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Emulation (Games) Classic Games (Games) Hardware Hacking

Your DIY Arcade Machine? 67

Posted by Cliff from the show-off-your-skillz dept.
astro_ripper asks: "I'm looking into building my own MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), and for the most part the equipment and know-how to build one can be found via our good friend Google. However, the number of webpages dedicated to showing off complete machines or other gaming hardware hacks (turning an XBox into a full MAME, for example) are a little lacking. My guess is that if any group is going to have a decent amount of gaming hardware hackers, it's going to be Slashdot, so I ask you all: What type of custom gaming rigs have you built?"
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Your DIY Arcade Machine? More

Your DIY Arcade Machine?

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  • Err.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jukashi ( 240273 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @06:27PM (#12594723) Homepage Journal
    I think you were looking for "Ask A Slashdot Editor"
    -> http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/ [cmdrtaco.net]

  • Cocktail Cabinent (Score:4, Informative)

    by losman ( 840619 ) * on Friday May 20, 2005 @06:34PM (#12594770)
    I went to a company called Game Cabinets Inc. and purchased their plans and some supplies for 2 person cocktail cabinet. I ordered almost every electronic part from them with the exception of the Coin Door. I live 20 minutes from Happ Controls and got my last parts, including the door from them.

    The plans I got were pretty darn good and has a great checklist for supplies. It took me roughly two weeks to get the cabinet built from scratch. I move it inside and then proceeded to do the electronics and wiring - very tedious. I would highly recommend going to Radio Shack and purchasing the the little wire labels to keep it all in order.

    This was definitely a blast to do and I like the fact that I built it from scratch. That said, if you have the room build an upright. You can put more controls on the board which means you can play a variety of games. If you go to the Game Cabinets Inc website you will see the cocktail table that I built.

    Arcade Controls website is the place to get all of your information as well!

  • here's what i did (Score:5, Informative)

    by Naikrovek ( 667 ) <jjohnson@ps g . com> on Friday May 20, 2005 @06:38PM (#12594794)
    i bought the cabinet, and built the insides. the monitor board and monitor were included, but it didn't have any joysticks, buttons, or coin acceptor.

    i put a pc in, bought a j-pac from http://www.ultimarc.com/ [ultimarc.com] and loaded up my mame dvds. it was done in a day, but i still had an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

    http://psg.com/~jjohnson/arcade.html [psg.com]

  • Custom console sticks (Score:4, Informative)

    by Datamonstar ( 845886 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @06:42PM (#12594825)
    I and a few of the people in the fighting game comunities I frequent build our own joysticks. While I stick to modding existing sticks for the most part, this guy http://www.byrdo.org/arcade_joysticks.htm [byrdo.org] does some great work. Treat her gently, though slashdot. I'd hate to fry his server.

  • http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm (Score:4, Informative)

    by AgniTheSane ( 608074 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @06:45PM (#12594842)
    I think this is the best site out there
    http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm [arcadecontrols.com]
    there are a ton of examples

  • Here's a website... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Gnagus ( 468419 )
    http://www.x-b-r.com/ [x-b-r.com]

    The guys are a couple of friends of mine with too much spare time on their hands! They build an arcade machine using a PC and a TV, and they later used that knowledge to build a DDR machine. The site has some good techie background that might prove useful for you.

    Enjoy! (And i'll get a good laugh if the site crashes because of /. hehehe)
  • While I would love to build a MAME machine myself, I still havent got around to it (need to wait a while till I can buy a decent computer to throw in there). So in the mean time, for the last week, I've started on a backyard air hockey table. The thing is about half way finished; I just need to mount the fan to the bottom and build the legs for it. While there are plenty of MAME related websites you can google up, try finding one on a homebuilt air hockey table. If you cant, i'll tell you why: air holes
    • Perhaps you should have built a DIY CNC machine before trying to drill so many holes. The process would have been much easier since you would have the machine automatically cut them out.

      • ??

        A homemade CNC machine would take much much longer than the six hours it took him to drill the holes.

