Last update: Nov. 26, 2011
Atari 1983: Color Vector, 1 or 2 player
Items Required To Convert
Space Duel to Major Havoc:
The original Atari Space Duel to Major Havoc Conversion Kit included the following items:
Obviously, most people are not going to have much luck finding one of the original Atari conversion kits to apply to their Space Duel cabinet, however, as of 2011, several high quality reproduction products have been produced that make converting an upright Space Duel machine into a Major Havoc machine a very achievable goal. Check out the following required items...
Major Havoc Board set: No reproduction board set yet exists, however, it has been rumored that someone is presently working on one. For now, you will have to find and original board set.
Major Havoc Marquee and CPO: Check Phoenix Arcade for Major Havoc reproduction overlay artwork for Tempest and Space Duel. Also, a top quality reproduction Major Havoc underlay marquee for Space Duel was produced by Archer several years ago. These occasionally can be found for sale among collectors or on eBay.
Conversion Documentation: Download copies of Space Duel documentation here.
Spinner or Roller Controller : The spinner provided by Atari was a standard Tempest spinner. Regardless of the fact that the spinner was the Atari kit item, many people prefer to use a roller controller like that used in the dedicated cabinet. A very high quality reproduction roller controller (same as shown in my machine) is presently available from Arcadeshop. The roller controllers also often appear for sale on eBay and popular arcade forums. One thing is certain, the roller controller is a very nice piece of hardware to have if you can get one.
Control Panel: When an original Atari conversion panel cannot be found, one of the most difficult problems to overcome in completing your conversion is how to produce a nice steel control panel by hand. The easiest and cleanest solution would be to simply purchase an original Atari conversion panel or a reproduction steel panel (if one is ever produced) that has all of the correct holes for the buttons, spinner or roller controller, and so on. Adding to the difficulty is that you will want to be sure that your modified panel will accurately fit the control panel overlay. Considering the difficult work involved in producing one on your own, buying one is preferable. For the time being, the only method for most people would be to modify an existing control panel from any of the following games: Space Duel, Black Widow, Gravitar.
Space Duel to Major Havoc Cabinet Artwork: To completely and dramatically transform your Space Duel (or Tempest) into your dream Major Havoc machine, use the artwork from Rich Graphics at This Old Game. While this artwork was not originally supplied by Atari, it is produced from real original Atari films using top quality materials.
Space Duel to Major Havoc Conversion Circuit Board: Biltronix Replacement SD to MH Converter Board
Obviously there were several fundamental differences between the dedicated Major Havoc machine and the Space Duel machine. The conversion circuit board takes care of the main issues so that installation of a Major Havoc board set in a standard Space Duel (or Black Widow or Gravitar) cabinet is easy and reliable.
- The most significant difference to be dealt with was that the pinout of the board sets of the two games were not the same and thus accordingly the wiring harness connectors that plugged into the board sets were wired differently. The converter board reroutes all of the connections from the Space Duel cabinet wiring harness connectors so that everything goes where it belongs on the Major Havoc board.
- The second major difference between the two games was the monitor that was used. Major Havoc shipped with a 19" Amplifone medium resolution monitor. The Space Duel shipped with a 19" Wells Gardner WG6100 standard resolution monitor. Without getting into the gory details between the two monitors, one important difference has to do with pin-cushion correction. The Amplifone monitor did not require pin-cushion correction so the Major Havoc game circuit board does not include such circuitry. The WG6100 monitor does require a pin-cushion correction circuit. The conversion circuit board provides the required pin-cushion correction circuitry. Without this circuitry, the vectors would not be drawn straight on the WG6100 screen, appearing to bend inward.
While original Atari Space Duel to Major Havoc Converter boards can still be found occasionally for sale among collectors and on eBay, they tend to be much less common than the Tempest to Major Havoc Converter boards. The trouble is with finding one when you want one. Due to their relative rarity, they can be quite expensive (as much as $200). Beside this, when you do find such a board, it may be physically damaged or require electronic repair. Such was the case for myself. I couldn't find one when I needed one so I decided to reproduce the board from scratch and then make them available to the public.
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