1. It has a better CPU and more memory, so newer games perform better and do not slowdown. This is the original company that all of the clones copy and hence better quality components.

 

Pandora's Box 5 (~ AU$100, horizontal only):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2018-New-Pandora-Box-5-960-in-1-Arcade-Version-Orange-Jamma-Game-Board-HDMI-VGA/937838_32843785287.html

 

If you are happy to download hacked software and purchase an additional MicroSD card, then go with a clone Pandora's Box that can be hacked with new improved software as per my above post. Purchase this one and follow the links/directions to download the software (not all boards are the same and some cannot be hacked, so stick with this one). I cannot comment on the other clones you have listed as I have not tried them. Be aware that buying a clone is a roll of the dice, some may work ok, others may not and can be poor quality. So do research before purchasing and look at the reviews/comments.

 

Pandora Box clone that can be hacked (~ AU$80, both horizontal and vertical after installing hacked software):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-2017-new-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME/3209072_32838625347.html

 

Finally don't fall into the trap that more games is best or better value for money. The clone PB manufacturers will often load up additional games without testing the games first. So although they appear to have more games, often the extra games don't work at all; work, but slowdown so they are unplayable; games crash etc; or are just a copy/clone version of an existing game already on the unit. Pick a PB based upon user feedback and reviews. PB will never be the best quality or exactly the same as purchasing the original individual arcade game JAMMA boards, but can come close and are generally good value for money for their simple plug and play nature.

 

ALSO from 3A Game Store the RAR file of the games for the Pandora Box 5 becasue 3A don't sell the unit with the games on them anymore.

 

You can download the Pandora's Box 5 960 in 1 roms from here (3A Games will send you this link after you checkout and pay for the item):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HNKY4KVQ5iZccusypRvu-16We4b8QDDd/view

 

Trying to get the info from the shops has been difficult and somehow I found this site. Am I glad!

 

We're so not into fighting games per say but on the 999 game list there are the most I want - Super Mario, Packman, Wonder Boy, 1941 etc., Dragonball Z, Moon Partol, Tetris, Bouncing Bals, Donkey Kong, Time Pilot, Sonic the Hedgehog, Lady Bug, Space Invaders, Frogger.

 

I'm not sure what else to ask except digesting what you've given me above - which should be the best?

 

BTW - the monitor can be moved to the horizontal position for those games but only played with one player because I understand the horizontal's don't flip for player two.

 

Cheers muchly!~

:cool:

 

Unfortunately there is no one best solution out there as it depends on what you are after and if you are also willing to hack/change the software. If you really do want something simple, plug and play and guaranteed to work, then as stated above I would go with the original 960 in 1. However, JAMMA arcade machines in principle are designed to swap games in and out with ease. So you can always start with say the original PB 5 and then purchase a clone to hack the software for vertical at a later date and swap it out whenever you want to play different games.

 

You next step is then buying original JAMMA arcade games board but that is an entirely different rabbit hole!

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You next step is then buying original JAMMA arcade games board but that is an entirely different rabbit hole!

 

 

Funny - I seem to get stuck in rabbit holes. But we hve about 13 original boards from 1980's that are not working ... Engineer is considering doing a electronics course to try to get them up working again - one day. In the mean time ... want something fo rth eboys to paly and me play with them.

 

Again thank you for your comprehensive assistance.

 

I don't need all the games as really interested the list which happens to be on the 999 game box. Emm I wonder if it's possible to delete the shite games I'm not interested in? Anything is possible.

 

As to hacking! I love the challenge of it. Bring it on I say.

 

Have to get other work done now so I'll review, make a decision and come back with my decisions.

 

Regards,

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Great read and info!

So for someone wanting to put one of these into a cabinet with CRT, which is the best option - a 3A game Pandora 4, or a later version clone which supports CRT (some form of clone Pandora 5s etc.)

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Great read and info!

So for someone wanting to put one of these into a cabinet with CRT, which is the best option - a 3A game Pandora 4, or a later version clone which supports CRT (some form of clone Pandora 5s etc.)

 

Don't waste your CRT.

 

Setup Groovymame to take advantage of the different refresh rate for individual games.

 

Otherwise you might as well just use an LCD.

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Don't waste your CRT.

 

Setup Groovymame to take advantage of the different refresh rate for individual games.

 

Otherwise you might as well just use an LCD.

 

As much as I am an advocate for GroovyMAME, the latest Pandora's are good for the massive majority of people with a CRT. Plug and play, no setup, no problems. Would never use one in a CRT cabinet myself, but they are fantastic for people that want an easy solution.

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Pandora Box clone that can be hacked (~ AU$80):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-2017-new-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME/3209072_32838625347.html

 

If you purchase this specific PB clone, it is a hardware version that you can simply swap out the MicroSD card with a new MicroSD card and download hacked software/image online which includes more games, better emulators & can also include home console games ie SNES, Sega MegaDrive whilst being displayed in a nicer interface ie Emulation Station etc.

