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The Ultimate MAME Box
Posted by
michael
on Sun Oct 19, 2003 08:58 PM
from the one-credit-to-continue dept.
from the one-credit-to-continue dept.
Strudelkugel writes "Aaron Mahler, director of network services at Sweetbriar College, has built the ultimate MAME box. His site describes his efforts in detail. Lot of cool pics, too."
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Here's the background page... (Score:5, Informative)
----cut here----
A few years ago I had this sudden desire to start collecting the arcade games I remember from my childhood in the 80's. I'm not completely certain why this notion suddenly took hold of me seemingly out of the blue. Maybe it was the nearly mint Pac-Man machine I kept walking by at the Bistro at Sweet Briar College where I work. It wasn't getting a lot of play there in the late nineties where it had lived a fairly sheltered existance for nearly 20 years.
To some extent I'm certain I had the sudden realization that it might be possible to actually own an arcade game now. I was older and had an income higher than I did when I was ten years old and had to think twice about spending a whole quarter in such a fleeting manner. As a child in the 80's the thought of owning an actual arcade game was somewhat akin to the likelihood that I could take a ride on the space shuttle just by asking nicely. This was a time when the height of excitement was a gradeschool friend having a birthday party that included a set number of FREE tokens for the gameroom at the local Chuck E. Cheese knockoff. The choices and spending power in that couple of hours was overwhelming.
Maybe it was the fact that I grew up immersed in computers and did play a lot games on the Atari 2600, my Commodore 64 or a friend's ColecoVision. This was the era when finding a console version that came close to the real game was a challenge that made the genuine arcades a luxury for their graphical prowess if not the big screen and the neat lighted marquees. There was a certain ambience to an 80's gameroom filled with noisy arcades that added a lot to the experience.
Right about the time I started eyeing the Pac-Man machine I had discovered MAME and was having a nostalgic blast not only with the games I remembered (or knew about and never got to play) but with the very concept of emulation. Those involved in the "emulation scene" will know what I'm talking about here. It becomes addictive in a very strange way. At the time, though, this fascination with emulation simply fueled my desire to own the real thing and fulfill a childhood dream.
In very short order I was absorbing everything I could find online about arcade collecting and was avidly pursuing my first classic machine. I expressed my desire to purchase the lonely Pac-Man machine in the Bistro which likely led to it being added to the next silent auction the college periodically uses to divest itself of various items. In the few months it took before I was able to get the Pac-Man I managed to score a Q*Bert machine from a guy outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. A little while later I located a BurgerTime machine in Richmond, Virginia, then a Gauntlet and a Space Duel cocktail somewhere out in the sticks southwest of here. I was calling various arcade operators all over the place and seeing what they had sitting around from the arcade heyday. Some were being thrown out and others I bought for a song. Unfortunately, I lost count of the number of operators I spoke with that had literally taken dumptruck loads of machines to the landfill in the days or weeks before I got a bug in my butt to obtain them. Afterall, one man's garbage is another geek's nostalgic obsession. It didn't please either of us that they had to pay to dispose of them and I would have paid to obtain them had my wild goose chase begun sooner.
To make a very long story shorter, I owned just over 30 machines by the time that Pac-Man that started it all came into my posession. In the meantime I had bought, repaired, sold and brokered tons of machines.
Now where does one put 30 arcade games? Well, a few of your prized ones you put in your house and try to find a tasteful way to fit them into the decor. They are most definitely not furniture and are hardly compact. Your project machines you stash in your parents' large cinderblock shed/workshop rendering it virtually unusable since the average woodworking endeavor requires more than five square
MAME Article in October 2003 Scientific American (Score:5, Informative)
(http://geartest.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 23 2002, @12:59AM)
Aaron Mahler's MAME setup was featured as The Infinite Arcade Machine: Building the world's largest video arcade--in your family room [sciam.com] (page 2 [sciam.com]) in the October 2003 issue of Scientific American. Printer-friendly version [sciam.com].
It's more retro than mine... (Score:2)
mine is cool (Score:2, Interesting)
(http://www.rabien.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 29 2003, @01:20AM)
I know how he feels (Score:4, Interesting)
Cocktail Table MAME box (Score:3, Interesting)
My dream has come true! (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Friday July 18 2003, @10:58PM)
Scientific American Article (Score:2, Informative)
He's not the only one doing this... (Score:2)
http://www.arcadecontrols.com [arcadecontrols.com]
Jubei (Score:2, Informative)
Where are the mirrors!! (Score:1)
traid at pr0n.biz in tar or zip or bz2 or gz is fine :)
Linux makes everything better (Score:1)
(http://egg.org.au/ | Last Journal: Saturday June 28 2003, @12:09AM)
SlikStik (Score:2)
(http://www.tagor.com/)
Slikstik [slikstik.com] sells both cabinets [slikstik.com] and controls [slikstik.com] making the creation of a top-quality custom cabinet a fairly simple chore.
Just add your own monitor and system of choice and you've got a professional looking cab with true arcade controls. You can even get a working coin-door.
The resources are now so easily available, there's no excuse for someone to make a Mame cabinet that doesn't look professionally built unless they just don't take their time to do it right.
Nothing New (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.techiegeeks.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 22 2003, @09:05PM)
If you want to check out an utlimate Mame box, take a look here:
1UP's Arcade [1uparcade.com]
This dude has a spinning control panel.
MIRRORED till 10/21/03 (Score:3, Informative)
(http://townlines.com/blog | Last Journal: Tuesday January 24 2006, @09:49AM)
This won't be around for long - maybe a day or two tops. someone else wnat to mirror from me?
