
Budget Home Arcade Machine - eightfold
http://jsante.net/home-arcade-project
======
mrbill
I've built pretty much the same thing using a RPi3, a USB adapter with two
SNES controllers, and a wooden cabinet with two arcade sticks + lots of
buttons + another USB interface, with the RetroPie
([https://retropie.org.uk/](https://retropie.org.uk/)) OS distribution.

It won't play any games newer than say, PS1 (due to CPU limitations and the
storage I have available) - but I've got every NES / SNES /
Atari2600/5200/7200 / Intellivision / Gameboy / GBA game/ROM ever released,
and an older MAME ROM set, all on a 16G SD card with about 9G free.

It will also do some DOSBox stuff and lots of other 8bit platforms that I
don't have any ROMs installed for.

RPi: $35ish

SNES controllers: $15 off ebay

SNES USB adapter: $12 off amazon

2-player MAME joysticks/buttons parts kit w/XinMo USB encoder: $55ish off eBay

The most expensive part of the whole thing was the 2-player MAME wooden
cabinet (predrilled holes, etc), which was about $75 from an eBay seller.

Display is whatever HDMI-input device I have lying around. Using a 24" monitor
at work right now (building one of these for the office lounge).

My grand total: around $200.

~~~
bphogan
Woah, can you please provide a little more info on the software and OS you're
using on the Pi? I've got a good Windows-based setup using MaLa as a frontend,
but I'd love to do this on the Pi.

~~~
mrbill
[https://retropie.org.uk/](https://retropie.org.uk/)

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ideonexus
For cabinets, if you don't mind a weekend project, I've found the Vigolix to
be a fantastic DIY cabinet you can build from a single sheet of plywood:

[http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Super-Easy-Arcade-
Machine-...](http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Super-Easy-Arcade-Machine-
from-1-Sheet-of-Plywoo/)

I also went with the Tankstick, and am now entering my 6th month of heavily
abusing it (my 4-year-old beats the heck out of it) and it still works great.
I was able to just cut a hole in the Vigolix and drop the Tankstick right in.
The latest one with the trackball is really fun for games like Centipede and
Tempest:

[http://shop.xgaming.com/products/x-arcade-tankstick-
trackbal...](http://shop.xgaming.com/products/x-arcade-tankstick-trackball-
usb-included)

I first ran it on a brand new LCD screen, but so many of the games look
terrible on it. I eventually bought a 24-inch CRT from a used electronics
store for $100, and it made a huge difference. I would love to get a larger
CRT, but they seem to get exponentially more expensive the larger they go.

For MAME ROMs, I went with an 8-year-old torrent of 6,000 ROMS, which had
screenshots and config files all ready to go. There was some iffy software in
the MAME files that Windows flagged as spyware, so I took the ROMS and
screenshots and dropped them into a fresh MAME download (I had to grab an
older version of MAME because the config files weren't compatible with newer
versions). The MALA front end is fantastic, and I easily configured it with a
Star Trek LCARS theme. I've been exploring this collection for months now and
keep finding favorite classics I had completely forgotten about.

My only complaint is that no matter what version of MAME I run, I seem to only
get about a 50/50 chance of any ROM I download running. I know I'm not the
only one who has this problem. Otherwise, this is very fun hobby preserving
these old titles that would otherwise be forgotten.

------
mmastrac
I went through the process of attempting to build my own arcade cabinet in the
mid-2000s and failing spectacularly. [1] I think I'm too much of a
perfectionist to accept my own woodworking as "good enough" (even though in
retrospect the results were not terrible and could likely have been finished
by someone skilled).

Lately I've been researching pre-built kits to save some time and sanity. From
what I can tell, the folks at Northcoast have decent pre-built cabinets [2].
Has anyone tried those out?

[1]
[https://www.google.ca/search?q=site:grack.com+cabinet](https://www.google.ca/search?q=site:grack.com+cabinet)

[2]
[https://www.mameroom.com/webstore.asp?productid=UAIIKIT&cate...](https://www.mameroom.com/webstore.asp?productid=UAIIKIT&category=136)

~~~
foxbarrington
There's also Polycade: [http://www.polycade.com/](http://www.polycade.com/)

~~~
mmastrac
I have a friend who was considering a cabinet of this style. While I really
like the tiny footprint, there's something about playing classic arcade games
on a big boxy cabinet that evokes a real nostalgia dopamine response in me.
That's a great option, though - thanks for pointing it out.

