GameRoomSolutions Fat Boy - TMNT Build

[smaka]

I got a TMNT "Fat Boy" cabinet from GameRoomSolutions (GRS). This was a blind buy.

What I wanted:
- A dedicated idiot-box with a "super console" and "arcade"

Why I did it:
- After running the numbers, I concluded this only cost $300 more than a DIY project
- They did all the graphic work, t-molding, printing and even applied the art to the cab prior to shipping
- The shipping was free
- They made the cabinet and shipped fast!!!!!
- The offer services at every level... I went the DIY route. They made the cabinet but everything else was on me!!!

Parts list:
Several beers (most important part)
GRS Fat Boy cabinet
Arcade Rennovations "gold leaf buttons"
Ultimarc Jstik
Ultimarc Trackball
Ultimarc iPac4
Ultimarc PacLED64
32" 240hz Gigabyte Monitor (TN panel)
Logitech z407 2.1 speakers
Retro Shooter "Armory Vault" Light Guns
Amazon Bar-screen LED monitor (marquee)
XBox 1 Controllers (4)
Wireless N64 Controllers (4)

Gaming PC:
Gigabyte RTX 3080 GPU
Gigabyte z790 ICE motherboard
Core i7 13700kf CPU
32GB DDR5
60TB SATA storage (20tb x 3)
12TB Crucial NVMe (3x 4tb)
2TB Crucial NVM2 (1x 2tb)
Honorable mentions
Amazon 4-player arcade kit w/ buttons + sticks

[smaka]

The cabinet was delivered in surprisingly small boxes. The cabinet was designed in a way that allows it to be broken down and quickly assembled.

[Zeosstud]

That setup is going to serve you well for a very long time. You happen to have a link to the exact monitor you got handy?

Thanks,
Zeosstud

[smaka]

Shipping was super fast! Everything was tightly bubble wrapped. All corners were well protected.

[smaka]

The side panels are cut in half to make shipping easier. This particular has a top that over-laps the bottom. I didn't like this at first, but it grew on me. Also being able to disassemble this cabinet is a huge benifit!

[smaka]

All the wood is 3/4" thick and the entire thing is held together using cam-locks (like IKEA furniture). Everything was so heavy that I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself if it didn't come in pieces.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the assembly, but it is worth posting a few. Everything is clearly labeled. When putting 2 parts together, the labels on 1 part match the labels on the other. The instructions were helpful, but not really needed due to this.

[smaka]

A few more pix of the parts. The top of the cabinet with the included marquee. It's nice but I have a bar-tv that I want to mount and use as a dynamic-marquee. Also the fully assembled pedestal and cabinet top before I put the back-coverings on.

[smaka]

This is the fully assembled cabinet mocked up BEFORE I modified it for the dynamic-marquee

[smaka]

At first I was planning to put the dynamic marquee over the included one, but it would stick out too far for my liking. I removed the marquee then cut some wood and mocked it up right above the speaker mounts. Here is the new panel. This is the only think held on with screws and L-brackets. The rest of the entire build is cam-lock. I drilled a hole to run HDMI and power to the dyanmic-marquee. Here is a pic of the dynamic-marquee leveled and installed.

[smaka]

I started off with this amazon button/joystick combo. The buttons were amazing! The sticks were not. They were bad in a way that I cannot describe with words. They made playing street fighter infuriating!!! I hated these joysticks so much that I returned them before the other 2 sets were delivered!

[smaka]

I ordered "gold leaf" RGB LED buttons from ultimarc, but they had not been delivered. I wanted this to be running before x-mas. The same amazon seller sent me these "newer" sticks and buttons. They are incredible for the money! I am a PC first person shooter type of gamer. I know input lag, there was none.... and the buttons are gorgeous!!!

[smaka]

Eventually my Ultimarc order was delivered.... So I changed the buttons yet AGAIN!!! Only  this time I have an ipac4, 2x PAC LED controllers and a trackball as well! Out with the new... in with the new-er-er. I smashed one of the switches on a jstik and ended up replacing it with another from the cheap amazon sets.

[firedance]

No pictures are showing except the one in the first post 

[smaka]

Here are a few of the custom marquee designs I threw together for the platforms I am running outside of MAME.

