DREAM cabinet. Money is no object fun!

[MrTeamWork]

Hi all. I have decided to put this out there to see what people come up with. Here is the idea.

 You have $5,000 dollars to spend on your built from the ground up Arcade cabinet. It has to be able to play 4 player games, trackball games, spinner games, '8 way games' such as Ikari Warriors, and 4 way movement only joystick games such as Pac-Man. Also, there is no size limit, not lbs limit. They sky's the limit - up to $5,000 bucks that is
    What would you put together? And just to make it clear, this is not a way of me asking for someone else to put my rig together,I am building my own rig, but it's on a $500 dollar budget. I just thought we could have some fun with building a 'dream' cabinet.

 Have fun!

 

[pocketz]

i would build 3 or 4 regular sized cabinets with different controls instead of one giant monster. id make them look like early 1980's cabinets all with wellsgardner vga arcade monitors. when all the machines are running it would have a nice arcade look, sound and feel to the game room.

-pocketz

[kspiff]

With $5,000 you could build the perfect MAME machine, destroy it, burn it, pulp it, compress it into new wood, and build it again..

I would build an Ultimate Arcade II and spend the rest on dedicated cabinets.

pocketz, don't forget the cocktails.. maybe a sitdown (hell, I'll make me a vertical sitdown, too, while we're at it.. with dual 4-ways for Assault )..

[Lilwolf]

Ahh... 5k?  Not enough!  Well, the perfect 64" projection TV is 4K!  Now where will you get your controls from!

really thought....

decide what you want to do (style of cabinet).  Then start making a plan.  

decisions.

1) Style of cabinet.  
  a) Standup 4 player (like tmnt).  Standard
  b) Showcase.  Bigger monitor, TV can be used as a real TV/VCR/TiVo/console system.
  c)  cocktail table.  Fits better in a house.  Great coffee table.

2) Monitor type.
  a) Arcade Monitor is best image quality, and hardest to deal with.  But with the arcadeVGA cable that is easier.
  b) TV svid out.  Nice imge quality.  Chances for warranty on the tube.  Easier to deal with.  GET a GOOD TV-OUT!  (ati is always good... some geforces are, but your taking a crap shoot).
  c) b-grade VGA monitor (EYGO or industrial).  Better the SVGA monitor because of built it scanlines.  Easier to use.  Big and cheap.
  d) SVGA worse video quality for arcade games.  Best for pc games.  EASIEST to deal with.

3) Controls:
  a) Hotswappable control panel.  Just do it.  Then you can have all you want.
  b) otherwise, choose the games you want to play.  4 player with middle 2 with 6 buttons and outter two with 4 buttons.. then trackball and spinner with a few buttons in the middle.  Main advantage here is that you always have them all up and going.  Position the joysticks so you can play 2 player smashtv is a plus.  Or 1player in the middle.  But having all 4 horizontal is usually 2 close together.

good luck

[JamesMolloy]

There's a Sega R360 cabinet for sale near me. A snip at $10,000.

I'm sure all the elaborate hydraulics would break down all the time too. Would cost a bloody fortune to maintain.

[Smittydc]

I agree with the swappable control panels suggestion.  

Currently I use the following:

1) standard 2-player CP with 4 buttons/player and trackball -- plays 95% of games perfectly.
2) Defender control panel (the only proper way to play it)
3) Mortal Kombat control panel
4) Spinner and joystick panel for tron, tempest, etc....

In other words, design it to be flexible and play the games YOU want to play.

Concerning monitors -- I've read a lot of comments lately saying computer monitors aren't very good -- to which I say: Crap! -- computer monitors look fantastic for most games.  

[Brax]

I don't think one all encompassing cabinet would be the "perfect" cab. 1UP's is darn close, with maybe a vertical monitor cabinet and a monster 4 player cab to cover all the bases.

[CthulhuLuke]

