Making a 80s Arcade Machine with "Real" Joystick & Dosbox / Mame?

grang on 28/03/2016 - 13:04

Hi

I am feeling nostalgic… I have a reasonably powerful Dell XPS 15/Nvidia 840 laptop from 2010 that is imaged blank with Vista(!) and thinking Chromium…. Battery shot, screen rez ok. Has HDMI port.

I want to make my kids an old school arcade box (wood etc) to play games on either Dosbox / Mame … something simple.

I have available (so no cost!)
- The XPS laptop
- a good 19" Samsung Panel
- alternatively raspberri pi?

Any suggestions on
1) Getting a real joystick (at least 3) button combination controller?
2) how I could combine parts with a bit of woodwork to make something they can abuse?

my kids are young!)

Computing

Comments

  • toristo on 28/03/2016 - 13:33
    +1

    Grab a Keywiz and use proper joysticks and buttons. Cost a few $, but much better feel and they're tough.

    I built one with black melamine MDF (very heavy) and got T-Edging to finish the exposed edges. I ended up selling it as it was taking up too much room and I didn't play it as much as I'd hoped.

    Edit - (Try places like this: http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/ )

  • QuickToThePointless on 28/03/2016 - 13:33
    +1

    Sound like a lot of work if its gonna end up covered in juice and peanut butter

    If i was you , id get some cheap SNES type game pads off ebay

    place the LCD on a milk crate covered in cloth and call it "Gamestation 5000" or something similar

    This way You can be whoopin them with hadoukens much sooner

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 28/03/2016 - 19:49
    +1

    I was going to build a MAME cabinet ages ago - when big screens were still expensive (but still in the MAME friendly 4:3 ratio). But then I realised it was all nostalgia. I downloaded 100s of games and I couldn't be bothered playing one for more than a few minutes. Same for NES/Master System. The best part of the MAME emulator was the in-game sound effect for when a coin was added.

  • scrimshaw on 29/03/2016 - 00:10
    +1

    You won't need the RaspPi. You might however need to buy some decent joysticks, buttons, faceplates and microswitches to truly replicate the arcade box experience. Good ones can cost up to $100 USD on Aliexpress

    but… will they even appreciate your hard work?

    Are kids even amused by old-skool games anymore? With so many HTML5 and Flash games online playable within a web browser offering better quality graphical fidelity and multiplayer options, a homebrew MAME machine seems to be a thing only for generation X peeps who wants to fulfill their childhood dream of owning a cabinet in their home.

    I mean, any twenty-something here would probably have spent hundreds of dollars bashing away at an arcade, but the new-gen teens first experience with games would have been console and mobile games. and kids under 10 will probably have been spoiled by modern gaming hardware like Nintendo DS or even smartphones.

    I mean I'd absolutely love to have a Street Fighter Alpha, Metal Slug and Beatmania IIDX rig in my basement, but anyone younger than me would probably go 'WTF this is oldschool and uncool'.

    TLDR:
    abandon your project and just use your laptop as a Chrome machine, the Chrome web store has plenty of games to keep em' entertained. Also try Newgrounds and Kongregate. Steam also has a selection of F2P games as well as very cheap Indie titles on the HumbleBundle store.

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