New to the forum but not the game (arcade price question)

[ultimate7]

Rumor has it there used to be a Dual system in a pizza place near where I live, but I believe it is gone now, Bandur and Beales told me about it.

[broiler]

welcome, crashing bore.  what part of california are you in?

Central Coast. Been jumping around this area since '92.

san luis obispo?

[crashing bore]

The exact specifications and behavior of most of the Vs.D games are largely undocumented. Well, they are, but not publically. I couldn't find any solid information about the Vs.D version of RBI (note that Vs.D uses different boards than the Vs.U system). Best educated guess is that the same (2-player) game would run on both monitors with one RBI board installed. That is, four people could play at once, but two different games, and only one board would be required.

Then again, you may need two boards for four people to play (again, two separate games), or maybe two people can play the same game on both monitors (and no idea whether that would require one or two boards). I really have no idea. Of course as a gaming enthusiast I should officially encourage you to buy a Vs. Dualsystem version and have the boards dumped so people like me can get their hands on it, but that's entirely self-serving.

nightwulf, could you repeat that? I'm not sure I was listening  Anyway, i like the way you think. I was just curious if it'd be possible to play 1 on 1 using that cabinet and both screens. I don't like some sweaty gamer rubbing up against me when I play (regardless of any rumors floating around) and thought it would be cool to use that cabinet (even if the extra set of sticks and buttons on each side were of no use in RBI).

[crashing bore]

san luis obispo?

Yeah, I was there for a few years. Been in Lompoc, Santa Barbara, SLO, Pismo Beach. They're all really close to each other (relatively speaking). Been in CA since '92.

[nightwulf]

I was just curious if it'd be possible to play 1 on 1 using that cabinet and both screens. I don't like some sweaty gamer rubbing up against me when I play (regardless of any rumors floating around) and thought it would be cool to use that cabinet (even if the extra set of sticks and buttons on each side were of no use in RBI).

Well, that's the thing. Vs. Dualsystem games and Vs. Unisystem games are not quite the same thing. Many of the Vs.U games have been dumped and people in the NES community have gotten their hands on the Vs.U hardware. However, there's very little technical information available about Vs.D games and the hardware.

I don't know if it's possible to play with two players on opposing screens (and if so, if it would require one or two RBI ROMs), and I don't think anyone in the community would be able to answer it either. The extra joystick and buttons would definitely go unused though.

Here's a decent page explaining pretty much what's known (to my knowledge) about the Vs.D system. Check out the Nintendo flyer scans at the bottom

[nightwulf]

This is fun. Even better ... Here's a PDF copy of the original manual from Atari. Apparently the same ROMs can be used in a Vs.U or Vs.D system, so forget I said otherwise!

Under operator settings, there are two DIP switches used to select "Left side for two-monitor game" and "Right side for two-monitor game." So, using both monitors to play one game definitely appears to be an option, but I'm still not 100% sure whether you'd need one or two copies of the game.

[crashing bore]

I'm guessing it would work with one ROM but then again I don't know jack (in the grand scheme of things, anyway). Hmm, I'll ask the guy that has the RBI game I'm gonna go look at. He deals with arcade games so he may know the answer. Since you've been so nice I'll be sure to let you know what he says (I guess we can let everyone else know as well  )