# Nintendo Arcade Game Pickup - What should I do?!?

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2021-07-22  
**Duration:** 9m 48s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j97o1FW6x1E

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## Analysis

RetroRalph (Jon) documents his acquisition and restoration of a Versus Super Mario Brothers arcade cabinet—a red cabinet originally a Radar Scope, converted to Donkey Kong, then to Versus Unisystem—which he is converting back to Donkey Kong. He details the technical conversion process, parts sourcing from Arcade Shop and Mike's Arcade, and a donation of a Donkey Kong PCB from the Rexer Show. He also briefly mentions acquiring a Road Blasters machine.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Red cabinets like this were typically Radar Scope cabinets converted to Donkey Kong, then later to Versus Unisystems — _Jon (RetroRalph) discussing arcade cabinet history and conversion practices_
- [HIGH] The cabinet originally had a horizontal monitor that was rotated back to vertical during conversion — _Jon directly states he was able to rotate the monitor back to vertical_
- [HIGH] Arcade Shop and Mike's Arcade sell reproduction Donkey Kong marquees and control panels — _Jon sourcing parts from these vendors for the restoration_
- [HIGH] The Versus Unisystem conversion removed original wiring harnesses that will need to be re-acquired or fabricated for the Donkey Kong restoration — _Jon explaining the technical challenge of dropping in the Donkey Kong board_
- [HIGH] The Rexer Show is sending Jon a Donkey Kong PCB board — _Jon gives a direct shout-out and thanks to the Rexer Show for this donation_
- [HIGH] Jon recently acquired a Road Blasters arcade cabinet — _Jon shows the machine and announces it's a 'pristine Road Blasters' with some cosmetic work needed_

### Notable Quotes

> "This was a Radar Scope that someone converted to a Donkey Kong. Then they converted it to a Versus Unisystem. And I'm turning it back into a Donkey Kong. Dude, that's crazy. Right?"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~2:00-2:30
> _Highlights the multi-generational cabinet conversion history and his enthusiasm for the reversal restoration_

> "LED is where it's at for these kinds of things it's stupid this takes up too much power these are harder to find these days so to me reduce your power consumption and it's a lot easier"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~7:45
> _Demonstrates his stance on LED conversions vs. original fluorescent fixtures in arcade restoration_

> "I know this is there's some controversy around this but I don't care I'll back it up all day long"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~7:30
> _Shows awareness of restoration community debate around modifications vs. originality_

> "The fact that Rexer sending me the Donkey Kong board that like one huge step that needs to get done. So that awesome."
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~14:30
> _Expresses gratitude for community support in sourcing hard-to-find original components_

> "I just couldn't help myself after I got back from from Jeff's house it was it was like it was all I could think about"
> — **Jon (RetroRalph)**, ~17:00
> _References a previous video/location visit (Jeff's house, likely Arcade Amusements) that inspired his Road Blasters acquisition_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| RetroRalph | person | YouTube content creator specializing in arcade cabinet restoration and preservation; runs channel 'Tee'd Off' |
| Jon | person | Host of Tee'd Off channel (same person as RetroRalph) |
| Hector | person | Arcade owner in Flagstaff, Arizona; trades Neo Geo to Jon for red Nintendo cabinet |
| Rexer Show | person | Community member/content creator donating a Donkey Kong PCB board to Jon for the restoration project |
| Arcade Shop | company | Vendor selling reproduction arcade marquees and bezels; sources for Jon's Donkey Kong restoration |
| Mike's Arcade | company | Vendor selling reproduction arcade control panels; Jon plans to source Donkey Kong control panel from here |
| Tee'd Off | product | YouTube channel hosted by Jon (RetroRalph) focusing on arcade restoration and acquisition |
| Donkey Kong | game | Classic arcade game being restored from conversion cabinet; target restoration for the red Nintendo cabinet |
| Versus Super Mario Brothers | game | Versus Unisystem game board currently in the red cabinet being converted back to Donkey Kong |
| Radar Scope | game | Original arcade game; red cabinets were typically failed Radar Scope cabinets converted to Donkey Kong |
| Versus Unisystem | product | Nintendo arcade system board; many Donkey Kong cabinets were converted to this platform |
| Road Blasters | game | Arcade game recently acquired by Jon; described as underrated and pristine condition |
| Stern AC/DC Premium Vault Edition | game | Pinball machine previously sold by Hector to Jon (mentioned as prior transaction history) |
| Neo Geo | product | Arcade cabinet that Jon traded to Hector in exchange for the red Nintendo cabinet |
| Flagstaff, Arizona | location | Location of Hector's arcade; source of the red Nintendo cabinet acquisition |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade Cabinet Restoration and Conversion, Donkey Kong Arcade History and Variants, Parts Sourcing and Reproduction Components
- **Secondary:** LED vs. Original Fluorescent Lighting Conversions, Versus Unisystem Hardware and Conversions, Road Blasters Arcade Game, Arcade Community Trading and Acquisition
- **Mentioned:** Monitor Recapping and Electronics Repair

