Kangaroo to JAMMA Adapter

Description

Kangaroo was manufactured by Sun Electronics and distributed by Atari. During a period dominated by Pacman, Donkey Kong and games of similar nature, Atari was feeling left out without a platform game of their own. They looked at games that were already being developed externally, and eventually decided to license Kangaroo in order to compete in that market.

While not exactly an instant classic, Kangaroo gameplay was decent and quite original. The decision Atari made to license the game proved to be a good one, as Kangaroo ended up being quite popular and sold well.

This game is similar to other Sun Electronics games like Funky Fish, but unfortunately the pinout is an unusual 2 edge connector configuration unique only to this game. As a result, Kangaroo is one of the very few popular arcade games of that period with a unique pinout.

Images

Included power / video cable connects to the bottom board.

Pinout

This adapter follows the following pinout scheme:

Main Connector
SOLDER SIDEPARTS SIDE
+12V+12V
+5V+5V
+5V+5V
GNDGND
GNDGND
GNDGND
GND*GND*
SPK+COUNT2
COUNT1NC
NCNC
NCNC
NCNC
P2B1P2DOWN
P2UPP2LEFT
P2RIGHTTEST
NCP1UP/J*
1PB1P1DOWN
P1UPP1LEFT
P1RIGHTNC
TBLGNDNC
COIN2COIN1
P2STARTP1START
Video Connector
SOLDER SIDEPARTS SIDE
-5V-5V
+12V+12V
+5V+5V
GNDGND
GNDGND
GNDGND
VSYNCVSYNC
VBLUEVBLUE
VGREENVGREEN
VREDVRED

(PCB edge connector facing away, list is ordered right to left)

Compatible Games

This is the list of compatible games that can be used with this adapter:

The adapter has been tested with a genuine Kangaroo board. This adapter is not compatible with bootleg Kangaroo pcbs which have a different pinout.

There is apparently an earlier version of the game, running on Sun Electronics 1981 hardware (Funky Fish?) that doesn’t use edge connectors. This adapter is not compatible with this version.

Revision History:

Rev 1.0: Initial Design.

Specifications

Board Size: 45mm x 112mm
Current Carrying Capacity: 5V – 12A, 12V – 5A, -5V – 5A