KnoppixMame anyone?? (Score:2, Informative)
So So MAME (Score:1)
(http://www.otakumedia.com/)
THIS [robboweb.com] is what I found. Personally I think it's the best looking mame arcade done yet. It's covered in Laminate (not painted black) and decorated tastefully.
The ultimate MAME box is surely.. (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Here's a great MAME cab ! (Score:1)
(http://www.stockfilter.org/)
http://www.clatfelter.com/arcade.html [clatfelter.com]
Actually, though ... I was inspired by CmdrTaco's
MAME cab Jubei ... so the science of creating MAME
cabinets is nothing quite new.
God dammit! (Score:2)
Some people got it all...=P
Ultimate? (Score:1)
We built our own too. Plays SNES,NES,Genesis,MAME (Score:1)
(http://www.rabidsquirrel.net/)
The SquirrelCade (or Joygasm... we haven't decided yet) [rabidsquirrel.net]
We've nearly completed it and I have many pictures up if anyone is interested. I dont have any descriptions or instructions yet but I'm in the process.
If anyone is building their own and have questions or concerns, feel free to ask me. I had a blast just laying out how this entire thing was gonna work. I'd love to give some people a helping hand. My email is on my site... you can leave comments also if you have questions.
Future Cab (Score:2)
Wouldn't it have been cool... (Score:1)
left-handed second player?? (Score:2, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Thursday February 16 2006, @06:22PM)
Is that why this is the "Ultimate" MAME Box?
This has been done before (Score:3, Informative)
Here's my old cab (Score:2)
(http://www.briandeuel.com/)
Video Invasion caberet [vg-network.com]
Yeah, it's pretty ugly, but I got to test the incredible I-Pac control panel interface [ultimarc.com]. The I-Pac in my cab is the prototype for the 6-input model.
Since (sort of) getting out of the coin-op amusements business, I've been giving away free cabinets for MAME projects as I get them in, in the hopes that old, dead, "undesirable" machines get a second life as a living, breathing MAME machine.
Another great cabinet (Score:1)
Wich is also pretty awsome. This guy added 6 joysticks and 7 buttons per joystick.
For more pictures look here [lycos.nl].
Mame Arcade (Score:1)
Ahh, the joy of coin-ops!!! (Score:2)
Today I read an old copy of EDGE Retro, featuring Archer Maclean (Dropzone, IK+) having his basement converted to an arcade room.
I really envy these guys. I live in a country that coin-ops are prohibited (guess what coutry - it has the next Olympic Games) because operators turned them to gamble machines. I am considering myself building a MAME box. I hope I am not an outlaw!!!
By the way, arcade graphics are so nicer on a coin-op screen than on my 17" TFT monitor!!!
Ultimate MAME box? (Score:2, Informative)
Nice piece of hardware (Score:1)
(http://members.home.nl/seti/)
And to circumvent the lameness filter for Yelling: News at 11
cheap plug for my MAME cabinet (Score:2)
(http://www.byopvr.com/)
It doesn't run Linux, but I do have a removable star wars yoke, so that should count for something, right?
E.
Actually I think these are more worthy (Score:2)
(http://www.byopvr.com/)
1up's original rotating cabinet PacMamea [1uparcade.com]
None of these projects would be possible without ArcadeControls.com [arcadecontrols.com] and it's excellent Message Board/Community [arcadecontrols.org]
Discussion of Top 20 most inspirational mame cabinets [arcadecontrols.org]
*shrug*
E.
A simpler solution... (Score:1)
(http://rod.info/)
No where near as cool, yet my arcade controller plugs into a standard game port and uses the same classic joystick and buttons (from Happ Controls, see my site [rod.info] for links, pics and schematics).
Enjoy!
For fun? (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.redwolf.c...on/auth_sbszine.html | Last Journal: Tuesday September 06 2005, @08:29PM)
There are lots of great reasons to do this. For fun, for nostalgia, or to learn new skills. Who knows -- perhaps this will lead to some fabulous job refurbishing cocktail tables for the guy : )
Re:Why isn't he getting in trouble? (Score:1)
(http://d3faultu3r.tblog.com/ | Last Journal: Monday July 21 2003, @09:56AM)
Re:why? (Score:1)
(http://nsblog.org/)
Re:Slashdotted (Score:3, Informative)
And I am on that network too. Right now I can't even check my email from home. Someone please mirror for us...
Re:why? (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://www.electrongate/index.html)
Re:Is a REAL update too much to ask? (Score:5, Informative)
2) In MAME32, at least, go to Options -> Interface Options and check Skip disclaimer and Skip game info. This should take care of the "OK" problem.
Hope this helps.
Re:Is a REAL update too much to ask? (Score:2)
You do know that this is "retro" gaming, right?
Oh, and move the joystick left, then right... MAME accepts that as an "OK"
Re:This raises an interesting question. (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Tuesday February 24 2004, @06:10PM)
I've heard Sweetbriar is co-ed now, but I'd bet it's still predominantly female. I don't imagine this guy is hurting for dates. Ah, makes me miss my time working at Hollins...
Re:Why isn't he getting in trouble? (Score:2)
Re:cool (Score:2)
http://www.1uparcade.com/arcade-const-plans.htm
Re:Is a REAL update too much to ask? (Score:1)
(http://www.tombstone...in/index.cgi?page=56)
Re:Is a REAL update too much to ask? (Score:2)
Just move the joystick left then right. That's what I do on my arcade cab and it works great...