Update on an old project
 

Some of you that have been around a few monthes might remember a pic I posted. It was of an arcade control panel I had built. Well...many monthes later I have made some decent progress and thought I would share it with you guys. Here is a gallery running through the construction.

Almost done, and I strongly suggest that anyone interested try this. It kicks major ass to be able to come home from work and play old style games the way they were meant to be played. I am putting up the marquee (and hopefully the screen cover) today. If I get those done I'll update the pics and let you know.

God-damn that is badass... *drool*

That is really sweet. I wanted to make one of those. I don't have a garage or any kind of carpentry skill what so ever. :(

Very cool!

So sweet dude! :D

Very nice. My friend and I started one about a year ago, and we never got past the control panel... he got it all wired up, and we got so busy playing games that we never finished the cabinet.

Electronic gaming............old sk00l! ;)

It's been a dream of mine for years... someday I suppose I'll be able to afford it. Until then, I'll just drool at yours. That's a very sweet set-up. Can I come over? I must warn you, if you say yes I'll never leave.

Hey great work! I really appreciate seeing someone stick to something like this, mainly because I would have sone abut half and quit it. That is going to be a lot of fun especially when you get the marquee up and make it look like it is not a TV underneath. sweet job!

That was pretty damn impressive.

Did you ever consider using a console instead of a PC?

Not really, the main reason I went with the PC was to run multiple emulators. Right now I'm running about 3500 Arcade, 200 SNES, and 200 NES games. I might kick in the Atari and Sega later. I could rig up some of the newer systems, but most newer games take so many damn buttons it would be too big of a hassle.

Thanks for all of the kind words everyone. I finished the marquee today, and will work on the cover for the TV tomorrow. Soon as I get the pics of them, I will update the site and *bump* this post.

Thanks again for all of the compliments. And again, if you ever think about doing this - go for it. It is a hell of a lot of work, but the payoff is soooooo worth it. Also, I would be more than happy to answer any questions if anyone decided to take the plunge.

Later

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Nice! Looks very similiar to the layout for a Gauntlet.

cool. can u make me one too? :)

why only 4 buttons on the outer pads?

Lol, for only $2500 dollars, :D .


95% of all 4-player games only require four buttons (or less).

Very cool. Two thumbs up! I love the classic games.

with the recent release of mame 0.67 I've been contemplating doing something similar.

My layout was going to focus on two player games and a trackball, though. I figure the control panel will cost around $200 all told... which isn't too bad.

then I need to find someone tossing an old arcade cabinet :)

Great idea...

That looks sweet! Too much work for me though. Good luck with it.

For those interested, I put up about 10 more pics. Got the marquee and screen cover done. Sooooooo close :D.

That's AWESOME!

My GOD I wish I had that much skill...

That's awesome. I've been contemplating getting a arcade machine for a while, but I've never quite had the money or space in my house. Also, I've never been able to find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Simpsons!

So what do you have left? Are you going to paint the rest of the cabinet in any special way, or just a solid color?

Good work and keep us updated! Looks amazing!

That is too sweet.

You could go all the way and install coin operation. Invite people over and let them plunk quarters in. Then again you could just enjoy your kickin' machine after lots of blood, sweat, and tears.

You should put in a slot for quarters as well. Maybe instead of keeping the money, you can donate it to your favorite charitable cause at the end of the year!

That is awesome. I currently own an original gauntlet and timepilot. I have been thinking about buying another game but now you have me thinking about doing this instead. How did you figure out the button setup?

Panopticon: I am going to try staining it, and paint it if that falls through. Besides that I still have to do molding and speaker grills.

diergray: As for the layout of the buttons, I just cut out a 2' x 4' sheet and went to drawing. To hook them up I went to www.ultimarc.com and got their ipac. It's the chip in the wiring picture. Real easy to hook up, and just works by turning the buttons in to keyboard characters.


Now that I am almost done with this one, I am actually itching to try another. Now that I have all of the dims etc, I would really like to give it another go and maybe sell one. We'll see if the wife kills me when I tell her :D.

That is so nice and you are a really talented! Are you running the game from some sort of emulator?

VERY kewl!

Shit man, I just showed my wife the pics.... shes about as excited about it as I am.... shes trying to talk me into making one.... hahahaha... who does she think i am

if you have any desire at all to make another.... and feel like selling it... I'm your man :) Do you accept pay pal :D

Man if only i had the patients/time....

You rock dude.

DuNiLoMoo: Yep, I am running MAME32 for arcade, megasis for sega, virtua boy for GBA, virtuanes for NES, and snes9x for SNES.

mykockle: Rofl, thanks.


Just found this site for those interested. It sells mame cabinet designs along with cut out templates. I really like their Ultimate Arcade II design. This would have been very nice to have 3 monthes ago, lol.