 

 

Done! Clone purchased, hack ready to go ... now waiting on China Air to deliver. Watch this space. (or should I open a new thread?)

 

Thank you all for your assistance.

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  • 3 weeks later...
First thing is to make sure if your cocktail is wired for JAMMA. Some older cocktail cabinets are not JAMMA wired and you will then need either a cable harness to JAMMA adapter or to rewire the cabinet to JAMMA. If your cabinet is newer and/or already JAMMA you are set. However, please attach a pic in your other "AA Intro thread post" and some members there can assist you with that. If you do end up using a Pandora's Box (or clone), you may need an extended JAMMA harness to ensure you have buttons 4,5,6 per player wired up if you wish to play games that use 6 buttons ie Street Fighter etc. You can usually purchase an extended JAMMA harness with a Pandora's Box.

 

As for Pandora's Boxes that flip to player two, I'm not really aware of PB's that offer that functionality. It is usually only vertical games that flip and very uncommon for horizontal games to flip. There used to be an old 276 in 1 multicade board that would flip all games from a few years ago, but I don't believe they are being sold anymore.

 

However, if you want vertical games that flip to player 2, your best options would be as follows:

 

60 in 1 Arcade Classics icade/Multicade vertical board (~ AU$45):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Jamma-60-in-1-Classic-Game-PCB-Board-Jamma-Multi-Game-Board-for-Upright-or-Cocktail/32612694453.html

 

Pandora Box clone that can be hacked (~ AU$80):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-2017-new-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME/3209072_32838625347.html

 

If you purchase this specific PB clone, it is a hardware version that you can simply swap out the MicroSD card with a new MicroSD card and download hacked software/image online which includes more games, better emulators & can also include home console games ie SNES, Sega MegaDrive whilst being displayed in a nicer interface ie Emulation Station etc.

 

Download one of these images and write it to a new MicroSD:

 

Vertical cocktail image with ~ 130ish games 8Gb MicroSD card required & will screen flip on player 2:

https://mega.nz/#!rNonjDAZ!bCVD3-NMKbbvK7i-Zu3O9MIUdI5E4T3gzNeTIa_07O8

 

RetroPan 32gb MicroSD card required (includes home consoles etc):

https://mega.nz/#F!fhMwERZC!D2NZnO8LccAqQ1AJ-nuBbw

 

RetroArcade 16g bMicroSD card required (Arcade only):

https://mega.nz/#F!mkEAAbAa!EroFuPbWPRYKGTQLg6m2Ew

 

The two Retro images above can also start in vertical mode if you hold P1 button whilst powering on your arcade machine, otherwise they will start up in horizontal mode by default.

 

 

Box arrived ... new harness installed ... Pandora 5S is horizontal games only ... now to find the vertical games suggested and hack the card.

Hopefully doing it now ...

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  • 3 months later...
First thing is to make sure if your cocktail is wired for JAMMA. Some older cocktail cabinets are not JAMMA wired and you will then need either a cable harness to JAMMA adapter or to rewire the cabinet to JAMMA. If your cabinet is newer and/or already JAMMA you are set. However, please attach a pic in your other "AA Intro thread post" and some members there can assist you with that. If you do end up using a Pandora's Box (or clone), you may need an extended JAMMA harness to ensure you have buttons 4,5,6 per player wired up if you wish to play games that use 6 buttons ie Street Fighter etc. You can usually purchase an extended JAMMA harness with a Pandora's Box.

 

As for Pandora's Boxes that flip to player two, I'm not really aware of PB's that offer that functionality. It is usually only vertical games that flip and very uncommon for horizontal games to flip. There used to be an old 276 in 1 multicade board that would flip all games from a few years ago, but I don't believe they are being sold anymore.

 

However, if you want vertical games that flip to player 2, your best options would be as follows:

 

60 in 1 Arcade Classics icade/Multicade vertical board (~ AU$45):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Jamma-60-in-1-Classic-Game-PCB-Board-Jamma-Multi-Game-Board-for-Upright-or-Cocktail/32612694453.html

 

Pandora Box clone that can be hacked (~ AU$80):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-2017-new-arrival-Pandora-5S-999-in-1-PCB-Jamma-Mutli-Game-Board-MAME/3209072_32838625347.html

 

If you purchase this specific PB clone, it is a hardware version that you can simply swap out the MicroSD card with a new MicroSD card and download hacked software/image online which includes more games, better emulators & can also include home console games ie SNES, Sega MegaDrive whilst being displayed in a nicer interface ie Emulation Station etc.