        • Yeah, and writing a perl script to make a load of repetitive edits on a file might take longer than editing the file by hand, but I bet just about everybody here would write the script :)
  • I got a lot of good ideas from this site when I built my cabinet http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm [arcadecontrols.com]

  • Home brew (Score:2, Informative)

    by mZam ( 789803 )
    I got an old painted over Pole Position Cabinet for free from someone about 30 minutes from me who was going to get rid of it. I got the cabinet, finished painting it, cleaned it out, and then went on with my plan.

    I rigged up a full PC with Mame, and pretty much every game known to man. I'd reccomend getting a decent graphics card and lots of ram if you want to play some of the newer stuff.

    The controls are all done though an X-arcade (be sure to get the usb adapter) and it has s-video out, running to my 2

  • Cheap and easy joysticks anyone can do (Score:5, Informative)

    by g-san ( 93038 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @08:06PM (#12595355)
    The important thing is the buttons and the joystick piece. Get six buttons or whatever you think you will need, and a four way joystick (NSEW). These can be found on eBay or arcade supply stores online.

    Now what amount of hardware hacking is this going to take? Which USB driver should I use? What interface should I pick? Hehehehe.

    Go to your local Target or eBay or BestBuy and get one of those clone console controllers with the two analog sticks, the D pad, buttons and a USB interface. Rip that sucker apart, leave the USB cable intact and don't mess up anything on the PCB (in otherwords, rip the case off the PCB). Note that all the buttons and the D pad go to little traces on the PCB, which work with membrane buttons. The arcade game buttons and the joystick are simple on-off switches. So are membrane buttons. Solder those old skool buttons and joystick to the contacts on the PCB of the clone controller where the membrane buttons were. Solder the joystick up down left right to the corresponding contacts on the D pad, and wire the arcade push buttons to the contacts on the PCB where the right hand buttons were on the clone controller. Wire the R1 and L1 buttons in also if you want 6 puttons (think street fighter emulation). No we don't get analog sticks or vibration, but most old emulated games don't use them anyways.

    You have basically replaced the membrane contact switches with your old skool arcade switches (buttons/joystick). The controller, USB interface and your PC won't know the difference, it's just a switch being closed!

    Put it all in a nice heavy wood container you built, run the USB cable out the back (or in your upright cabinet if you are really going for it). Plug it into your pc and install your drivers for windows that came with the clone controller, or in Linux configure a joystick device. Fire up mame, and you are all set for the price of the controller ($20) and the joystick and buttons, plus some knee grease for the box and soldering. mame thinks it sees a logitech rumblepad or something similar, you see a box with an old school joystick and buttons and a cable coming out the back. But you won't need any quarters. Enjoy.

    • If you want to go an easier and far more flexible route, just do like I did and pick up a keyboard interface from Ultimarc [ultimarc.com] Their I-PAC keyboard encoders are pretty much specifically designed for DIY controllers. They can be easily programmed too, with nothing more than a text editor.
    • I like your style, but I have a suggestion that might save some time (especially if someone isn't really good at soldering). Take a look under those membranes and you'll see that the leads can be difficult to solder to because they are sort of fingery. (Look at it and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Those membrane buttons tend to have a unique positive and a common ground. For those controllers, you can use a utility knife to cut through the ground lead. Then you can solder without worring about br

  • It was fun... (Score:2, Informative)

    by tjo870 ( 748695 )
    I built my cabinet using these plans: http://users.adelphia.net/~seanhat/arcade/ [adelphia.net] (click on the Design link on the left) You can download the plans in .pdf form. I modified them a little to my liking. I had never done any woodworking like this before and I found it extremely rewarding. Now for the controls. I priced out all the parts I wanted on Happ Controls website (http://www.happcontrols.com/ [happcontrols.com]) and came to the conclusion that if I bought a prefab control that I wouldn't be out of so much more money
    • Reading these threads I (like many other slashdotters, I'd imagine) am thinking about making this a summer project. One thing I'm having trouble finding is a total pricetag. How much would you estimate that you spent?
      Thanks!
      -Trillian
    • It is hard to say because I had some of the stuff already like the pc. Without the pc I spent about $1000. $600 of that was the controls. The tv was about $200. If you already have a decent pc and monitor, and you don't really need the best controls , you can come in well under what I spent. Check out the X-Arcade controller (They even make a cabinet!) for about $100. http://www.x-arcade.com/ [x-arcade.com] This even works on consoles! Good Luck!

