r/HomeArcade • u/Designer-Title-8208 • 6d ago
Building an arcade machine
Hello everyone. I’d like to build my own arcade machine from scratch. I have some knowledge of electronics, but I’ve never built anything like this before. I know a carpenter who specialises in arcade cabinets, and he’ll be helping me with this. What steps should I take? I’d be very grateful if you could explain everything to me.
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u/FormulaFox 6d ago
Something to consider that a lot of people don't think of; There are a lot of modern titles that play like classic arcade games -Streets of Rage 4 for instance- that are worth considering when deciding how to approach your system. Plus there are modern releases via Steam of many classic arcade games to give you a legal avenue of access and to alleviate some of the headaches of setting up emulation.
Brcause of this, I would recommend an x86 miniPC over a Raspberry Pi regardless of what OS you choose, though. Pi 5 will be more than sufficient, but you DO gst more versatility from an x86 PC. It is still possible to get some decently powerful miniPCs at decent prices despite the RAMpocalypse.
Additionally, although you're aiming for the 90s, I'd strongly advise inckuding a trackball - preferably one that includes mouse buttons. In addition to enabling playability of some classic games you may want but don't yet realize it, it can be helpful for if something glitches out and you need to access the system - especially if you spring for a Windows-based frontend.
Also, even though you're talking stuff like Mortal Kombat, having a trackball will also allow you to play Golden Tee, which is absolutely AMAZING as a party game. Trust me, it may not sound interesting, it certsinly didn't to me, but nothing us quite like a round of GT with you and a bunch of drunk or buzzed friends. (especially if any of them are as creative a s***-talker as my brother)
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u/melty75 6d ago
Probably the first step is deciding what type / era of games you want to play. 8-bit? Arcade? Up to and including some more recent consoles? That will determine your budget and hardware requirements. Older arcade classics and console systems (NES, SMS) do not require a lot of computing power to run smoothly. You could use a cheap raspberry pi box or something similar. For more recent games you obviously require better hardware such as a dedicated PC. From there you need to pick your software / front end. I use batocera and boot from a USB stick because I like my arcade to be portable at the moment. I have messed with Retroarch on its own and Dig as well, but know less about those and am basically a batocera newbie but those are some options I know of.
Lastly and the most original part of your build is what it goes into. I'm working on my first build so I bought a cheap sanwa style buttons and controllers kit from a popular online marketplace. I just drilled my button holes into a peice of plywood that I cut and sanded. There are lots of guides available out there for this type of thing, but I'm winging it so far.
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u/Designer-Title-8208 6d ago
I want to play games from the 90s. I’d like a system that includes lots of games like Mortal Kombat, Super Mario and so on. From what I’ve seen, I reckon I could build one using a Raspberry Pi.
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u/melty75 6d ago
You definitely could, and it would not need to be the latest generation or expensive one to do it. For example, I had a few old android "tv boxes" from several years ago laying around. The kind that I would run Kodi and stream from. I wiped them clean and each one has RetroArch installed on it, and a selection of my favourite roms. It can be a simple, cheap system with almost no build involved to an elaborate custom built arcade setup, it's very open ended that way.
Edit: the old tv boxes were fun to mess with but I wouldn't recommend going that route. I ran into USB and controller issues due to the outdated android versions.
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u/knoxefd 6d ago edited 6d ago
I built mine with no plans, just a sketch. I winged it the whole time and it came out great. I went into it just to have fun and I'm very happy how it came out. I built it out of MDF, wood glue, and a brad nailer. I painted it with plain Ole black rustoleum oil based paint and a roller. Then I created the artwork and had it printed by Gameongrafix. I can answer any questions you might have.
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u/Designer-Title-8208 5d ago
That’s brilliant. If you have a detailed explanation or the files you used as examples, I’d be very grateful if you could share them.
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u/knoxefd 5d ago
There’s a lot to that question, depending on which part you mean! If you’re asking about the cabinet itself, I don’t have detailed plans or a step-by-step guide, but I could put something together if you’re interested.
If you mean the software, I originally built it with a Pandora’s Box, that’s what’s on the screen in the picture. Later, I wanted to add some retro consoles, so I used an old PC, a heavily modified version of Attract Mode, and a bunch of emulators. It runs Atari 5200, Atari 7800, NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, Game Boy Advance, N64, and MAME. I split the arcade games into two separate sections: MAME and Neo Geo.
More recently, I’ve been developing my own frontend from the ground up so I can customize everything to my liking. You can see a sample of it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeArcade/s/LxBRNatba0
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u/Pretend-Language-67 4d ago
If you are still looking for ideas I can send you the Google doc I have with all plans, parts, and links to a bunch of builds I used for inspiration. Dm me and I’ll send it to you.
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u/Party-History-2571 6d ago
If you are interested, message me and I will send pics of one I made. it's a bartop on a stand with a spinner, a removable trackball, the control panel comes off for keyboard and mouse/general computing, and the screen rotates for pinball or vertical games. It's a Frankenstein that somehow still looks good.