Multi Arcade Machine Emulators

Now I know virtually nothing about "Multi Arcade Machine Emulatosr" beyond the skin of the Case. I have some basic clues as to whats in the undies of such a hot topic.

Bare with me as once you get to know me better, I sort of make sense in a odd way as that is me, odd and eccentric by choice.

Anyway, I started to get a bit more interested in the building of arcade gaming machines as I have always had a soft spot for the old arcade games of the past.

I grew up with them. I didn't partake in them much as I was more interested in other things when growing up years back.

What has gotten me so interested in this topic and subject is that I have most of the required items to build these type of games.

Now I'm not standing up on a box $elling anything as I have no time for that at this time.

But there is chance of my doing some biz in the future when I have things sorted out better and also have gained the required knowledge and learning that I need.

I like collecting vintage gaming items more then playing gaming items. I would very much enjoy building a few of my own arcade games on a budget as that is of interest to me as a project that can be done by a older person later.

As I collect older gaming items I have spent a few years and dollars on eBay looking for things to add to my collections and such.

I have noticed that the vinyl art work for arcade cabinets is available as well as control buttons and the like for those that want to restore or build clones.

I have plenty of the older computers and a nice selection of working TV CRT sets as I have searched them out for use with vintage game and recorded media items.

Now that I have done my monologue.

Any other vintage minded gamers interested in using this thread for talking about the "Multi Arcade Machine Emulators", and other related topics and subject matter?

Ideas for parts and where to find them and such.

Now remember that I know about as much about Multi Arcade Machine Emulators as I know about the man on the moon.

But I'm interested in learning about the design and construction of the machines on a frugal budget.

I would have a row of full sized arcade and pinball machines if it was cost effective.

but we can always dream and then see how we might make those dreams come True.

I've built 3 MAME's so far, one for my game room, one for my polebarn, and one for a buddy. What do you want to know? controls are HAPP, I use a keyboard emulator for the buttons and trackball. tv-out card with Svideo on one, just a computer monitor on another. one cabinet I built from scratch from Particle board, others were just used cheap shells...they are lots of fun, and just run old PC's on win 98 or XP...

I',m about to take this venture myself. It does seem that the HAPP controls are the most available but taking old vintage controls and replacing the micro switches would surely give that vintage look and feel as you cant reproduce that old patina on plastic. I am curious about the market for these as many of the towers i scrap that work but have no value on the market a perfect for this. A couple of things I have seen for the frugal builder is a track ball hack where they used the ball out of a mouse and another one on Instructables.com where a fella took the board out of a keyboard and make his own keyboard emulator. Now the emulator is time consuming but to me if your gonna build one your value goes up when your making five. I look forward to seeing how far this thread goes and the information that will shared in the future.

you don't HAVE to use an emulator for the controls, you can hack a keyboard, lots of folks have done it. I use the Jpac or Minipac, for me it's easier, just plug and play, USB, marked for the wires, but there are cheaper ways. HAPP controls are OEM for a lot of games, but you can certainly use used buttons. the microswitches are pretty much universal, HAPP sells them but so do most online electronics distributors. I have already had to replace some of my new buttons switches just from wearing out...

Options for tracballs exist, I bought my last one, but have seen people make them from mouse, there are templates you download for the encoder wheel to print out. or you can find steering wheels and other Nintendo/game system controls that can be hacked.

tons of good info over on BYOAC site Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum - Index

if I build another cabinet, it will be dedicated to driving games, got the wheel already but no space til the kid moves out!

oh and keep in mind you've got to find a place to download the ROM's. not as easy to find as they used to be but they're out there. and you'll need the sound files for some games like Donkey Kong...