 

Download one of these images and write it to a new MicroSD:

 

Vertical cocktail image with ~ 130ish games 8Gb MicroSD card required & will screen flip on player 2:

https://mega.nz/#!rNonjDAZ!bCVD3-NMKbbvK7i-Zu3O9MIUdI5E4T3gzNeTIa_07O8

 

RetroPan 32gb MicroSD card required (includes home consoles etc):

https://mega.nz/#F!fhMwERZC!D2NZnO8LccAqQ1AJ-nuBbw

 

RetroArcade 16g bMicroSD card required (Arcade only):

https://mega.nz/#F!mkEAAbAa!EroFuPbWPRYKGTQLg6m2Ew

 

The two Retro images above can also start in vertical mode if you hold P1 button whilst powering on your arcade machine, otherwise they will start up in horizontal mode by default.

 

Once you download any of the above files, extract using WinRAR, insert your new MicroSD card of the correct size into your PC and use Win32 Disk Imager ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ )to write the file to MicroSD card. Then just unscrew the Pandora's Box, remove the existing MicroSD card from the motherboard (keep it as a backup) and insert your new card with the freshly written image. Plug it all back together and you should be good to go.

 

More info about the images, hacking Pandora's Boxes and assistance with using them can be found here:

http://www.jammaplus.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=86191&PN=1&title=openpb4-project

 

You can also get a vertical shoot 'em up/shmup Pandora's Box that includes only more recent vertical shooting style games. However this does not do screen flipping on player 2.

 

King of Air 51 in 1 (~AU$60):

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Hot-Selling-Vertical-Screen-The-King-of-Air-51-in-1-Flight-Shooting-Jamma-Arcade-Game/937838_32506489706.html

 

Sorry this is a long post, hope it helps!

 

Fantastic lot of info there @kryptonyte I managed to download the other images and they seem to work or at least boot up fine (once I worked out 2 non-readable partitions are created and not to format them) but I have other issues with my Panadora's 5s box clone boards controls not working in my Atomiswave SD cab but that's for another thread. Thanks heaps.

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Hey @kryptonyte, is there an alternative to the link to jammaplus you mentioned as the link seems to be broken.

 

Just want to try and understand how the custom builds are made or maybe just add or remove roms or change game settings which I was hoping that link would shed some light on. What I have been wanting is a multi-game cart that can work on a horizontal monitor on my cocktail and play 80's vertical games in cocktail flip mode, 80's horizontal games in flip mode (for those originally made for it) as well as playing later horizontal games in non-flip 1 or 2 player mode (fighting games?).

 

Cheers

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Hey @kryptonyte, is there an alternative to the link to jammaplus you mentioned as the link seems to be broken.

 

Just want to try and understand how the custom builds are made or maybe just add or remove roms or change game settings which I was hoping that link would shed some light on. What I have been wanting is a multi-game cart that can work on a horizontal monitor on my cocktail and play 80's vertical games in cocktail flip mode, 80's horizontal games in flip mode (for those originally made for it) as well as playing later horizontal games in non-flip 1 or 2 player mode (fighting games?).

 

Cheers

 

Unfortunately @Claude jammaplus forums closed in June 2018 after 14 years. I'm not aware of any publicly available forums with recent discussions/help on Pandora Box hacking. If you manage to find one, let me know! :cool:

 

You can modify the files on the partitions on the SD card, but will need to mount them under Linux (or use a Windows/Mac tool that enables mounting of Linux partitions) to then edit the config files, roms etc. I recall reading some discussion on this on jammaplus late last year, but have never attempted it myself. I believe the hacked builds are built on Retropie, so should be relatively easy to modify - based upon how well documented it is to modify settings on Retropie running on the Raspberry Pi.

 

Perhaps try contacting zanac who created the hacked image (another user then added the roms and uploaded the builds to Mega to share with everyone). Perhaps you can contact zanac via his GitHub page to see if he will assist with your query:

 

https://github.com/zanac/OpenPB4

 

Good luck!

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Unfortunately @Claude jammaplus forums closed in June 2018 after 14 years. I'm not aware of any publicly available forums with recent discussions/help on Pandora Box hacking. If you manage to find one, let me know! :cool:

 

You can modify the files on the partitions on the SD card, but will need to mount them under Linux (or use a Windows/Mac tool that enables mounting of Linux partitions) to then edit the config files, roms etc. I recall reading some discussion on this on jammaplus late last year, but have never attempted it myself. I believe the hacked builds are built on Retropie, so should be relatively easy to modify - based upon how well documented it is to modify settings on Retropie running on the Raspberry Pi.

 

Perhaps try contacting zanac who created the hacked image (another user then added the roms and uploaded the builds to Mega to share with everyone). Perhaps you can contact zanac via his GitHub page to see if he will assist with your query:

 

https://github.com/zanac/OpenPB4

 

Good luck!

 

Excellent. Thanks for all that, I will try and mount the partitions and mod to my needs if it's easy enough.

 

Cheers.

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Excellent. Thanks for all that, I will try and mount the partitions and mod to my needs if it's easy enough.

 

Cheers.

 

You do realize Pandora is just using an older version of Mame don't you.

The point of a Pandora box is simple plug & play.

 

Modding a Pandora box is like hacking someones hack.

You might as well just set up Mame to your personal preference to achieve the same result and probably do a better job at it.

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