Sega Blast City 2l8b Control Panel

The wonderful thing about most of Sega's Candy Cabinet control panels is that they will fit any other Sega Candy. It's not unusual to see imported cabinets such as an Astro City come in with a Sega Naomi control panel. I've taken some pictures of a 2l8b (2 lever 8 button) Blast City control panel to show what they look like from the side you don't usually see. This was one I imported from Japan, and it actually came fully populated.

Here's a look from the front:

And here's what they look like underneath:

This particular panel has 8 30mm buttons attached, I'm not sure of the brand, but they seem to be quite popular on panels that get sold in Japan. These buttons feel cheap, and using them isn't nearly as nice as Sanwa OBSF30 buttons. There's also 2 24mm buttons used for the start buttons, same brand as the 30mm buttons. Finally there is some good news about this panel, the sticks are Sanwa JLF's, which are in my opinion the best regular sticks on the market. These are the newer type of JLF sticks, which has an onboard PCB which means you only need to clip in a 5 pin JST connector. The other type, the JLF TM8 sticks have a lighter throw, and connectors for each microswitch on the stick. I find the TM8's are better for shooters, and those needing the JST connectors better for fighting games, as you do need a little resistance. The green wires sticking out of the middle are earth wires to stop you getting shocked by any stray electricity!

These panels, at least the official Sega panels are not made out of stainless steel, and have a habit of rusting, particularly around the bottom edge of the control panel. If you're ever looking to buy a panel, you should always make sure you see pictures of the back as it can be hard to tell how badly rusted a panel may be from just a shot of the front.