Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Games Entertainment

Emus And Do-It-Yourself Arcade Construction 123

Posted by CmdrTaco from the just-don't-get-a-splinter dept.
Jake Pinsky writes: "3DGN posted a large emulation feature discussing arcade emulation, Super Nintendo emulation, and even Sega Genesis emulation. It's a nice look back on the games we used to play, and it even has places where you can get the ROMs. In the section on MAME (a popular arcade emulator), the writer even discusses building your own arcade machine, and there are some photographs of the one he hollowed out and put a computer in. There's nothing like having an arcade machine in your home that can play over 400 games..."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Emus and Do-It-Yourself Arcade Construction More

Emus and Do-It-Yourself Arcade Construction

Comments Filter:
  • I'm still trying to get the quarters out of my 3.5" drive...

    -----
    My karma is still less than my age.

  • Beware (Score:5)

    by redtoade ( 51167 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @10:14AM (#878614) Homepage Journal
    How wise is it to post these kinds of stories? I really wish that Slashdot wouldn't.

    Let's go over what we've learned, shall we? Nobody gave a crap about Napster, until it became public knowledge what Napster really was. Then 'lo and behold... .... Everybody and their mother are downloading from Napster. RIAA now has enough evidence to gain an injunction (albeit temporary).

    I enjoy emulators. These ancient games are why I became interested in computers to begin with. We all did. We wanted to program these games for ourselves... this was before Nintendo. So checking out the ROMs and source on these babies is a wet dream for me.

    But, thanks to idiots and their concepts of intellectual properties (which is unconstitutional unless a patent is involved... don't believe me? Read the constitution) want money for doing nothing. And some marketing major is going to read these articles and say, "wow, what a good idea... we can charge for this. I'll take these articles to my boss and show him that there's a market for this stuff." We always get things taken away because we aren't smart enough TO KEEP OUR MOUTHS SHUT!

    I guarantee you some MBA from Namco is going to file suit against MAME in the next few weeks.

    Rule #1: If someone is having a good time, there's money to be made.
    Rule #2: Anyone can make money, it takes a wise person to spend (and acquire) it well.

    Therefore, any good time will be inevitably ruined by some greedy moron trying to make money. The only thing that protects us is that they're not involved in our world. They don't even know that emulators exist. So please, stop informing them!
  • its already being done. sony suing bleem!, conectix (play station emulators). Nintendo trying to sue Ultrahle(n64 emulator) and so on. I dealt with it when I was into emulators in early college and my old company still hosts a majority of the emulator websites. pretty much the rule is stay away from roms and you stay out of trouble.
  • I posted a comment about this yesterday[or was it the day before?]... and it's only a matter of time before Jon Katz writes up an article about it all.

    "The oppressed geek culture will rise up against evil corporate America and download ROMs through file sharing." --preview of future Jon Katz post

    -={(Astynax)}=-
  • The definitive site to learn how to build your own arcade machine, such as a MAME arcade machine which will allow you to play the classic 80s games:
    Build Your Own Arcade Controls [speedhost.com]

  • MAME cabinets (Score:4)

    by rattid ( 214610 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @10:18AM (#878618)
    For awhile I was facinated by these. I wanted one, I wanted one bad.I did some searching around and found Arcade Controls [arcadecontrols.com]. Great site with a lot of info.

    But Im a wimpy geek that works 40 hours a week. I have no where near enough time to put one of these together. So I was going to find someone to do it for me. I found Arcade 2000 [arcade2000.com]. It seemed great, he seemed like a really nice guy. After a few weeks I was ready to order from him, then got an email from some former customers.

    "Dont buy from Arcade 2000" they said. Upon further investigation, I realized this guy handn't shipped a single machine, and took over 6 months to give refunds, some didnt get refunds at all.

    So what Im trying to say is: Dont buy from Arcade 2000 (or at least buy at your own risk), and I still want to buy an Arcade Machine, anyone know where I can get one?

  • Dude! How did I miss that one?

    I checked a whole bunch of low sids, but must've skipped that one or something. Check my new signature now.

    (too bad there wasn't room for both :-) )
    --
  • Who's the black private dick, who's a sex machine for all the chicks?

    And you, Sir, just got on my list.

  • I have MAME and was playing Zaxxon the other day (classic game) when I started thinking about other even older games and this led me to reminiscing about Larn.

    My dad builds Perl tools for other developers and about 20 years ago had a modem and terminal at home - I was 6 or 7 - and he showed me how to play. I was hooked. Seriously, Larn is one of the greatest games ever. My question is, does anyone still play Larn? Or even know what it is?

  • Don't use a monitor for these video games!!! (Score:3)

    by xtal ( 49134 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @10:20AM (#878622)

    For a coupla hundred bucks get yourself a 25" or 27" television set (like the originals use) and then get a good quality TV out card like a Matrox G400 or an ATI Card -> these games aren't that hard on video cards - and then you have a MONSTER display for the cost of a good quality 17", and since the games were designed to run at these resolutions, you don't lose anything.


