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Pre-Build Arcade Machine Discussion

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Dire Radiant:
Well, I've been lurking around the forums for a couple of months now but I just had to register for this one...

Aren't we missing the point a little? I thought the intention wasn't to see who had the most developed woodworking muscles, who was a crack antique restorer or indeed in the case of the Hanaho cabs, who had the most money falling out of you-know-where.

The point, as far as I can see, is to keep alive the memory of those incredible games we spent all our money on when we were 15. To keep alive the spirit of innovation and experimentation embodied by those early game designers. To document, record and preserve the emergence of a brand new art form. To keep fresh the memory of saturdays spent piling quarters into Tempest or Galaga or Section Z. To show our children playing their 3d rendered, story-driven, pixel shaded eye candy where it all came from.

Do me a favor the next time you find the reason you're doing this getting lost under all the dimensions and soldering and T-moulding. Take a minute to load up Dave Dries' Arcade '84 video (c'mon I know you have a copy on your hard drive) sit back and watch. And remember.

As long as we do it, who cares how?

--
DR

PS - Oh, and erm...Hi  ;)

1UP:
Hear hear!  When I got into Mame, all I was really interested in was playing all the old games I enjoyed when I was a kid.  I was always disappointed with the various ports made for consoles in the 80's, and the MS "Return of Arcade" wasn't really the same, either.  I was glad just to finally have all the classics with original graphics, scoring, sound, and attract modes on my PC.

When I found out about BYOAC, I thought, "that's cool, but you've gotta be nuts to actually build or restore a cabinet!"   It was only after I decided to get a faster computer for graphics use that I thought about making the old one into a game machine (so I could play while my animations were rendering when working at home.)

Almost a year later, I'm 75% there.  My control panel is built, my arcade controls and coin door are hacked, all I need is a monitor and some wood.  I'm really tempted to let it stay as is for awhile, since everything's working anyway.  But I'm sure in the next month or two, I'll have some free time, and won't be able to resist!

I'd be lying if I said it's been all fun and games.  If I could've bought a machine with all the options I wanted, I'd have done it in a heartbeat.  I'm more interested in just playing games at this point than cutting any more wood, or doing any more wiring.

I could've easily bought one or two of my favorite classics, working and in the original cabinet, for less than I've spent on this project.  If I have the money and space to do so in the future,  I'm sure I'll have my own little mini arcade in the back room, full of old machines that someone else has fixed up.  Is there something wrong with that?  Isn't arcade collecting a legitimate hobby too?

Some people around here seem to have the wrong idea about things.  There isn't an ONLY way to do things, just the way that's right for you.  We're all here to have fun, some people are just willing to put more work in than others.  I think that it would be insane to build my own spinner, because the Oscar is so good and I can afford it.  Does that make me a lamer compared to the guy who's gluing washers together?  Some people have enough free time to DIY and save money, others have the money but not much free time.  It's a tradeoff, and one is not necessarily better than the other.  To me, time IS money, and if I can afford to buy something that will save me a weekend of hard work, I will.

And, to get back on topic, it will always be either expensive or time consuming to buy or build your own cabinet, so while anyone probably could have their own cabinet, I'm sure we'll will still be a proud minority of geeks who actually go for it!  ;D

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