Back for a rediculously cool project.

[katuuuz]

Hey gang,

Long time no read.

So, anyway, I was just aimlessly browsing the internet last night, and I came across what may be the coolest thing in life pertaining to D.I.Y. arcades. As soon as I saw it, I instantly wanted to get started on one of my own. Yes, I'm speaking of building another arcade cabinet. Not just any arcade cabinet, though. It seems (to my knowledge) only a handful of people have actually done this. The end result is absolutely stunning. Ok, let me stop with the introduction and just get it out already...

I'm speaking of constructing miniature replicas of arcade cabinets. Sounds stupid? I beg to differ. I've linked at the bottom of the post to some of the extremely excellent ones. (First link in particular).

What it is basically, is an exact replica of any machine you can find the plans for that is anywhere for 3/4 to 1/8 the size of the orginal! (Jakobud is the only one I know of who releases such cabinet specs Jakobud.com). Galaga, and Pacman are the only two I've found online that are what I'm personally trying to do -- Links 1 and 2). Basically you just scale it down with simple math, then build. I'm just now planning out my 4 foot tall Mortal Kombat machine. I've already acquired vector images of the side art, marquee, and control panel. (Only since the buttons will remain normal size, I will have to do some meddling with the CP image to make it work).

As you can see in the picture of the baby playing Galaga, it looks as if the baby is a monster, and the game itself is 100% playable. (That one is a bit shorter than 4 feet, but the possibilities are endless). The last link is a video by pocketlucho. One of the craziest. This guy actually uses the 5" PS1 flip screen, and the actual genesis hardware/cartridges to produce what seems to be a 1 foot tall cab. A little too extreme for me, I'll stick with the 4 footers. Anyway, picture the ease of moving, and the lack of room these things will take up! Plus you don't need the stool anymore, any chair will do! Kid friendly too for those of you with little ones. Or if you're friend is a midget!

I'm just imagining it now. A generic Neo Geo cab (you know the red and white ones) in the 4 foot tall range stocked with all the neo geo roms.... Maybe a 4 foot tall Golden Tee machine stacked with all the trackball games... A 4 foot galaga cab for all the verticle games... Dragon's Lair replica for the Laserdiscs... Oh man oh man how cool this could be.

I figured if anyone would be interested, it would be you all. (Of course all of these cabs would be running on GameEX software!) I'll be sure to document my progress, and count on me to be around for any technical/software related issues I may have forgot over the time that has passed since I completed the Mikeade.

Anyone who wants to try and tackle one of these along side of me, shoot me a PM. I'll leave this post as is, and will be starting a new topic called "Mini Mortal Kombat" to start documenting/troubleshooting the task at hand. Wish me luck.

Katuuuz

::LINKS::

Mini Galaga (My inspiration)

Baby Galaga

Mini Pacman

[Tempest]

Good Luck!

[headkaze]

I like the bartop design's better

[katuuuz]

Hey kaze, nice to see you man.

I was thinking bartop myself... the weecade in particular (Weecade)

But I think if all goes well, I'll make a few of these 4 foot jobbers. It'd be cool to walk into a spare bedroom turned gameroom and see a miniature arcade. I was going to go the bartop route for extra portability, but I haven't found a design besides the weecade that I like, and frankly the metal work on the weecade can't be accomplished by me. Plus, who wouldn't want to go a few rounds in mortal kombat on a 4' replica?! I like the added decor attributes of the mini arcades.

**edit**

If you can find me a cool bartop design I'd be interested I suppose. Just put the MK sideart and marquee and cp still.

[headkaze]

One of my favourites is the Pixelbox but there are quite a few good examples on BYOAC.

[katuuuz]

One of my favourites is the Pixelbox but there are quite a few good examples on BYOAC.

Hmm. I may have to look into this. Scaling down the MK plans from 1:1 to 3:4 is harder than I had envisioned. I found a down scale converter online, but it only lets you enter a digit in the second field. I.E. 1:2, 1:3, 1:4.. etc. Unless one of you know the formula for converting inches to 3/4 scale.

[zx12rcarl]

check this one on bay! that someone is selling

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Streetfighter-IV-Mini-Arcade-Machine-New-Gaming-rig-PC_W0QQitemZ170400110662QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Video_Games_Coin_Operated_MJ?hash=item27aca35846