Pandoras box - any good?

[charlesapex]

Hi all,

First off - a big thanks to Martin Murphy on here for his assistance with my kick harness issue - I'm having loads of fun repairing and tinkering with boards and makes a nice change from repairing fruit machines all day.

I have a Retroelectronik Pro Gamer supergun and was wondering if a Pandoras Box is worth what little money they cost. There are some boards I will never own and it seems an OK way to play them. I know the emulation isn't spot on, but if they're playable I don't mind sacrificing that for the price.

A few opinions from anyone would be appreciated...

- My supergun has the 6-button or chamma option, I have read somewhere that Pandora's use 6 button options built into the edge connector - would this simply be a case of changing the option to chamma and all relevant fighting games would have 6 button support?

- Are they any good for the 30-40 quid they seem to cost on ebay?

- Which would you recommend as there seems to be lots of different models? I mainly enjoy 80's/90's games (I come from the Pang, Golden Axe, Mortal Kombat, SFII, Simpson, Knights Of The Round era)

Any thoughts of suggestions are most welcome before I look at buying one...

Cheers all!

 

[Sbdesign]

I think everyone who questions having one should have one

Anyone who thinks they are crap - shouldn't

You can sell it on if its not not for you.

Similar products would be a mame pc or closer still - a pi. (due to small and cost)

But for plug and play, arrive in 24 hrs, the pboxes are good.

 

[Ropi Jo]

.......and was wondering if a Pandoras Box is worth what little money they cost. There are some boards I will never own and it seems an OK way to play them. I know the emulation isn't spot on, but if they're playable I don't mind sacrificing that for the price.

Says it all.

 

[Flinnster]

I think everyone who questions having one should have one

Anyone who thinks they are crap - shouldn't

You can sell it on if its not not for you.

Similar products would be a mame pc or closer still - a pi. (due to small and cost)

But for plug and play, arrive in 24 hrs, the pboxes are good.

"I think everyone who questions having one should have one...... as a test pcb"

Its OK for a quick taster or for testing newly aquired cabs, power supplies, looms etc..

But for an actual gaming session, the quality is only really passable to keep the kids happy or clueless mates who are round for a beer.

Anyone who truly knows their games will start to question some of the odd choices the Chinese companies have made in the software that runs on the Pandoras.

Flinnster2020-11-11 19:33:22

 

[Mr Matt]

The reason this board doesn't like them is because most people aren't clued up on all of the versions.

There are a lot of cheap "cloned" Pandoras which are crap, but there are two lines which are really decent.

The best Pandora currently is the Pandora Games 3D with 2448 or 4018 games, or its sister console the 3D Saga with 2650 games. Both have the same specs. There are a couple of guys who have worked really hard on a 3rd party app to get the most out of these and have achieved some incredible things. They made an app called Pandory which has a lot of fixes and unlocks a lot of features with this console. They also released a Jailbreak for this version of Pandora which allows you to get into the Android side of the system and install any apk you want. Look them up on YouTube on their channel called "Team Pandory"

Besides the PG3D, there are the "Official" Pandora Boxes made by 3A such as the Pandora Box 6 or the 9D or the newest DX which are also decent but the biggest flaw in them is that some games suffer from screen tearing. These are the only units which are JAMMA and have a CGA 15kHz video output though.

Pretty much every other Pandora Box should be avoided as they are exactly what this board thinks every Pandora is.

 

[charlesapex]

Cheered Matt,

For the price it's hard do grumble at the price of these, even if it's just to play some different games - however, I do agree that nothing beats playing games off PCB's.

Is this version the one you were referring to?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcade-Game-3188-In-1-Accessories-Entertainment-Jamma-Board-For-Pandora-Saga-Box-/353238537459?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

 

[Mr Matt]

Cheered Matt,

For the price it's hard do grumble at the price of these, even if it's just to play some different games - however, I do agree that nothing beats playing games off PCB's.

Is this version the one you were referring to?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcade-Game-3188-In-1-Accessories-Entertainment-Jamma-Board-For-Pandora-Saga-Box-/353238537459?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Nooooooooo, that is exactly what I was talking about by the cheap crap clone versions.

The best way to find the correct console is by the number of games, or a photo of the PCB.

Do you need JAMMA? Do you need CGA or VGA?

I always buy from AliExpress, the last 2 Pandoras I've bought from there have arrived within 2 weeks and had free shipping and no import tax but YMMV.

 

[charlesapex]

It would be jamma to use on retroelectronik Pro supergun - can you send me link to one on a lie press? I have an account and have used it before.

