History For a long time now I have been thinking of building my self a replica of a good old arcade machine, to replay my favourite games from the 80’s on. Until now I haven’t had the space to fulfil this "dream" of mine, but as I have moved to a new big flat I will start on this project. After reading everything I could find on the net about constructing and building your own arcade cabinet for a couple of weeks I had decided on what design to go for. My main inspiration source was one of my all time favourite games, the “Double Dragon” cabinet. On to the project: First of all, here's a brief parts list Materials: 2 x 122x305x1,6cm MDF for the case itself 4m 4x2cm Wood for the internal construction 80x501,6cm Wood for the controllpanel 2 x 60x100x0,5cm Plexi for the marquee and the besel Hardware: 25! Pushbuttons in assorted colours - from Ultimarc 2 Stics, red - from Ultimarc 1 Trackball, red - from Ultimarc 1 I-PAC, arcade to PC interface - from Ultimarc 1 Opti-PAC, trackball/spinner controller - from Ultimarc 1 Backlight for the Marquee - from the local hardware store 2 6,5” Carspeakers - from Ljudia 1 2 X 30W Amplifier (Kit) - from Veleman 2 120mm PAPST fans - from local computerstore 1 Computer - made up of parts I have lying around. - I will get back to the coplete configuration and setup of this later on. The Worklog: As you can tell from the picture it has some similarities with the original "Double Dragon" design, but also some changes and proved features. If you click on the picture you can see the dimensions of the final cabinet. A front and a side shot. Here you can see a some of my changes to the original design. To fit a couples of more buttons and a trackball I have expanded the panel so its a bit wider than the cab itself. The keyboarddrawer beneath the panel can, of course be closed, but in these pictures it stays open. Here you can see some of the internal solutions. As a screen I plan to use an old 24" TV, in the top you can see the two speakers and two 120mm fans to get all the hot air out. There will also be an backlight behind the transparent logo (marquee), a small amplifier will also be fitted in there somewhere. This is the first part i will actually start building, the control panel. If you click the picture you will see a large picture with explanations to all the buttons functions. I have not yet decided on how to paint the case (it will definitely NOT be wood-coloured!), but have some ideas on doing it with an superhero theme. The logo (marquee) in the top of the cabinet will also be changed and designed with the superheroes in mind! Parts: Here's a couple of pictures of the parts I ordered from Ultimarc. I-PAC is a great little "toy" that can take any on/off inputsignal and transform them into normal keypresses. All my buttons and the sticks are connected to this. It has 28 inputs and with the "shift" function you get plenty of possibilities. You can still have a normal keyboard connected to the computer when using the I-PAC. Opti-PAC is the "little sister" of the I-PAC, it allows optical parts (trackballs, spinners) to be connected to the computer trough the COM port. This is "the real deal", oldscool arcade sticks, you really get the feeling from the arcades back in the 80's when using these! A trackball is essential on a real arcademachine, allot of the games back then was controlled with one of these. You got bowling games, golf simulators and of course a couple of Pac-Man clones that was controlled this way. The buttons have to have the "authentic feeling", and these buttons are developed to give you exactly that! End note: I started this project a couple of weeks ago over at a Norwegian site, but wanted to share it with you to, therefore I got a couple of updates ready, just have to translate them! Until then, take care! PS: don't kill me if my English is bad!
That looks so sweet, this has also been a dream of mine so i realy want to see how this turns out. Keep it up man
I can't wait to see how this turns out! Also, how did you choose that nick? It's part of my email address, and it's my nick for online gaming, so I'd be interested to see where you got it from, seeing as it's not a real word....
Thnx guys! He! He! I found it in an book I was reading, about the ancient Greece. It was an common dog name and it means somehing like strong/dangerous!
Can I come over and play some old school Metal Slug on that when you get it finished? Best of luck on the overall mod, and I can't wait to see the final result.
DD was also one of my favorite games groing up. Sounds like an awsome mod to me, can't wait to see how it unfolds. BTW here is a link to another DD coin-op machine. www.coinop.org/g.aspx/101142/Double_Dragon.html
Well done, you have just inspired me to get off my arse and start on a project i designed almost a year ago Just ordered some parts seconds ago. Hope i don't regret it Good luck with your project ferox, make sure you keep us informed of any updates, and naturally lots of pretty pictures are always welcome!
Sorry for the delay folks, I'm renovating my flat! - But here it is, my next update! This is a testversion of the final controlpanel, I did this first to figure out how to wire the controls and how to arrange the buttons. This is an 1:1 template of the controlpanellayout, its made up of 10 A4 sheets of paper, gives you an idea of the dimensions. Look at all this candy! I received an package from Ultimarc containing some vital parts. - Buttons and sticks, the I-Pac, the Opti-Pac, a trackball and a heap of microswitches. This is the player 1 and 2 startbuttons, real "old-school" stuff! -Gives you the authentic feeling! Same goes for the sticks, this is "the real deal"! The trackball is robust and solid, can't wait to fire up the golf or bowling simulator! After finishing drooling over all the new parts I continued on the controlpanel, first marking all the holes..... ...then I drilled them out. During this process I decided to go for an 6-button setup instead of the original 8-button setup. This is simply because i discovered that just 0.01% of the MAME games required an 8-button setup. An early test assembly of some of the buttons and the player 2 stick! That’s it for now folks; I will do my best to put up the next update as soon as possible! -Audun
u know u should have put the buttons in an angle bcuz playing straight like that is kinda ... hard on ur hands
I have always wanted to do this, but who has time. Guess I will live vicariously through you… Good luck and I hope our cabinet comes out real well.
can i have your sketchup file? i have a friend that loves these gamecabanits and he would really b thrilled if he could have your design
