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How do you go about building your own arcade cabinet?
Well first off you should read www.arcadecontrols.com, which bit? ALL
OF IT!
I spent several evenings just reading through the whole of this site
and taking notes; it is without doubt the best resource for arcade builders
on the net with masses and masses of information. After reading all
of the articles I then made my way through all, (yes ALL!) of the links
in the examples section.
At the end of this I reviewed my notes and came up with the following
list of requirements
| (1) |
Upright cabinet with a detachable control panel (reasons
for this discussed below) |
| (2) |
2 Player cabinet - very rare that 4 player controls
would be needed, but if they were I could accomplish this with a
couple extra game-pads that could be plugged in via USB. |
| (3) |
Cabinet based on Lusids design, this seems to be a
favourite amongst builders and looks to be a relatively straight
forward design that can be modified for individual needs. |
| (4) |
Ability to play other games/emulators other than M.A.M.E |
| (5) |
Dedicated stick for 4-way games, the old classics
don't play well with an 8-way. |
| (6) |
Trackball for various games including an old favourite
Marble Madness; this can also be used to control the o/s or menu
system if needed. |
| (7) |
Separate function controls (game select/start/exit);
I know standard controls (fire buttons/start/credit) can be doubled
up to achieve this but I would like additional buttons labelled
up for this so anyone can use my cabinet. |
| (8) |
Ultimarc interfaces for controls; this seems easier
than attempting a keyboard/mouse hack. |
| (9) |
Cabinet will house either a 21" PC monitor or
a 21/25" TV. |
My first requirement was that I wanted a detachable control panel,
the main reason for this is that at present I do not have the space
for full cabinet, my intention is to design the full cabinet but only
build a stand-alone control panel, then at a later date when I have
the space I can build the rest of it and connect the control panel to
it.
With my requirements completed it was on to the actual design.
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