Anyone collecting Arcade Cabinets or building a MAME conversion? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

It's still in the plans, I never picked up that cabinet. I'm just on a holding pattern spending dough on non essentials while I work through some things in my business life. Thanks for following up, I assure you that when I move ahead I will flood you guys with info!

 

[Sam Posten]

Mine is still on hold but you gotta see this arcade alley a guy on Reddit built. Pure awesome:
http://imgur.com/a/bDY6k

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/24jg3i/when_my_friend_turned_30_he_spent_a_week_setting/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTMSrs7BMcs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[LeoA]

Any progress?

Note up front that I have gotten owner permission to post this, lets try to keep the conversation geared towards the building and collecting side and avoid the discussion on where to find and trade ROMS. =)

Not sure I've ever been in this neck of the woods around here, but stumbled across this thread just now and thought I'd add that there are some arcade roms that are free to distribute.

Most notably, the IP holder of the Exidy library has allowed a number of classics to be distributed with their permission, although some content like Mouse Trap and Pepper II doesn't seem to be included.

 

[DaveF]

Shouldn't this thread be in the VideoGames forum?

 

[Sam Posten]

Not really, it's after hours the same way a home bar would be. Just my nutter OP position =)

 

[Jason Charlton]

This guy out in Harper's Ferry has a pretty darn incredible custom-built MAME cabinet that he's selling. Asking $1800. Here's a video of it. Found the listing through a pinball forum. I'll send you a PM with more info.

 

[Sam Posten]

VERY tempting, but about $1800 over my budget with Alaska coming up =(

 

[Sam Posten]

I still want a full size MAME cab but snagged this Rampage one for now:
https://slickdeals.net/f/11863915-r...e-arcade-preorder-299-100-off-walmart-com?v=1

All the pins I want are $6k plus these days

 

[DaveF]

It’s 4’ tall. How do you mount it?

Is this an emulator or is it “real” electronics?

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[Sam Posten]

They have a riser if you don't want to sit. Or you can build yourself. It's a proprietary emulator they are not giving details out on.

 

[DaveF]

Have you played one, or a blind buy?

 

[John Dirk]

Interesting thread. My favorite classic arcade games were Stargate [Defender II] and Gorf. Years ago I did find an original Stargate machine and hastily purchased it. Of course, the problem was keeping it running given its ancient origins. I eventually gave up on that idea and purchased one of the multi-game consoles. What I learned was [for me anyway] a console designed to play 200+ games [no matter how well engineered] simply cannot deliver the original experience and control of it's classic arcade fore-bearers for most of its titles.

I've read about MAME consoles but felt the initial concept of trying to emulate multiple [sometimes hundreds] of classic games with a common set of controls was still clunky at best. For me anyway, I only care about maybe five of these games. I know it won't happen but what I would really love is original [modern] reproductions of the classics so that I could play them with the exact controls I grew up with yet not worry about having to source ancient replacement parts.

 

[Sam Posten]

Have you played one, or a blind buy?

Nope, blind.

 

[DaveF]

Good luck!

 

[jcroy]

I eventually gave up on that idea and purchased one of the multi-game consoles. What I learned was [for me anyway] a console designed to play 200+ games [no matter how well engineered] simply cannot deliver the original experience and control of it's classic arcade fore-bearers for most of its titles.

This ^ is what completely spoils modern implentations of old arcade games for me.

Whether through emulation or a complete rewrite, it is not the same experience for me as back in the day. I suspect this is largely due to some emotional gravitas (or nostalgia) from when I was a kid/teenager, and not so much with the actual quality/gameply of the original arcade game.

Playing these same games on a modern console or computer, just isn't the same for me. If I had no emotional attachment to these old arcade games, most likely I wouldn't think too highly of these original games at all.

 

[John Dirk]

Playing these same games on a modern console or computer, just isn't the same for me. If I had no emotional attachment to these old arcade games, most likely I wouldn't think too highly of these original games at all.

.."And therein lies the rub."

Younger folks who will accept multi-game universal consoles will likely have no love for classic arcade games that preceded them by decades. Conversely, older folks like myself aren't as willing to accept the watered down versions of our beloved classics.

I really don't see why this gap cannot be bridged. "Build true to the original consoles," at least for the best of the classics. With today's technology they could weigh substantially less and even be modular in both technology and form factor. The existing and somewhat ubiquitous Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man chassis [IMO] already proves the concept can work. Of course these units would be expensive due to lack of economy of scale but, even in the HT world, we have many products [Kaleidascape, etc] that seem to survive in this rarefied marketplace.