  • I think you should look up the definition of 'facetious [m-w.com]'.


    --
  • Oh, MAN I want a Gorf machine.... with the big flightstick... mmmm......
  • Of course, this only tells me you can't appreciate a game just for the pleasure it gave one. I remember having alot of fun playing Star Trek on the UC computers with the teletype machine and who can forget dungeons and dragons..."grib it...grep it...grab it!!!".
  • Wow, down here among the trolls there's a bit of gold.

    Now, I say this with a mixture of awe, agreement and general empathy... but sweet bleeding zombie jesus, what the fuck IS that? I want the who, what, where, why, when and how for this...

  • Favorites (Score:4)

    by SheldonYoung ( 25077 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @10:21AM (#878627)
    Why are these things so popular? Simple, because we all have favorite games and fondly remember the ones that drew us in and kept us up at night. The newer games have multimedia product value up to your artistic assets, but almost none of them seem to be able to push the same adrenaline buttons.

    For me, it was Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe and Dungeon Master on the Amiga. Or Doom, Wing Commander 3 and Half-Life on the PC. Or Avenger on the VIC-20.

    We want to experience the same rush we did the first time around, but it's just never the same. Much like your first kiss, even if the second is exactly the same, the experience has lost some of it's magic.

    Go play Pong or Gorf. I'm going to go find something I haven't done and expand my experiences.
  • I think he's kidding....

  • I won't flame ya, but I'll throw out this: when I'm flying coast to coast, I'd much rather watch a movie of my choice on my laptop then watch a dull in-flight movie. My Dell Inspiron 3700 is the envy of all... I've had people ask me if they could sit by me (if there's an empty seat) so they could watch it too. DVDs are super-sharp and the audio is fantastic, too. When I'm at home, I'll use my home theater setup, but on the road nothing is better than the laptop.
  • Here's a letter I sent to taco. He hasn't responded. Please write him to show your support for making me an author.

    --Shoeboy

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Peter Johnson
    Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2000 11:58 PM
    To: 'malda@slashdot.org'
    Subject: something to consider

    Dear Malda,

    I think you should make me a slashdot author. While I may not have the raw sex appeal of roblimo or the deep and morbid fascination with Marilyn Manson lyrics that characterizes Jamie, I do have several areas of expertise that would make me a good fit. For starters, I am hated by nearly every regular reader on your site - this should guarantee Jon Katz level flames for every story I post. Additionally, I fully agree with your "pants are optional" philosophy, in fact I frequently remove my pants while thinking about you and your site. If that wasn't enough, I also spend a lot of time monitoring websites that are of interest to a large number of slashdot readers but are not currently covered by any of your current authors - specifically goatse.cx, olsentwins.com and natalieportman.com.

    I have an extensive background in journalism dating back to high school when I edited the inmate newsletter at Decker Lake Youth Correctional facility in beautiful Salt Lake City Utah. My penetrating expose on forcible sodomy in the shower room led to an investigation by the state as well as several beatings. Since then I have kept my skills sharp by writing erotic "Sailor Moon" fan fictions and posting them anonymously on your website.

    And that's not all. I also haven't had sex in the last 3 months - this gives me incredible empathy for the plight of the average slashdotter.

    But wait, there's more. I also drive by the Microsoft main campus once a month and moon the flags outside of building 11. If this doesn't demonstrate the soundness of my moral code, I don't know what does.

    Still not convinced? I also hate Microsoft, love Linux and xBSD, appreciate python, use napster, hate Jack Valenti, get sheared every spring for my valuable coat of wool and consider mySQL to be competitive with Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.

    Am I a perfect or what?

    --Peter "Shoeboy" Johnson

    User # 16224

  • Oh, yeah! I nearly forgot this one...

    Years back there was an outfit called The Software Distillery which made graphic versions of NetHack and Larn for the Amiga. Wow! Fun! Rocky has made the dianthrositis(sp?) cure trek 11 times and it's getting pretty tough.

    Someone else did some fair representations of Omega and Moria.

    Do not enter the dungeon naked, the monsters will laugh at you

  • PalmOS Larn (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    There's a PalmOS version of Larn & Rogue, available at http://roguelike-palm.sourceforge.net I'm hooked to it myself, even though I'm not that good.
  • I know very little about Tristan A. Farnon, the creator of Leisure Town [leisuretown.com]. However, I believe he can be contacted at correspondence@leisuretown.com (or at least that is the contact provided on his DNS entry).

    I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that someone enjoyed the link I provided (and timothy the gun nut rejected).

    Leisure Town [leisuretown.com]

    yours,
    john
    Trollin' for Art since 1992!
  • Absolutely in agreement. Emulated games are a load of unmitigated ass. The real deal is IT, period. Original, dedicated, full-size cabinets. Anything else is fundamentally useless, as anyone who grew up playing the classics in the early 80's knows. These emu JAMMA cabinets are particularly heinous- nothing exclaims "missing the point" quite as loudly and clearly as those do.
  • Back during my freshman year in college I purchased a 1983 Star Wars arcade machine. The looks from people strolling past my dorm room were classic. I had to start charging money (two plays for a quarter) just so I could get some peace. I ended up selling it, but man, those were the days.

