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Get a USB Arcade Controller and go to Happ Controls. For a total of about $60 in parts you can build any arcade control design you want. These are real arcade buttons and joysticks so they will last.

Seriously, you guys:

Listen to CMDR TACO: http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/

However, you don't have to build an entire cabinet-

According to Slagcoin.com: "What matters most is the gaming experience. You should be open to using parts and settings that may be different from the familiar standard."

Now-

I have the Interact Dreamcast Alloy Arcade Stick. It's not as popular as other normal Street Fighter Sticks, but I'm a Soulcalibur guy. I preferred 8-way action to 4, and the Interact stick never let me down. Whooped many an ass with this bad boy: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=IRo&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=interact+dreamcast+alloy+arcade+stick&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Point being, people are divided on what stick is best for them. The only thing I find consistent in arcade sticks is that basically everyone loves a real arcade stick to an aftermarket. Accordingly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_controller
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html
Sanwa: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanwa-d.co.jp%2F&sl=auto&tl=en
http://www.happcontrols.com/
MAKEZINE! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Ut8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=happ+site%3Amakezine.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

No matter everyone else's opinion, find what controller works for you. 4Way, 8Way, find what you like best. Maybe you can buy an old console arcade stick and convert it. Maybe make one from arcade parts. Put in the effort and you will not be disappointed.

My hardcore gaming rig runs Lincade. We are talking serious commercial grade stuff here, HAPPS controls, Tornado spinners, and a 30" Wells/Gardner monitor in a SlickStik cabinet. If you are setting an arcade cabinet, make sure you get Lincade. There is no better gaming experience!

...try looking at HAPP controls http://www.happcontrols.com/trackballs/trackballs. htm.

Admittedly, they make them for the video gaming world, but they are just USB (or PS2) trackballs. You can mount them directly into a table top. Nothing like a 3" trackball to work from.

The I-Pac from Ultimarc is a really nice screw-terminal-to-keyboard interface board, and the one I've used in my own arcade console. Its biggest benefit over a hacked-up keyboard is that it uses discrete I/O for all of its inputs, rather than matrix scanning like a keyboard does, so there's absolutely no limit to the number of simultaneous keypresses it can process.

I'd also like to recommend the Opti-Pac to connect trackballs, spinners, or optical joysticks that don't have built-in USB or PS/2 mouse interfaces.

And while I'm on the subject of spinners, the SlikStik Tornado Spinner is really nice.

• 1 Happ Joystick - I prefer the Happ Ultimate; it's very reasonably priced at about $11 apiece.
• 8 Happ Pushbuttons - Preferably each in its own color. They carry Red, White, Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow, Black, and Orange, so at $2/apiece, you have no choice but to get one of each.
• Optionally, get them with the fancy dimpled variety.
• A box. If you're cheap enough, you can actually make a viable controller out of a pizza box. Eat the pizza first.
• Yes, you can go the whole nine yards and get the stand-up case; the vertical screen; and the coin slot. But isn't something missing?

• Man does not play Pacman in a vacuum. While you're chomping away at those dots, consider a set of these attached to your home computer. Oh, no. They're not for your game. They're for pumping out ambient noise: a) Asteroids, Galaxian, et al., and b) That angry guy that's always yelling at the machine because he keeps losing at Mr. Do.
• I never actually saw anyone with hair like this in an arcade, (and I admit I may be blocking it out), but you'd see them on signs and TV screens everywhere. Your home arcade is not complete without a few posters of Debbie Gibson. NOT to be confused with "Deborah Gibson."
• If your pants are fancy enough to spend a few thousand on a replica arcade device, you probably have a posh gaming room. What's under your feet? Is it that nice, solid oak flooring? Not so fast, bucko! Cover that high-price floor of yours with -- yes -- office carpeting. It's cheap. It's durable. And, most importantly, it's so crummy, you won't notice when you drop that oily slice of pepperoni pizza you got from the consession stand.

• 1 Happ Joystick - I prefer the Happ Ultimate; it's very reasonably priced at about $11 apiece.
• 8 Happ Pushbuttons - Preferably each in its own color. They carry Red, White, Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow, Black, and Orange, so at $2/apiece, you have no choice but to get one of each.
• Optionally, get them with the fancy dimpled variety.
• A box. If you're cheap enough, you can actually make a viable controller out of a pizza box. Eat the pizza first.
• Yes, you can go the whole nine yards and get the stand-up case; the vertical screen; and the coin slot. But isn't something missing?

