Mame Cabinet/setup

[TDT]

Hey all,


It's kinda bad taking a day off, it's got me thinking a bit about mame. I was curious how many people here actually have a setup for playing mame games (of course, varying levels of authenticity)


For example, I was reading a bit about this:


http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-joysticks-and-game-controllers/product/x-arcade-dual-joystick/


So..does anyone have an actual mame cabinet they built/setup? Anyone use a gaming control like the one above? If so, how do you like it? Any other varying setups people have? Currently, any mame I play is on my GP2X, and looking forward to the pandora being able to play em too.

 

[Asmo]

The X-Arcade has been around for a while and features in control options for lots of emulators. It's pretty solid, but there's one thing I don't like about it -


Microswitches. Those little clicky things just aint right. Silent leaf switches just do it for me. I may be in the minority, but the sensation (and noises) from microswitches just spoil it for me. That said, it was a few years ago I last used an X-Arcade, so I'm only assuming that it still uses them.

 

[TDT]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll be honest, I haven't spent much time in arcades..even when I was a kid. I did play, probably, every week for a bit though when I was really young. Sadly, I don't really recall the feeling of the joystick and associated buttons.


You said you last used this a few years ago. Do you use something else now? Or do you play less mame overall?


For my GP2X, I have a dock and USB-NES/SNES adapter, which allows me to use my old controllers. I do like that a lot, and hope the N64 is playable on the open-pandora.


For the computer-part of a mame cabinet, a pandora may work pretty well for that.

 

[mindlord]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how well the Pandora handles N64 emulation. Thanks to the efforts of some very talented people.

 

[Asmo]

A friend was building his own Mame cab, so when he was ordering his controls I chipped in and got myself a set at the same time, all gold plated leaf switches (buttons and sticks). It feels more authentic (if you remember the way the actual machines felt), more fluid. You also have the freedom to use colourful buttons and more retro style sticks ('bobble' headed usually) if you assemble your own. Nothing wrong with the X-Arcade, but if you were going to get the toolbox out anyway.......... !

 

[skeezix]

I'm an arcade collector and emu author both; I've built an emu cab as well and even plugged my pandora into one as the brain


I'm on my phone right now so can reply more later..


For emu cabs, easiest to use an arcade to USB adapter these days, or an xarcade but those are too pricey IMHO..


Jeffphone

I usually run a low end Atom pcb as the brain now, but raspberry pi or spare pandora pcbs ought to be fine too (if you do a fuure pcb upgrade with ED you might have a spare..)


Raspberry pi will be cheap..


Jeffphone

 

[MarioPandio]

I have the X arcade picture and its nice but I would agree that there are better built ones out there, with a nicer feel/quieter use no doubt. It does work with Pandora though via a powered usb2.0 hub, so thats a plus if you do go for one.

 

[T.T.]

I'd have to agree with asmo, I hate clicky micro switches. if you do build one, go with the leaf switches

 

[skeezix]

Build a cab with both like I did Cocktail is good for this.. on the vertical ends, leaf switches for vertical shooters which were int he leaf day; but on the landscape side, put microswitches for Street Fighter dtyle, since thats what those games were on.


Ideal


jeff

 

[TrashyMG]

Not a full cabinet, but I had this table top Arcade controller built custom for me, I talked to a guy who built Custom Arcade cabinets from scratch and I asked for something a bit different.. I wanted something that could fit n my lap or sit on a table... essentially I built an X-Arcade box before it was even out.. I think I had this made for me in 1999 or 2000.. I should hitch it up again.. Well and Dust it off for sure.

Spoiler

 

[skeezix]

Sounds like a supergun of your own, without the super part (Supergun being a JAMMA interface with controls and such, and a TV-out on the other end; I've got one about the size of a 'VCR' (yeah I'm old) with controls that are little arcade boxes .. about swize of small VCRs each But full street fighter control panels in your lap, while you play Golden Axe or whatever on your TV. Win!


jeff

 

[kojack]

I've been building (well, so far mostly planning on building) something similar to the xarcade for work (I teach games programming). It will be a two player arcade controller containing a PandaBoard ES. Just plug in a monitor and some power and it's good to go.


