About to start my first cab, stuck on theme, art.

[Avrus]

So I'm about to start building my first cabinet, it's been quite a struggle getting various parts and supplies for Canada but I'm pretty much set now.

Monitor from Betson, encoders from Andy at Ultimarc, various parts from Randy at Groovy most of the controls from Happ. 

Because one of the games my friends and I used to sink big money in to was Rampart it's going to have 3 trackballs (double for shooting games) two spinners and 4 sticks (yes I do intend to play a wide variety of 3 and 4 player games).

My buddy does CAD drafting for a living so he's designed the CP (I'll post it when I announce my project) so that was a big help because I couldn't figure out how to get the 3 trackballs to lay out properly.

Anyway, with that out of the way;  I'm stuck on a name / artwork theme for the cabinet.

Originally I was thinking something with some popular characters from various games like SF2, MK, Mario etc but I'd prefer to stick with one central theme.

Then I was thinking Transformers.  Old school 80's transformers characters but most of my friends thought it was too non-arcade specific. 

I had also considered the Futurama cab because the artwork looks great but I really don't want to copy someone elses cab.

You guys mind firing ideas at me once you're done making sarcastic comments about the CP? 

[Avrus]

Alright, better more direct question.  What do you guys think about a Transformers themed cabinet?  Old school Optimus and Megatron for side art (with transformed / robot images) and then the autobot and decepticon logos as a backdrop. 

Could call it Autocad or Decepticade or something.

[Kevin Mullins]

Nah..... just paint it black with some crappy ol' cheap latex stuff and a paint brush.
"Now that would be authentic."

Ok, enough sarcasm.
I'm just not fond of the Transformers Theme idea, but then again I'm just not a Transformers fan either. 

[mrserv0n]

How about a castle theme since your so into Rampart, that would be cool, like paint  your cabinet grey brick and put the rampart knight on the side or something. Call it Castle Avrus Arcade

Look at the Bezel on this cab and tell me a whole cabinet like this wouldn't look totally sweet with that knight on the sides and a castle themed marquee



I was actually going to use this theme for my showcase cabinet and built the CP with a metal overlay but havent got around to getting a used soul caliber showcase to mod out yet.

[Green Giant]

How about a castle theme since your so into Rampart, that would be cool, like paint  your cabinet grey brick and put the rampart knight on the side or something. Call it Castle Avrus Arcade

Why paint, be truly hardcore and make thed first ever arcade cabinet made from bricks.  Let the wife know it won't be leaving the living room, ever.

[mrserv0n]

Take it a step further and MAME out your fireplace.

[Crowquill]

I've seen several people suggest using Transformers as a theme. There was never a Transformers arcade game. Transformers have nothing to do with arcades. Is it a nostalgia tie-in? Maybe somebody will do a Rubik's Cube themed cabinet next. I just don't get it.

I also don't know why this bothers me so much.

[vidmouse]

How about a castle theme since your so into Rampart, that would be cool, like paint  your cabinet grey brick and put the rampart knight on the side or something. Call it Castle Avrus Arcade

I was thinking along the same lines, except I think you could kick it up a notch
and make REAL castle ramparts along the top of the cab, then paint the
whole thing in a castle-wall motif.  Your side art could be shields, family
crests, swords, that sort of thing.  You could even hang banners or flags or
have a crown in the marquee.

I don't think making real castle ramparts is too big of a challenge from a
standard upright cab... just extend the side panels a bit and maybe attach
a front rampart piece via L-brackets to the top.  If you wanted to get
fancier you could build extensions like towers that could hold your speakers
and such, but that depends on how much work you want to do.

Geez, I'm talking MYSELF into this idea...  and the funny thing is,
I just added Transformers side art to my cab! 

[TOK]

I suggest using real Rampart art, or the second choice of using some kind of castle theme/name.
Real game art is way more appealing to me than sports/movies/comic themes.

[severdhed]

i am a huge transformers fan, but like everyone else said, they have no tie in to the arcades.  the castle theme seems like a good one

[CheffoJeffo]

So I'm about to start building my first cabinet, it's been quite a struggle getting various parts and supplies for Canada but I'm pretty much set now.

Monitor from Betson, encoders from Andy at Ultimarc, various parts from Randy at Groovy most of the controls from Happ. 

I see that you're in Calgary ... man I miss Stampede ...

For your next cab (they tend multiply), try posting for wanted parts at the coin-op forum at CGCC.ca (I know of at least one hobbyist out there who may be able to hook you up) or check the parts department at Starburstcoin.com (don't worry about the online catalog ... they're the Canadian distributor for Happ ... if shipping ends up being too expensive, PM me as I am close and can pick up and ship at actual cost). Might save you some coin.

Cheers

[MrF]

It's a shame really - it would have been great to see a transformers arcade game 'back in the day' with all the characters combined driving / platform / flying potential, and I am sure the artwork would have been nice.