• Man does not play Pacman in a vacuum. While you're chomping away at those dots, consider a set of these attached to your home computer. Oh, no. They're not for your game. They're for pumping out ambient noise: a) Asteroids, Galaxian, et al., and b) That angry guy that's always yelling at the machine because he keeps losing at Mr. Do.
• I never actually saw anyone with hair like this in an arcade, (and I admit I may be blocking it out), but you'd see them on signs and TV screens everywhere. Your home arcade is not complete without a few posters of Debbie Gibson. NOT to be confused with "Deborah Gibson."
• If your pants are fancy enough to spend a few thousand on a replica arcade device, you probably have a posh gaming room. What's under your feet? Is it that nice, solid oak flooring? Not so fast, bucko! Cover that high-price floor of yours with -- yes -- office carpeting. It's cheap. It's durable. And, most importantly, it's so crummy, you won't notice when you drop that oily slice of pepperoni pizza you got from the consession stand.

• 1 Happ Joystick - I prefer the Happ Ultimate; it's very reasonably priced at about $11 apiece.
• 8 Happ Pushbuttons - Preferably each in its own color. They carry Red, White, Blue, Green, Purple, Yellow, Black, and Orange, so at $2/apiece, you have no choice but to get one of each.
• Optionally, get them with the fancy dimpled variety.
• A box. If you're cheap enough, you can actually make a viable controller out of a pizza box. Eat the pizza first.
• Yes, you can go the whole nine yards and get the stand-up case; the vertical screen; and the coin slot. But isn't something missing?

• Man does not play Pacman in a vacuum. While you're chomping away at those dots, consider a set of these attached to your home computer. Oh, no. They're not for your game. They're for pumping out ambient noise: a) Asteroids, Galaxian, et al., and b) That angry guy that's always yelling at the machine because he keeps losing at Mr. Do.
• I never actually saw anyone with hair like this in an arcade, (and I admit I may be blocking it out), but you'd see them on signs and TV screens everywhere. Your home arcade is not complete without a few posters of Debbie Gibson. NOT to be confused with "Deborah Gibson."
• If your pants are fancy enough to spend a few thousand on a replica arcade device, you probably have a posh gaming room. What's under your feet? Is it that nice, solid oak flooring? Not so fast, bucko! Cover that high-price floor of yours with -- yes -- office carpeting. It's cheap. It's durable. And, most importantly, it's so crummy, you won't notice when you drop that oily slice of pepperoni pizza you got from the consession stand.

I built my cabinet using these plans: http://users.adelphia.net/~seanhat/arcade/ (click on the Design link on the left) You can download the plans in .pdf form. I modified them a little to my liking. I had never done any woodworking like this before and I found it extremely rewarding. Now for the controls. I priced out all the parts I wanted on Happ Controls website (http://www.happcontrols.com/) and came to the conclusion that if I bought a prefab control that I wouldn't be out of so much more money. After careful research, I settled on the best: http://www.slikstik.com/ If you want to shell out the dough, it is well worth it. I used a fairly decent pc I had around and then found a 27 inch tv cheap at circuit city. I used a 19" monitor at first but the tv was so much better especially on the older arcade games which didn't really have great resolution anyway. Then, I finished it off with some cheap 5 1/4 car stereo speakers. Good Luck! Tom

First of this is not a cabinet kit, this doesn't even include buttons or a stick! You would have to buy them from Happ Control. And this is nothing new, Ultimarc has been making these boards for years, they have some really great plug and play PCBs. Ultimarc's 28 input PCB is only $40, for years X-Arcade has been known for ripping off people that just didn't know better, nothing has changed. They didn't really used to hurt companies like Ultimarc, though now they will be edging into the PCB-only market, not to mention getting a sh1tload of hits from posts like this.

A while ago I built a pretty cheap JAMMA/Xbox/PS1/PS2/Dreamcast [link]. It was pretty cheap, but not $60.

A quick list of prices for all components in my controller (from HappControls and SlikStik

32 buttons: $60
Top Fire 8 way Joystick(2): $65
Optical Perfect 360 degree joystick: $90
Stainless Joystick handles (2): $50
4 way joystick: $15
56 Input IPac: $65
Trackball (lighted): $100
spinner: $90
Wood (4x8 3/4" MDF): $20
laminate: $40
misc construction supplies: $30

Total: $625 without taxes, shipping or labor

I know I'm forgetting something because I came out a little over $700 last time I did this.

You're sorely lacking in research. Old games used leaf spring switches, newer used microswitches (sometimes). Leaf springs need maintenance to use for full lifetime, micros will probably work fine until complete failure (like most electronic hardware). And the price for each button (either kind, last time I checked) were measured in dollars (one or two per). Either hooks up the same way. Piecework may have a bearing on the price (and bet that it is still pretty high), but the type/quality of switches has little bearing on the cost. As said before, Happ is a good reference to find out more. My prices might be off somewhat, but I won't be looking too much more until I can afford to build my own.

