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Build an arcade machine at home

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Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#41

Post by danbolt »

beagle3 wrote: post #38

There are a few old games like "Midnight Resistance" that are much more enjoyable when the joystick can rotate.... but I've never seen a single home built arcade machine that had any of those. I'll likely buy a cabinet some day rather than make it, because I'm not so good with my hands; I hope by then I could find one that does have a rotary joystick.

Have you played the Ikari Warriors games in SNK 40th Anniversary Collection? I liked how they updated the emulator inputs to accommodate for the original rotary joystick setting. Frank Cifaldi went in-depth about addressing it at GDC last year. [1]

It's certainly not a drop-in replacement, but you're right that those kinds of games need a certain feeling.

[1] https://youtu.be/dp-DRU24J18?t=1810

Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#43

Post by madengr »

CharlesW wrote: post #28
madengr wrote: post #14

You can get unfinished cabinets of furniture grade plywood. I wanted mine to look like a nice piece of furniture (wife approved for living room), and it does, after much sanding, staining, and sealing. Extra modifications too, replacing plastic with glass and aluminum. https://youtu.be/rl0-a76yN0M I don’t see how a RPi is going to work that well. I’m running a 4k monitor at over 60 Hz (freesync) with CRT emulation, a…

> You can get unfinished cabinets of furniture grade plywood. Mind sharing sources you'd recommend?

https://www.monsterarcades.com/monster-upright-diy-kit

Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#44

Post by appstorelottery »

kanobo wrote: post #32

I just want to share my Pi mini arcade machine because I'm very proud of how it turned out: https://imgur.com/a/ujelaO1

Hey - very cool. Great creative!

Just wondering if you'd kept the original iON joystick. When I did my conversion I tried a few different joysticks and found the Sanwa was perfect drop in replacement. I also dampened the acoustics of the plastic enclosure using foam.

Thanks for sharing! Awesome :-)

Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#45

Post by megameter »

falcolas wrote: post #30
dfxm12 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't just need hand tools, but also materials, space to work and the wherewithal to do some woodwork. I agree, it's better to do something right the first time, but I don't think it's wise to let constraints like this get in the way of starting & finishing an exciting project for fun. At the end of the day, even with cardboard, you'll still have a working videogame setup, as well as some new, transferable skills…

If you're already putting €250 and a fair bit of effort into the project, another €50 of wood isn't exactly going to go amiss. I've also worked with wood and hand tools indoors, it just requires a good vacuuming to clean up. That's one of the nice things about hand tools, they're less prone to throwing a lot of dust up into the air. Personally, I'd be pretty honked off to be €250 into a project that breaks down into…

It's particularly hard to justify the spend when premade sticks and front panels are cheap and highly available - see the numerous "Pandora's Box" cabinets, which come ready for plug-and-play use(including dodgy software), but still have room for modding and upgrades.

Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#47

Post by kanobo »

studio35 wrote: post #42
kanobo wrote: post #32

I just want to share my Pi mini arcade machine because I'm very proud of how it turned out: https://imgur.com/a/ujelaO1

Beautiful. Any chance you could share details/plans of this little machine? I'd love to build the same thing!

I didn't document the process unfortunately, but if you search for 'mini arcade pi' on instructables there's many great guides.

Re: Build an arcade machine at home

#48

Post by kanobo »

appstorelottery wrote: post #44
kanobo wrote: post #32

I just want to share my Pi mini arcade machine because I'm very proud of how it turned out: https://imgur.com/a/ujelaO1

Hey - very cool. Great creative! Just wondering if you'd kept the original iON joystick. When I did my conversion I tried a few different joysticks and found the Sanwa was perfect drop in replacement. I also dampened the acoustics of the plastic enclosure using foam. Thanks for sharing! Awesome :-)

I replaced it with a cheap Reyann stick just based on reading price/reviews but it works well. I never thought to dampen the enclosure, that's a good idea!
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