I would have thought the most important thing would be to make the cab look good - no arcade machines had a gazillion buttons, spinners, and trackballs on them either... or 'MAME' marquees. Just whatever makes the thing look good in your room is surely what counts.

Maybe you should hack a Pacman rom - alter his sprite so he looks like an autobot, and the ghosts are the decepticons.. this would add some credit to your design.. if anyone asks, it was a prorotype Pacbot cab.. 

[vidmouse]

There actually IS a rom called "Transformer" by Sega:
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10184

but I don't think it has anything to do with the ones
from the cartoon, other than the dude can transform.

There are quite a few other "transformers" type games
out there, but only a few w/ the actual brand-link:

various:  New Transformers 2007 game
PS2:  Transformers Armada video game
N64:  Transformers Transmetals Beast Wars
C64:  Transformers (two different games here)

Others w/o the brand link:
Dangar UFO Robo (MAME)
Herzeg Zwei (Genesis)
Robo Army (MAME) -- hero changes to buggy w/ power up

Ok so these next MAME ones aren't exactly Transformers but
they're robots...
Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobiile Suit Gundam EX Revue
Mazinger Z
Macross Plus
Rohga Armor Force (probably more like Robotix than Transformers)
Tech Romancer (more like Mechwarrior but still awesome)
Cyberbots FullMetal Madness
Armored Warriors
Cybattler

[Avrus]

I see that you're in Calgary ... man I miss Stampede ...

For your next cab (they tend multiply), try posting for wanted parts at the coin-op forum at CGCC.ca (I know of at least one hobbyist out there who may be able to hook you up) or check the parts department at Starburstcoin.com (don't worry about the online catalog ... they're the Canadian distributor for Happ ... if shipping ends up being too expensive, PM me as I am close and can pick up and ship at actual cost). Might save you some coin.

Cheers

I ended up getting most of the parts from Starbust because no other local suppliers would return my calls or inquiries (southern music, etc).

I purchased the monitor directly from Betson because even with exchange and shipping, it was cheaper than buying locally (but more than $100).

Andy at Ultimarc was awesome, and I got the encoders and a some spinners from him.  Trying out the LED bar light from Groovy.

I can see this definitely become more than one cabinet though, very infectous.

How about a castle theme since your so into Rampart, that would be cool, like paint  your cabinet grey brick and put the rampart knight on the side or something. Call it Castle Avrus Arcade

Well I have honestly been thinking about the Rampart theme.  4 color CP matching the theme of Rampart with Rampart marquee and side art.  I'm just torn as to making all the art specific to one game.  But the trackballs do lend itself to one specific game.  The artwork is turning out to be the most difficult decision I've had to make in this project.

I was thinking along the same lines, except I think you could kick it up a notch
and make REAL castle ramparts along the top of the cab, then paint the
whole thing in a castle-wall motif.  Your side art could be shields, family
crests, swords, that sort of thing.  You could even hang banners or flags or
have a crown in the marquee.

I don't think making real castle ramparts is too big of a challenge from a
standard upright cab... just extend the side panels a bit and maybe attach
a front rampart piece via L-brackets to the top.  If you wanted to get
fancier you could build extensions like towers that could hold your speakers
and such, but that depends on how much work you want to do.

Geez, I'm talking MYSELF into this idea...  and the funny thing is,
I just added Transformers side art to my cab! 

I'd love to see pictures of the Transformers side art.  The Transformers theme is really born from the idea of the Futurama Cab or any other cab that has non-arcade artwork.  I just had a vision of the vivid red and blue of Optimus with the juxtaposed transformed and robot versions and a giant autobot logo in the background.

I think a super detailed Rampart cab with brick texture is probably a bit much for me to pull off for my first build but I'll run it by my AutoCAD buddy and see what he thinks.

[CheffoJeffo]

I ended up getting most of the parts from Starbust because no other local suppliers would return my calls or inquiries (southern music, etc).

I purchased the monitor directly from Betson because even with exchange and shipping, it was cheaper than buying locally (but more than $100).

Andy at Ultimarc was awesome, and I got the encoders and a some spinners from him.  Trying out the LED bar light from Groovy.

I can see this definitely become more than one cabinet though, very infectous.

I would have to agree with all of that ... sounds like you made good calls all around.

I still miss Stampede ....

 

[Chris2]

Out of curiosity, what is the room you're putting the cabinet in like? What things do you like? For example, I love Nintendo, so on a future project, I'm planning on adding various homages to Nintendo as side art. You should probably look for things you like and incorporate that your design.

[Chris2]

Maybe somebody will do a Rubik's Cube themed cabinet next.

That'd be awesome. You'd make a giant Rubik's Cube, stick it on a pole so that the sides were perpendicular to the ground, and hook up different control sets for each of the four sides. Just turn to access a new control set, say:

side 1: 4 player
side 2: Rampart
side 3: Tron?
side 4: Driving/shooting

That'd be a heck of a project.

