DC as a base for cocktail cab?

[enemyace]

I've got a DC and an old 17" PC monitor lying around and I was wondering if that would be a good base for a cocktail cab on the cheap. I was thinking I could hack an external switch into the DC and just leave the DC MAME disc in all the time so that I wouldn't have to open the cab to play. Is the MAME for DC good enough to play the classics? And does it do rotated games in MAME so I can play them with a vertical monitor orientation? I think it would also work pretty nicely with the NES emulator.

Are there any potential problems with this idea?

[mattudland]

Now I haven't whipped my DC emulation scene out in over a year, but as I recall there is no cocktail/screen flipping options in the DC mame port.

Still, it's a cool idea and most classics work pretty well in the emulation scene.  The sound is off on a lot of them though, but if you are looking for a budget way to do it, I say go for it.  Just make sure you leave a way to get to the DC Power, and maybe you should build the cab so the controls are on the same side for two player games.  I know I've seen some like this.

Are you just going to use a VGA Monitor and speakers?  Man, that sounds like a real simple build... post how it works and maybe I'll want to build one too!

Good luck,
Matt

[mattudland]

Hey, here is a really interesting setup...  it's for a corner semi-cocktail system.  

The page is slow to load though, so give it time:

http://mamecheats.fateback.com/mamegtx2.htm

some of the ideas are pretty neat if you ask me... not your typical cocktail though.

[android]

MameDC is good enough to play the classics around the PacMan era. I have not tested them all, but some of the newer games I tried don't play at full speed. There's a page that lists what games work at full speed; don't remember the link now, but there's a link to it in the official MameDC page.

Also, you can rotate vertical games to play them the way they should in MameDC. I just don't remember if there's an option to flip the screen for each player to play on their side of the cocktail.

[enemyace]

Yeah, I was thinking two players on the same side, so I can use it to play all the Capcom fighters ported to DC. Also so that both players can sit on the couch at the same time and play.

I probably won't use screen flipping, but I will use the rotation if I can. I'm thinking of setting it up so that the monitor can be rotated 90 degrees under the glass (should be easy since it'll be lying flat on its back; I was thinking of using heavy duty lazy susan hardware).

I'm probably going to build the cocktail so that it resembles a coffee table more than a conventional cocktail cabinet. Lower and more furniture-like. I'd like to figure out some way that the controls could flip out from a hidden spot so they can't be seen when not in use.