Any Arcade Builders out there?

[MillerTime2523]

Came across this website and i'm really interested in this kind of stuff (the whole homeade arcade machine stuff).

I was thinking.. That would be awesome if i could take my modded xbox with all the old school games on there.. and turn it in to an arcade machine. I would LOVE to do this, but have absolutley no clue how... I'm not good with this kind of stuff.

Any other arcade builders on CAG?

[Lieutenant Dan]

I've thought about it, but I like the idea of gaming from a comfy chair better than being hunched over an arcade machine for hours on end. Plus I don't have any woodworking skills so I couldn't do it if I wanted to.

Why not just get a joystick for your Xbox, so you'd feel like you were playing the good old games from the privacy of your own recliner?

[MillerTime2523]

I've thought about it, but I like the idea of gaming from a comfy chair better than being hunched over an arcade machine for hours on end. Plus I don't have any woodworking skills so I couldn't do it if I wanted to.

Why not just get a joystick for your Xbox, so you'd feel like you were playing the good old games from the privacy of your own recliner?
Thats true, but just a regular old joystick just isnt the same as a replica of the arcades from back in the day;)

[Lieutenant Dan]

Thats true, but just a regular old joystick just isnt the same as a replica of the arcades from back in the day;)
I understand. Many people probably have fond memories of acrades. I'm just jaded because I always had to hunch down to see the screen because of my freakish height.

And don't even get me started on how they wouldn't let me ride the kiddie bumper cars with my friends when I was 6 because I was too tall. Damn height-nazis.

But that's neither here nor there.

[assassinX]

javeryh builds arcades his project looks awesome.

[MillerTime2523]

lol. I was thinking though, if i ever decide to go through with this project (Not EXTREMELY likely, but i'll probably give it some thought), I was thinking of putting like a big bar stool there or something.. I dont know, i mean if i'm playing for a long while (which i'm sure i will), im not going to want to stand there. I just think that the arcade deal would be a pretty hot set up.

[Circa2113]

If you were to put it in a normal cab, you would have to convert the video signal to arcade RGB. (different than any other video I believe) If you really wanted to get it done, check out the neo-geo.com forums in the arcade and tech support sections. Some of those guys are insane when it comes to custom cabs. :)

[DaveD]

Me and my friend built a machine about three years ago, it was quite nice. It was our first attempt at it, and it turned out better than we had hoped, but still was lacking in build quality. We used some plans from a books written by some of the folks at www.byoac.com. We had a PC running mame and I believe a 24" TV. I would suggest using a MDF wood to construct the machine instead of a cheaper material like we used.

Another suggestion however, is a conversion. After building our machine, we became obsessed with all things arcade and ended up collecting cabinets (he has 3 now, and I had two and sold one). We would go to auctions and just buy the real deal, and made some observations I'll share with you.

Gutted cabinets sell for CHEAP. You can usually score an empty cabinet with no monitor for the low low, and I'm talkin sub $20. Usually the people at the auctions are people who are looking for a machine for their private use or run a small business looking for recreation for the store/restaraunt. You also have collectors like myself, but nobody is really looking for an empty cab. You can pick one up for less than the cost of materials, and then you can slap a monitor and the guts in it and build your own stick set-up. I've thought about doing this and have scouted some out at the most recent auctions, but usually end up pussing out.

[MillerTime2523]

Thanks for the tips guys.

New idea in mind: I'm thinking of taking the xbox and throwing it in the cabnient somewhere (Which i'm most likely going to build). Then, putting a moniter on the top, and somehow put in some joysticks for xbox and run it through to it and there you go, take my old PC moniter thats collecting dust and I think I have a solid idea here.

:EDIT:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801678

w000t! $10! Yeahhhhhhh! Probably pick these up and implement them into the design.

[HeadRusch]

An Xbox is basically what....a 733Mhz Celeron right? That should get you all the early 80's stuff, but I think by the time you get to games like NBA Jam and other late 80's, early 90's machines the Xbox wont be able to cut it.

