9 years - damn. I was in a different place then. Married, but no kids. Living in an apartment doing consulting work in Alexandria, VA. Good times.
Back then I bit the bullet and bought full side art. Printing options were more limited then. I swear I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 on art. Today, I could do it for much less. Sure it would be lower quality materials, but I could do the whole thing for $70.
This bartop eventually was sold. I sold it and my Donkey Kong to purchase a grail - my stand up Star Wars cabinet. I still have a bartop Defender, but I've been going back and forth of putting it into a full size machine. I swore I'd never sell it off, since it's my second one I built after jones'n to play Defender after selling my first Defender cabinet.
Appreciate the kind words. It was a fun build and fun to document. BYOAC was a big part of my life before kids.