Bubble Bobble bartop (finished)

[FinnJävel]

Hi everybody.

This is my second build, the first one wasn't really post-worthy (although I'm quite happy with the art on "The Gamefather" so maybe I'll post something if I find some decent photos). As the title suggests, this will a BB-themed bartop made with no wooworking skills and a as-close-to-zero-as-one-can-get -budget.

I had actually decided the theme before I noticed there were some killer BB-cabinets posted here already but I guess there's room for one more.

About the budget: I've salvaged the mdfs (leftover washing mashine pedestals), the pc and the monitor (left to be recycled by our customers) from work. The art will be printed on ordinary poster paper (tried it on the first build and it was good enough for me). The joysticks and buttons are normal eBay-buys with the exception of using two "0-delay USB encoder"s instead of an i-pac. The reason being the price but also the i-pac costs more than 22€ so I'd have to drive to the customs office and pay extra and all that.... So I guess I'm just cheap and lazy.

Here's the build so far:

[FinnJävel]

And then the art.

This is more my thing. You know, sitting indoors with a cup of tea with no sawdust of paint fumes, that kind of stuff. Now don't get me wrong; I appreciate the hours spent outside in the shed. I am a married man, after all.... 

Anyway, this is what I had first. A pretty regular setup: the sides, the cp (the extra button on the left is for Amiga games) and the front-of-the-cp-bit (the three buttons obviously go between Bub nad Bob) .No marquee done yet.

[FinnJävel]

The I thought the identical sides were perhaps a bit boring. So I thought I'd pay homage to the pixelated beauty that is this game. And the theme continues to the front plate as well. I quite like this one.

[FinnJävel]

And then I found the beautiful BB-cabinets by sho, shadow05, bsam, YoGaBaR, OverRide and sdchown to name a few. Amazing stuff! And I thought I could maybe make the cab a bit more personal. So I fiddled with the dragons a bit (Eric Schwartz -style, being an old Amiga gamer) and came up with these. The reason Bobblun is cranky is that hardly anyone plays with him, seeing I seldomly get anyone to join my BB-sessions.
I don't know? Too much?

[johnrt]

Really? 8 buttons per player on a bartop?

I think the artwork looks nice. I'm not sure about the pixelated version though.

[FinnJävel]

Really? 8 buttons per player on a bartop?

I think the artwork looks nice. I'm not sure about the pixelated version though.

No, four per player. The slagcoin templates have eight but I'll only be using the top rows.

[Louis Tully]

.

[TheDude]

The second version looks cooler imho. Very nice artworks ! 

[Superfrog]

I go for the cranky style 
Eric Schwartz - great time back then... still love the Amiga, best computer from the past

[FinnJävel]

Great, this is exactly what I was looking for; four comments and three different opinions  .  Well, nevermind. Thanks for the input and compliments, guys.

I wimped out and went for a sort of hybrid version with the blue side having the pixelated logo and bubbles with the non-pixelated Bub&Bob.

I'll post more assuming I don't f k up the application too bad.

And Malenko, yes.

[FinnJävel]

It ain't no prize-winner but I like it a lot!. I may add a bezel later on as the black around the screen doesn't really suit the overall theme. Although it's easier on the eye when playing.

[blashyrk]

Very nice indeed love the bubble bobble theme

[BobA]

Nice looking bartop.  The bubble bobble theme is very appropriate.  It looks like you built the cab around the LCD as it is a perfect fit. 

[FinnJävel]

Thank you all for your kind words.

It sure was a tight fit with the monitor as you can see from the pictures. But I prefer as little bezel as possible anyway, so...

I also made two Mala frontends (sorry, no screenshots but you get the basic idea).

Also in the pic you can see my "quiet HDD" -feet. It's a bit of rubber banding used in transport cages glued to the cab and the the hdd feet so the rubber absorbs the hdd's vibrations.

Next I'll try to tackle a full-sized cab as I scored a 20" 4:3 Acer monitor.