  • Mine... (Score:3, Informative)

    by mikepaktinat ( 609872 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @08:46PM (#12595633)
    I bought two pre-gutted cabinets (Please never gut a working cabinet for MAME, it makes me cry)
    took an old compaq PC I bought off a friend for $20, Its a P3, I cant even rember how ast it is and I dont care, it plays every classic game Id ever want it to.
    I mounted the motherboard on one side of the cabinet, the HDD on the other side (near the door opposit the coin door so I could change the HDD with out taking the back off the cabinet if need be)
    Purchased one iPac [ultimarc.com], the best priced keyboard encoder around, and buttons from some local supplier
    Cut a custom button layout from MDF, wire everything


    Thats the basics. The thing everyone should do is add there own touches so none of our MAME cabs look the same.
    I for one added the following:
    Added white LEDs behind the coin slots, so they look like they should
    Glued micro switches to the coin return system so when you push coin return it gives you a credit in the game(wired thru the ipac)
    Original TMNT marquee



    Monitor is from an older bartop breakout type thing with a touch screen.

  • Not a MAME setup, but... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Teppy ( 105859 ) * on Friday May 20, 2005 @09:31PM (#12595946) Homepage
    Well, a chance to show off my baby:

    I'm obsessed with Dance Dance Revolution, and so I built myself a DDR Studio [exergaming.com]! The web page shows version 1.0 of the studio. I'll soon have an update to show the even nicer 2.0 version.
    • Wow, with that much money and effort I'd have just built a replica DDR machine (or found one on eBay and cored it).

      I've just bought almost $400 worth of buttons for a Beatmania IIDX arcadestyle controller. Then I'm going to have to engineer a pair of turntables, which should be ... fun (I'm currently going with a ghetto dynamo circuit).

      Now if I had $20000 spare I'd just buy the real deal [wikipedia.org] though. That is actually the most gorgeous arcade cabinet ever made. (for the uninitiated, that metal stage is one gian
    • I hope that the pictured hookah is only used for "tobacco", otherwise your DDR scores could be affected. ;-)

  • Cool! (Score:2, Informative)

    by rev0102 ( 701177 )

    I can pimp my cab/site without having to somehow turn the trying to turn the conversation in that direction ;)

    The one I built [upup.us] is a Time Bandits [imdb.com] themed gaming cabinet (mame, nintendo emulators, ddr via stepmania, and a handful of arcade control-friendly pc games). I built the cabinet, built (as in assembled) the pc to power it, drilled a control panel for controls. As far as hacks go, enough people are making similar systems now to warrant commercial interest, and most of what's needed has become commercia

  • A couple of years ago, some friends and got together and built "The Boilercade" [insightbb.com]. We got the cabinet together, and it now houses all of my video game equipment. I haven't put any of the finishing touches on it, like a marquee, coin door, or graphics... but it gets the job done.

    One thing I've learned is that nostalgia wears off quick. We built the cab and were all excited about playing some older arcades, but other than centipede it hasn't seen any action in months. Still, the cabinet makes a nice entert

  • Absolutly easiest method (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Frogbert ( 589961 ) <frogbert@gmail . c om> on Friday May 20, 2005 @10:33PM (#12596299)
    Buy a working JAMMA cabnet (on ebay) without a game in it. Then buy a JPAC [ultimarc.com] this nifty device plugs directly into the JAMMA interface like a game board would. It converts your PC Monitor and Soundcard signals to something the monitor and speaker can play and converts your joystick movements into keyboard presses.

