Comments on: 5 Arcade Cabinets I’d Like to Own

By: Chris Pranger

Chris Pranger — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:21:31 +0000

Now that is definitely something I’m jealous of.

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:22:45 +0000

In my opinion, if this is something you really want, I’d recommend finding the cabinet first since you’re building it yourself. You can find clean cabinets with fried power supplies, bad monitors, bad boards, etc, for literally $50-$100, but none of the broken stuff matters since you won’t be using it anyways. If the joysticks work, good, if not they’re cheap to replace, add a few buttons with a hole saw, wire them up, and then you can put your computer system in it. I built my first cabinet out of a Tekken 4 and it literally cost me $400 total….and it played 1400 games. Granted, it wasn’t as nice as a brand new cabinet, but at the time I was just stoked to have my own arcade system so I could play X-Men, Spiderman, Captain America, and Sunset Riders in my living room

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 07:09:41 +0000

Hunting for ROMs is the most annoying part, honestly. Everything else is just money, time, and skill….but that’s all based on your own drive and free time. The ROMs take forever to download, compile, put into a frontend that you actually like, etc, and that’s something that you can’t easily control. It’s all about what ROMs are on the torrent site at that particular moment, how fast is the download (I’ve had some literally take WEEKS), etc.

The ROMs are free, but getting them all in one place could take months, depending on what you’re looking for. But, in the end, it’s worth it.

By: Chris Pranger

Chris Pranger — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:44:01 +0000

Interesting. Is part of the cost purchasing a motherboard, or is there a way to use ROMs? Specifically on the rarer titles?

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:04:46 +0000

Here man, check this out……I sell this cabinet for under $1000, but there is several hundred dollars built into that price that is my labor. Since it’s YOUR labor, you won’t have that cost to absorb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfe7zBCD2lM&feature=youtu.be

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:01:50 +0000

Worst case scenario, with a high-quality build, you’re still well under $1000. You can find a clean cabinet for under $300, then you’ll probably have to rewire it and put new joysticks/buttons, possibly a new monitor, then the multicade guts themselves.

If you build your own cabinet, then the price varies…it all comes down to your skill level with building, programming, wiring , etc. Again, I can walk you through most of it.

By: Chris Pranger

Chris Pranger — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:28:01 +0000

Well, for starters, what sort of price range would we be talking for a self-built cabinet?

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:08:26 +0000

I build multicades, bud. Every single game that you mention and that’s been mentioned in the comments is on the arcades that I build (except that X-men is only available in 4-player mode, not 6).

I can build one for you, but unless you feel like driving to Ohio, you might look into building one yourself. It’s not that difficult and I don’t mind giving you pointers if you email me.

By: brad

brad — Wed, 18 May 2011 21:59:36 +0000

BEST OF:

1. Pac Man
2. Mortal Kombat 2
3. Megamen
4. Super Mario World
5. X-Men

enjoy

By: Raymond Barbosa

Raymond Barbosa — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 01:52:19 +0000

The three cabinets would be:
Operation Wolf
Killer Instinct
Interactive Boxing
Galaga
Golf game

By: Tomislav20

Tomislav20 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:10:34 +0000

My choice would be:
1. Contra- exiting game of Sega especially when you play it in 2 players
2. Mortal Kombat 2
3. Megamen
4. Super Mario World
5. Zelda

By: Chris Pranger

Chris Pranger — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:06:25 +0000

There’s one place in Portland called Ground Kontrol that still rocks eight degrees of badass for having pretty much every arcade game you’d ever really want, plus the Northwest’s largest collection of pinball machines. It also happens to be a bar, so it works perfectly for us adults that still have that inner child who loves arcade games. Makes me wish I lived closer to Portland.

I’d definitely want the X-Men game where you could play with 6 players. That was epic, especially if you could actually get all 6 players going at once.

By: Morning Toast

Morning Toast — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:31:05 +0000

Aw man…arcades. Something near and dear to my heart! Despite missing their true prime, arcades are something gamers are sorely missing today and most don’t even know it. I about cried when one of my wife’s 8th grade students had to ask what an “arcade” was.

Today’s on-line multiplayer just can’t compare with a live gathering of people that are there to do one thing: play games. I could spend hours just watching another person play a game. You thought you were good until someone tapped you the shoulder, slammed down their quarter, and then demolished your score *right in front of you* – that was pain. On-line/social gaming today can’t hold a candle to the social environment found in an arcade. http://bit.ly/chPaV9

And any sort of satisfaction in being good at a console game today is lost due to global leaderboards. The arcades created local heroes. It gave you a chance to be the best, even if only at a local level. To me, being the Pizza Hut Ms. Pac Man high score holder would still mean something. Now there is no chance of being a champ unless you’re best in the world, which is quite a mountain to climb. http://bit.ly/be3niQ

But if I had to pick 5 cabinets to own…
- Mortal Kombat 2
- X-Men
- Ms. Pac Man
- Smash TV
- Any decent shmup (A fav genre of mine too)

I’d also love to have a pinball machine. And throw in a Skee Ball lane for my wife.