New to the Forum

[gunit]

Hi All, i am new to the forum and would like say hello. I’m a secret geek at heart who was one of those kids who loved the arcades. My first computer was the commodore 16,64,Amiga,Pentium 90, snes, n64 etc. I currently own an iMac, Custom built gaming PC, xboxone, ps3, xbox360 and a hidden fully boxed megadrive 16bit.

I accidentally came across some youtube videos of bar-top arcade machines and I am now on a mission to build my own. I cannot wait to play games like Robocop, street fighter, final fight etc on a retro arcade machine and get my son involved.

Starting to gather a list and research so any tips, advice etc would be much appreciated.

[Slippyblade]

Advice tidbits...

1) Use the search feature.  The forum has been around for years and years.  There is so much knowledge hidden around here it's amazing.
2) Many of the vendors who sell parts are active members here.  Groovy Game Gear, Paradise Arcade, Ultimarc, etc...
3) If you have actual questions, ask.  Be specific.  Do NOT ask, "How do I build an arcade machine?"  The more specific the question, the better we can answer.
4) Do NOT ask where to get ROMS.
5) When you start a project, we are all photo whores.  Pics or it didn't happen.

Welcome to the boards.  Have fun!

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, Gunit.   

You might want to consider starting with the FAQ to help you learn the basics and help you ask better questions about the "unknown unknowns".

There are also lots of great builds in Project Announcements that are good for inspiration and -- if you're smart -- learning from the mistakes of others.


Scott

[Malenko]

welcome!

Also, if you wanna baby step it, you could start by building a control panel that sits in front of your PC

[Generic Eric]

I'll echo the suggestions on the FAQ, search and the wiki

I have a few suggestions.  Try something like mameui and play a few games with your keyboard.  I know its not the same, but it will give you an idea of what game you might be interested in.

In other posts, I suggest making a fight stick or 2.  Your initial post makes no mention of woodworking experience, so a fight stick is a good place to start.  As a second project, I'd suggest a pedestal.  They are good for 4 players or an arcade of joysticks and buttons.  This will give you good practice for your layout.

The prime challenge with a bartop is building around the PC, monitor, encoders and joysticks and buttons.  You might be interested in a mini or micro itx board for something like that. 

My biggest suggestion is not to worry about art until you have chosen a front end.   

There is a chance to expand your horizons in a number of ways from woodworking, learning gimp & inkscape along with sketchup to setting up a variety of different front ends.  You may even learn how to program a teensy 3.1!

In the end, it may just be a game of boxes

[yotsuya]

One thing I'd like to throw out there, and really, I'd throw it out to all new builders:



Decide exactly what it is you want your cab to be.

I say this because when we all get introduced to this aspect of the hobby, many times we're enamored by all the possibilities. The thought that "I can play every arcade game, every Atari game, every Nintendo game, every SNES game.... ever made on one machine!!!!1!" is exciting, but realistically not practical. My initial plan for my cabinet was like this. I built a control panel with two 8-ways, a 4 way, a trackball, and a spinner, was quite proud of it... then realized a 37 inch control panel was just too big. So I kept the control panel within the width of the cabinet, tossed the 4-way, loaded all those games and console emulators.... and found that even though I could do all those things, I couldn't do all of them well. I toyed with swappable panels, but ultimately, where was I going to put them when I wasn't using them?

So I took out everything but MAME. Better, but still, the CP was crowded, the 4 way games just didn't play right..... so I built a 4 way vertical only cabinet, I removed the trackball and spinner, pared down the game list, and now my original cabinet plays a multitude of games that I enjoy, and it does it quite well. It's not going to be an "OMG, It plays 40,000 different games!!!!!!!" machine, and honestly, that works great. It's a two-player horizontal cabinet that can play 8 way vertical games. Do I miss playing Tron with my spinner, battop joystick, and regular button? A little, but the control scheme was so awkward that it wasn't the optimal way to do it. I know now that if I want to play Tron, I should look into getting a Tron.

Just a bit of advice. There's no right or wrong way to really do it if you are happy with the end result, but you can save a lot of time and money along the way with careful planning.   

[gunit]

Thanks for the advice guys. The idea is to build an arcade machine that will play many of the old skool classic games and I have already found the frame I would like to copy.

From research it is built around a Dell 19” 4:3 ratio monitor with 13mm foam board and believe it or not fascia board for the control panel. I have managed to find rough plans/instructions for this unit but I will need to draw up correctly in Illustrator then make a card board version to double check all is ok. ( unless you guys have exact measurements for this ?)

My next mission will be components needed (need’s to play smoothly SF4)

[Slippyblade]

That's effectively a Weecade.  Google it, it's literally all over the place.  Very popular style.

[gunit]

Agree but slightly different in shape

[Malenko]

you can buy those kits flatpacked from vendors on this very board. ebarlow, Rick of Gameroom Designs Canada, and Haruman.