Koopacade - Project Announcement and Final Photos!

[zero_koop]

After 2 busy months, I started and finished my brand new Arcade Cabinet, Koopacade!  This is my first cabinet and it's been a blast making it, but I'm so happy to be where I am now: playing my arcade.  I used John St.Clair's book Project Arcade, and as you can see from the photos I used the older version of the book.  I actually bought the book a few years ago and it took me a while to really decide that I wanted to do this.  Overall I spent a little over $1,000, which was a little over budget, but pretty good considering a few items were more expensive than I anticipated.  But in order to keep my costs down I reused old equipment such as the computer, monitor, speakers, and even the Plexiglas.

I bought all of the arcade controls from Ultimarc (http://www.ultimarc.com/).  I thought each of the products were great, and I've very happy with them so far.  Also, Andy at Ultimarc was very helpful and very quick to respond with a few questions I sent him.

Arcade Controls parts list:
- I-Pac2 for my button and joystick interface (http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html)
- Optipac for my trackball and two spinners interface (http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac1.html)
- Mag-Stik Plus for the two joysticks (http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html).  I picked these because they are switchable between 4/8-way just by lifting the joystick and twisting.
- U-Trak for my trackball (http://www.ultimarc.com/trackball.html).  It looks great and I got the translucent red type and someday I'll upgrade by putting an LED light beneath the trackball for illumination.
- Spintrak for the two spinners (http://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.htm).
- Buttons: just the generic microswitch buttons from Ultimarc.  I also put two flipper buttons on the sides of the cabinet which I used leaf switch buttons so they don't click (like a real pinball machine).

Let me know if you have any questions about my construction or if you want me to post more photos.

[zero_koop]

A couple more pics.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

That looks really cool(I especially like the design of the control panel). Is the joystick in your control panel a 4-way or an 8-way? Also, are the buttons on the higher up area on your control panel for choosing either 1 player or 2-player mode? Me and my father are in the process of making a MAME cabinet, so I'm just searching around for concepts that I can emulate to some degree.

[zero_koop]

That looks really cool(I especially like the design of the control panel). Is the joystick in your control panel a 4-way or an 8-way? Also, are the buttons on the higher up area on your control panel for choosing either 1 player or 2-player mode? Me and my father are in the process of making a MAME cabinet, so I'm just searching around for concepts that I can emulate to some degree.

The joystick is 4/8-way switchable.  Check out the link in my post to go to the Ultimarc page and see what I'm talking about.  Basically, you pull up on the joystick and twist and it switches between 4 way mode and 8 way mode.  Both modes have a physical restriction which makes it feel much better than a joystick that lacks that restriction.

I have 4 black buttons up top.  From left to right those are: Escape, Enter, Tab, P
I use GameEx (http://www.gameex.com/) as my interface (which I highly recommend taking a look at).  In that interface the Escape button quits the game.  Enter selects things in the menu.  Tab is a MAME default for pulling up the in-game menu (I also configured other emulators to use this button for the menu when possible).  And P is another MAME default for Pause.  Below those buttons you see the green button for Coin In and next to that is the Start button for that player.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

Thank you for letting me know about the programming software you used, it looks really good. Does the software allow you to program into the control panel how many players for the game you're playing on MAME?

[zero_koop]

Thank you for letting me know about the programming software you used, it looks really good. Does the software allow you to program into the control panel how many players for the game you're playing on MAME?

I'm not sure I understand your question.  To connect your controls to the computer you need a hardware interface like the I-PAC.  The buttons are then mapped to keyboard buttons.  On most MAME games each player will need their own Insert Coin buttons and their own Start button.  If you have specific questions about how to setup MAME, you should start a thread in the Main Forum section of this forum.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

Thank you for letting me know about the programming software you used, it looks really good. Does the software allow you to program into the control panel how many players for the game you're playing on MAME?

I'm not sure I understand your question.  To connect your controls to the computer you need a hardware interface like the I-PAC.  The buttons are then mapped to keyboard buttons.  On most MAME games each player will need their own Insert Coin buttons and their own Start button.  If you have specific questions about how to setup MAME, you should start a thread in the Main Forum section of this forum.

