5 replies to this topic

[JohnnyBlaze]

I decided to build an arcade cabinet. Mix a YouTube show into the that and you get this: The opening to Season 2 of the Johnny Blaze Show.



Now, this opening episode is broken up into sections. Each step of the process is told and shown. Well, except for putting the emulators and stuff on the actual PC, but I don't have screen capturing software.

But, this has two purposes:

1. To show people who want a cabinet, how to do it.

2. To show that even if you don't have any special skills, you too can build your own arcade cabinet.

I hope this helps and I'll post the rest as I upload them. Enjoy!

[Crazy Climber]

Cool bartop!

[IAMAMRA]

Very nice!

[eggomania]

I would love to have a cabinet this size since it would not take up much room. My problem is that I am not one of those people who are good at putting things together and I am also not very good at downloading ROMS for MAME. Some people have no problem doing this stuff; I am not one of those people.

If I could find one to buy outright that would be nice but all the ones I have seen are either really expensive or only cover a handful of games. There must be one out there that is not so expensive. Hopefully I'll find it!

Your cabinet looks really nice. I bet a lot of time to get all of the ROMS needed for each system.

[Cynicaster]

eggomania, on Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:55 PM, said:

I would love to have a cabinet this size since it would not take up much room. My problem is that I am not one of those people who are good at putting things together and I am also not very good at downloading ROMS for MAME. Some people have no problem doing this stuff; I am not one of those people.

If I could find one to buy outright that would be nice but all the ones I have seen are either really expensive or only cover a handful of games. There must be one out there that is not so expensive. Hopefully I'll find it!

Your cabinet looks really nice. I bet a lot of time to get all of the ROMS needed for each system.

Maybe I'm wrong here but I get the feeling that running a hundred different emulators on a cabinet is usually done "just because you can". I've never spoken to anybody who says they actually use their cabs to play old console games for any more than a minute or two at a time, because it sucks for most games. I mean, who really wants to play Tyson's Punch Out or Stampede on arcade controls? I've had my cabinet done for 7 months and my original plan was to run all the emulators but after sampling a few games here and there I realized it would be a lot of up front work for something I'd never use. MAME only for this cat.

As for building a cabinet, it's not that difficult to get something half decent built. At it's core, it's really just a big box with a monitor and computer in it. As long as you understand that you're not going to have the project completed over night, just gradually soak in the info on what is needed (byoac.com), develop a plan, and chip away at it. I have a full sized upright cabinet. The light bulb went off in my head about this time last year that I wanted to build something. At that time I had no knowledge whatsoever on what is needed, what things cost, I had no design made up, no artwork, nothing. Blank slate. Through chipping away in my free time I had the cabinet in my basement by early April, and it's been running like a champ since.

[eggomania]

Oh I agree with you Cynicaster on having home console games on a MAME cabinet. I'm not interested in that either. All I want is games that were in the arcades, preferably before the year 1987. Hopefully I'll find a cabinet that will suit me because I know I won't be building it myself. There's a website from England called http://www.tinyarcade.co.uk that only sell small MAME cabinets but they don't have all of the classic games on it except for maybe one cabinet that's more expensive. I'll continue to search for it. Maybe I'll get lucky sooner or later!