Retro Arcade Gaming

Necron 99 · Post January 8th, 2020, 7:06 pm

Two years ago, my brother-in-law bought me a Raspberry Pi 3 for Christmas along with a small 9 in video screen. He knew I had a handheld android device for playing some old video games via emulators and thought I might enjoy having something I could put on my desk, at home. Aside from a day or so of playing around with it and setting up some emulators and games, I really didn't do much with it. After Turkey Day this past year, I broke it out of storage and started really delving into what it could do, checking out groups on FB and several youtubers who mod their Pi systems as a throw back to old-school video gaming.

Having started down that rabbit hole, I ran across the 1UP Arcade units that started coming out a year or so back. I'd seen them here and there but really never gave them much consideration until I realized that there is an entire modding community out there who are using them as a base for building home arcade systems, kitted out with Raspberry Pi systems to run pretty much anything from back in the day.

The 1Up Arcade units usually come with 3-4 games pre-loaded, you just assemble and off you go. With a raspberry pi installed, however, you can pretty much run anything you want, assuming you have the right emulator and rom/bios. It's been really interesting to see some of the mods people have made to create an in-home arcade system and I'm thinking of making this a new project for 2020 myself.

Over the last year, 1UP has also released a 4 player unit, for playing TMNT, and even something more custom than the standard units, such as a cabinet for the old Star Wars arcade games.

My biggest debate will be whether or not I want to get a four player system, or one for just two. What's really cool though, is that at a latest reveal, 1UP showed off a new, upcoming 4 player cabinet:

Except for the wrestling game, which I don't think I've ever played, getting a cabinet with both Golden Axe 1 and 2, along with Altered Beast and Shinobi sounds awesome, especially with the option of having four players.

I dig the work some people put into their cabinets, modding seems like something you can do as little or big as you want to go. For a really cool vid of a modded cabinet you can check this one out:

grodog · Post January 9th, 2020, 3:38 pm

I had the MAME emulator installed on my original Dell Inspiron c. 1998 and would play classic video games on it all the time. I haven't revisited the idea recently---in part since I don't have a current personal machine, but also because we have a great classic arcade in town I can go and play in for $10 for an entire day, so there's less pressure to dig into the emulators again.

All that said, having a four-player emulator cabinet with Gauntlet, Golden Axe, and other fun games on it would rock (a four-player Area 51 would be cool too, but I don't know that the ROMs would support the two additional players).

Allan.

rredmond · Post January 9th, 2020, 6:26 pm

Man Gauntlet brings back such memories. I'll have to find a way to play that again.
All throughout HS a regular routine was to play D&D in the morning at my buddy John's; he was the DM and also had a basketball net in his backyard if your character died. After the game, we'd walk to the 7-11 around the corner for Laffy Taffy and/or Hundred Thousand Bars and play whatever video game (of the two or three that were there) and Gauntlet was there for a year or two. Good memories!!

Necron 99 · Post January 9th, 2020, 7:05 pm

Having a retro arcade in town would be awesome, I recall seeing some of your posts from FB, Allan, looks like a great way to spend an afternoon.

Playing Gauntlet was always a good time, especially with a friend or two, but my all time favorite and most memorable arcade game was RASTAN. There was a little convenience store up the road from my friend's John and David (twin brothers), we would go there from time to time to by some candy or soda when we had the spare money, if I had any change I would try to get a game or two in. I'm not sure if it was the Conan/Barbarian likeness or just the fantasy element in general, but I was pretty hooked on it; I remember never having enough quarters to get further than the second level of that game and it was such a bummer.

So much fun back then.

rredmond · Post January 9th, 2020, 7:19 pm

Freaky, my HS group of friends (the same six guys I spend a weekend with every July since 1987

) has identical twins, Jim and Rich.

Necron 99 · Post January 11th, 2020, 11:06 am

haha, that's awesome.

Necron 99 · Post February 4th, 2020, 11:07 pm

An update on this topic.

After I initially posted this, I actually started looking for some Arcade 1Up units to mod and convert to a Raspberry Pi arcade cab. The more research I did, the more I realized that what I actually want is a full size arcade unit, instead of the 3/4 size ones like the A1Ups. I did some more looking and found some custom built cabinets online from a few different vendors, ranging from the mid $300s up to a grand. I came really close to just getting one of the custom cabs which would have run about $600-800 depending on certain things like monitor, custom skins/vinyls, high-quality joysticks and buttons, etc. While the price wasn't the issue, I realized that even at that price range, there were still certain mods I would want to do and if I'm paying that much, then I don't want to deal with having to mod the cabinet further and risk messing it up.

Down the rabbit hole I went, looking for any other options and finally I found it after watching a few DYI vids on Youtube, I think I'm just going to build a cabinet myself. There are a couple of tools I need, like a jigsaw and an orbital router, that I don't already own. Easily enough to get at the local hardware shop. MDF board is also easy to get and I found my ideal cabinet plans online in AutoCad files so I can download, printout and then begin layout work. I already have the a raspberry pi 3b+ and a bad ass 128gb image file with a metric ton of arcade and console games already setup.

I'll need to get some other items like the monitor, sticks/buttons, wiring, amp and speakers, t-moulding, etc. I also plan to add a coin door, setting it up to actually work with quarters. Not only will it be set up for arcade, but I'm going to add USB plugs for console controllers. This way I can also play retro console games using replica controller such as NES, Sega, or whatever else. The only thing I won't be able to do myself, which I'll have done online is the vinyl skin and marquee for the cab. I've already settled on getting a Dragon's Lair theme, a few I've found online look great but are for other units. I'll have to contact the designer and see if they can custom make one for me from the plans.

Below is a pic of someone else's finished cabinet, using the same plans I'm going to use.

All in all, I know it will probably take some time to complete it, but I want to start within the next two to three weekends. Getting the cab plan drawn out on the wood and the cabinet pieces cut will be the most difficult part. Once that's done, putting it all together and adding the guts is the easy part. The other option, which I've not done too much research on yet, is finding someone local that can take the plans and cut the pieces professionally for me. If I can find someone cheap enough, I may just go that route instead and have them do it.

rredmond · Post February 5th, 2020, 8:17 am

Wow. Definitely take in progress pictures... seems like an undertaking, but oh man what an outcome!

Necron 99 · Post February 5th, 2020, 7:43 pm

rredmond wrote: ↑February 5th, 2020, 8:17 am Wow. Definitely take in progress pictures... seems like an undertaking, but oh man what an outcome!

Sure thing, I'll post some pics and maybe even some video as I move along the project.

Necron 99 · Post February 6th, 2020, 8:17 pm

It has begun.

From all of the videos and sites I've found for building a cab, it seems that, for a "newer" retro feel to arcade or console games, an older Dell 20" flat screen monitor is the way to go. The Dell 2007FP is a true, native 4:3 ratio which is what most games from back in the day were displayed in. The cabinet itself is going to be heavy, so I really don't want to weigh it down more with an actual CRT monitor or TV. So, I decided to grab one of these, instead of a newer widescreen.

I ordered on off eBay today for about $60, should be here in a week or so. I'm making a run tomorrow to a local custom woodcraft store to get an estimate on what they'd charge to just cut all of the pieces for me and route out the edges of the sides. If it's not too much I'll just have them do it, otherwise it will be to the hardware store to pick up the tools I'm lacking and a sheet of wood to begin drawing out the plans.