Thoughts on a Raspberry Pi 3 in a bartop Arcade Cabinet.

[mike boss]

A little back story here.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm working on a Punch-Out themed bartop arcade cabinet for my man cave.
It will fit the theme of the room well. It will blend in nice with my Nintend-ROW.
Nintend-ROW = my row of Nintendo arcade cabinets (Mario Bros MAME, Popeye Pandora's Box 3, DK 60-in-1, and DK JR vertical MAME)

I had originally picked up a 2nd Pandora's box 3 for the bartop, but I've since moved onto the idea of a Pi.
I love the GUI on the Pi, I think it's slick and polished.
I like the console emulation and the MAME.

I have a few devices in the man cave that give me the retro gaming fix (an Ouya with a stacked selection of ROM sets,  a Retron5 with some US ROM sets and the various supported original controllers, an original XBOX that has been "altered" and has all the extras installed)

But despite this I like the idea of the Pi and the retro gaming in the arcade cabinet environment. I kow that console gaming on an arcade cabinet takes some flack. But I was toying with the idea of using the Pi (1 of 2 I own) in the bartop, wiring the arcade controls with a Zero Delay Encoder, and also pairing it with some USB versions of the various console gamepads.

I know there is no wright or wrong answer. I just wanted to seek some thoughts and opinions.
I get kinda wrapped up in all the coolness I see and sometimes just cant make up my mind.
Recently I saw some cool videos of RetroArch and now I'm all smitten with the idea of doing something with that.
It looks so cool.

Side note, even if the Pi and console gaming isn't really ideal on an arcade cabinet, I like the fact that the menu looks different from anything else I have. (if that makes sense)

So even if I did not pair the USB gamepads with the build, and really just used MAME I'd be ok with that. I have a 2nd Pi that I wanted to eventually do a Pi-tendo type build (or house in any console really).

Or can RetroArch be run off a Pi ?

So many ideas bouncing around here.

thanks

[Osirus23]

RetroArch can run off a Pi. There's an entire Raspian distro called RetroPie that does exactly that and countless guides online about setting it up.

https://retropie.org.uk/

[mahuti]

I'm running RetroPie (so retroarch is included). I'm using attractmode as a fronted. I have it set up to handle arcade as well as console & handheld emulators AND ScummVM with the ability to use arcade or usb controllers (NES, Atari... planning on getting some intellivision controllers )

Even though I have a Nintendo, PSX, 2600, Genesis sitting a few feet away, I still have the system set up to handle consoles. Why not do it? It's cool! I've really been enjoying working with the theme system on Attractmode. Pretty robust programming language lets me do all kinds of overlays and animation.

[mike5im5]

Yeah absolutely go for it. I don't understand why the raspberry pi get slack for arcade/console emulation.

I've build about 5 machines of a pi now and find it great. The fact that there's a retropie build saves so much time which allows more to be spent on decor or attact mode menus. Sure it won't run PS2 stuff onwards or heavy 3D emulation. However, it runs all the retro stuff from my childhood fine which is all I care about.

I'll post a couple of my projects up on the board.

[mike boss]

When I read about the Pi and the fact that you just download an image I was blown away.
The time that saves is UNREAL!

My Mario Bros arcade cabinet is a MAME build with console emulation. And the set up was ridiculously involved.
All the controller configuration, settings, etc. I think a Pi is such an AMAZING way to go.

[mahuti]

The basic set up IS dead simple. Just add roms, use the scraper and go.

But if you wanna get fancier you have to really get in the weeds with linux.

[yotsuya]

Yeah..... I prefer my front end to not look like a htpc setup from last decade. That's why the Pi stuff doesn't appeal to me.

(Yeah, I know, Attract-Mode, etc. But by his point, I have moved on.)

[behrmr]

For those of you putting a RetroPie setup in an arcade cabinet what button layout are you using that works for both consoles and MAME?

[mahuti]

For NES and ATARI it's simple. For the rest I'm using plug in controllers

[behrmr]

So for MAME how are you mapping buttons to the plug in controller?  E.g. coin, 1 start, 2 start, and exit, specifically