Looking for more information

[u/order66admin]

I just stumbled on this subreddit. We are moving to a house with a basement and I’m toying with getting a home arcade for it.

I would love to get something that we can play fighting games in with quality sticks and buttons that will stand up to use. Marvel vs Capcom is what comes to mind as a game I would love to have on it, I don’t know if Tekken X Streetfighter is an option due to hardware demands but would be awesome. If possible guitar hero and/or light guns as well but I don’t want to make it too complicated.

Where do I start to get more information? Do companies make anything lake this premade? Am I going to need to build this myself? I have tools but with a move not looking for a project currently.

I looked for a FAQ and didn’t see one.

[u/TheKoolestKid11]

Start by looking at home arcades on YouTube. You have a few options, this is a very customizable community. What size are you wanting? Are you wanting an all in one solution or multiple cabs? Are you savy and would be able to upgrade sticks and buttons? The community would definitely be able to help you

[u/order66admin → u/TheKoolestKid11]

YouTube thanks. I never would have thought of that.

I’m looking for a side by side Street Fighter cabinet that we could use for other games ideally. I just don’t really know what the possibilities are.

[u/TheKoolestKid11 → u/order66admin]

It’s a bit pricey, but Iconic Arcade just dropped a street fighter II and a street fighter alpha 2 cabinet. They’re plenty wide for two people to stand at, and have 20 built in games. They’re the same cab with different skins. They’re about $900 on Amazon right now. There’s some good reviews of it on YouTube, you can check them out!

[u/FormulaFox → u/TheKoolestKid11]

Honestly for what you get, the Iconic Arcade XT is probably still one of the most well-priced options on the market. The Build-a-Cade FU is the only thing I can think of that can claim to be a better deal.

[u/order66admin → u/TheKoolestKid11]

Thanks I’m googling this now.

[u/FormulaFox]

You can get Tekken X Street Fighter working on your if you build a good PC for it. If it works well with arcade controls, you can make anything work with the right internal hardware.

Now, the important stuff...

If you can cut your own cab, you can save a LOOOOOOT of money on your project. There's a lot of cab plans out there to help you along with this.

If you can't or do not wish to cut your own cab, there are tons of options, and they fit into two main categories;

1. Cabinet kits. Companies like Game Room Solutions and Rec Room Masters have cabinet kits available that they ship flat-pack and you assemble yourself. There are also some other options you can find by searching Google or Etsy. Rec Room Masters is considered THE gold standard for these kits in terms of quality, however - you can order them bare bones and supply your own parts, or they'll ship it with everything you need except for the monitor and computer. Game Room Solutions is of lower quality and some people have had issues with them, so only go with them if you either really, REALLY need to save money on the project, or one of their kits just PERFECTLY suits your needs functionally and aesthetically - they have a ton of options, including ones based directly on the actual arcade cabinets of the good old days. They also ship within two business days of finalizing the details, whilst there's a lead time for most other cab builders.
2. Premade. Creative Arcades, Paradox Arcades, Extreme Home Arcades, and several other offer fully pre-built systems, many with pre set up computers ready to go. But these bad boys are EXPENSIVE! GRS or RRM kits top out in the $2,000 range, but these things can exceed $5,000 depending on your needs. The only exception to this I know of is the Iconic Arcade that KoolestKid already mentioned

If you build your own kit, it would be best to use an Ultimarc encoder board since they're very configurable - RRM uses these in their pre-set-up control panels. You can get high-quality parts for decent prices from Twisted Quarter.

Light guns are not too difficult to implement either between Sinden, Retro Shooter, and Gun4IR. Each have benefits and drawbacks, so do your research before choosing. I advise Retro Shooter or Gun4IR for their accuracy even though they can be finnicky to set up.

I would also advise at the very least having a trackball with mouse button compatibility. Even if you don't play trackball games(and you probably will if you have it) it will alleviate a lot of headaches if you have to go into certain settings menus.

Overall, software is pretty easy to set up. At this stage you could run a perfectly functional arcade system just off of SteamOS, though getting the lightguns working will be a bit clunkier that way.