Happ Controls $1.89, IDVT $1.39

Somewhere between $1 to $2 USD per button depending on where you get them from.

A suggestion. Whatever electronics you end up using, wire out the play button to a big pushbutton you buy from these guys:

http://www.happcontrols.com/

They sell video game / amusement parts, and we used to buy all of our controls from them. They just don't break, even with a hundred eight-year-olds slamming their fists into them for six hours each day.

As for the electronics themselves, there's a right way and there's a cheap way. The right way is to use something like the Radio Design Labs FP-MR1, which is a bulletproof digital message repeater. It's exactly what you want, but it's $225 each. The cheap way is to try and find a CD player or MP3 player that can boot up right into behaving the way you want -- either repesting all the time with the big button wired to the "forward" button or playing then pausing, with the big button wired to the "play" button. Unfortunately, it's likely on the CD player side that the only players that will do what you want will be pro models, and will cost several hundred dollars each.

Good luck!

For the extremely lazy, the X-Arcade folks are taking preorders on their trackball unit, which I believe includes a 3" trackball. They have not traditionally used happ buttons and joysticks in the past, so it's doubtful this ball will have the same feel as the happ balls on most golden tee machines.

If you do want the "real deal" you can get a 3" trackball from Happ Controls and to interface it you can buy an OptiPAC from Ultimarc, a usb interface from happ (a bit more expensive, though it supports 3 buttons unlike the OptiPAC) or you can even hack apart an old ball mouse and interface through that. Personally, I am using the Ultimarc OptiPAC with a Happ 3" ball on my own cabinet.

Incredible Technologies (makers of Golden Tee Golf arcade machines) used to publish a version of Golden Tee for the PC, though they themselves do not sell it anymore. You can get a copy from ebay for about 3-5 bucks, and there are some addon courses for sale also. The courses are from the arcade games Golden Tee 3D Golf and (the addons) Golden Tee Golf '97. The game supports network, modem, and internet play.

Though it's dated and the graphics are not as good as some of the newer titles, the price is right, and the experience is as close as you can get to the arcade if you want to practice your Golden Tee at home. I bought golden tee pc from ebay last week and have been having a lot of fun with it on the cabinet.

Get Rich...it's not cheap!
Optional: Control Panel
Get the USB Trackball interface
Get a trackball! And... FP!

Get Rich...it's not cheap!
Optional: Control Panel
Get the USB Trackball interface
Get a trackball! And... FP!

Get Rich...it's not cheap!
Optional: Control Panel
Get the USB Trackball interface
Get a trackball! And... FP!

This is correct from my experience with skeeball repair. (See my other post.) I forgot to mention the selonoid to contorl the ball release. Usually a game will operate with less than nine balls installed, it will release what it has and then count until 9 have been played and then close the selonoid. Skeeball balls available at Happ controls

I was employed as a video game technician for about a year until I was laid off. Prior to that I had been employed repairing standard consumer electronics for about 10 years. When I wanted to get up to speed on how most video games operated I found Randy Fromm's videos and Big Book very helpfull. Skeeball games in particular are very simple. I'm not sure that Randy has a video dealing with them directly. Essentially they are just switches, either mechanical or optical behind each hole and a board that tallies the score and send signals to the ticket dispenser to give the appripriate amount of tickets. You can buy ticket dispensers, coin accepters, or just about any arcade related device from Happ Controls. They don't have the lowest prics, but they carry just about everything. Amusement Warehouse was where we bought most of our stuff, but they will only deal with businesses. I am not sure of their web site, as I recall they only operated from a small catalog, but that was 3 years ago. The company I worked for owned about 30 Skeeball machines total and we were always willing to part with them for much less than you could build one. Of course they were hammered, but functional. Check with the operators in your area, many will be willing to sell. Even if it's really hammered you could pull all the electronics and build a nice new cabinet for it. You could very easily build a skeeball game using a Basic Stamp and some easily available switches. If you wanted to make it authentic with ticket dispenser they can be easily interfaced with theStamp. I think they hardest thing to recreate would be the scrolling display, if you want one of those I would consider buying a used machine. In my opinion you could have a working skeeball machine using a Basic Stamp and parts from Happ in a weekend. Hope this helps.

Could it be the Ultracade?

And with some carpentry skills, some basic soldering skills, and an I-PAC, and some parts you can have a very authentic feeling cabinet to play them in. Fun!