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Jon expresses enthusiasm and excitement throughout the video about the restoration project and his Road Blasters acquisition. He is collaborative and appreciative of community support (Rexer Show donation). Some frustration is present around the technical challenges of conversion, but it's framed as a solvable problem. The tone is energetic and engaging.

### Signals

- **[restoration_signal]** Detailed documentation of arcade cabinet conversion process from Versus Unisystem back to original Donkey Kong, including bezel/marquee swap, monitor rotation, and wiring harness replacement (confidence: high) — Jon walks through each step: removing bezel with wing nut, sliding marquee into grooves, identifying missing wiring harnesses, sourcing replacement parts
- **[community_signal]** Rexer Show donating a Donkey Kong PCB board to support Jon's restoration project, indicating community collaboration and resource sharing (confidence: high) — Direct shout-out: 'I'm going to give a special thanks and shout out to the Rexer Show. He's actually sending me a Donkey Kong board.'
- **[restoration_signal]** Jon's advocacy for LED lighting conversions over original fluorescent fixtures in arcade restoration, citing power consumption and availability (confidence: high) — 'LED is where it's at for these kinds of things... reduce your power consumption and it's a lot easier' despite acknowledging controversy
- **[collector_signal]** Jon's acknowledgment of collector impulse buying after visiting Jeff's arcade, acquiring Road Blasters despite already having other projects (confidence: high) — 'I just couldn't help myself after I got back from Jeff's house it was all I could think about... The feeling overcame me'
- **[restoration_signal]** Identification of specific vendors (Arcade Shop, Mike's Arcade) as reliable sources for reproduction arcade components (marquees, control panels, bezels) (confidence: high) — Jon sources Donkey Kong marquee and bezel from Arcade Shop, plans to get control panel from Mike's Arcade
- **[historical_signal]** Documentation of multi-generational arcade cabinet conversion history: Radar Scope → Donkey Kong → Versus Unisystem → Back to Donkey Kong (confidence: high) — Jon explains the conversion chain and notes the significance of reversing it: 'This was a Radar Scope that someone converted to a Donkey Kong. Then they converted it to a Versus Unisystem. And I'm turning it back into a Donkey Kong.'
- **[restoration_signal]** Identification of missing wiring harnesses as a critical obstacle in converting Versus Unisystem hardware back to Donkey Kong; need to re-acquire or fabricate original harnesses (confidence: high) — Jon identifies that conversion process removed harnesses: 'when they would convert these from Donkey Kongs or Popeyes to Versus Unisystems, they would take off a lot of the original harnesses because they were no longer required'
- **[content_signal]** Jon announces future dedicated video on Road Blasters gameplay and underrated qualities of the game (confidence: high) — 'There will be another episode on the Road Blasters specifically, because I want to talk about the game'
- **[restoration_signal]** Road Blasters cabinet in near-pristine condition requiring minor cosmetic repairs (aluminum thumb buttons replacement) (confidence: high) — Jon describes it as 'pretty much a pristine Road Blasters' with plans to replace thumb buttons with aluminum alternatives