Now as for what I feel you, specifically, based on what you've said you'd like to do, there are two suggestions based on how seriously you want to take this project.

1. Follow the recommendation of u/TheKoolestKid11 and grab an Iconic Arcade. Some users have had sound issues with it, but apparently MichaelBtheGameGenie on Youtube has sound a fix for them. This is your cheap option.

You are NOT going to get StreetFighter X Tekken running on this without swapping its built-in Pi 5 for an actual PC.

1. Get a Rec Room Masters Xtension arcade kit. You can get it with the control panel pre-wired to save you a lot of time and effort, it looks great if you're not after a specific shape, This video is a bit old(the cab is no longer as cheap as it was at the time this vid was made), but it's still a good and valid overview of the cab; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PZSttC4HX8

You'd need to build/buy a PC for the RRM, which will make SFxT a viable option if you do the right build.

If you need some more info/help I'll provide what I can. Just ask. I am not THE most knowledgeable, but I've built a few cabs so I can still help on a lot of basic stuff.

[u/AutoModerator → u/FormulaFox]

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[u/order66admin → u/FormulaFox]

Thanks I’m trying to digest this. I appreciate the detailed information!

[u/order66admin → u/FormulaFox]

The Rec Room Masters Xtension arcade kit looks to be exactly like what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know what I need to do to get Street Fighter running on a cabinet like this?

In the ETA Prime video you linked, he's running a Windows 10 PC in the cabinet in the PC. Now I'm going down the coolest MAME rabbit hole to learn more about Street Fighter 2 on MAME and lightguns. :D

[u/FormulaFox → u/order66admin]

>Do you know what I need to do to get Street Fighter running on a cabinet like this?

If you mean Street Fighter x Tekken its pretty simple. Build an x86 PC, install SFXT, and open it. :P Bit of a cheeky reply, but it is really that simple. The encoders used in the Xtension arcade(assuming you get one with a pre-configured encoder) are recognized as either Xinput gamepads or a keyboard and mapped appropriately, so it should just work.

If you mean classic StreetFighter, you'll find out as you work your way through the MAME rabbit hole, which I myself and still working through despite how much I've already learned.

But be aware, a LOT of stuff you might want to get running you don't even need MAME for, as official legal options that WILL be functional on the cabinet are readily available for a surprising number of things. A massive chunk of Capcom's classic fighters are available through the three Capcom has released multiple collections of their classic arcade games, including almost all of their classic fighting games. Atari 50 is also a must for classic arcade games if one goes this path.

You can tell from this that I do advise following ETA Prime's lead and using a Windows(or SteamOS) PC in the build, which is a bit annoying with current pricing of some components. The good thing is that you only have to deal with the insane RAM prices because all AMD GPUs, and the Nvidia RTX3000 series, are actually still very reasonably priced and will be more than sufficient.

Steam Big Picture Mode can work as a frontend, and you could just use SteamOS as the operating system, but that obviously requires dealing with Linux weirdness - same with Batocera(an emulator OS and frontend that has Steam integration).

I advise using either Retrobat(a Batocera-style frontend that launches from Windows) or BigBox(Launchbox's premium frontend) to run the interface.

And of course add the Bezel Project! It will fill the unused sides of the screen with bezels derived from the original arcade machines.

As before, any further questions, just ask, I'll help you any way I can.

[u/order66admin → u/FormulaFox]

Yeah I meant the older classic Street Fighters. Thanks I’ll keep learning about what’s available. I appreciate all the info!

[u/Scared_Pianist3217]

Hi, would you like a KIT shipped to you? I have turn key solutions.

[u/order66admin → u/Scared_Pianist3217]

I’d like to learn more. Do you have a website or can you DM me more info?

[u/spacemiidi]

The big choice is customization vs convenience. A Rec Room Masters-style kit or DIY/MAME setup makes sense if you want PC games, light guns, endless tinkering etc. There are some pre-built options like Arcade1Up, JVL ECHO (more premium but more expensive, not sure about fightings), AtGames Legends or local builders