STARFORCE PI - Portable Tabletop Arcade

[Fzero]

I'm on this, and really hoping it reaches the target goal.

• Full sized microswitch joystick, with options to have it fitted with a Sanwa, and you can apparently easily unclip the casing to use the stick you wish and 24mm buttons you prefer.
  
• 5 hours of untethered gameplay with the rechargeable battery.
  
• Really nice looking form factor imo.
  
• HDMI output.
  

As the name makes obvious, it's running a Pi, and can back for either the kit or a complete system with a Pi bundled in.


PiPlay and EmulationStation will be supported, and they're looking to introduce an SD based game system for newer titles, with NGev Team on board and hopefully others will be too.


I think it looks really nice, a solid little machine to have on the worktop/coffee-table.


Anyone else got their eye/money on it?


I had concerns that the timing of the KS launch was not perhaps ideal, with a lot of people needing to spend the money they get paid this month on Christmas stuffs and the loooong January pay stretch. But from what the guy has said, it's looking likely that the project will go ahead regardless, which is good to hear.


Here's a nice little demo










And more info/videos on the KS page


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/34683765/the-starforce-pi-electronic-tabletop-mini-arcade

 

[Wally]

Carrying that around would irk me but it looks OK. 

 

[Fzero]

Yeah the portability side of things for me wouldn't be like a Pandora ... this would just be moved around from room to room, or more likely from my work desk to the cafe across the carpark which I go to every day at lunch


Have a little rinse whilst I wait for my bangers and mash to get cooked

 

[vcoleiro1]

Reminds me of the project I did almost 3 years ago, where I mamed out an old Coleco Pacman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzje8tQlVik


I like how he used a copy of the Starforce shell, looks really good.


Don't forget the Tiny Arcade that's also up on Kickstarter -> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kenburns/tiny-arcade-a-retro-tiny-playable-game-cabinet?ref=category_recommended

 

[Fzero]

Yeah I remember your Coleco Pacman build, was high standard, as are all the projects I seen of yours, I envy your modding skills.


I also love the shell, didn't actually know that was a Grandstand game, I just thought was based on those type games, I have the Firefox F7 which is my fav of those old systems [from the ones I played anyway].


...Has a Stormtrooper look to it which I like.


I backed the Tiny Arcade too, looking nice eh.


There was a video released a while back of it, I guess a prototype, showing LED marquee too, which is missing from the one being put out on KS, but still a nice thing to have

 

[WizardStan]

It's long distance portable, something you might pull out of your luggage to keep you entertained at the hotel, not on the flight.

 

[gadgetoid]

This is in some ways a shameless plug, and Picade is significantly larger, but you can at least just *buy* it now  https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/picade


Starforce Pi actually looks pretty cool, and we mentioned it on an episode of #BilgeTank where we did a roundup of all the various arcade builds out there. There are a surprising number!


They're also charging 20EUR extra for a Raspberry Pi 2 in their full build, which is patent nonsense. Who knows where they're getting the B+ from, but the Pi 2 is "the" Pi now. B+ shouldn't even be an option unless they bought a job-lot off a retailer who couldn't shift them anymore.

 

[Fzero]

Some more details in the newly released Press Kit


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_nF0C3A_fMSUzN6NlBJMFRkdEk/view?pli=1