[SodaPopinksi]

My advice would be to design the cab exactly how you want it. IMO an "arcade authentic" cab is a real arcade machine or an exact replica of one. I think arcade-like is a more appropriate term for many projects.

I'm in the process of building some cabs for older video games that were never arcade machines. I would say go for the Transformers art if you'd like to. There was never a Transformers arcade game, but there were indeed some old Transformer games http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3160736 (however crappy) You could likely use Mala, AtomicFE or config Mamewah to boot directly to the C64 game and be the owner of the only Transformer arcade machine in existence hehe. You can just exit from it to the FE and whatever other emulators you want to run. Perhaps the PS2 game could work in a similar way.

I think a Transformers theme would look pretty darn cool with the old box art that I loved as a kid in the 80's especially. Like the red graph fading to black and the metallic Transformers logo/words on the marquee w/ a robot or two. Or black and purple for a decepticon theme. Then some large robots on the sides with the graph background... maybe could have them scanned from the boxes or a poster.

[bfauska]

Somebody (I think a prominent member of this forum) once did a Zelda themed CP and got a lot of flac for it from the crapmame guy.  The project looked well designed and executed but for some it just wasn't arcade authentic.  SO WHAT.  We are Building Y(our) Own Arcade Controls aren't we.  Isn't this whole hobby driven by the fantasy of either owning an entire Arcade or at least a few machines from our youth.  So many of us are trying to relive our youth or live some life we missed or weren't as connected to as we would have liked, that's like asking for time travel... it's not going to happen.  It is no more of a fantasy to imagine that a transformers arcade machine existed and that you have the only remaining cabinet.  I say the art is definitely there, just waiting to be adapted into the cabinet of your dreams, use it.  Transformers as an art source is one of the most appropriate ideas I've seen here in a while.  It wasn't a game but it probably should have been. 

And just to be clear I'm not just some Transformers fanboy who's overexcited about the idea of your project...  I don't know if I ever owned a Transformers toy (too preoccupied with GI joe), never watched the cartoon, and I haven't seen the film yet.  But with a logo like theirs and a premise like that it just begs to be an arcade machine.

ONE requirement though...  If you do a Transformers machine it must  be some version of a rotating or swappable CP, and have a rotating monitor, probably even shape shift from desktop CP to cocktail to bartop to cabaret to upright to showcase to sit-down to environmental.  Now that would be a project.

[gbeef]

Sweet im from calgary also. I battled with what your going through, deciding on what to do or design. I agree with the above design a cabinet on an oringal cab or make a copy of it. Design the cab on what game you loved to most in the arcade... Or if you stuck just go out and buy a used unit and do a restore...

I went for the longest time deciding on what to do build or buy, in the end i really lucked out i bought a cab from calgary amusement, i purchased a killer instinct cab for 200.00 bucks!.. i wouldnt hesitate to buy from him again. Plus if u need parts hes the hook up locally.  In the end im gald i bought a used cab i probly saved like 600.00 in parts.. i did end up gutted and redoing everything to mame. i think i spend like 550.00 total for everything.

anyways id personally go with a cab design based on a game you liked. I perosnally think it looks better then a MAME branded cab.

[sez]

Maybe somebody will do a Rubik's Cube themed cabinet next.

That'd be awesome. You'd make a giant Rubik's Cube, stick it on a pole so that the sides were perpendicular to the ground, and hook up different control sets for each of the four sides. Just turn to access a new control set, say:

side 1: 4 player
side 2: Rampart
side 3: Tron?
side 4: Driving/shooting

That'd be a heck of a project.

Something like this perhaps?
http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/6.html 

[Avrus]

Well you guys have now got me thinking about the Rampart theme.  How crazy would it be to mount faux stone wall on the side?

http://www.fauxpanels.com/faux-stone-panels/stone-styles.php



Put the stone wall sections along the top and bottom of the side.  Then have side art in the middle.  The only problem is no one seems to have Rampart side art.

[vidmouse]

I'd love to see pictures of the Transformers side art.  The Transformers theme is really born from the idea of the Futurama Cab or any other cab that has non-arcade artwork.  I just had a vision of the vivid red and blue of Optimus with the juxtaposed transformed and robot versions and a giant autobot logo in the background.

Here ya go...
more photos on my site.

The beauty of using this "flypaper" is, if I get tired of the Transformers side art later I can change it w/o too much trouble

[ARTIFACT]

Well you guys have now got me thinking about the Rampart theme.  How crazy would it be to mount faux stone wall on the side?

http://www.fauxpanels.com/faux-stone-panels/stone-styles.php



Put the stone wall sections along the top and bottom of the side.  Then have side art in the middle.  The only problem is no one seems to have Rampart side art.

wooow!