    Arcade games run from a few hundred for old classics to several grand for the latest and the greatest at various auctions. Self built emulators sound pretty cool, but it's just not the same.

    ....

  • A tilt sensor is very easy to add to an cabinet. arcadecontrols.com has some details I believe, and at least one cabinet manu includes a tilt sensor with their product.
  • In the beginning Japan created the Sega and the Nintendo. Now the Nintendo was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Gamers of Japan were hovering near the television. And God said, "Let there be Super Tecmo Bowl," and there was Super Tecmo Bowl, and it was good.
  • You should try to play a pinball game on my PC. Somewhere in all those cables that I have removed end replugged a dozen times, there is a mysterious shortcut or a ground connection.
    Sometimes if you so much as open the cd drawer or insert a floppy, the bios crashes. At other times, you could play your favorite drum song on the case. Just plaibn weird.

    If you are interested I can sell it to you ;-)

  • Greetings uh... "Shoeboy" (hee hee),

    I know this post isn't really related to the topic, so please be patient with me. I apologize for taking your time as I'm sure you are a very busy person.

    Anyway, there's this person at work who said I needed to get in touch with you. Something about an "apprentice" and learning about Karma. I'm not totally sure what he was talking about -- he's the kind of nut who drives around in a pickup truck with a gun rack and an American flag sticker. He was very serious about me finding you on slashdot, though.

    Perhaps you could e-mail me and explain what he was talking about. He also said I should say "pet goat". I don't know why.

    Thank you and I apologize again for wasting everyone's time here on Slashdot.

  • Force feedback tech isn't good enough yet (Score:3)

    by bee ( 15753 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:45AM (#878641) Homepage Journal
    I've played enough pinball simulators to know-- until force feedback tech gets a lot better than it is now, pinball emulators will always be a sad shadow of the real thing. Any good player can feel the kickers and the bumpers when they fire, can nudge the machine when they fire to put some extra kick into it, and so forth. I've seen some decently-designed tables in emulators (Timeshock comes to mind), but until force-feedback gets better than just the controller shaking in your hand (ala the pinball machine Earthshaker from 1989), we'll never have good pinball emulation.

    Ask a race driver about the force feedback from the video games Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin'; they'll tell you it's a bit better than say Pole Position, but still far short. Same concept here.

    ---
  • Just when I thought that Eastern Michigan University was good at something other than bowling.

    -----
    My karma is still less than my age.
  • Funny, I can't seem to recall that one (no clinton jokes please). Do you remember the name? (It wasn't the one where the robot tried to hide itself, was it? the robot without the three laws?)

    I'll have to check the book when I get home, but I don't think that was a part of I, Robot. Remember, it was just a collection of short stories strung together to form a larger future history. It's really neat how the stories are unrelated and all stand well on their own, but become a breathtaking conclusion when put together on their own. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury did the same thing, but it was a bit more depressing. OTOH, I, Robot can also be quite depressing too, as the human race kind of loses its free will at the end.
    --
  • I love that song....

    --

  • Try Hanaho Games [hanaho.com]. Nice place, great service.
  • "Just plaibn weird"

    Did you used to be on a cartoon called "Fat Albert" ?

  • A classic gaming story, posted by Taco? Come on Emmett, where are ya? It even talks about building your own cabinet! :)
  • Hanaho looks pretty cool, but someone needs to make a pre-fab cabinet like this that you can add your own monitor to... The price is $798 for the low-end box, but that's including a 19" monitor...

    ideally it would be a box that would let you rotate your monitor 90 degrees so you could do the different orientation games realistically.
  • The Alan Parsons' Project album I, Robot is also most excellent. I suggest you get it, assuming you're not boycotting RIAA. (It's an Arista release.)

    As for the game - the following comes from Videotopia [videotopia.com]:
    I, Robot, Atari Inc., 1984. Originally titled "Ice Castles", I, Robot was the first game to feature 3-D polygon graphics. It even allowed you to just "doodle" with the polygon objects rather than actually play the game. Although I, Robot was not a success, it was the direct ancestor of today's most sophisticated polygon racing and fighting games. Only 1000 I, Robots were ever produced. 500 stayed in North America, and 500 were reportedly exported to Japan.

    There's also a picture of it next to it on the site, click here [videotopia.com].
  • SNK is not ceasing its US arcade operations. Metal Slug 3 has been quite a good seller, as I recall. I can't seem to find a link, but only the NGPC is ceasing distribution in the US and europe.
  • Whoa... never knew that the little birdies could pull *that* off. I mean, how do they hold the tools to even build the case?

    Raptor
  • Back when i was VERY young, our house had a rec room in the basement, complete with bar and.....

    an arcade game.

