Finished:"Arcade Classics" Christmas gift- December 2014

[Well Fed Games]

Haven't been on the boards much but I put together a multicade type deal for my sister's family for Christmas (pictures attached). A couple years ago I made them a bartop out of a plug & play and it still got a lot of love so I thought I'd give them an upgrade. It was put together quick but here's the bits I used:

-ICE Johnny Nero Action Hero (lightgun game) cabinet, in great shape and bought at an auction last year for $10. Only cabinet work needed was a cleaning and some new black t-molding (which I had).

-27" Sony Trinitron, bought off a local ebay seller in great shape for $30

-iCade 60-in-1 board, bought from [redacted] for around $60

-Holland Computers trackball (kind of janky), 2", made to plug directly into iCade, and mounting plate, was around $40 after buying trackball secondhand

-Happ Ms. Pac Reunion joystick (used-was originally on my Pac Mame cabinet)

-IL start and fire buttons (had them already)

-Used power supply from a project cab that I had

-a monoprice VGA to s-video converter (http://www.amazon.com/Lenkeng-104724-Monoprice-VGA-RCA/dp/B001CJOLBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420915999&sr=8-1&keywords=monoprice+vga+converter) which i reccomend- not sure why I am hoarding composite-out video cards when this thing exists

-new control panel overlay, marquee, and bezel stickers from user stpcore who gave me a great deal and a quick turnaround time (no side art for this one, at least yet- since it was going in their house I wanted to make it a little subtle, and the black laminate sides were in great shape. I can always put some on later if they would like it).

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So anyway, was a big cabinet with a big TV in it, so the logistics of building it in the basement where I live, getting it upstairs and three hours drive was a bit hectic. But I got it done by Christmas, and snuck it into their house without the kids (ages 13, 10 and 7) knowing, which was kind of a fun surprise after us giving them their smaller gifts at grandma's house. The fact that I had so many spare parts around and the cabinet was very generic and adaptable helped a lot (the entire control panel and electronics section just kind of slides into the cabinet like a drawer, very cool). The lightgun cable holes became a spot for a power switch and volume control.

This was my first time working with a 60-in-1 board, and Jamma, so it was a learning experience and now I know the trade-offs between them and a MAME setup. In this case, being maintenance-free was the big requirement. I disabled the majority of the games- everything that wasn't emulated well enough (sound specifically) or a 4-way/trackball one button game got disabled. So really it is a 24-in-1 multicade, but it can play a lot more than the 8-in-1 plug and play based unit I made for them previously.

I'm pleased with it, and they seem to be, too. I put it together relatively cheaply, got rid of some of my spare parts, and got it done in about a month. Thanks as always to the forum here for the knowledge and help!

[gonzojoey]

Looks great. I'm sure the little ones loved it. I especially like the bezel art. Great job!

[Locke141]

Looks Good.

Good to know about your 60 in one experience. I'm thinking about doing a new Vigolex build with one. It's that or an old XP PC and trying atomic FE with an older version on Mame.

What are the 24 games found worth having enabled? Does the board have a way to set the screen orientations? 

 

[wp34]

Looks nice.  I like how the artwork transitions from the bezel to the CP. 

[Well Fed Games]

The 24 games I left enabled were

Arkanoid
Burger Time
Centipede
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong 3
Frogger
Galaga
Galaxian
Jr. Pac-Man
Ladybug
Mappy
Millipede
Moon Cresta
Mr. Do
Mr. Do’s Castle
Ms. Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Pac-Man plus
Pengo
Space Invaders
Super Breakout
Super Pac-Man

Again, my limitations were 4-way joystick or trackball for control, and one action button.

Not sure if I would do a 60-in-1 again. Maybe in another situation where I wanted simplicity over customization (I really like having a custom front end via MALA and MAME, where I can design a menu, adjust the games' volume individually, etc). But it can always get converted to a MAME cab later on without too much work. It was a bit silly to go from the VGA out to a converter to a TV, but there was no way I was going to find a 25"-27" arcade monitor in good shape for the price of the TV and converter together (less than $50 total).

In a perfect world I would have had another Midway or Atari style cab that I could have just tossed a 19" LCD in, but this is what I had on hand... and I didn't feel any guilt about converting a gutted Johnny Nero Action hero cab.

Looks Good.

Good to know about your 60 in one experience. I'm thinking about doing a new Vigolex build with one. It's that or an old XP PC and trying atomic FE with an older version on Mame.

What are the 24 games found worth having enabled? Does the board have a way to set the screen orientations?