Can you believe this used to be a Donkey Kong?

I was in a local game store one day chatting about how emulators are spreading like wildfire, and a guy in there with me mentioned arcade emulators, and I was talking about how much I was trying to get an actual standup for my apartment. He mentioned he had a few he was interested in selling, so I quickly asked how much he wanted for one - I didn't care, I just wanted one. He had a Sky Shark that was in a converted and jammatized Donkey Kong cabinet, and he said it needed paint. How much, I asked him? "Oh, I could let you have it for $100..." I thought this was a tremendous deal, seeing as how when I last visited the only arcade 'shop' I know of, the cheapest machine in there was $250, and it was for a nasty old beat up Mario Bros. So, I arranged to come pick it up from his place, and rented a truck to do it over the weekend. (Renting a truck added about $100 to the price of the game, unfortunately.)

So, the weekend comes, I drive the truck up there, and find out the cabinet has wheels mounted on it for easy transit. I've never heard of wheels on an arcade game before; I thought this was a bit unusual.(I later found out it's not) There goes the $15 to rent the dolly to carry it...

but it was worth it to get a bigger truck for $25 more that had a ramp...yeesh. I brought it home, and with the help of my girlfriend, set it up and plugged it in. Nothing. Starting to panic slowly, I looked at the manual for help...nothing. I looked all over the cabinet, looking for a power switch, and finally found it. Click, and it started working. Ahhh, I was in heaven...

Now, Sky Shark isn't that great a game, but it's hard. So I get a fair amount of enjoyment from it. This poor cabinet has probably been through three or four conversions and been jammatized, so I can eventually buy new games to plug in, if I ever find any cheap cool games that are vertical.

The Cabinet:

So, now that I got it home and settled down, I explored the cabinet to learn more about how it's put together, where everything is, etc. Here's what I learned from my explorations (which newbies might find helpful but doesn't seem to be in any FAQ.)

The cabinet has a sticker inside saying it's a Donkey Kong cabinet with the date 4-13-82 and serial # 49373. Can't make out the rest. "Suberman new"..??

On the back door panel, there is a sheet stapled to the wood with the dip switch settings and other technical junk.

The cabinet looks to have been modified many times, from the original inverted-video monitor to a regular vertical monitor, adding a JAMMA harness, the removal of the metal 'interference' cage, and Sky Shark marquee, control panel, and monitor bezel installed.

The cabinet has been painted over with red, making it rather ugly compared to it's original sky blue. The paint is starting to flake off, and I intend to scrape it off and restore the original sky blue because it's much nicer to look at. YUCK!

The coin door looks to have been broken into at one point or another, because there's no lock on it at all and a lot of denting and scratching on the metal.

The rest of the cabinet is in decent shape, except the white T molding was replaced with black T molding. I don't know why. The monitor has slight burn-in, but (and maybe I'm just imagining it) I could swear that it's receding or going back to normal or something since I've only turned it on for a few hours at a time rather than days at wherever it was before I got it. I suspect I'm just imagining it though. Interestingly, I found about 6 tokens from a local vending/arcade distributor company in the back bottom of the cabinet. Gave me a bit of a laugh.

How To Remove the Marquee From A Nintendo Cabinet

To replace the marquee, you have to unscrew a curved strip of metal that holds it in and pull it out. The non-nintendo black T molding made this kind of hard. Here's my helpful "How To Remove The Marquee From A Nintendo Cabinet" :)

In Fig. 1, you can see the position of one of the screws. Remove the screws along the top, which will allow you to tilt the curved metal strip.

In Fig. 2, you can see the metal strip is curved up and the marquee removed Note the is marks on the black T molding near the metal strip from the molding being in the way of the metal strip and getting scratched. It may help to CAREFULLY bend the marquee a bit so it can be removed without the molding interfering.

To replace or take apart the control panel, there are two hidden latches underneath it that you have to get by sticking your head inside the coin door and unlatching it. Then you can pull it out from the top and detach the wires to work on it

On a Nintendo cabinet, the power switch is behind and on the lower left side of the cabinet. (Left side if you're facing the front)

Thanks to Russ Krook III, here are instructions to remove the plexiglas monitor bezel: Press your hands against the sides of the bezel and push upwards. You are trying to slide it up so the bottom leaves the groove in the wood and you can either use a screwdriver or (I found this easier) open the coin door and reach around inside and push it out with your hand, and then again, CAREFULLY, bend the plexiglas to avoid the interference of the molding on the sides of the cabinet.

On the other hand, if you want to do it the way Nintendo intended (ehhh..) there is a metal strip along the top of the inside of the cabinet. It holds the plexi in place and can be loosened via a wingnut accessible from the back.