gonna buy/build my first mame cabinet

[norsecrusader]

with these mames out now days with 100s of games on them its hard to ignore for long and i feel like im finally gonna get one, however im a complete noob when it comes to these. from emulating to building the cab, everything.

This guy has a little arcade shop and makes custom mames around here and he charges much less than what you see on ebay and other places.

would i be able to just buy a mame as i want with no real knowledge of them or how they work? first gaming pc i got i didnt custom build it. it was built for me but then i slowly learned about how to build them from scratch, would i be able to do something similar with a mame?

i also see alot of people who say how over priced many mame machines are, like ones for 3000 should be more like 1000-1500. ones for 1000 should be more like 500-600, etc. what are "fair" and good prices for a mame?

i know this can seem a little random and vague i just need to get smarter in this matter and from the videos and things ive watched i havent really learned much.

thx for any help

[CRTGAMER]

Welcome to Racketboy!

First step is to try it on your own PC. Download the Mame Emulator and a few roms. Play around with the settings and try out various PC controllers. Once you get it all figured out then you can determine if investing into a custom cabinet.

Instead of hovering over a cabinet, I would rather play on the big screen relaxed kicked back on the couch. A Laptop PC hooked up to the HDMI input works or for older HDCRTs such as my setup, a modded Xbox with Mame installed.

[KalessinDB]

I personally can't see a cabinet going for $500-600, even if you built it yourself. It all depends on how much polish and flash you want in it. A cheap computer to play most of the games MAME can do (especially ones from the 70s-90s, which is what most people typically want from MAME) shouldn't run more than $500 (maaaybe as low as $300? I dunno I haven't built a computer in a while), a small flat panel can run you $1-200, and buttons/joysticks can be had for maybe $100. You're at $5-800 right there not including any cost for wood OR the person's time building it. A grand or maybe a little less for a low-powered one (which to be fair, a low powered computer in today's settings can still play a LOT of arcade games) I can see, but no way can I see a custom cab for $5-600.

But if you want the flashy ones, painted, custom artwork, marquee lights, etc etc... the sky's the limit. You can easily invest thousands into it.

I'm with CRTGamer. First learn a little about MAME on a computer before trying a cabinet build (unless money is no object), just because the market for MAME cabinets is kinda small, so reselling it if you decide you don't like it is going to be difficult depending on where you are. I would definitely recommend a frontend - I *LOVE* Hyperspin, but it definitely increases the footprint and power you need for the system. Their forum is pretty helpful if you do decide to build your own.

But if you're buying, well... buy what you can afford and have fun with it!

[fastbilly1]

Go here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/
Read for several weeks.

You will grasp what you want, what you will need to do it, and a relative cost of the project.

If you can get an empty dynamo cab (a generic released cab from the mid 90s, famous for Street Fighter 2), which are sometimes free, but often sub $100. You can build the whole thing for $300ish.

[samsonlonghair]

It seems to me there was a front page guide on this topic some time ago...

Here it is:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/emulatio ... me32mameui

By the way, there are a lot of guides online telling you what to do; however, (forgive my negativity) it's also important to know what not to do. Many MAME cabinets are ugly, overly complex Frankenstein monsters. My advice to you is to google search some of the worst MAME cabinets and learn from those mistakes.