You'd be better off if you could find yourself an old P4 system running at 2Ghz or up and just install all the MAME roms you can find and go nuts. Just find yourself a nice gutted arcade cabinet and start there, or just get the PC running first
and worry about a cabinet later.

The advantage here is that you can then add real arcade joysticks and trackballs via interfaces specifically designed to interface with a standard PC and software to convert the joystick/trackball inputs to standard PC signals. This is a big
hobby and has been for several years, and as a result lots and lots of professional equipment has come onto the market specifically designed for stuff like this. If you really wanna go crazy you can do cabinets with the spinning Ikari Warriors joysticks, etc, etc.

For a monitor, you have two easy options: Buy a TV and run SVIDEO into it from your videocard (I'm talking a Standard Def 20" TV lets say, it'll be low rez...and look pretty close to authentic)....or just go with a 20" Flatscreen LCD for ease of use...but the problem there is that everything will look super high-rez, and it wont have that "arcade look".....but it'll work great as a spare pc. I've played counterstrike (PC version) on my 20" SD TV at 800x600 resolution and it was playable.
Good Luck.

http://www.ultimarc.com/

[MillerTime2523]

An Xbox is basically what....a 733Mhz Celeron right? That should get you all the early 80's stuff, but I think by the time you get to games like NBA Jam and other late 80's, early 90's machines the Xbox wont be able to cut it.

You'd be better off if you could find yourself an old P4 system running at 2Ghz or up and just install all the MAME roms you can find and go nuts. Just find yourself a nice gutted arcade cabinet and start there, or just get the PC running first
and worry about a cabinet later.

The advantage here is that you can then add real arcade joysticks and trackballs via interfaces specifically designed to interface with a standard PC and software to convert the joystick/trackball inputs to standard PC signals. This is a big
hobby and has been for several years, and as a result lots and lots of professional equipment has come onto the market specifically designed for stuff like this. If you really wanna go crazy you can do cabinets with the spinning Ikari Warriors joysticks, etc, etc.

For a monitor, you have two easy options: Buy a TV and run SVIDEO into it from your videocard (I'm talking a Standard Def 20" TV lets say, it'll be low rez...and look pretty close to authentic)....or just go with a 20" Flatscreen LCD for ease of use...but the problem there is that everything will look super high-rez, and it wont have that "arcade look".....but it'll work great as a spare pc. I've played counterstrike (PC version) on my 20" SD TV at 800x600 resolution and it was playable.
Good Luck.

http://www.ultimarc.com/
Yeah, but thats really all i'd be into playing. The genesis stuff, some SNES, maybe hoping for some Playstaion lol. I'd REALLY love to do something like you posted, but i'm not that great with the all the interfacing and stuff like that. I really have no clue what i'm doing with all that stuff - I had a modded xbox before but it broke so i know what its capable of etc. I think that taking the modded xbox route would be the way to get the most out of what i'm capable of doing.

[HeadRusch]

Whatever works best for you, just gotta find yourself some arcade sticks with 6 buttons to cover most of the good games.

[kdunn77]

Thanks for the tips guys.

New idea in mind: I'm thinking of taking the xbox and throwing it in the cabnient somewhere (Which i'm most likely going to build). Then, putting a moniter on the top, and somehow put in some joysticks for xbox and run it through to it and there you go, take my old PC moniter thats collecting dust and I think I have a solid idea here.

:EDIT:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801678

w000t! $10! Yeahhhhhhh! Probably pick these up and implement them into the design.

That sitck is absolute crap. An "Ultimate Joystick" (http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/ultimate_joy.htm) from Happ runs about $11. And the buttons are about $2 a peice.

Dave was absloutely right about www.byoac.com (http://www.byoac.com/). It is an awesome resource.

[CoffeeEdge]

I've built/am building arcade-style music game controllers, fighting sticks, and I'm building a Supergun adapter to play JAMMA boards on my TV.

I'm also planning to replicate the arcade cabinets for the arcade music games Pop'n Music and Beatmania IIDX. The IIDX cabinet is a gigantic challenge though, as they are very elaborate. Still in planning/theoretical stages, but I'll build them someday.