Arcade Cabinet

So I'm partly sloshed and this may be all a lot of wishful thinking, but I'm looking into putting together my own arcade cabinet.

I was at a friend's house and he was putting together his own arcade style controls for use with Street Fighter IV. Basically he had a wooden box he'd built himself with holes cut out for buttons and a joystick. The controls themselves were authentic arcade gear. He had an old Mad Catz gamepad he'd dismantled and he was in the process of soldering connections to it. Even in an unfinished state the thing was impressive. He'd painted it black and laid some kind of textured material over the surface. When it's done it will look like he ripped it off a machine at the arcade.

I asked him where he got the idea and he showed me some websites which piqued my curiosity. Folks not only had custom built control panels but full fledged standing arcade cabinets and they looked damn good. I've been looking for a fun project to occupy myself with and this may be it. Ever since I was a kid I've dreamed of having my own arcade cabinet.

It's a bit pricey but not quite so pricey as you might think, plus I've got several of the more expensive components such as a screen and spare computer just lying around. See, the computer runs a certain type of software that ends in lator and begins with e, and the computer doesn't need to be particularly powerful to handle it. I happen to have an old computer collecting dust. Supposedly said program works very well and comes highly recommended. Best of all I can test it out with any old computer to see if it's as good as they claim before actually putting anything together.

As for a monitor, television screens work well and are in fact recommended over computer monitors. I have one that would be just the right size. Given the nature of the beast I can always rip the television out at a later date and install an authentic arcade monitor. Other than that I'd just need wood and controls, along with any paint or decals I'd care to apply.

It ain't going to be easy but it ain't going to be obscenely difficult, either. Seems like a good excuse to fool around with some power tools and learn a little circuitry in the process. And it's going to involve quite a bit of circuitry at that. My dream is a universal machine. Right now I'm having a blast drafting designs for my own control panel. I may post a picture of them. Suffice to say, I'm planning on four sets of standard joysticks. Two in the center with six buttons arranged in a splayed fighter-style layout. Two more joysticks on the outside with four buttons each for use in four-player games. One joystick with a trigger in the upper middle. A spinner beside that for older arcade games. A trackball below both for games such as missile command. Eventually I'd like to add a pair of light guns. And who knows what else.

When it's all said and done I'll be able to play 7000+ real arcade games on the sucker. Oh, and did I mention the thing doubles as a jukebox? I can even rig it to be compatible with my iPod.

You might be able to buy your own mame cabinet for a reasonable price.

The wife has a pinball machine that I spend a good deal of time repairing/maintaining.

Got any links to some other homemade cabinets?

Sorry to semi hijack your thread Gribble, but I wanted to ask Lite a question.

How come you refer to your wfe as "The wife"? I've actually never heard that before lol.

*Back to topic*

From what I have heard, the are fairly easy to build, just very time consuming and somewhat pricey. Pretty much what you said :P

P.S. Lite where did you go for the last month?

Make it coin operated ;)

It would cost about twice as much to buy a MAME cabinet as it would to build one. Plus buying it would kill the sense of accomplishment I'd otherwise enjoy. A quick scan of Craigslist turned up a number of broken arcade machines for very cheap, even a few for free. Instead of building the cabinet I may pick one of those up and gut it. If the artwork's still in good condition I won't have to worry about painting or decals. That would knock a nice chunk off the cost right there.

Here are a few of the better cabinets I've stumbled across:
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This one's a little different from what I'd be making but it deserves honorable mention considering a 12 year old kid built it back in the 80's. How freaking cool is that? I would have killed for this back then.
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