[smaka]

A few more marquee designs

[smaka]

"The Armory" light gun set from Retro Shooter was delivered

[smaka]

I ended up hanging the MX24's on the back of the cab and mounting the reapers to the sides. The Retro Shooter sensors are nice, but an eye-sore. I ended up mounting a set of G4IR LED's behind the glass of my cab. I also made a new "light gun" themed marquee.

[smaka]

Just a bit of shooting

https://www.facebook.com/reel/624302293437410

[smaka]

I have been toying with the idea of installing a smaller 7in touch-screen into the control panel. More to come on that.

[smaka]

All my buttons have black centers with clear rings.... for my admin buttons I wanted the opposite... Clear centers with black rings. I flipped them over, cut out the centers and installed leds. OMG! Look how they GLOW!!!

[javeryh]

This looks very nice - love the art and the lit buttons... but the P3 and P4 joysticks are not installed correctly. These turnkey cabinet companies almost always get this wrong for reasons I cannot explain. Give them a try and you will see what I mean. It is easily fixable if you have a router.

 

[PL1]

the P3 and P4 joysticks are not installed correctly. These turnkey cabinet companies almost always get this wrong

If you aren't sure what Javeryh is referring to, Smaka, the outer position joysticks (P3 and P4) are angled on your panel.



On almost all of the original 4P arcade cabs, joysticks were mounted square instead of angled.  Green is good.  Red is bad.
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#Orientation




Scott

[smaka]

I am well aware of this and asked about it before the cab shipped out. I noticed when they sent me the sample art. This is done purposely (not a mistake). Apparently it makes for better ergonomics. I thought it looked strange and didn't make much sense until I tried playing like that for an hour. I actually like it better this way.

To their defense, GRS does offer to send the control panel out uncut. Then I can customize it however I want.

[followb]

Thank you very much for your post.

When my wife and I get into our new home, breaking ground next month, we plan to have two major purchases. One is a virtual pinball machine, the second is a multi-cade machine. Like you, I plan to purchase a cabinet kit, then purchase/build everything inside myself. I really appreciate reading about your process and experiences. I have been considering the exact same GRS cabinet. I really like the fact that the cabinet is made from 3/4" plywood as opposed to mdf or particleboard.

I have a LaunchBox Premium Lifetime license and am planning to use that as my frontend.

Thanks again for your very informative post, as well as all the pictures.

[Xiaou2]

I am well aware of this and asked about it before the cab shipped out. I noticed when they sent me the sample art. This is done purposely (not a mistake). Apparently it makes for better ergonomics. I thought it looked strange and didn't make much sense until I tried playing like that for an hour. I actually like it better this way.

To their defense, GRS does offer to send the control panel out uncut. Then I can customize it however I want.

Personally, I dont know how Anyone could like playing with a Joystick like that.  Sounds more like Cope, than Reality.

When people think about going UP... they think about pushing vertically upwards on the Joystick, towards the Monitor.
Since you cant SEE the stick you are controlling... there is no way to tell which way is UP.

Every 4 player game that exists in the Arcades, Orients the sticks, so that they are all in the same direction.
It might be less comfortable, to be the "End" players.. but at least you can play the game properly, without accidentally
pressing the wrong directions.

Obviously, certain games are more Forgiving than others.  Meaning.. If you mess up with a direction... you wont be punished
as much for your mistake.

Things get compounded, when the game has very Fast Action.  The stress will cause you to "Forget" your joystick orientation,
and you will again, make directional mistakes.

Improper Orientation like this... is very ignorant, and simply should not exist.  There really isnt any good excuse for it.

[smaka]

Thank you very much for your post.

When my wife and I get into our new home, breaking ground next month, we plan to have two major purchases. One is a virtual pinball machine, the second is a multi-cade machine. Like you, I plan to purchase a cabinet kit, then purchase/build everything inside myself. I really appreciate reading about your process and experiences. I have been considering the exact same GRS cabinet. I really like the fact that the cabinet is made from 3/4" plywood as opposed to mdf or particleboard.

I have a LaunchBox Premium Lifetime license and am planning to use that as my frontend.

Thanks again for your very informative post, as well as all the pictures.

Same here! I just got a new house and always wanted an arcade cabinet. It didn't make much sense for reasons said in post #1. After digging around online, I found lots of responses about GRS but nearly no pics. I aimed to change that. The fit and finish is great! I plan to buy more from them.