If I had 5000 dollars, I'd build a dual cabinet first of all, with some type of splitter so both monitors recieve an equal amount of signal.  Each side would have the following:
Rotating control panels *1-up* with these on each control panel -
1st panel - 1 perfect 360 with oscar restrictor plate and with 7 competition buttons, 1 l-30 rotating joystick with 4 horizontal pushbuttons
2nd panel - 1 trackball, 2 spinners, 1 tron joystick, plenty of buttons to accomodate games that need them
3rd panel - 2 super sprint wheels with dispensable pedals, and a hi  low pole position shifter
The sound in the cabinet would be surround sound 5.1 audio on both sides of the cabinets, so either player is surrounded by sound at all times.  At the bottom of both ends of each side would be 10 inch subwoofers facing the ground.
The computer would be the most current top of the line computer with at least a 80gb 7200rpm hard drive, and a made by ATI ATI radeon 9500 pro, with the Sound Blaster Audigy+.  There would also be a dreamcast and a playstation 2 console in the middle for when I want to play newer 2d fighting games such as Guilty Gear XX.
Each monitor on each side would be a 25" sony wega flat screen, and each would have rotating chassis for vertical games, the montors would sink slightly into the cabinet when in vertical mode, so the monitor is not too high.
The cabinet would be surrounded by 4 vibrating executive leather office chairs with heights to match the control panel.
One of the cabinets would have it's control panel scheme be good, like all the nicer characters of capcom, snk, taito, etc.  and the other side would be evil and would have all the more evil characters of konami, capcom, snk, etc.  The marquees would also follow these schemes, along with sideart if I made any.
  I think with the left over cash I'd buy a fridge at a garage sale, and put it right next to the cab, so nothing was ever too far away.
    Some modifications I would make to this cabinet though would be to have 2 pcs hooked up over a network and have a keyboard and mouse on each side, so not only are they arcades, they're also PC stations for some linked up online pc action.  I could also let 2 Xboxs slip in there and network those things up, just cause there's a few goodies on the Xbox I wouldn't mind playing every once in a while.
   -good stuff indeed, I almost wanna draw it out
     -Cthulhuluke
ps: the picture is a street fighter 2 cabinet I saw selling one time, and it was only like 300 bucks!!  the monitors were broken though, but if I would have remade that thing, it would have been amazing!!

[Luxury]

dont forget to put a refrigerated keg inside and a tap on the side.  but whatever you do - do NOT put Tapper on your machine or else you will have a lot of cleaning up to do.  

[MrTeamWork]

Wow some of these ideas are amazing! I never would have though about most of these

[Chris]

dont forget to put a refrigerated keg inside and a tap on the side.  but whatever you do - do NOT put Tapper on your machine or else you will have a lot of cleaning up to do.  

ROFL!!!!
If I had that much to spend, I'd build a serious cockpit cabinet with a projection screen, big subwoofer behind the chair, force feedback motors under the seat, three-way rotating control panel with standard controls on one, driving controls on another and flight stick and flight throttle on the third, and set it up for both arcade games and serious PC driving and flying games.  And I'd make the seat tilt back so I could sleep in it when the divorce papers would no doubt come....

[Groza]

Projection screens are big and all, but the quality is crap. For the best picture quality, you should get a 33" VGA monitor and a Micomsoft's XRGB-2 so that you cann watch anything in the highest possible quality. Also, If you only have room for onne big machine, do a delux size cabinet, where the screen is separat from the control pannel. Plus you will be able to watch TV and Movies on it too at a regular viewing angle (Considering you have the XRGB-2) A brand New Monitor (WG) and the XRGB-2 is about $1,000 total, you will have plenty to spend afterwords.

[AlanS17]

I'd use  Dynamo Showcase cabinet. *drools* Even then, there should still be money left over.

Maybe mount a flat-panel display on the wall or put up a multimedia projector and just build a movable base with built-in controls, a coin door, and your pc inside it. Then you could use it for other stuff too.

With some of the leftover money I'd go ahead and build a dedicated console emulator to plug into my tv, too. Just a small form-factor case with enough guts to handle my old console games and tv-out.

[visciouslymamed]

If floor space was not an issue , I would build 4 cockpit cabs all linked together. With $5k, the buget would be tight, but it could be done.

[Brogner]

I would build a bunch of machines form junk original cabs.  19 and 25 inch vertical and horizontal cabs, 2 driving(sitdown and standup), 1 spinner cab, and 1 specialty cab to cover the rest of the 95%+ of the games emulated.  I would use original controls where possible for the authentic gaming feel.  Its kinda what I'm shooting for now ( and it will probably be 5 grand later )

[Generic Eric]

I am surprised no one mentioned laser mame.

[Warborg]

I'd use  Dynamo Showcase cabinet. *drools*

Yeah, but the Dynamo Showcase is huge...  Barely fit through the door to my room, had to take the door off the hinges...  

I'm using my Showcase with a 27" TV, and it's also doubling as my entertainment rack right now, with my DTS receiver/DVD/VCR/Tuner/etc. sitting on top of it...  And seeing as how the PC components are all mounted in the podium (control panel portion of the cab), I am using the huge space under the TV with the locking panel for storage...