In terms of processor overkill, you can do most of what you want with a pi 3. I was running tony hawk pro skater 2 on the pi3B+ (also ran on a zero2) without issue in a playstation emulator so it has plenty of horsepower to run mame.
The 4 was 2x faster than the 3 and the 5 is 2x the 4, so a 5 could likely do switch emulation… I just really like the 5 load times… My retropie controller uses a 3A currently and works fine. If you ever plan to step up a generation, you can and the older stuff works fine on it. If you already have one, then use it. If you are buying one, there is no harm in splurging.
I’m not that good at video games never have been. I do remember playing Frogger and Pitfall on Atari back in the day. I did like to play pinball but I wouldn’t say I was good. It would be fun to have a arcade system at the house. Make sure you have Pong on that or you can’t call it retro!
One thing I noticed is you want to get the right joysticks. The originals to an old cabinet I had was for a vertical game and it didn’t have diagonal inputs just up down left right.
Bomberman is such a fun 2 player game. I can’t wait to see it done.
Those cool arcade graphic are very neat that’s what I would do
I made something like this about 7-8 years ago. Don’t remember much about the build and ended up parting it out to build a full size cab for a friend. It was nice having it off the floor.
Oh, did you have to mention Bomberman? I haven’t thought of that game in ages. I don’t think I played an original, but I sure enjoyed that clone I found.
My stuff is all janky and messy but I kind of doubled my arcade for a work station. Mounted a pc on the side of an old cab. Couldn’t bring myself to get rid of the old crt.
Word of warning if you go the CRT way there is some capacitor shorting to consider.
Lots of fun things you can do like use a old optical mouse and make a spinner steering wheel etc.
Now I remember! I played a version on one of my TI calculators. Either the TI-83+ or TI-86. That must have been a clone/unofficial version, but man it was cool.
of the 2 I made, one was just a controller for a friend and it used the amazon button kit with usb input keyboard emulators and the other was a custom keyboard using a pi pico with smaller buttons and 3d printed joysticks. looking at our current TV setup, there is a credenza right below the tv that could easily hold a controller… but I have one controller already, so I just need to make a second controller and could have the side-by-side standup situation I was hoping for originally… fun to think about. It would probably only ever get used over christmas break when the kids come home though, so plenty of time to plan for it… hmmm. I set up a joust game on the table top arcade once and let the youth group play it. it was pretty fun. I never played bomberman, but will look into that one now. There is always the simpsons for 4 player. I just want a game that is old enough I have an advantage over my kids and they have to play close enough an elbow will make a difference… either way.
Wow that original screen on that is super flat. I guess I should have looked around more. Now that I see it most were pretty laid back from what I remember
Exactly. I need to go try those games on lunch break…probably sooner.
I’ve been wanting to build a mame cabinet for years. I went as far as downloading some front end software (GameEx) and getting it up and running on an old PC. Never got around to completing it though.
This has renewed my interest to say the least. I have a older block house on my property that currently doesnt have power and is just used for storage. I will be running power to it, and I already have a pool table that will go in one half for a gameroom / man cave, and a mame cabinet would be an awesome addition.
And being that my full size Lowrider v4 table is almost comeplete, it would be easy to cut out a cabinet frame if I can’t find one locally. The only problem I have currently is too little time and too many projects. Thanks for adding another to the list!
I built a MAME setup a while back out of an old Guerilla War cabinet and I used an Ultimarc i-pac interface for the controls. Might save you from the issues you’re having.
I was just about to cut this after finalizing a few sizes. Then I realized I should probably use a lot more dado’s since I have a recently surfaced CNC. All joints will probably get a 2-3mm dado. Easier assembly, and I can probably just use glue and no fasteners. Quality of life stuff.
That is just a onshape assembly. I made a 4x8’ sheet and used a planer mate so I can easily slide all the parts around. When I am ready to cut I will join them with a real mate and 4mm gaps (if I use a 1/8" endmill). Less wear on the end mill and easy tabs.