    It was a very old one, Car Polo(made in 1977) to be exact. it was like a cocktail cabinet(monitor faced up), but 4 people stood up and had steering wheels and a gas pedal. Basically, it was playing Tennis with cars.

    I have no idea how anyone got it downstairs since this cabinet was H U G E. Eventually the game died, but for some reason we kept the monitor after for awhile.

    I would love to have one of those mini-cabinets like they had at the Minnesota State fair, but would be more than happy with a used cocktail for MAME. Now getting it situiated in my apartment would be a problem. Oh well, it would make a nice dining table.

    I'd be happy with just a pre-83 marquee to stick on top of my monitor at work.
  • Do yourself a favor: Buy an old Jamma Cabinet that needs some TLC(maybe $150 tops) and buy boards!

    Where does one buy boards?
  • And here I thought I was just being a jerk...

    ---
    Despite rumors to the contrary, I am not a turnip.
  • Prepare to meet a Gorfian doom, Spaaaaace Ca-det!
  • OM*G, am I really that dumb?

    (the obvious answer is no, I just pretend. In the movies. Yeah, that's it.)

    --

  • Re:Beware (Score:3)

    by Accipiter ( 8228 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @11:04AM (#878657)
    How wise is it to post these kinds of stories? I really wish that Slashdot wouldn?t.

    Um, you're hinting at "Security by Obscurity." As you know, this model does NOT work.

    Emulation has been a big thing for a long time. MAME has been around for awhile. Many emulation sites exist. If it wasn't posted on Slashdot, it would have been posted somewhere else.

    Believe me, the game companies are WELL aware of emulators. Trying to keep them secret is pointless.

    Plus, you love emulators so much....How do you expect others to share your love of this technology if it's kept secret?

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • Re:Beware (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Commando ( 6326 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @11:58AM (#878658)

    I guarantee you some MBA from Namco is going to file suit against MAME in the next few weeks

    That's a pretty safe bet, considering that it already happened over two years ago:
    Anti-Piracy Forces Target Arcade Classics [techweb.com], TechWeb, April 22, 1998

    I believe that MAME was never directly attacked - they couldn't prove that MAME in and of itself was illegal (a la Sony vs. Bleem), so their lawyers got very busy sending "cease and desist" notices to every site hosting ROMs for MAME.

    A few games have been liberated [mame.net] - the original copyright holders have given permission for the ROMs to be distributed. However, I've never heard of these games before, and I suspect that the majority of people get their ROMs from so-called "underground" sites.

    The main source I had used for ROMs gave a 10-day warning before removing them from their server - more than enough time to mirror their entire collection to my hard drive... And no, I'm not going to set up a mirror site, so please don't ask. :=]
    ________________________

  • People like you who develop rational solutions to games are boring. A rational solution takes all the fun out of game play.

    Unfortunately, Larn is a pretty tedius game after you've won a few times. You find strategies to whack as many demon princes as you can, solve the game as fast as you can, accumulate the maximum score (which leaves an insurmountable tax bill, should your character play the next level.)

    NetHack has gone through significant change in a short span of years that it no longer bears resemblance to the version I first played. There's endless strategies and variations and it's certainly become more difficult, where a game can take days to finish. Moria similarly, as you must explore 50 levels of dungeon (with unique attributes on pretty much everything.) Omega was along the par of Larn for difficulty, but a very long play as there are many in-game quests.

    In brief, Larn is pretty much the Pac-man of rogue-like games.
  • I'm waiting for a pinball emulator. Hopefully realistic enough so you can whack the side of your monitor and get a "TILT!" message.

    P.S. "Pinball Emu" .. isn't that a Who song?
    --
  • Yeah, man! FUCK Jack Valenti!

    (Is this post going to drop my Karma, or does that no longer happen?)

  • Neo-Geo! (Score:3)

    by waldoj ( 8229 ) <waldo.jaquith@org> on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:24AM (#878662) Homepage Journal
    I like the Neo-Geo mention -- didn't those things used to cost something like $500 for the machine and $120 / game or something? I remember being about 11 years old when that came out, and utterly in awe of its very being. The price made it all the more desirable. Naturally, I never knew or even heard of anybody owning one. I bet I could get one real cheap now. :)

    Anybody have any memories of these things? Anybody every actually *own* one?

    -Waldo
    -------------------
  • So have a lot of sites. I can't see the one referenced (the filter nazis) but other than that there is Zophar's Domain [zophar.net] that has been a good resource for a long time.

    Rom sites don't stay up long though usually...

  • That's actually pretty cool. I haven't been able to talk myself into getting a Palm. Too easy to spend money on other toys. I'd probably end up using it to play games on flights, rather than store important info in it.
  • The true question is, can you get so that both joysticks and buttons work AT THE SAME TIME?!?