------
shitloadofbooks
I made an arcade machine for my dad (though far from budget) for Christmas in
2013 and chronicled the build here: [http://mattparkes.net/project/arcade-
machine/](http://mattparkes.net/project/arcade-machine/)

I'm about halfway through building one for myself (following the same build
with a few refinements).

------
alanfalcon
These MAME cabinets are neat, but there's also something magical about
restoring and owning the original single-game cabinets.

My favorite video channel on the subject:
[https://m.youtube.com/user/blkdog7/channels](https://m.youtube.com/user/blkdog7/channels)?

~~~
ideonexus
Although I went the MAME route, I have immense respect for people who restore
the old cabinets. There really is nothing like stepping up to the original
Star Wars, Space Harrier, or Tron cabinet. I wish I had the room for so many
cabinets, and I wish arcades were a viable business model (Dave and Busters
aside) to play with these old machines.

------
Keyframe
I've been postponing building my own for some time now for one reason only.
Monitor! There are three issues that bug me. First, I really like CRTs, but I
can live without one. Second, I wan't a big 4:3 and that is not going to
happen. There are some 16:10 options, but not as big as 16:9. Third, which is
more important to me, is that I want an elegant cabinet with rotating monitor
that rotates between horizontal and vertical (tate) mode. This is important
for shmups which I enjoy playing. Until I resolve this, I won't go forward.

~~~
xbryanx
We still buy a few CRT monitors from time to time (museum field) and get them
from Dotronix. Not cheap, but you can get big ones:

[http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html](http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html)

~~~
Keyframe
Are those new, as in still in production? If so, that's fascinating.

~~~
xbryanx
Yes.

------
alexmchale
A few years ago I built a cabinet for my family. I used equipment purchased
off of Ultimarc
([https://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html](https://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html)),
did the woodworking myself. I'm a _very_ inexperienced amateur woodworker, but
I _love_ doing it. It's a fantastic hobby to contrast against a day of
programming.

Here's a photo album of the process. I picked up the Donkey Kong marquee later
as a gift for my wife at Christmas time - she's the Donkey Kong Pro in our
household.

Of course, when I look at it - I only see the flaws. I'd love to get a second
shot at building it!

[https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Q5qXGF1OaZiJ](https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Q5qXGF1OaZiJ)

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Well done, looks great!

Don't worry, I work in a structural steel fabrication workshop - everyone only
ever sees the flaws.

------
snarfy
Here's mine:

[http://imgur.com/a/hzE1x#0](http://imgur.com/a/hzE1x#0)

------
loser777
One way to add a more "authentic" feel on an LCD (but isn't very cheap) is to
use a scanline generator:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscKaVByjRU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscKaVByjRU)

------
bluewater
For a step by step on building an arcade box check out iliketomakestuff.com.
Lots of fun woodworking projects on his site.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K3QXLQ1UXqs](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K3QXLQ1UXqs)

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VonGuard
I would like to hear everyone's opinions of the various UIs for MAME. I've
been searching for a hands-off, games only interface for choosing, one where
it won't accidentally quit or pop up the control config window during
gameplay, and frankly, every MAME front end I have ever used is terrible in a
completely unique way.

~~~
ideonexus
I've found MALA to fit my needs quite well, but I'm sure you've already tried
it. I was going to post a link, but Chrome is giving me a malware warning on
the site now. It's definitely not "hands-off," as I wanted an LCARS display
from Star Trek The Next Generation on it, and had to spend an hour positioning
the sceenshots and title lists for my monitor dimensions in their cyrptic
config files (Is this the variable I want to change? No. What about this one?
No.)... and then go through all that again when I changed my monitor
dimensions.

So yeah... Now that I think about it, MALA kinda sucks. What do others
recommend?

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elliottcarlson
I have the same tankstick and cabinet setup, but as another poster mentioned,
use an RPi3 to power it all with RetroPie. The tankstick is best on a powered
USB hub, and that leaves you with enough options for a USB drive and a hidden
mouse/keyboard for setup/maintenance.