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## Transcript

Hey guys, welcome Back to the Arcade channel. So it seems like it's been all about the Nintendo cabinets lately, and I don't know why. It just so happens that this one popped up on offer up, and it was this guy 'Platform' in context of Spike 3 Hektor, who I've sold to before, who actually owns an arcade up in Flagstaff, Arizona, believe it or not. He asked me if I would trade a Neo Geo, which I didn't pay a lot for at auction, for this red Nintendo cabinet, and I jumped at the chance because how cool would it be to turn this red Nintendo cabinet into a red Donkey Kong. You guys probably all know the story. These red cabinets were typically radar scoop (hole mechanism on playfield) cabinets, which didn't sell well in North America, so they converted them to Donkey Kongs, and then later on a lot of those got converted to Versus Unisystems, which is exactly what this got converted to. So this is actually a Versus Super Mario Brothers. Let me get out of the way so you can see the light, but yeah, it's a Versus Super Mario Brothers, Which is cool and all, but I would rather have this be a Donkey Kong. Okay, maybe you guys don't understand the significance of this. This was a radar scoop (hole mechanism on playfield) that someone converted to a Donkey Kong. Then they converted it to a Versus Unisystem. And I'm turning it back into a Donkey Kong. Dude, that's crazy. Right? I think it's crazy. So you can see it's that red cabinet. It's got the Versys Unisystem artwork on it. It's kind of coming off on this side. And on this side, it's actually not so bad. But anyways, I'm going to remove this and put a Donkey Kong on it. The cabinet overall looks Papa Duke good. The control panel is obviously going to be replaced with the Donkey Kong control panel. And I'll keep this one because I don't know when I'll come across another Versys Unisystem, but it'd be really great to have one that's all intact. The button colors are off, but I can switch that around. And this one is interesting because it has glass in the front. So this typically wouldn't be glass. I don't think it would be glass. I'm Papa Duke sure it would be like a plexiglass. I don't know. I've seen so many of these over the years. Like the Versys Goonies, this is plexiglass. So I'm not sure. Maybe this isn't supposed to be glass. the monitor was actually horizontal and because it was a conversion I was able to rotate it back to vertical so I got that down pat Everything else just needs some minor cleanups but I wanted to show you something really quick So if you unfamiliar with these cabinets this plexi piece can come off really easy So you basically just go around back and there's a wing nut here. You just loosen this wig nut and you pull this latch back and when you do that you can simply swing around front. You put your hand on it and it'll come up and then you can swing it out. This is interesting because because whoever did this, they put like a car glass or something. I don't know. It's some kind of interesting glass piece, but that comes out there. And then what's beautiful is I'm already in the process of getting the parts for the Donkey Kong. So you can simply take the new bezel. I'm going to try to do this with one hand here. Of course, it's not working. Okay, so you take the bezel and you put it under this lip right here, right? and then you just slide it into the bottom that sits in that groove and there you go and then to tighten it down now you just go back here it's Papa Duke cool actually go back here you slide this slider forward and then you tighten it and now that is secured down for you so yeah so now you can see as you just make little changes how cool that's going to look now the marquee can also be changed out fairly easy. There's some screws here. Now you'll see I already made one modification already, but there's some screws here. You take these screws off, pop that out. Actually, I don't want to ruin the T-mold, so I'm just going to slide it back. At that point, this can just come out. Now, that is not original. That's actually an LED strip that I wired in to the stock wiring. This was the fluorescent tube fixture that was in there that was broken. I know this is there's some controversy around this but I don't care I'll back it up all day long LED is where it's at for these kinds of things it's stupid this takes up too much power these are harder to find these days so to me reduce your power consumption and it's a lot easier and actually I mounted that I forgot to put the other screw in there but yeah it'll be straight across that's all you need that's a um I think that's a eight inch I'll have to double We'll check that. But see, now let's live sort of do this. So on the bench here I