    It is a great piece of hardware and is very little fuss.
  • UberCade: Taito Arcade Cabinet MAME conversion [randomdrivel.com]

    BTW, you linked to byoac... but did you some how miss the 900+ projects in the byoac project example pages [arcadecontrols.com]?

  • Yeah, I did it. World's First MAME cockpit [planetjay.com].

    Here's a hint SMALLER IS BETTER! Which explains the Final Pictures [planetjay.com].
  • I think we should consider a more hollistic approach to retro gaming. I recently cobbled together an arcade-style controller using the following pieces:
    • 1 Happ Joystick [happcontrols.com] - I prefer the Happ Ultimate; it's very reasonably priced at about $11 apiece.
    • 8 Happ Pushbuttons [happcontrols.com] - Preferably each in its own color. They carry Red, White, Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow, Black, and Orange, so at $2/apiece, you have no choice but to get one of each.
    • Optionally, get them with the fancy dimpled [happcontrols.com] variety.
    • A box. If you're cheap

  • Mine (Score:1)

    by GoRK ( 10018 )
    I will take this opportunity to pimp my own cabinet [blurbco.com], however I should also note that asking slashdot is a poor substitute for visiting and exploring the resources at Arcade Controls [arcadecontrols.com]. The maintainer of the site also has compiled much of the knowledge and experience collected there into a nice book. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. If there's something that's not covered, ask in the forums there. It's a far more appropriate place.
  • I built an arcade machine in partnership with my uncle and would gladly help out tellling you what you NEED to get going. We are in the Lanarkshire area of the UK, so some of our suppliers are local. 19mm MDF boards for the sides of the machine and an offcut for the footplate x 2 (local supplier) 9mm MDF boards for facings and 'Bezel Board' 21'' Hantarex Polo monitor - around £270 inc VAT and delivery 3.2mm slot cutter for your router (this cuts the groove to fit your t-molding trim round the mach
  • I'm actually in the process of building an arcade cabinet myself.

    My #1 piece of advice: DO NOT SKIMP ON THE MONITOR!!!

    All too often I see these decently built machines that have a 17" PC monitor in them. Here's what I reccomend in order of my preference:

    1. A Wells Gardner or Betson Imperial multisync VGA arcade monitor (27"). This will run you back about 400-500 bucks. It is, by far, the best decision you can make for your cabinet.

    2. A high quality TV. This will run you back about the same as the a

  • Please don't buy a cabinet. There are plenty of non-classic cabinets being dumped for free. Any cabinet that is being sold for money is likely to be more important than the money.

    Many collectors are seriously miffed (with good reason) when a classic arcade cabinet is mutilated to become a MAME cab. Check your local newspaper or "penny saver" or "trading times" if available in your area.

    I have built a serveral mame cabinets and you can get the cabinets for free in many cases.

    Secondly, buy and IPAC o

  • currently building one (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    2 tips :

    1) Piano Gloss. Dont skimp. Lots of sanding and lots of layers of gloss. It takes ages but it looks fantastic

    2) X Arcade controller - saves you time and, in my case, lots of money (40 quid on ebay for a 2 player controller )

    good luck. It's hard work if you are building your own . I spend a solid day with wood filler and sand paper just to get it perfect....

    Rob
  • Basic 1900+ XP computer w/low end Nvidia graphics card with TV Out, Apex 20" TV from Circuit City (holiday sale for $79), got all the controls from HappControls (2 joysticks, 12 buttons, 1-Up, 2-Up and two coin buttons), used the IPac to interface with the controls.

    Built the cabinet itself out of MDF with the help of a friend. All in all it was a pretty satisfying experience...
  • I built mine last summer using an old 27" TV I had sitting around, an old 15" SVGA monitor I had sitting around, an old 1.1 GHz PC with an old Radeon 7500 (yup, all sitting around), and some 300 watt speakers that were (yes, you guessed it) sitting around.

    I had to go buy $35 in lumber (plus $5 in wood screws) for this beaut, but the real expenditure was on the wonderful controller I got from http://treyonics.com/ [treyonics.com]. These guys are great! Forget about that cheesmo X-Arcade controller; take a look at what Tr

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