The Jabba MAME cabinet

[PATo355]

Originally Posted by Jabba Yeh I couldn't put my finger on why it just wasn't the same at home, I would say the heavy controllers are just as essential as the monitor to create the arcade effect though. I can remember the days when I was about 8 years old having to beg my sister for another 20p to have one more go, and when I didn't have any more money left, I just used to stand there watching other people play, obviously this was way before consoles or home computers, and the technology seemed almost like magic at the time (especially to an eight year old).

Well i used to do exactly the same in from 1988 to 1996 probably , even tho i had the atari , nintendo , super nintendo , gameboy and the playstation all within a year of the launch ... it was just not the same , i still prefer to play a good round of MK2 in one of the few arcades that are left ( hours from my home sadly ) than play the last fighting game in my Computer or console , its just another experience .

[Jabba]

Is it down to the controllers then in your case would you say or something else ?

[PATo355]

Originally Posted by Jabba Is it down to the controllers then in your case would you say or something else ?

Many things actually , those controllers are the best but also i can say that playing those games costed money , even till the Super Nintendo games were very expensive , so your dad would buy you 6 per year not more probably , so you HAD to play them and enjoy em , with the 3do and Playstation it was all free , you can get copies everywhere , so you ended up having 1000 of games and never enjoying anything ... The things that you pay for are always the most enjoyed , even more if its your money ...

Was the same when kid in the arcades , you were happy that you got lets say a pound so you will spend it in the arcades , games were like a privilege , an event , a kid walking thru those big flashy machines it was the best !

Plus in the fighting games you ended playing with a lot of other guys who you could learn , not the same in the consoles . In the Arcades the guy won and you lost 10 cents , so it was like a revenge , i must beat him , in the PS you lost and who cares ...

Of course with mame everything is free again , but it brings you memories at least , i would love to own a cabinet like yours , but when i work i will probably get one , its just so sweet

[Jabba]

Originally Posted by PATo355 a kid walking thru those big flashy machines it was the best !

Yep them were the days.

I have a few other arcade machines that I might turn into mame cabinets if I get the time, but I guess shipping them to where you are, will always be a pain.

Anyway until then, I may offer a front end for arcade machines (no keyboards required to select the games etc) up for ISO download, it will be much more than 6,000 mame games though, as there is also all the emulators for super nintendo, genesis, sega CD, atari and others maybe over 10,000 games in total, I also have a sega dreamcast emulator and every game that was ever written for it, sadly those total over 60 gigs though.

I know its not the same as having a cabinet, but I bet this would still be better than mame32 for an aracde experience.

[PATo355]

Well thanx for the offer , but i did some research a year ago for a MK2 original arcade game with the original jamma cabinet , it was dirty cheap , 400 dollars in good condition , guess how much the shipping was ? 700 dollars for USPS cheapest service !!! That ruins all the fun ...

I might get a cabinet here in Chile maybe , hard to find an original one , i even saw a hand made one !!! Will search for it , since my father has a furniture fabric , i might get the wood and stuff there ... could be a good idea ....

Like this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/abandc/...7594306934926/
http://www.geocities.com/lusosarge2000/eindex.html

http://dmoz.org/Games/Coin-Op/Arcade.../Constructing/

Im interested in the frontend ... can you play fullscreen ? And what is the advantage over the mame32 ? It looks much more friendly since you dont have to see a list of 6000 games to search what you really have downloaded !!!

60 Gigs is a lot , no dvd image with just the mame games ? that would be sweet !

[Jabba]

Yep I have detailed plans on how to build the cabinets, and thats the way to go if you have the time, and you will get the best result for sure. I am only going to convert the jamma ones I have here, to get some experience and save alot of time.

The front end it totally designed to play at full screen, and to completely hide windows, remember its meant for cabinets, which wouldn't have a keyboard or mouse, from starting up, you would never know that windows is underneath it. You can also use it as a juke box with MP3's and I guess as a video player if you wanted to do that.

A full mame collection (version 109) is now over 50 gigs and 12 DVD ISO'S as it would include all CHD files, samples, artwork etc as well as all the roms of course.

[PATo355]

Wow , its huge , but for a proyect i bet a sempron or celeron , 512 ram and any videocard should run it , plus 160gb hard drives are dirty cheap right now , will see if i get in mood to build one in summer ... But i think its a good idea to have a game party room in your house and stick one of those , works as a jukebox too

Any link to your detailed plans ?

[Jabba]

Well as we have said, it depends how perfect you want it, so an Arcade vga would be my choice (for correct arcade resolutions) especially as they are quite cheap anyway.

Those specs would be fine for most games, but as I said in my other post, there are some games (SF 2049 for example) that even my conroe wont run, or at 4 fps anyway which is the same as wont run LOL, they estimate that a 10 GHZ processor will be required to play this at full speed, as the emulation of the 3d hardware is very heavy going.

I might post the cabinet plans up later.

[PATo355]

Haha do you like san francisto 2049 ? Dont really like it , my fav car games are the sega ones , sega rally does not appear to be working on my pc either :S

[TransAm]

Nice addition to Jabba Towers there!