Cripes, looking at that ultimate arcade II cab, looks like they ripped you off. Yours looks almost exactly the same...

That site is pretty cool though... i may just have to partake.

that is really cool, i love old school arcade games, although i am currently looking to purchase a bubble hockey game!!!

Thanks for the links. Have you considered painting it with a car paint. The finish would be awesome. I wonder if you could take it to a car painter and ask them to paint it!

That is really impressive and you should be proud of yourself, and you have given me hope. I never knew that a guy who spent several months building a home arcade machine could get a wife!

Very cool! I've been thinking about building a MAME cabinet for quite a while now. One of these days I'm finally going to start!

that's great!

do you have it running on the network so that you can remote control to it and add more games and emulators without having to open the back of the cabinet?

you have mad skillz---I'd definitely want to paint it

That.... is... so... COOL!!!!!

Man, I wish I had that kind of skill or $. When it comes right down to it, that's the -only- way to play!

that looks like an awesome project, but about how much did it cost to get all the stuff to make it?

Cynthetiq: I do have a network card in the PC, but I don't have a jack for it on the back. Hmmmmm, thanks for the new idea.

Locobot: I will try to stain it sometime in the near future. If that doesn't go well, then I will paint.

Dark_Prophecy: I probably have around $1000 in it now. The PC was my spare - 850Mhz, 512SDRam, ATI 8500. I know I wasted some parts since this was my first time. I figure if I started over, I'd be looking at $1100 - $1200 not including the PC. I'd get top of the line parts, and add a rollerball.

Quackers goes retro - My new baby
 

As a child of the 80s - and the arcades - I've been fantasizing about one of these for a long time. I finally made the plunge. My very own MAME arcade cabinet down in my basement. It's a do-it-yourself kit from Hanaho Games. It's designed to be something you sit on stools and play, but I wanted to recreate the true experience (minus the acne) and didn't want to pay extra for a riser, so made my own, which ain't perfect, but isn't bad.

I'm a proud, proud papa! Who wants to take me on at Gyrus?? :)

http://www.well-rounded.com/bill/drool01.jpg

Wow! That is some sweet action you've got right there. I've always wanted to do that.

that is fantastic.
now you need a juke box, a milkshake machine and a couple of roller skating waitresses, and you´d have yourself there a damn nice basement set up.

seriously, quackers, thats awesome.
do many people have their own arcade machines in their houses over there?? is it a common thing?

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!

I want the TMNT2 or Xmen arcade machine.

Heh. While it lacks those amenities, it does have an Xbox, GameCube, PS2 and 52" big screen, so that's a start. Next on my wish list is something my brother-in-law built - a cooler converted into a beer tap with up to six types of beer. It doesn't appear too difficult to build - and isn't prohibitively expensive (though it'll be a while before I can afford to try).

Not that I know of. Someone I work with bought a classic Gauntlet machine at one of the auctions that are held around here periodically. I got this kit from a very cool company out of California - but I don't know of anyone else who has one.

It's worth it for the opportunity to realistically recreate the Robotron experience!

Damn!!!
Party at MrQuackers pond :D

When Yoshi moved in right before we got married, I realized the main floor of my house would be covered with flowers and girly things in a very short period of time. I decided to claim the basement as my own. :)

MAME Fuckin Rules!!!!!!!!!
 

I cant tell you how awsome that thing is unless you already have it . It blows my mind how many wicked games you cant find around or that are still at the arcades you can play on this thing. I wanna give a massive shout out to the guy or gal who created it cause theres nothin better than sittin in the comfies of my own home goin down memory lane with some Yie Ar Kung Fu or Metal Slug. Its sick to think I spent years looking around at pawn shops and game stores spending 20 dollars for classic nes and snes games and they can all be located and downloaded online. Bless the internet because its finally come up with something worthwhile......aside from free porn.

are they're any emulators that will play the arcade Killer Instinct roms?

Yes, MAME is definately great for us old school peeps :). If I had the extra money and extra time I would love to build a MAME standup unit or gut an old standup machine and insert a comp running MAME. Would be a great addition to a game room.

One of my good mates Ian is a mame freak.. and just a general arcade nut, he has a ever growing collection of PCBs happening and built his own cocktail mame cab.. played it a few times.. fun! :D

The Pinny Parlour

That's his site..

It's quite sad that most kids today won't have even heard of the Atari, the Mega Drive, the Amiga, Commodore 64, Neo Geo, arcade classics like Golden Axe and the original Donkey Kong...

I've been wanting to build a cabinet for ages now, although I suppose comparibly I'm a bit young (born in 1984) compared to most MAME fanatics, but i've loved emulators for ages.

I'm actually going to start on the cabinet in the fall, because I'll be moving into a house with some friends for my second year at University. first step is the control panel.

I've been researching a bit and i'm going for a 2 player panel with buttons on the sides for pinball. I don't want to risk the 4 player until perhaps a second cab.

i love seeing pictures of finished cabs though. awesome job you guys.