  • Stupid Headline (Score:3)

    by Mike Schiraldi ( 18296 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:24AM (#878666) Homepage Journal
    I just read that story three times in a row, and i can't find a single reference to an emu. And i can't imagine that one would be any good at constructing an arcade console.
    --
  • Several arcade sites sell boards. Ebay has a steady stream of arcade parts for sale. Lots of people just buy the board and swap it into their cabinet.
  • (Is this post going to drop my Karma, or does that no longer happen?)
    I think that if your karma is >= 50, it can't go up or down. It's a cool bug.
    --Shoeboy

  • the poll (Score:1)

    by Lxy ( 80823 )
    I think people who step on puppies need hot grits down their pants. At least Kevorkian and Nazis have a political agenda (aka something to prove). Puppy-stepper-on'ers are just mean.

    I grep, therefore I am
  • oh dear lord -- someone who has a love for the Gradius series as myself....

    I can only hope you read this, but if you're interested in Gradius 3, maybe you'd like to grab a mod-chipped playstation and buy a copy (about 20-25$ if I remember when I purchased mine) of Gradius 3 - japan... I know it's not MAME or anything, but the playstation version is AWESOME to say the least... I e-mailed Konami about releasing this gem in the states, and they have no plans to ... ugh...
  • cd players, at least discmen, are only baned during take off/landing.

    AFAIK, the only devices that are banned for the entire flight are actual radios and devices that send radio signals --like cell phones and beepers
  • How long until ELSPA and whatever the US equvalent is have a huge lawsuit against the people who write these emulators. We know they will. Not because they make money from the games. No. This is all about them trying to control what we play. They're really going to get annoyed by the fact that people might be downloading old games instead of buying new ones.

    We need to stop them before they start. Boycott the games industry now.

  • You don't need a monitor with some of the cards. I'm using a Asus TNT2 card with TV out and it even shows you the bios startups, not using linux (Mame32 runs faster, and has a nicer gui, from what I can tell), so I can't speak of X support, but you can definately completely do away with the monitor with one of these cards..

  • Honestly, at one point I had 5 arcade machines(Street Fighter 2 enhanced, Rolling Thunder, Contra, Aliens, and Star Wars), and I would never even think about putting a crappy emu in a cab and pass it off as an arcade machine. With the growing number of Games coming slotted for Jamma cabinets, just shell out $30-$80 for a board per game. I just bought a Final Final Jamma board, which I swap in and out of my Simpsons Cab. Do yourself a favor: Buy an old Jamma Cabinet that needs some TLC(maybe $150 tops) and buy boards!

  • Doesn't compare (Score:4)

    by hruzaden ( 219079 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:55AM (#878675)
    Emulating a video arcade game is nothing like the real deal. I own several full size uprights (Galaga, Robotron, and Joust to name a few)

    Playing the game on a PC and standing in front of the real deal are 2 totally different things. Horz and Vert monitors, control layout, joysticks, buttons and cabinet looks have a lot to do with the overall experience of playing a game.

    If you want to see some old school games or take a trip down memory lane, then yeah, the emulators are cool. But for the overall experience they fall short.

    Try playing a game like Robotron emulated..lame. Now try standing in front the real deal and playing...takes your nerves and sends them through a blender...big difference.

    They have their place. Long as it's not taking up floor space for the real deal.

  • I've actually built one of these things. And I'm not the only one :) Check out http://arcadeathome.efront.com/pics.phtml for lots of examples. Also, check out http://www.hanaho.com for some pre-built cabinets and controls. It's cool to be able to tell your friends you've got over 10 nintendo games ;)
  • At least some made it to the UK as well, not seen one for a while now tho'
  • Man, I don't know what this has to do with emulation, but you're right: Leisuretown is beautiful!
  • Sorry. This is a mailing list you can't refuse, daddy-o.

    The warm greetings that you'll soon be receiving come straight from my cabin workshop in Montana.

  • Check out http://www.ilovearcades.com/ [ilovearcades.com] and http://www.ilovearcades.com/josh/josh.htm [ilovearcades.com].

    The latter is a coworker's page who has the screen rotated vertically..the machine is beautiful.

  • well in a post-columbine world, what else can he do?
  • OOPS! Wrong URL for the pic. Click here instead. [www.videotopia]
  • Legend of Zelda and Contra just look wrong on a crisp $700 21. However, they look perfectly in line with the original when I use the composite line out on my cheap ($25) Trident or my slightly less cheap ($90) ATI, and connect it to my nice $200 27 TV.
  • It doesnt make sense to me...I've read the article and I dont even see a mention of EMU!!! I've used many emulators for a couple years...Mike Tysons Punchout for good ol' Nintendo is my favorite. The ROM's are usually relatively easy to find, but the sites aren't worth bookmarking because they usually dont last for more than a couple months. I can't wait to start using the emulators again and try them with an optical mouse, and perhaps a joystick. I was just thinking that software companies that make games could produce a game which would allow a webcam to put a picture of the user on the screen, and they could play the game with a wheel, pedal, ball or bat. I think it's an interesting concept that would take off. btw...did they even mention emu?
  • MAME, for example, allows you to enter "Cheat Codes" so you can make PacMan move faster, or give you unlimited lives, etc. For those who couldn't finish a level to see the more advanced features of the game, these emulators are for you.

