My Mame Cab
 

Hello everyone,

Well, I was going to purchase a MAME cabinet, an arcade machine with a PC inside running emulators as to play pretty much any game (incase you didn't know).

They seem to go for alot of money so after one went way out of my price range I thought "Screw it!" I pulled all the wiring out of my 4 player "Simpsons" machine, ripped the control panel off, un-screwed the PCB's and lifted the hugh monitor out of it.

Got a small "but extremely powerful" PC to stick in the back of the cabinet, a 22" LCD flatscreen monitor for inside and ordered an X-arcade stick (2player version) which connects via USB and well... these are the pictured step by step.</P>
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame1.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame10.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame12.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame14.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame15.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame18.jpg

As you can see I will have some more spray painting to do, will need a thinner piece of wood so that the control panel can slip inside the gap. The "bart, marge, lisa and homer" buttons will be removed along with the coin slot and then the monitor needs bringing forward, should be pretty much done then. Then after that its just minor tweeks here and there.

Now some pics of the game selection screens

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame6.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame7.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame8.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame9.jpg

Oh, almost forgot..

little video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJLI-BFm6ck

What are the origins for those game select screens? Are they custom?

They are custom layouts designed for mamewah, when downloaded the screenshots/boxart/flyers etc are not included, all of that is downloaded seperatly.

How much do MAME cabinets go for?

Anything from £500.00 ($997.00) to £1000+ ($1,994.00).

I was watching one but it ended up going for around £600 ($1,196) and it only had a tiny 17" monitor.

Control panel has been tidied up abit, just need some board to close the gaps.
As you can see the monitor still needs bringing forward, but other than that its pretty much done.

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame19.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame20.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame21.jpg

For what you're rigging, can games be switched using just the joystick (and buttons)?

Indeed they can, the game select screen auto-boots up when the computer is turned on, games can be selected and exited via the buttons. You can also switch which console you want to play via the built in menu. No mouse or keyboard is required after the initial setup.

Done some more work on the machine.

Got the Marquee I designed and ordered.
It now has 4 speakers and a sub (note the 2 additional speakers on the front).
The monitor has been brought forward.
The coin mech has been removed and a volume control is seen sticking out (that whole front panel will be replaced and just the volume nob will stick out).

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame22.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame23.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame24.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame28.jpg
http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame29.jpg

This is the new game selection screen, the picture is actually a video, nearly every single game for every single emulator now has a sample video/screenshot

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame25.jpg

Sengoku 3 playing

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame26.jpg

New marquee I designed

http://www.jsofts.com/images/mame27.jpg

Still needs some work, probably repainting and touching up here and there but its pretty much done.

That is off the hook. Makes me want to build one!

This is insane. How much did it cost to make it?

Around £900 ($1,700)

Been playing the TMNT gameboy advance game on it. Just feels so right!

is that including the price of the original cab, or is that just mods?

Including.

The original cab cost £450.

The movie game? That would be so wicked I'd soil myself.

When I die and pay God to let me into Heaven? That's what's going to be there waiting.

That's awesome. It's always been a dream of mine to have a personal arcade. We'll have to talk sometime in the future. I'll be building one of these.

My hat's off to you, sir. Surely, you are a god amongst arcade enthusiasts.

Reviving an old thread, just re-decorated the room so i'm sharing some new pics. More pictures of my baby (shhh... don't tell the Mrs).

http://www.jsofts.com/gamesroom2/arcade1.png
http://www.jsofts.com/gamesroom2/arcade2.png
http://www.jsofts.com/gamesroom2/arcade3.png
http://www.jsofts.com/gamesroom2/arcade4.png

Mad propz, yo.

Thats pretty cool man, Here is a (albeit old) shot of mine

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/100_1286.jpg

Very nice, what was the machine originally, or did you buy a blank cabinet?

A Tank stick would look great on that cab.