[edit]
By the way, I wanted to add that I love the idea of putting castors on the botton of the cabinet. I hadn't even thought of that before. I made a note for myself. Thanks for the tip ;)

ROMS ROMS ROMS
 

Anyone else play roms.. Mame Kawaks Nebula?
I recently got back into these and there fricken awesome
Playing old arcade games from neogeo and capcom online with friends is the coolest. I just thought any old school gamers should check this out.. .. It reminded me of hanging out in arcades watchin...... ok doing drugs and drinking..

I've been buying old Mega Drive games like crazy now, freaking love 'em. Just scored Sonic and Knuckles and am spazzing, can't wait for it to arrive in the mail. Not really into the old arcade stuff.

yum pong


drool


ok me is nerd

I love old Capcom arcade games. They're so much more fun than games nowadays.

I've noticed that most sites are pulling their ROMs off cuz of legal issues. A couple of years ago you could get anything but now it takes some work to get the ones you want.

Anybody got a good site to find them?

man, I had a blast playing Bubble Bobble over the internet.

I've gotta get myself a USB controller... some games just can't be played on a keyboard.

I've been playing neogeo games over the net with Kawaks and kaillera or whatever... Got some roms from .....

http://rom-1.de/
http://www.arcadeabyss.com/
and the links on http://home.tiscali.nl/breu/#FinalBurn

and of course IRC.

Arcade emulators kick all ass. I love coming home, sidling up to my super fast super fancy new computer and forcing it to play Galaga 88 for me over and over

(And I wonder why I can't find a woman who understands me *g*)

You just need a woman who appreciates the classics is all :D

I love sitting down and playing all my old sega games on my computer. Its just so satisfying to play some Street Fighter 2 or MK3.

losthellhound, if you dig Galaga 88, I've got to turn you on to Warblade. It's a bitching Galaga clone. All kinds of new neet features. http://www.warblade.as

Check it out!

Playing old arcade games is like no other game. It is classic, and is a total 180 from the games of today in most areas. It is my dream to buy old arcade games later on in life, when I actually make real money. Until that time, roms are my friend.

A buddy of mine paid about $300 for a standard two button, stand-up, two player arcade cabinet with In The Hunt (Side-scrolling submarine shooter) and.... some soccer game that I remember from back in the day, but can't remember the name of right now. He was able to pick up a few more arcade boards on ebay for little more than 15$ each.

I once had the opportunity to buy a Galaga '88 tabletop machine for $200 when the restaurant I was working at, which housed the machine, closed it's doors. I didn't have the money (plus I had just lost my job), so I couldn't, but imagine how sweet it would have been to be able to eat breakfast and play Galaga '88 on the same table!

I find that these older games have way more replay value than almost any new game.. And they dont even have fancy sounds and gfx... I think its because these people had to more time into the acctual game then into what there gunna use for all the effects and what not. I dont think there is as much effort in alot of new games in that aspect.

Got an Xarcade control system for christmas. It lets me hook up two real arcade controllers to my PC or any of the game systems with adapters. It is supported by MAME so I just need to get it setup!

I just started using IRC. How do you find the right channel?

That is what they where all about, couldn't rely on fancy graphics to keep you playing they have to actually come up with good games with replay value..... oh those where the days. How many people here are old enough to remember Space Invaders coming out?

Isn't directly linking to rom sites considered warez ? If you've got a good connection and some luck, you could try Kazaa or some other file-sharing doohicky; I once had the pleasure of being able to download over 40 large MAME roms in one afternoon.

Try http://www.packetnews.com .

Anyway, I recommend the Metal Slug series, Alien vs Predator, Marvel vs Street Fighter and the King of Fighters series.

you are my new god.. I praise you and your arcade-like goodness

w00t! I now have all the Mega-Drive/Genesis Sonic games, they fucking own.

Looks super cool.. I'll get it tonight

I'm looking to build a mame cabinet myself, does anyone know of one that has been built with two monitors to play cyberball tournament with the head to head monitors?

Other ideas I have that aren't necessarily all to go on a dual cabinet, but I would like to be able to use a steering wheel and foot pedal for games like "hard drivin". Anyone ever seen a foot pedal attached to a mame cabinet?

Thanks - and the cabinets here by the way kick some serious ass. Good work guys!

Oh my... That makes me an envious, envious person

After mame.dk went down, I got the shakes. started jonesing for more roms, faster, faster, faster....
Found the lazurus project, got my roms. I'm in heaven.
http://www.us-lazarus.com/

Words cannot describe the awesomeness that is that cabinet.

Slightly o/t but anyone know if the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles arcade game is included with the new Turtles game (Battle Nexus?) as an extra?

Read this rumour on another forum and reviews over here dont seem to mention it.