have a Donkey Kong marquee So we can slide that in here and begin to see how this will look as we piece it together as a Donkey Kong We going to need to flex that just a tiny bit to get around the T Pop that into the groove here. And in a couple seconds, we'll be able to see what this looks like with the Donkey Kong marquee in it. Alright, I got the marquee into the groove there. I'm just going to slide this forward. And then just put one screw in so you guys can see what this looks like. But you'll start to see this cabinet take shape really quick. And it looks Papa Duke awesome. So you can imagine, as a Donkey Kong, this is going to look Papa Duke cool. Just these minor changes with the bezel, this marquee. This marquee is brand new. This is a reproduction marquee. I think I got this one at Arcade Shop. So you got that from Arcade Shop. This is also from Arcade Shop. So they make really good stuff for this and then I'm gonna probably get the control panel from Mike's arcade They sell a reproduction Donkey Kong control panel now the thing I will still need is I'm still gonna need a PCB So let me show you what's going on back here as far as the PCB goes Let's look at the back for a minute. So this is the versus unisystem hardware You can see this right here this board that's in here. That's the versus Super Mario Brothers board So you can see this is sort of been modified from the Donkey Kong. And the power supply, they eliminate a lot of the cables here. So I'm going to have to get, so I'm going to have to acquire a Donkey Kong board. And I want to give a special thanks and shout out to the Rexer Show. He's actually sending me a Donkey Kong board. So I'm going to be Papa Duke close to the way there. So I have the board, the monitor. I already turned it so it's vertical, although it does need to be recapped. So I'm going to work on recapping the monitor here in the next couple days. as the parts come in, but there's some critical pieces here that need to be changed. So there's some wiring harnesses that when they would convert these from Donkey Kongs or Popeyes to Versus Unisystems, they would take off a lot of the original harnesses because they were no longer required. So the problem with that is that I can't just simply drop in the Donkey Kong board. So I'm going to need to acquire some of the harnesses or potentially make it myself, But the fact that Rexer sending me the Donkey Kong board that like one huge step that needs to get done So that awesome But yeah that Papa Duke much where the status of this lies so I going to pull all the Unisystem stuff out So if someone is watching this and they are building a versus Super Mario Brothers, I don't really want to part with it, but let me know. I might, if it's a project and I can help you with it, you know, maybe we can work out a deal on that. Outside of that, that's really it for this project right now. I was going to update you on one More Brewing Company project we're gonna go inside the house where my permanent machines are I didn't want to do this because I'm teasing about something but I'll show you something inside that I'm working on and then we'll wrap this video up okay look don't judge me but I was able to acquire a road blasters I'm not telling you how but it's it's it's not the Roadrunner cabinet I'm telling you it's not the Roadrunner cabinet but I just couldn't help myself after I got back from from Jeff's house it was it was like it was all I could think about and I know you guys know what I'm talking about when there's like a a collection or a game or something that you just have to have in your collection no matter what. This was it. It was one of those games I just had to have it and it overcame me. The feeling overcame me, but now I have it. But there's a couple of projects I'm doing to it. Like, my thumb buttons have some issues and I was able to find some aluminum ones that could replace it. So, you know, there's still some work to do, but for the most part, it's Papa Duke much a pristine Road Blasters, so I'm Papa Duke excited. So there will be another episode on the Road Blasters specifically, because I want to talk about the game. It's a really cool game. I think it's underrated. I think it's actually a really fun game, and the thing is, I think a lot of people didn't really know how to play it. There was, you know, there was this idea that you just kind of get inside the car, and you just start blasting everything, and that's not necessarily the case. So in another video, we will cover that, but thanks so much for watching. If you guys enjoyed this video give me a thumbs up consider subscribing to the channel and we will see you on the next one Thank you.

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: aa8688a6-eb86-4f27-ac42-6ce026ea237f*