Bulding an old school arcade machine

[Steve-French]

I was born in 1980, so I got to experience the arcades growing up and spent my fair share of time in them as a kid. A friend of mine has been building these kind of as a hobby and selling them for around $500 bucks.

They run off a $35 raspberry pie computer and run emulates. I have an arcade stick that I play emulators with on my computer, but one of these would go good in my man cave. He said they cost him around $250 to build.

I'm a carpenter by trade and am pretty nerdy so I could build and program one of these by myself, but he would sell me one for $450 and I think it would be worth spending the $200 extra dollars to just have him do it.

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

Really cool hobby.

On a similar note, here's the GOAT arcade machine:

If you had five partners playing this monster, you guys were an untouchable gang of toughs.

 

[Steve-French]

Really cool hobby.

On a similar note, here's the GOAT arcade machine:

If you had five partners playing this monster, you guys were an untouchable gang of toughs.

I remember I took back like $20 worth of returnables and sponsored myself and 3 other friends to play and beat Ninja turtles.

Some of these DYI arcade machines can get pretty nuts though. Something like this would be sweet if you had the room for it.

 

[MMA since 1993]

Those are awesome!

 

[Steve-French]

@Madmick I know you're kind of techie. Have you ever gotten in to anything like this?

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

I remember I took back like $20 worth of returnables and sponsored myself and 3 other friends to play and beat Ninja turtles.

Some of these DYI arcade machines can get pretty nuts though. Something like this would be sweet if you had the room for it.

A lot of ingenuity with these machine designs.

I miss arcades in a bad way. That atmosphere is totally irreplicable at home with consoles.

 

[loyalyolayal]

A buddy of mine buys junk/surplus arcade machines from Japan. He restores them and has basically an arcade in his own home.

 

[Steve-French]

A lot of ingenuity with these machine designs.

I miss arcades in a bad way. That atmosphere is totally irreplicable at home with consoles.

He let me borrow one for a couple of weeks and I propped it up on an old sewing machine table in my basement. It sounds kind of weird, but they are way more fun to play standing up. He had SNES, NES, Sega Genesis, and Mame (arcade) emulaters built in, but you can up load any system to it. A lot of nes games transfer surprisingly well to the arcade style cabinet.

I was rocking...

Wrestlefest

Ninja Gaiden

Robocop

Punchout

MK II

Street fighter 2

Superman

Hat trick

Galaga

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

He let me borrow one for a couple of weeks and I propped it up on an old sewing machine table in my basement. It sounds kind of weird, but they are way more fun to play standing up. He had SNES, NES, Sega Genesis, and Mame (arcade) emulaters built in, but you can up load any system to it. A lot of nes games transfer surprisingly well to the arcade style cabinet.

I was rocking...

Wrestlefest

Ninja Gaiden

Robocop

Punchout

MK II

Street fighter 2

Superman

Hat trick

Galaga

Wrestlefest, Ninja Gaiden, MK2, and SF2?

You da man.

 

[ithinktheymad]

Pretty bad ass arcades were done when I was a kid but you could play the machines at the local liquor store or burger joint. I don't think I'd ever play it so it'd be lost on me. Love going to the barcade though!

 

[Deleted member 457759]

TS you are awesome!! I was born in the early 80's too and I'd love to get into this kind of thing.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

I knew someone who had a full size mame machine in his 'man cave' and that thing was awesome. I've never played the smaller versions.

 

[Steve-French]

TS you are awesome!! I was born in the early 80's too and I'd love to get into this kind of thing.

The hardest part would be making the cabinet which you can purchase a blue print for online. There is no sodering or anything involved as the wiring for the buttons snaps together. You can even buy the cabinets for around 100 and put it together yourself. Really if you wanted to get started all you would need.

$67

https://www.etsy.com/listing/619523...MIyMbI_eu13AIV0oh-Ch0Piw7qEAkYAyABEgLc8PD_BwE


Two sets of buttons $32

https://www.ebay.com/i/372038613422?chn=ps

Raspberry pie computer $35

https://express.google.com/product/...campaign=gsx&dclid=CNOTkqnttdwCFQg7TwodSUoFRg

LED monitor you can usually find these at goodwill or other thrift store for like $20 or for even a couple dollars online.