[smaka]

I am well aware of this and asked about it before the cab shipped out. I noticed when they sent me the sample art. This is done purposely (not a mistake). Apparently it makes for better ergonomics. I thought it looked strange and didn't make much sense until I tried playing like that for an hour. I actually like it better this way.

To their defense, GRS does offer to send the control panel out uncut. Then I can customize it however I want.

Personally, I dont know how Anyone could like playing with a Joystick like that.  Sounds more like Cope, than Reality.

When people think about going UP... they think about pushing vertically upwards on the Joystick, towards the Monitor.
Since you cant SEE the stick you are controlling... there is no way to tell which way is UP.

Every 4 player game that exists in the Arcades, Orients the sticks, so that they are all in the same direction.
It might be less comfortable, to be the "End" players.. but at least you can play the game properly, without accidentally
pressing the wrong directions.

Obviously, certain games are more Forgiving than others.  Meaning.. If you mess up with a direction... you wont be punished
as much for your mistake.

Things get compounded, when the game has very Fast Action.  The stress will cause you to "Forget" your joystick orientation,
and you will again, make directional mistakes.

Improper Orientation like this... is very ignorant, and simply should not exist.  There really isnt any good excuse for it.

I don't agree. Every time I had 4 or more people playing, players 3/4 always stand at an angle. When they push up, they go up. Again, you can always order the control panel without button/joystick holes at all. I suppose right/wrong is up to the owner to decide. In any case, it totally makes sense to me and everyone else that has played on it.

[Lingwendil]

Man, its a shame to see that they still ship the joysticks oriented incorrectly by default.

Looks good otherwise- Do you have a link to the monitor you used for the marquee?

[smaka]

Here you go

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFY477Q7?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_5&th=1

[smaka]

Man, its a shame to see that they still ship the joysticks oriented incorrectly by default.

Looks good otherwise- Do you have a link to the monitor you used for the marquee?

here you go

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFY477Q7?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_5&th=1

[Typefighter01]

This looks great smaka! Question please? Did you pick the artwork from their site, or did you request TMNT theme and they sent you samples? I didn’t see you mention and I don’t see 4 player artwork on their site when designing your own CP. I have an old Mame cab I built and I want to go 4 player and not interested anymore in building stuff from scratch anymore. I like CP artwork that has button surround “shadows/highlights” as it makes it look more professional. Thanks…

[Xiaou2]

don't agree. Every time I had 4 or more people playing, players 3/4 always stand at an angle. When they push up, they go up. Again, you can always order the control panel without button/joystick holes at all. I suppose right/wrong is up to the owner to decide. In any case, it totally makes sense to me and everyone else that has played on it.

 Every Arcade Machine that has 3 to 4 players... always has Straight Joystick alignment  (all sticks mounted the exact same angle).

 Just because you might Stand at an Angle... does not mean that your brain things Up is in the direction that you are facing.

 Imagine playing a game.. using a Gamepad... sitting 45 degrees from the screen.. due to sitting on the far end of an L-Shaped Sofa.
The Gamepads  "UP"  is always UP... NOT "Diagonally Towards the Screen".


 Its often not as bad, when you are playing a Beat-Em-Up, like TMNT.. because you are constantly walking in
various directions (constantly affirming positions)... AND, because these games are not that Critical about making
a Directional mistake.

 If the two angled people tried to play a fighting game like Tekken 3.. they would certainly make constant
critical directional mistakes.

 
 This is a Gauntlet Control Panel.  It was probably one of the First few games to have 4 players on a standard
non-driving Cabinet.



 Notice the words "UP" above each stick.  Realize that only two people could fit against the front of this Cabinet..
and the two others, stood against the left and right sides of the control panel.

 Despite this being Super Cramped  (especially compared to later 4 player control panels),  this worked just
fine.  Atari would have Angled the sticks, to give the players more comfort... if that would have worked out.
However... Loads of actual Play-Testing reveals that angles sticks, are always a bad idea.


 This is the Simpsons Control Panel.  Notice the Shiny Carriage Bolts, that hold the Joysticks to the panel?   They
are all mounted the same direction... not angled.  The only thing they angled, was the Buttons.