I'd like to make it a full stand up cabinet, but I need something I can easily carry between classrooms.


I've already got the PandaBoard ES (dual core 1.2GHz Cortex A9, 1GB ram, 1080p hdmi and dvi), but I've spent so long fighting with it's boot loader and tool chain that I've put the project on hold until I can recover my will to live.


(The ES model is slightly incompatible with the previous model of PandaBoard, it needs a certain version of the boot loader code which happens to be incompatible with certain versions of gcc, and so on. Damn annoying)


I could just go with the xarcade and mount the pandaboard inside, but it seems a bit short of space inside and I prefer the ball top joysticks to the bat top ones it uses.

 

[MarioPandio]

Sounds like a supergun of your own, without the super part (Supergun being a JAMMA interface with controls and such, and a TV-out on the other end; I've got one about the size of a 'VCR' (yeah I'm old) with controls that are little arcade boxes .. about swize of small VCRs each But full street fighter control panels in your lap, while you play Golden Axe or whatever on your TV. Win!


jeff

Many years ago in the UK the Supergun was advertised under I believed the name 'Universal Connector' or similar and when I got into collecting retro machines I searched and asked widely for one with no luck. Infact most game shop staff, looked at me like some kind of nutter (which you guys just think from your keyboards ) when I asked if they knew what I was on about. I then discovered Mame and the desire for old arcade boards and the dream of playing them on my TV disappeared. Now I know the correct name finally skeezix. Many thanks

 

[lomaxx]

I've been thinking about purchasing a arcade-joystick as well every now and then. I probably will not get a full cabinet though. At the moment I plan to try groovymame with the soft-15khz-program and the vga-scart-converter (see: here and also other threads in the forum). As joystick I tend to try HRAP-v3-SA. I read somewhere that it got better parts than the x-gaming-joystick. On the other side you might find voices claiming the opposite. Who knows.


Using the Pandora and it's TVOut-cable would be an option too of course, if the cable will ever arrive.

 

[mcobit]

I hack cheap dualshock-ripoff usb gamepads for my custom controlers.


A lot of input methods (analog and digital). One joypad can be used for a 2P cabinet with 1 joystick and 4 buttons for each player.

 

[JohnM]

Spoiler

I somehow convinced the Mrs that it was a good idea for me to build a mame machiine last year (and it's still standing in the living room today!).. Am really happy with it & nothing beats keeping visitors busy!

 

[skeezix]

Nothign really beats the 'real feal' -- the full controls etc; I like to use real equipment (good 1980 monitors etc , but you can blend it as you need/see fit -- from full arcade gear, to arcade cab with a PC odf some sort inside, to arcade gear hooked to a TV, to emulation hooked to a TV, and so on. But ultimately its down to controls .. I mean, a good old arcade monitor looks 'right', and emulation can rarely/nevert get things 'perfect', but ultimately.. its the feel of the buttons and stick that make it work


I used to hold 'skeezocade' parties with a half dozen machies out on free plkay and a bbq our asses off, but been a long time ..


jeff

 

[Gruntfuggly]

I've got a small mamecab in my summer house - a nice compact machine, but just (barely) enough to fit two red ball top joysticks (leaf switches), three buttons each and a small trackball in the middle.


Real controls is definitely the way forwards... the only way to play Robotron!

 

[TDT]

Lots of responses, that I really appreciate!


I'll definitely look into the custom controller option. My fear is that I'm not electronics-savvy enough to really put one together myself. One comment related to a combination controller/game-system where you connect the monitor - that's cool, and could be useful here even..as I have not terribly much space available, and a mame cabinet is going to take a lot of space.


This I found interesting: http://www.arcadecab.com/CabinetPlans2/CabinetPlans2_Background.html


Not sure how many others have seen this site, but apparently the plans are there. The work doesn't sound too terribly difficult, even. I mean..it'd take me months, probably, to set something like this up given a simple standing desk took me a week. The difficulty of the project doesn't seem terrible, at least. Could be a nice summer project, maybe work at making a slimmer version of the machine

 

[Prometheus]

^ You might want to look here, too, if ready-to-download plans are of interest to you. The ones at the site I'm linking to are all for replicas of the bodies of famous cabinets.