$3

Amazon product ASIN B000EORI1G
vga to hdmi adapter $8

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_3?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=vga+to+hdmi&sprefix=vga,electronics,203&crid=27W9UZ9G40ZHY

Plexiglass $20 Not necessary, but ads a nice touch

power strip with long cord or power source if you want to have a on off switch. Power strip is good enough though $16

Top light (also optional) $16

Some old computer speakers for sound you can also find these online or at a thrift store for around $10. Or just ask around people usually have an old set of these lying around.

Oil based latex primer and paint. $20



Harware such as hinge for the back panel, monitor mounts, and screws and such $20

All in all $247 dollars

 

[Deleted member 457759]

The hardest part would be making the cabinet which you can purchase a blue print for online. There is no sodering or anything involved as the wiring for the buttons snaps together. You can even buy the cabinets for around 100 and put it together yourself. Really if you wanted to get started all you would need.

$67

https://www.etsy.com/listing/619523...MIyMbI_eu13AIV0oh-Ch0Piw7qEAkYAyABEgLc8PD_BwE


Two sets of buttons $32

https://www.ebay.com/i/372038613422?chn=ps

Raspberry pie computer $35
View attachment 410785
https://express.google.com/product/...campaign=gsx&dclid=CNOTkqnttdwCFQg7TwodSUoFRg

LED monitor you can usually find these at goodwill or other thrift store for like $20 or for even a couple dollars online.

$3

Amazon product ASIN B000EORI1G
vga to hdmi adapter $8

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_3?url=search-alias=electronics&field-keywords=vga+to+hdmi&sprefix=vga,electronics,203&crid=27W9UZ9G40ZHY

Plexiglass $20 Not necessary, but ads a nice touch

power strip with long cord or power source if you want to have a on off switch. Power strip is good enough though $16

Top light (also optional) $16

Some old computer speakers for sound you can also find these online or at a thrift store for around $10. Or just ask around people usually have an old set of these lying around.

Oil based latex primer and paint. $20

View attachment 410789

Harware such as hinge for the back panel and screws and such $10

All in all $237 dollars

Holy shit man thanks for that!!!

 

[Steve-French]

Holy shit man thanks for that!!!

No problem man. As far as the software goes retro pie is free and pretty sweet

 

[PG29 red0 Jr]

Cool thread, you should definetly build your own. It would be a fun project.

 

[My Spot]

Really cool hobby.

On a similar note, here's the GOAT arcade machine:

If you had five partners playing this monster, you guys were an untouchable gang of toughs.

Konami also made TMNT and the Simpsons beat-em-ups.

 

[Steve-French]

Cool thread, you should definetly build your own. It would be a fun project.

Yeah I know I could do it, but my friend has made 5 of them already and has it down to a science as each one he builds gets better. Plus he's put in a lot of work and I wouldn't mind helping him out. There kind of a tricky thing to sell as you can't sell them with games loaded unless it's for a close friend. Then if the person isn't techie they want to keep asking questions about loading games, emulators, button configurations... etc.

He dropped like a grand all at once and ordered several button sets, raspberry pies and other materials. He also built all of the cabinets at once kind of assembly line style. He scored on the monitors for them too as goodwill had a 50% of day and an office had donated a fuck ton of old lcd monitors there,so he got them for a song. Plus I build shit all day at work, so I'm kind of sick of putzing with tools when I'm on my own time.

 

[PG29 red0 Jr]

Yeah I know I could do it, but my friend has made 5 of them already and has it down to a science as each one he builds gets better. Plus he's put in a lot of work and I wouldn't mind helping him out. There kind of a tricky thing to sell as you can't sell them with games loaded unless it's for a close friend. Then if the person isn't techie they want to keep asking questions about loading games, emulators, button configurations... etc.

He dropped like a grand all at once and ordered several button sets, raspberry pies and other materials. He also built all of the cabinets at once kind of assembly line style. He scored on the monitors for them too as goodwill had a 50% of day and an office had donated a fuck ton of old lcd monitors there,so he got them for a song. Plus I build shit all day at work, so I'm kind of sick of putzing with tools when I'm on my own time.

I guess you could just give him a hand assembling it, and then see how to load games and emulators etc. onto it.

 

[Steve-French]

I guess you could just give him a hand assembling it, and then see how to load games and emulators etc. onto it.

I know how to load the games and stuff on it. I have a shit ton of emulators and roms saved on a hard drive. I actually spent a few hours loading games the first one he made. Plus he has two assembled and ready to go right now.