DIY Arcade Machine build log

[thenated0g]

Wasn't sure if this interested anybody. Been building a raspberrypi 3 based arcade cabinet off and on over the winter. Ill drop the pictures here and if theres any interest on do more info/links on it. Super easy to setup and cheap. $50 for arcade controls and $40-50 for a raspberry pi. Add an old tv/monitor and some wood and done.

 

[LitterBug]

I need to bust out the soldering Iron and fix up my Kee Games Sprint 2 motherboard. Full size cabinet and monitor still in good shape, just need to replace all the capacitors that have dried out.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[thenated0g]

Retropie is the operating system for the Raspberry pi. It has all emulators, you supply the roms.
Raspberry pi 3
32g micro sd card
Old crappy 32" lcd tv with speakers (all plastic parts removed)
2 players worth of controls. 6 play buttons and start and coin buttons.
2 cup holders. Ok who am i kidding they aint holding no cups. Beer holders.

In one picture you can see a push button sticking thru the case. This is in line with the black line of the power strip. This way i can turn the power strip off and on from outside. The power strip has 2x usb ports, that will power the button lights (5v) and the raspberry pi.

I still need to add one more button somewhere to turn the raspberry pi on. The retropie software has a way in menu to turn the pi off.

 

[DamoRC]

Cool! Will this be an EDF or a pusher?

 

[Grifflyer]

Cool!!

What size Lipo are you going to use to power it?

 

[thenated0g]

Inspiration for design i found on Instagram and my first draft at what i wanted it to look like.

 

[thenated0g]

Cool! Will this be an EDF or a pusher?

either way CG is a bitch lol. Why do i always forget how heavy mdf is !!!

 

[thenated0g]

For mounting it will be a 2x4 ripped in half lengthwise at like 30 degree angle, french cleat style into studs in the wall.

Heres a list of videos i used to setup my retropie:

 

[thenated0g]

 

[PsyBorg]

Inspiration for design i found on Instagram and my first draft at what i wanted it to look like.

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Looks like a food replicator from star trek. Just needs a big hole where the monitor is.

Great project Nate. Have you been building a game room in the winter down time?

 

[sprzout]

I hate you now. LOL

I wanted to build something like this for me, but my wife said, "NO. You do NOT need an arcade system. Where would you put it?!?" Never mind that I already have the Raspberry Pi and game controllers for NES and Super Nintendo, which would just plug in to external USB ports, and the other controllers would be for MAME arcade games like Tapper, Street Fighter, etc...

 

[thenated0g]

Looks like a food replicator from star trek. Just needs a big hole where the monitor is.

Great project Nate. Have you been building a game room in the winter down time?

No, i have built or assisted building about 4 arcade machines over the past 15 years. Eventually we get tired of how much space the take up or how hard they are to move when you move houses. Last one i ended up gifting to my nephews about 5 years back. So this time when my brother in law said "hey lets build another one" i wanted to make it take up as little space as possible. The floor space this one takes up is pretty minimal. Also the cost has decreased dramatically since last time i built. Previously the arcade control to usb adapter was $100 before shipping from the UK. Than you had to buy all the arcade controls from an arcade game supplier. Good quality, but expensive. Than you had to use a full size computer with a gaming graphics card. Fast forward a few years and the arcade controls and usb together are shipped from amazon for $50 and retropie is way way easier to setup than mame on a windows pc.

Blame @Andre , he got me installing some airplane scanner stuff on my old raspberry pi and i remembered i liked tinkering with them.

 

[thenated0g]

I hate you now. LOL

I wanted to build something like this for me, but my wife said, "NO. You do NOT need an arcade system. Where would you put it?!?" Never mind that I already have the Raspberry Pi and game controllers for NES and Super Nintendo, which would just plug in to external USB ports, and the other controllers would be for MAME arcade games like Tapper, Street Fighter, etc...

You could go super simple and small. Just build a one player "box". Something just big enough to hold your joystick, buttons, and a raspberry pi. Just make sure the hdmi is pointing outwards or have an hdmi cable always connected. You just plug it into your tv like a console when you want to use it.

 

[thenated0g]

 

[sprzout]

View attachment 125787

That's a good idea, but let's be honest, it's not the same. LOL

My wife knows I'm an arcade junkie. The year we got married (9 years ago this past Feb 28th) we went to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. I found out they had the Pinball Hall of Fame a couple miles off of the Strip, so I asked her if I could have $10 in quarters to go there.

*3 hours later*

"WHERE THE *expletive* ARE YOU!? I'm starving and want to go get food! Are you coming back to the room?!?"

"Umm...I still have $5 left from my $10, and I was just going to play it ou-"

"WHAT?! No. Get back here NOW. It's not too late to annul the marriage, you know!"

That said, if I made an arcade system so she could play Tetris on it, she'd probably ok it, but then I would NEVER get the cabinet back from her to play. LOL

 

[thenated0g]

@sprzout one of the things that i really like about the retropie setup is you can really customize it. Theres like a hundred different "skins" for when you are in the menus selecting which console and game to play and you can add any mp4 video file as your "startup" movie. Really adds to it when it starts up with loud sounds and an cool video.

 

[LitterBug]

When I was high school, a local arcade needed help maintaining machines. Every two machines I fixed, I would get one out of the back room that was broken. Had a Sprint2, Asteroids, and Asteroids Deluxe at one point. Sold the asteroids machines off when they were going for $100 each.... <sigh> Hindsight....

LB

 

[thenated0g]

takes about 15 seconds but after it boots up it starts playing an MP3 I dropped in the pi.

 

[thenated0g]

 

[Grifflyer]

View attachment 127158

I assume your done...

Looks great!!