My first project: Nintendo Bartop

[JimmyU]

Finally getting around to my first project, a Nintendo themed bartop (how original!) I got the CNC work done by bfauska. It's actually closer to a half height Donkey Kong than a weecade. I already have most of the parts. I'll be using a Nintendo Vs. joystick with a four way restrictor installed (slightly shorter shaft than a true DK stick, but nobody will notice), blue & orange Happ buttons, an i3.3GHz CPU, 8GB DDR3 Ram & 250GB HDD as my computer, an iPac2 and a 17" 4:3 LCD monitor. I'll be running MAME 0.157, but I haven't decided on a FE yet so suggestions are welcome. Also the CP I have has only hole drilled for an action button, but I could drill another. This cab will be used for vertical games so how many additional games could I have if add an additional button?  If I do one button, it will be a DK theme. Two would be Fix it Felix Jr. It's way too cold to paint yet in my garage so I'll get all the software stuff done first and then worry about painting and assembling the cabinet. Later peeps!

[bfauska]

I'm glad you'll be posting your progress, I like to see how stuff I work on turns out when I can.

[ChanceKJ]

I'd go two buttons, That opens you up for the NES/PlayChoice era.But then if you did that you'd want to do an 8-way restrictor and a horizontal monitor. You are using a 4:3, so horizontal games won't look too small compared to vertical ones.   



As for the front end, thats a tough call. I used Maximus Arcade to create a Super Mario Bros 3 All Stars theme, you can kinda see in this video. A little buggy, but it turned out quite well.

[JimmyU]

I decided on just the one button with a Donkey Kong theme. I'm getting the artwork done from stpcore.