    Also MAME allows you to take the arcade with you on a Laptop, or even a Windows CE / PocketPC [mamece.com] no PalmOS support yet. The PalmOS devices can bearly emulate a Gameboy much less an arcade machine.

    Anyway the advantage of the real deals is that they have the original Controllers. The controllers for MAME stink unless you have one like the arcade has with spinners and so forth.

  • I'm a hardware tech, and trust me you can whack the side of your monitor and get a "tilt" message (of sorts).
  • Were those on the C64. All this 3D stuff is tedius even to look at. Give me M.U.L.E. [mediaone.net] anyday.

    Nearly as addicting was Ralph Reed's (not sure if he isn't the religious zealot) BattleMech on the Amiga. (I still play from time to time, tho I need a new mouse.)
  • "My puppy died, late last fall, he's still rotting in the hall. Dead puppies aren't much fun. No, no, no. Mom says puppie's days are though. She's going to throw him in the stew. Dead puppies aren't much fun."
  • I, Robot (Atari, 1983) - Not only is this the first game to use polygons, it's also quite a good game.

    What about Atari Star Wars (also 1983) and Atari's Battle Zone Cabinet (1981). Didn't they use polygons?

  • I see you are advocating "Silence = Freedom"

    As you've said, most of these things aren't
    constitutional... indeed, only if it's for a
    valid purpose of advancement of science etc.,
    and then only for a reasonable length of time,
    per the constitution, is a patent allowed to
    stand.

    Of course, most of us ignore these prohibitions
    ( no pun intended ) as long as they continue
    to serve society.

    I would say, though, that I have no interest in
    hiding. Let them come, I say. Let's have it
    out. There is no logic in the arguments against
    this stuff... it's just pandering to fear. And
    by hiding out, we make ourselves look criminal.

    We know that's not true. Precedent is behind us.
    The Constitution is behind us, only baseless
    arguments to the contrary by people with special
    interests are before us.

    Until the common mindset of the public / judiciary
    changes, we will have these problems. We won't
    change things by skulking about.

    Anyway, that's just my opinion. While it might
    seem quieter to do this stuff on the sly, maybe
    if this stuff gets interesting, more interested
    developers will get involved, and companies will
    pre-think these things... maybe steal our thunder,
    god bless'm.

    how about open-sourcing those ROMs?
  • Nope. I'm simply using a RIM [rim.net].
  • Forgot to mention, the games in my prior post were refered to as Rogue-like games.

    A strategy I employed in Larn was the following:

    Get leather armor and dagger.

    Enter dungeon and grab whatever you can.

    Sell chest from first level, since it's probably crap anyway.

    Use money to buy an identify scroll as soon as possible

    Pile up your goodies outside the dungeon, nobody's going to steal them.

    As soon as you have more scrolls and potions than you can carry, drop everything at your goodie pile.

    Pick up only scrolls and potions.

    Walk over identify scroll and recite it.

    Sell all the stoopid curse stuff, telports, etc.

    Repeat as necessary, usually I keep my unknown scrolls outside dungeon until identification.

    Pile up gems and hoard scrolls of Gem perfection.

    Periodically evaluate gems (bank i think) and sell those worth less than 1,000. Use cash for potions and stuff.

    If you find a scroll of permanence (i think) keep it until you can cast globe, heroism, walk through walls, haste, etc. then use it.

    Take the eye of larn to the bank as fast as you can, it loses value as time passes.

    Recite scrolls of GP on gems when you have a nice pile.

    If you don't want to pay taxes for next game, I think you can pay in advance. Or just minimize wealth before finishing (unless you love big scores)

  • Anyone know where I might find some Joust ROMs? No, not images for an emulator, but physical ROM chips for a real Joust machine?


    ---
  • The article mentions the pc2jamma deal.

    If we stick to using the emulators on a PC (keyboard, monitor, mouse or joystick), which was the main subject of the article, you can only press so many buttons on a keyboard at once. Even with a joystick hooked up try playing multi-joystick or trackball game.

    With the cabinet/hardware setup they are using, you have to choose what type of games you are going to play on your setup, horz or vert. You are also tied into having one control setup for everything you play.

    My idea of enjoying a game isn't swapping out control panels or twisting displays around.

    The main reason for my saying they don't compare was "Horz and Vert monitors, control layout, joysticks, buttons and cabinet looks have a lot to do with the overall experience of playing a game."

    I think it's a cool deal and will probally throw one together some time, but I would still feel the same way.

    There's just something about playing the real deal that makes it an experience more than just a game.

