Multi Mortal Kombat Arcade – All Five MK Games in One

Thanks to a never-ending supply of online resources and my obsession with Mortal Kombat II and pretty much all MK games after that, I have acquired quite a bit of information needed to complete this project. So without further ado, let’s dive into how I plan to put all five Mortal Kombat arcade games into one arcade cabinet.

Part 1: Parts List — This is the complete list of parts for everything needed, right down to the cabinet itself. I’ll attempt to list prices here as well, but as we all know, those can fluctuate based on when and where you acquire your items.

Part 2: Cabinet and Control Panel — Choosing the right cabinet was a no-brainer. It had to be an original Mortal Kombat II cabinet since this is my favorite of the entire arcade series. Of course your mileage may vary depending on what you prefer and what kind of space you’re working with.

Part 3: Wiring — This has morphed into quite a little project unto itself. Getting five Jamma+ PCB games to work in one cabinet requires a few specialty items in order for everything to play well together.

Part 4: Mounting the Game Boards — Because the MK series has a few different types of boards, it’s not as easy as it sounds. The limited space inside the cabinet also contributed to the mess, but it had to be done.

Each section above will be linked to the corresponding article when each it is completed. When this project is finalized, these will be the features put in place:

• All 5 Mortal Kombat arcade games (non-MAME) playable in one machine
• A compatible control panel that supports the Run button for MK3, UMK3 and MK4
• Each game will be selectable via a wireless control unit attached to the side of the cabinet
• Each game will be placed on a coin system set to accept game tokens for maximum authenticity
• NO permanent modifications will be made to my original MKII cabinet

What started all this?

You might be wondering why I would go through all this expense and trouble when I can simply just throw a cheap computer in the cabinet and enjoy a MAME setup with not only my favorite MK games, but thousands of others as well.

There are two main reasons I decided to go the authentic route. One, MK4 cannot be properly emulated at this time. Even if you have a sick computer that can play the game at full speed, the graphics and sounds are not perfect. And two, emulation itself suffers from subtle nuances that can be detected by a keen eye. Things such as missing graphics or sprites, incorrect sounds, screen tearing, slowdowns, etc. are all side effects of some emulated games.

So basically, my goal was to get arcade perfect gameplay from real arcade PCB game boards in a real arcade cabinet. Besides, I have another cabinet I’m using for MAME, so I’m not missing out on anything!