 

[_Matt_]

The screen tearing kills them, that is exactly why most people on here don't like them. Some games have really bad tearing some not as bad but even the slightest bit of screen tearing and it's all that I can look at!

Having said that, they are worth it for the price. Loads of games, plug and play and as mentioned above, if you don't like it it's good for a test PCB or you can just sell it on.

 

[Mr Matt]

It would be jamma to use on retroelectronik Pro supergun - can you send me link to one on a lie press? I have an account and have used it before.

I bought one of these recently as a (maybe temp) replacement for a MAME JAMMA PC. It arrived in 10 days.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_BUtwlm

This is the one which has screen tear on some games. I don't know how bad it is as not had a chance to test it yet but I had the predecessor the Pandora Box 6 and it wasnt too bad for me.
Mr Matt2020-11-11 20:06:42

 

[Mr Matt]

The screen tearing kills them, that is exactly why most people on here don't like them. Some games have really bad tearing some not as bad but even the slightest bit of screen tearing and it's all that I can look at!

Having said that, they are worth it for the price. Loads of games, plug and play and as mentioned above, if you don't like it it's good for a test PCB or you can just sell it on.

The Pandora Games 3D and Saga don't suffer from any screen tearing at all, however they are only available with a VGA output. The only CGA Pandoras all have the screen tearing to some degree.

 

[charlesapex]

Cheers Matt, what's the crack with games with 6 button support? Can I choose chamma option on supergun..

 

[karlcdoe]

I bought, what I believe is a 'genuine' one some time back, I can't complain at the price paid since if even one of the games works properly it's cheaper than a 'decent' pcb. However.. after building a 'Jamma PI Thingy' (whatever) using the image kindly provided/maintained by a forum member I wouldn't really bother with the PB unless you want a zero config solution and are prepared to live with any flaws that it ships with.

 

[Mr Matt]

Cheers Matt, what's the crack with games with 6 button support? Can I choose chamma option on supergun..

Here's the 6 button pinout for the JAMMA connector

https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/3000-in-1-pandoras-box-dx-arcade-version-horizontal-jamma-game-board.html

 

[big10p]

The Pandora Games 3D and Saga don't suffer from any screen tearing at all

Interesting. Are you sure about that? I have a converted Cash Cube cab with a PB6 (I think it is), VGA monitor and an SLG. It OK to play on, but if I could get rid of the tearing, it'd make a big difference.

 

[Mr Matt]

The Pandora Games 3D and Saga don't suffer from any screen tearing at all

Interesting. Are you sure about that? I have a converted Cash Cube cab with a PB6 (I think it is), VGA monitor and an SLG. It OK to play on, but if I could get rid of the tearing, it'd make a big difference.

Yes I'm positive, I upgraded from a Pandora Box 6 to a 3D Saga. My 3D Saga doesn't suffer from any screen tearing, however it is only VGA output and isn't available in JAMMA.

 

[Mr Matt]

Here's a decent video showing what Team Pandory are doing with their updates to the PG3D and 3D Saga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFE7w1PFvNk

 

[charlesapex]

Cheers mate I'll have a proper watch of that - incidentally, the sound used at the beginning of that video was off an old amiga 1200 cracktro from Paradox, for Graham Gooch Cricket (with some sort of phaser effect added to it and pitched up in the YT vid) - a right flashback when I heard that

https://youtu.be/G03GdHwd6ko

Nice but of useless info! charlesapex2020-11-11 20:43:03

 

[big10p]

The Pandora Games 3D and Saga don't suffer from any screen tearing at all

Interesting. Are you sure about that? I have a converted Cash Cube cab with a PB6 (I think it is), VGA monitor and an SLG. It OK to play on, but if I could get rid of the tearing, it'd make a big difference.

Yes I'm positive, I upgraded from a Pandora Box 6 to a 3D Saga. My 3D Saga doesn't suffer from any screen tearing, however it is only VGA output and isn't available in JAMMA.

Does the 3D Saga have no tearing out-of-the-box, or does it need to be upgraded with that Pandory thingy?

 

[Mr Matt]

Cheers mate I'll have a proper watch of that - incidentally, the sound used at the beginning of that video was off an old amiga 1200 cracktro from Paradox, for Graham Gooch Cricket (with some sort of phaser effect added to it) - a right flashback when I heard that

https://youtu.be/G03GdHwd6ko

Nice but of useless info!

Yeah, it's because the Pandory Boys are Amiga fans and have now been able to emulate the Amiga on that version of Pandoras.