  • Re:Neo-Geo! (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I do. I have a 1 slot NEOGEO Arcade PCB with 18 game carts for it. I also have 3 flavors of SFII, SFII Alpha, and TMNT. And I play them all at home with a JAMMA rig. If your interested in doing the same I suggest you troll the web for devices called "Super-Guns" "Super-Novas" "Vega Jr." or find a JAMMA pinout and roll your own (it's not rocket science, basic electronic skills will do). The basic function of these devices is to provide power to the PCB, Map the control switches and convert RGB to Composite or SVideo. Auction sites are sometimes a good place to look for these. You too can have an arcade at home without the large bulky cabs, all 21 of my games fit in one corner of my small (500sq') place. and for a total cost of about $1200 (keep in mind, thats for all 21 games). I haven't touched my emulators after I got this rig. I was BIG emu fan (I have over 1500 rom images on disk, 100 of them are NEO-GEO). To quote my brother about a week after I got the rig running "screw emulators, their gay". =)
  • Those were among the many vector based games that atari produced. The diffrence (I belive) is that a polygon is a surface, where the vector arcade machines where just lines connected to make shapes....

    ----------------------------------------------
  • Well, that makes sense, and is a good use of expensive gadgetry to do something that can't be done otherwise. (not that expensive gadgetry needs to be justifified...)

    I'm just laughing at people who have a 21"-27" TV in their living room in front of the couch, but watch DVDs on a 17" monitor sitting in an office chair. :)
  • The past is often remembered selectively. It makes the memories more pleasant. It's the same reason why our parents love those "oldies-but-goldies".

    For me, these games are playing Hat Trick or Afterburner with my best friend during high school.

    Those old games remind me of the days when I could go cruisin' with some good friends after school and not have to worry about finding my next contract so I can make my freakin' mortgage this month.
  • I've never heard of anyone owning one either, but instead of getting one real cheap, I recommend getting MAME for free, which can handle not only about a gazillion arcade machines but also Neo-Geo.

  • Re:Pinball emu? (Score:3)

    by freebe ( 174010 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:32AM (#878701) Homepage
    Hmm... I haven't been able to accomplish that, but whenever I play "Roll 'em Up" (a cross-platform pinball game), I can kick my case and get messagess... I'm still wondering why this stupid game calls a tilt a "kernel panic".

  • I don't know about htis... (Score:3)

    by Jon Shaft ( 208648 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:34AM (#878704) Homepage Journal
    I don't know if I'd actaully want something like this. The feeling of having an old original arcade game in my house would be intresting, but having something that could just emulate one of the older games like that? What's wrong with just owning a Super Nintendo or Genesis.. .and if you wanna make money off it charge your friends (Watch em go fast). I think having the old arcade game would be much better. It'd be nice to look and see the artwork of an old Street Fighter II or Wrestlefest arcade game on the side. Oh welps, I guess I'm just in the older odder generation.

  • Re:Neo-Geo! (Score:3)

    by Ayon Rantz ( 210766 ) <qristus@hotmail.com> on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:35AM (#878706) Homepage
    The Neo-Geo was actually two machines.. One meant for arcades and one for home users. The home user version was, as you say, ridiculously expensive, but I think it must have been worth it, seeing the quality of the games.. Although the majority of the games released were fighting games a la Street Fighter, you do have some neat car games and true side scroller gems like Metal Slug 1 & 2..

    You also have the Neo Geo CD machine, which I've never tried, and the Neo Geo Pocket, a quite recent and apparently very neat handheld console.

    However, SNK announced a few months ago that it's ceasing all operations [ebworld.com] in the US and Europe, so good luck finding one or games for it outside of Japan from now on :(

    You can find a bit of info about the Neo Geo at EmulationZone [emulationzone.org].
    --

  • Got one at home (Score:3)

    by henri ( 189 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @10:03AM (#878707) Journal
    i went out and bought a cabinet, 2 joysticks,
    8 buttons (1p start, 2p start, 3buttons/player)

    for $25

    stuck my sister's amd K6-300 in it (she was out
    of town :) and a 14" monitor that i had (max
    resolution 640x480).

    another $40 later (2 keyboards and a mouse) i
    had a working arcade box.

    it's a blast, i don't think i've played a "normal"
    computer game since. plus it's great for partys.

    now if i could only get my pinball machine to
    display the scores correctly....

    You could build a _really_ nice cabinet for about
    $800 (19" .71dot-pitch monitor, p3-600) plus
    you could use it as an mp3 jukebox (just add
    an irman) if it's next to a stereo!

    you could get more use out of it by making it
    the ipmasq box for the house...

    the only problem w/ my cab is that it makes too
    much noise (i spin down my hd, no powersupply fan
    only the cpu fan) when the TV and stereo are
    off in the living room. if only Via would release
    their latest Cyrix chip that can run w/ only
    a heat sink.....
  • When I got an ATI TV tuner card and an ATI Rage with TV output, giving me the ability to watch TV on my TV, through a $2000 computer.

    ---
    Despite rumors to the contrary, I am not a turnip.

  • I'm curious if anyone has built a dedicated emulator machine, and if so what CPU/Video Card combination is ideal.

    I'm curious, as running some games, such as Gradius 3 [klov.com] (which I have a masochistic love of), are *really* slow in parts. Like 10 FPS or so. (Average FPS when running Gradius 3 is about 17, as opposed to the 60 FPS or so in 1943).

