Owning my own, functioning arcade machine has been a dream of mine ever since I was tall enough to tap controls on a cocktail pac-man. Considering the space, cost, and transportation of such a grand piece of gaming nirvana, This idea was put on the back burner for a long time. I have been a classic gamer for over half my life and have really turned it into a hobby throughout the years. Being on the internet since it's commercial beginning, I have developed a savvy knowledge of classic gaming emulators such as mame. I really enjoy emulation and have seen people with web pages of modded out vintage, and home built arcade machines powered by pc's. I own an X-arcade control panel for the pc and that does the job for me with computer emulation, but fueled the fire to also have some sort of stand up unit.
I don't have the time or tools to build a cabinet, and i don't have the money to buy a new cabinet already built. I came to the decision to find a gutted cab and do with what I had. I had a plethora of home
systems and an extra 19" television laying around, so I came to the quick conclusion that this would have to be a thrifty buy that would be a multi platform console cabinet. So the voyage started to find a gutted, straight cab for the right price.
Arcade machines are scarce in my town but luckily my friend Mike directed me to a arcade wherehouse where they recondition classic gaming cabinets, and he got one for free! I went down there w/ my friend Kelsey and his truck and all they could offer was a really crapped out motocross cab for $100! That wasn't the right price,and definitely not the cab I wanted. The nice man who ran the wherehouse directed me to a video rental store of all places, that had a small collection of purely classic games (Galaga, Dig Dug, etc.) So with a little hope we traveled a couple miles down the road and told him my situation. Within minutes the cheerful man directed me to a gutted galaxian cab that was painted black and had a Ms. Pac Man marquee that was really nice. He once again gave me the price of $100 but this was a much better find. I told him I had $60 to spend and he went for it!
I had already told my wife that I might bring home an arcade cabinet so that was out of the way, but our house isn't that big. Kelsey and I barely loaded the thing into the house and it was an eyesore. a big empty black box with no function whatsoever. Rachele came home and actually was happy I found such a good cabinet. We started throwing plans down, and Rachele came up with the great idea to build a shelf/cover where the control panel used to lie. I have the knowledge to build a real arcade control panel, but once again, not the money, or even half the patience, (Our house is tiny, no garage!). My wife Rachele decided to build a small controller shelf that would fit a couple joysticks and I noticed she really had something. There was a piece of unoriginal press board inside that was serving no purpose, so she started painting and cutting. Since I didn't want to damage the cabinet, we used very small wood nails (The size of tacks), to hold it in. I was amazed how good it looked, how fast she painted it, and installed it. Now for the 19" tv. I measured the cab so I knew it would fit in there no problem, but I was hoping the old monitor shelf would support the tv, since I didn't want to damage the cab by installing a new shelf - Sure enough it fit perfect. I hooked up an Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, and Namco TV games, and bam! instant arcade without killing a classic cab. Sure I don't have a real arcade panel for the machine, but classic games aren't that demanding, and I have a sweet atari trak-ball! $65 later I have a presentable, fun to play fully functioning multiplatform arcade machine, that could easily be converted back to a classic. To turn on the systems and grab controllers I just have to open the coin door! If your on a budget, but have an inner calling for arcade action, don't give up, you'll fulfill your dream!!!
Check out the pics below!
Also Check out my live journal for pics of the arcade in action.
This cab has not been modified in any way since i have received it. It can actually be easily restored to it's original dedicated galaxian configuration. I wish it hadn't been painted black, but what are ya gonna do, at least it didn't get hacked up. The main reason for not building a new control panel, or monitor shelf is to keep this baby in it's original form as much as possible, KEEP THE ORIGINALS ALIVE, KEEP MAME ON YOUR HOME PC AND JUST BUILD/BUY A STANDALONE PANEL (it works the same to me for games like SFII and Golden Axe), IF GETTING YOUR MAME CAB RESULTS IN DEFACING A CLASSIC!
These guys opened my eye's up to making this possible, and all the awesome projects on here are definitely worth looking at. Retroblast is awesome as well, Kevin does a hell of a job to keep us gamers up to date with what's goin down on the classic gaming scene.
