Building a MAME Arcade

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Metal Jesus
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Building a MAME Arcade

Post by Metal Jesus »

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http://youtu.be/tpUaw4cooc8

We document our building and renovating a cheap stand-up arcade cabinet into a death metal black MAME arcade machine for the Game Room! The original cab is a Centipede machine, front end for MAME is Hyperspin and the controller is the X-Arcade Dual Joystick.

I have delicate fingers and a tendency to hurt myself, so I am the Beer Bitch.
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Cody_D165
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Re: Building a MAME Arcade

Post by Cody_D165 »

That marquee, man... amazing. Someday down the road when I get the opportunity I'd love to build one of these myself.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who loves the Nintendo e-Reader.

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CRTGAMER
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Re: Building a MAME Arcade

Post by CRTGAMER »

Nice touch with the MIG welder effect at the opening. Just what was Paul beading at the top of the cab?

A nice surprise seeing the Centipede cab underneath! I wonder how Capcom managed to obtain the Atari units? Funny how Drunken Master Paul showed the primary Trakball direction of Centipede and Capcom Bowling. I think OSHA wants to see you walking the dog on the Belt Sander. Yes, I hate battery operated tools too, they always die when you need just that one more cut. :lol:

Very nice job on the cab, really looks sweet.
A few tweaks to maybe try? One is easy to implement, the other two just a little more wiring and cutting. You probably already tried the first suggestion.

1. Good choice getting the Two Player Duel Stick XArcade. For Twinstick games such as Robotron, you can easily configure your Arcade setup to the Twinstick mode with the Mame TAB Menu.

2. Maybe make the Coin Reject Buttons active? I did this to my Zaxxon Arcade Stick Mod, added a micro switch behind a mounted Coin Reject button. it. A natural choice as a coin insert button and you have two Coin Rejects for Player One and Player Two! Tie it into your XArcade side coin buttons to work with the existing keyboard connection. :idea:

3. If you are really nuts, save that Capcom Bowling Trakball assembly and tie the encoder wheels to an older Ball Mouse PCB. Microsoft Mice are the "fastest", its just a matter of mounting the mouse pickup sensors and PCB to the Arcade Trakball encoder wheel housing. Looks like there is room for the "Que Ball" (A pool eight ball can also be substituted) in the XArcade Panel.

3A. The Capcom "Bowling Trakball" is unique and will fit a couple of vintage PC Trakballs. The Kenningston Expert Mouse 64215 and the Inland Pro Track 3000 07039; both take standard pool table balls. :mrgreen:

"Press Coin Reject to electronically insert coins" 8)

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Hobie-wan
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Re: Building a MAME Arcade

Post by Hobie-wan »

CRTGAMER wrote: A nice surprise seeing the Centipede cab underneath! I wonder how Capcom managed to obtain the Atari units?
That's not how arcades worked. At first, companies made dedicated cabs. Then as time went on, companies sold 'conversion kits'. This would usually be the board, marquee, screen bezel, and stickers for the sides of the cab. This was cheaper for arcade owners to just then swap stuff into a machine with the appropriate controller setup and spend less money to have a 'new' game. Now you have the candy cabs and things that are specifically set up to make this easy and you don't get specific artwork on the cabinet. Somewhere I have cabinet side stickers for Last Duel and another game... Warriors of fate perhaps. I can't remember at the moment.
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Metal Jesus
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Re: Building a MAME Arcade

Post by Metal Jesus »

CRTGAMER wrote:Nice touch with the MIG welder effect at the opening. Just what was Paul beading at the top of the cab?
The intro was trickier to pull off then you might think. He had a random piece of metal sitting on the top to make the sparks with the welder, so it wouldn't mess up the cab. Then we had the FogHog fog machine cranked up to create the smoke. But because the door was shut and the FogHog is loud, Paul couldn't hear me to know when I was close to the door to know to open it. We did several funny takes where all the timing was way off and dialog was blown. Still, we had a blast making it.
CRTGAMER wrote:I think OSHA wants to see you walking the dog on the Belt Sander.
Paul just spontaneously starting doing this and I happen to have the camera rolling. He's great for creating silly little moments like this...
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Re: Building a MAME Arcade

Post by Redifer »

Paul couldn't hear me to know when I was close to the door to know to open it.
iPod Touch generation 4 (x2) plus Facetime. He sees what you see. Totally worth the $600 or so just for this shot. :)
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