    I'm in the process of testing my skillz by building an arcade joystick. (Thanks be to http://www.arcadecontrols.speedh ost.com/ [speedhost.com] and Happ Controls [happcontrols.com] for information and parts respectively). If this is successful, I would like to find and strip down an old console. But I'm not going to do it if all the games I want to play run like shit =)

    More to the points, are there any tips/advice for speeding up MAME and/or other emulators? Specific video settings, etc?

    --
  • You remember that great scene in I, Robot (by Asimov) where the robot had to walk around a big tiled floor to change all the tile colors while someone was trying to zap him with lasers, don't you? The arcade was a perfectly faithful adaptation of the story, and totally preserved the deep and meaningful plotline.

    Yeah, that kind of stuff really makes you think about whether our machines will someday develop to the point where they have souls of their own.

    ---
    Despite rumors to the contrary, I am not a turnip.

  • First Penguins, now Emus. . . . . (Score:3)

    by Cy Guy ( 56083 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @11:25AM (#878725) Homepage Journal
    What's this thing that SlashDot as for flightless birds that live in the Southern Hemisphere?

    I mean, emus aren't even cute and cuddly like penguins. Though according to the Encyclopedia Britannica emu meat tastes like beef, which is curious for a bird, since so many non-birds have meat that tastes like chicken.


    Help [206.253.208.199]
  • How much did you pay for your several full size uprights? I'll bet it was more than the $0 I paid to download MAME and a bunch of ROMS.
  • the price i quoted included a wellsgarner monitor.

    these are VGA monitors that have the same
    dot-pitch as arcade monitors, but you can still
    use them to boot X (or windows if you have to)

    i think the url is: www.wellsgarner.com [wellsgarner.com] but it doesn't seem to be working... better than dealing with TV-out and not=TVout, when do you switch, having two displays hooked up...etc. _maybe_ w/ the matroxfb stuff you could set the frequency of the console to work with a vga->rgb converter and see your boot messages on the TV otherwise it gets to be tough...

  • I, Robot? (Score:3)

    by MostlyHarmless ( 75501 ) <artdent AT freeshell DOT org> on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:37AM (#878729)
    I, Robot (Atari, 1983) - Not only is this the first game to use polygons, it's also quite a good game. The object is to change the color of the floor sections (a-la Paintbrush or Q-Bert) and to avoid getting shot by the big laser in the process. There is also a special mode that allows you to just paint images with your robot, something you would never see in an arcade game today (unless you were playing some strange Japanese game).


    Does this have any relation to the famous I, Robot by Asimov? That is one classic book. Just from the tiny screenshot, it looks like the only connection is the name. Was the name licensed? Did they just use it to get people interested in the game? If anyone has ever played this game, please respond with your thoughts.

    BTW, if you haven't read I, Robot, READ IT!. It is a classic.

    --

  • Re:Neo-Geo! (Score:5)

    by stubob ( 204064 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:37AM (#878730) Homepage
    I don't know if any of this is correct, but there is a Neo-Geo faq here [gamefaqs.com].
    For the geeks (from the faq):
    Processor: Motorola 68000(12 Mhz, 16-bit), Zilog-80A(4 Mhz, 8-bit)
    (technically a 16-bit machine, not 24-bit)
    Resolution: 320x224
    Color Palette: 65,536
    Maximum Colors On-Screen: 4,096
    Maximum Sprites On-Screen: 380
    Minimum Sprite Size: 1x2
    Maximum Sprite Size: 16x512
    Maximum Amount of Game Planes: 3
    Sound Channels: 4-FM synthesis, 7-Digital, 3-PSG, 1-Noise channel
    Internal RAM: Work RAM: 64Kb
    Video RAM: 68Kb
    Z80 RAM: 2Kb
    Memory Card(see below)

    The NEOGEOCD has all, including a single-speed CD-ROM drive,
    64Kb of Static RAM, 512Kb Video RAM, cool loading screens, and 56 Mbits of D-RAM! The
    CDZ, likewise, except with more cache and a faster CD controller.

    I seem to remember them being much better than that. Maybe it was just the cd-rom that was so cool.


    -----
    My karma is still less than my age.

  • Ah, the advance of technology! (Score:5)

    by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Friday August 04, 2000 @09:37AM (#878732) Homepage
    I shall spend $5,000 for a multimedia computer, outfit it with top of the line speakers and subwoofers! Now, I will purchase a bass-boosting seat for added realism! Then, I will purchase additional monitors to place around me to give me 180 degree+ field of vision!

    Then I'll load up PacMan.

    This reminds me an awful lot about the linked Onion article:

    http://www.theonion.com/onion3308/realtimetv.htm l
    Titled: New $5,000 Multimedia Computer System Downloads Real-Time TV Programs, Displays Them On Monitor

Slashdot Top Deals

Too much of everything is just enough. -- Bob Wier

Close