I just got my first game and I plan to convert it to a MAME arcade, and I'm looking for input from the Arcade Controls community.
My new gameI got Midway's golf game
Skins Game in nearly mint condition, original (not a conversion kit), 25" Wells Gardner K7401 monitor (horizontal mount) with zero burn. The game was made in 1999 or 2000. The cabinet for this game is identical to Mortal Kombat (aside from control panel layout).
What I plan to do with itI bought this game with the intention of making it into a MAME machine, so I can enjoy playing dozens 1980s games with my kids. I envision converting the game to MAME using a Windows PC, J-Pac, ArcadeVGA video card (or maybe Soft 15KHz), and building my own control panel with 2 joysticks, 6 buttons per player, and a trackball. (Yeah, I know J-Pac doesn't support trackball; I'm sure there's a solution to that but I haven't looked into it yet.) I envision replacing the existing marquee and side art with a custom marquee and some generic side-art.
Questions1) What does the Arcade Controls community think of my plan? What considerations should I be thinking about that I may be overlooking?
2) For the new side art, I'm thinking of painting the existing sides a solid color and then applying a handful of generic side art "pieces" (logos or characters from various classic games). Should I attempt to remove the current side art and then paint the particle-board directly, or paint over the existing side art? (Since particle-board isn't perfectly smooth and my new side art "pieces" won't cover the entire surface, maybe the outcome won't look/feel right?)
Thanks!
Gedman