Sorry, what I meant to ask is that if the software you recommended allows you to assign the I-PAC hardware to connect player 1 and Player 2 buttons.

[Shun]

Love the finish to the cab, looks really good. I'm liking the pinball machines as well 
What size monitor do you have in the cab? Is there any way of getting a bigger monitor in there to fill up the bezel space?

I see you have a beer poster in the background on one of those pics. Speaking from experience why not put a beer fridge into the bottom of your cab 

Again good job on finishing your cab. I wish I was disciplined enough to start finishing my cab instead of coming up with more weird and wonderful ideas to add to it (SAAB cup holders to install next  )

[zero_koop]

Love the finish to the cab, looks really good. I'm liking the pinball machines as well 
What size monitor do you have in the cab? Is there any way of getting a bigger monitor in there to fill up the bezel space?

I see you have a beer poster in the background on one of those pics. Speaking from experience why not put a beer fridge into the bottom of your cab 

Again good job on finishing your cab. I wish I was disciplined enough to start finishing my cab instead of coming up with more weird and wonderful ideas to add to it (SAAB cup holders to install next  )

Thanks, I'm a pinball fan too.

I think it is a 19" monitor.  I'm stuck with it for now because I'm using parts that I had lying around to keep the budget down.  But I'm sure it will die someday and I'll upgrade so something larger at that point.  To be honest it doesn't bother me that much.  When you're standing right next to it, 19" is still pretty big.

I love the kegerator idea.  But I'm going to relax and enjoy the cabinet for a little while before I made any additions.  But I have a lot of additions in mind.
1. Xbox 360 controllers for players 3-4.  You might have noticed that I installed 2 USB ports on the front of the control panel.
2. LED lighting for my trackball (its translucent)
3. Coin door
4. Control panel overlay, but this might not ever come about unless I come up with a cool design or something.
5. Light guns

[zero_koop]

Sorry, what I meant to ask is that if the software you recommended allows you to assign the I-PAC hardware to connect player 1 and Player 2 buttons.

The software I recommended (GameEx) is only used as an interface to launch emulators (such as MAME).  You have to look to the emulator that you are using to see if it supports 2 or more players.  The I-PAC works independently of the two pieces of software.  The I-PAC simply makes the buttons/joysticks look like a keyboard to the computer.

[DaOld Man]

The joystick is 4/8-way switchable.  ....

Man you need to automate that joystick. (Sorry the automated freak in me is showing.)
Good first build.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

recommended (GameEx) is only used as an interface to launch emulators (such as MAME).  You have to look to the emulator that you are using to see if it supports 2 or more players.  The I-PAC works independently of the two pieces of software.  The I-PAC simply makes the buttons/joysticks look like a keyboard to the computer.

Thank you clearing that up for me. I was just a little confused at first, but now I understand what you mean.

[darthpaul]

The joystick is 4/8-way switchable.  ....

Man you need to automate that joystick. (Sorry the automated freak in me is showing.)
Good first build.

Ditto.. we need to spread the word, there is no reason to have to manually switch from 4way to 8way anymore.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

I'm guessing that automated joysticks is the way to go. I'll make sure I talk to my father about that as well, and look for automated joysticks off of the recommended online stores for arcade parts.

[yotsuya]

I'm guessing that automated joysticks is the way to go. I'll make sure I talk to my father about that as well, and look for automated joysticks off of the recommended online stores for arcade parts.

Keep in mind that you have to automate them yourself. You can't just buy them that way.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

I'm guessing that automated joysticks is the way to go. I'll make sure I talk to my father about that as well, and look for automated joysticks off of the recommended online stores for arcade parts.

Keep in mind that you have to automate them yourself. You can't just buy them that way.

Thank you for the warning. I'm thinking about choosing one of the joysticks that can switch from 4-way to 8-way through the top of the panel. Since I don't think I'm skilled enough(yet) to automate them. 

[DaOld Man]

If you can build an arcade cab you can more than likely build the auto switching joystick.
Check out the automated projects forum, there is a thread about it in there.

[ArcadeSeeker962]

If you can build an arcade cab you can more than likely build the auto switching joystick.
Check out the automated projects forum, there is a thread about it in there.

Alright, thank you, I'll check it.