CRYSTAL-CADE - Crystal Castles MAME conversion

[RayB]

You may know I got myself a fully working Atari Crystal Castles upright (1983). I got really sick of the one game. It's more fun to play lots of games instead of just one stupid one, so I have converted this machine into a MAME station.

It's called "Crystal Cade". I started by ripping out the main guts and throwing them in teh trash. MAME can play Crystal Castles, so that stuff was no good. I wanted my own marquee name, so that went into the trash too (it was all damaged anyways). As you can see I made my own marquee. I junked the speaker grill too. It got in the way of my marquee.

The next step was the control panel. I painted it black to match the monitor bezel. At first I wanted to put an X-Arcade panel on there, but they are too expensive. So instead I got a cool chinese made joystick. It makes really loud clicky sounds and I can really feel the corners. I think it will be great in fighting games (my favorite).

Teh old trackball that was in there was faded and I don't know how to hook it up to my PC, so I threw that out. I was left with a big hole in the middle, so I came up with the coolest thing: BEER HOLDER! *Woot!* (click the photo up there to see it larger).

I installed a PC in there, but I can't figure out how to make the picture show on the monitor. The monitor has the old game graphics burned in it anyway, I think I'll just replace it with a 21" PC monitor. That will rock.

To be done:
-Paint over that cheesy cartoon art (it's too kiddy)
-Cut out holes on each side to put some speakers.
-Add some casters so I can move it around better

You can see larger photos by visiting my project update page:
http://www.retrofx.com/rayb_arcade.html

~Ray B.

[menace]

bah--april fool's to you!

(It's a dead giveaway cause you and I both know that if this were true--some fanatic from cgcc would come and burn your house down for such a heinous thing)

[RayB]

shhhh!

[the3eyedblindman]

It could have been believable but your description totally gave it away. You tried too hard to make it so unbelievable what you were doing that...in the end...it was unbelievable.

[SuperGunGuru]

Lol I was falling for the joke at first but the description did give it away. Good one though. 

[The 80s Man]

Here's my Crystal MAME project and it's no Joke. When I bought my Cab for $20.oo from the local Flea market it came with a broken monitor and busted up CPU board so I MAMEd it.

These are both old photos (my camera has broken) It now has a 20"Dell monitor (with a 19.5 viewable screen) that has been de-cased. and new CC art work from Arcade Renovations.com





I also have another original Control Panel that has been restored to OEM spec so I can change the Cab back to it's original state.

[captainpotato]

How is it having the buttons on different sides of the joysticks? It looks a little unusual to me.

[Magnet_Eye]

How is it having the buttons on different sides of the joysticks? It looks a little unusual to me.

I'm guessing he did because of space...

and it sucks for player 2, but hey, if it's your cab you're always player #1!

[captainpotato]

How is it having the buttons on different sides of the joysticks? It looks a little unusual to me.

I'm guessing he did because of space...

and it sucks for player 2, but hey, if it's your cab you're always player #1!

That's what I'd assumed as well, but it takes up as much room that way anyway. I guess that the buttons are more accessible when using the trackball, however.

Perhaps all his friends are left-handed?

[RayB]

I'm guessing he did it for "symetry". Not a good reason...

Anyways, re my joke... I should have created a new account for it! oh well

[missioncontrol]

ha...you had me up until this point....

So instead I got a cool chinese made joystick.

nice one 

[Bent Brother]

Nice cab!

Looks great! 

[ras2a]

schweeet!

[The 80s Man]

How is it having the buttons on different sides of the joysticks? It looks a little unusual to me.

It took me a very long time to decide on how to set up the controls. I don't have many options with such a small panel. The main reason why I went with this set up was for track ball games. I didn't want the 2nd player joystick too close to the track ball. I went with this decision because most of the time two players won't even be used at my house.

If my control panel wasn't so small I never would have went with the mirrored controls.

[RayB]

The main reason why I went with this set up was for track ball games. I didn't want the 2nd player joystick too close to the track ball. I went with this decision because most of the time two players won't even be used at my house.

This makes sense.

[RayB]

Heh. I got an email today related to this:

Dear Sir/Madam
        We are a procurement firm located in the Dubai  United Arab Emirate,
        We are writing to regarding  the CRYSTAL-CADE MAME CABINET,you place on advert, we want an immediate purchase of a large quantity of thisCRYSTAL-CADE MAME CABINET so we will like to know maybe is still available for sale and also the final price of it for a  possible purchase. Kindly revert back to us through our  email,etaascongroupllc@gmail.com, We will be  waiting for your response as soon as possible.
Best Regards,

Ridwan Hammed

ETAASCON GROUP L.L.C
#52 BESIDE AL QUDUS CENTRE
Opp SAHBKA ROAD DEIRA DUBIA UAE
Phone:+97156791733
Fax+971549264209

What do you think people? Mass-market the Crystal Cade?

[Benevolance]

I think you'll need to upgrade from Chinese to Japanese joysticks. I hear Asahi Super-Dry makes a pretty good model.