Oh yeah, make sure to finish like a piece of furniture (use expensive lumber) so your wife lets you keep it in the house...

...why use X-Arcade controls? The only part used was the Joystick, which can be bought directly from Happ (the manufacturer) for much cheaper.

hey,

i built it using an mk2 cab i purchased off a friend for $300, a pc w/ a duron 1300, 512mb ram, and a trident blade t64 video card. interfacing between the pc's ps2 port and vga out with the joysticks, buttons, and arcade monitor done largely with the help of andy warne's j-pac.

all games run perfectly, with the exception of newer 3d additions to mame, such as cruis'n world. i've done a/b comparisons between mk2 running off the actual game board and emulated with MAME, and i cannot tell the difference.

it took a lot of work to get it right, but it was definately a labour of love. the hardest part was getting my video card to output at low horizontal refresh rates and resolutions that are compatible with both the monitor and various games - but you can now bypass all this hassle by purchasing andy warne's new arcadeVGA, a new radeon-based video card made for outputting video compatible with 15khz arcade monitors! no special software or configuration, you just pop this into your pc and you're all set. i wish this card was available 4 months ago when i got started.

good starting points:

Build Your Own Arcade Controls
J-Pac and ArcadeVGA
Happ Controls (however you can save some $$$ by not getting it from their online store, and finding a local distributor)

good luck!

Happ Controls

I wimped out and used the VGA monitor approach. I spent *months* trying to get my MK3's monitor to work and finally gave up.

"Me too" on the J-Pac. Killer product. Don't get into MAME without one.

Last suggestion if you're into this: get your buttons and supplies and stuff from Happ Controls.

happcontrols.com

Take apart a standard AT or PS/2 keyboard. Now, inside of most of them are a few layers of plastic with electronic traces, and a small bit of circuit board with one big chip (the encoder). How a keyboard works is that the keys are arranged in a grid of wires, and when you press down on a key, you connect two wires in a grid. With a little bit of work recording the electronic traces, you can figure out what keys connect what pins on the encoder. Congradulations, you now have a 101 button method of input.

Now, if you want to be lazy, then here's this link: Happs Controls, which has less inputs, and only works on win9x/NT/Mac, but saves you from wiring. Even if you go with the homebuilt solution, Happs sells a variety of buttons, and gives a price discount for large quantities. (I believe the price drops happen at 10 and 100 unit quantities.)

(Happs, btw, is a supplier of arcade game parts.)

The Wells-Gardner U3100 is the best of both worlds. It looks like an arcade monitor, but it takes an SVGA input. It can supposedly do up to 1024x768 (interlace), but I've only got 800x600 working. Note that the dot pitch is huge, so using a high resolution on this thing is like using a high resolution on a TV. But MAME looks awesome! I've never tried it under XFree, but I've got it working under DOS with my own Game Launcher menu using both Voodoo 3 and ATI-XPert@Play cards. Given this, you should have little trouble with X. I bought mine from Happ Controls.

• A list of links for arcade cabinents, especially about building your own.
• A M.A.M.E cocktale project, looks closely like the machine I want.
• Another build-your-own cabinet page (using consoles, not M.A.M.E)
• A great faq on how to build an arcade console, a must read for anyone thinking about it. Includes stuff like the problem of keyboard ghosting and encoders.
• Another build-a-cabinet page, with pics and diagrams
• Diagrams for a dual keyboard circuit and automatic joystick switch + other fun stuff. Another must read.
• Keyboard Matrix Help
• Happ Controls, the source of arcade quality joysticks, buttons, and other controls. They also sell keyboard encoders and other neat stuff. If you look around on the web page, you can find a place to order a free catalog, which can give you an idea of prices. (Please though, only ask for a catalog if you're interested, I hate to see the /. effect decend on this nice company)
• A source for emulators, and emulator news.
• An emulator front-end.
• English translations for NES & SNES. The reason why I became interested in emulation in the first place.

DISCLAIMER: Some info on this page assumes you are from the Omaha, NE area. I apologize.......

I just got into arcade collecting/building myself, so I'll try to lend a few pointers (though most of this info will be totally region-centric)

As for what kind of cabinet you want, I recommend sticking to Jamma based cabinets (most are, but the really old ones aren't). Basically, the Jamma harness provides a uniform interface to the monitor/buttons/etc, so swapping out PCB's are pretty easy. I like old Capcom games (Strider, SF 2, Final Fight), and you can find tons of them on Ebay or perhaps purchase them from a place like Central Distributing. For the really really old ones that used dedicated hardware, there are a few sites on the net that show you how to make a Jamma harness yourself, but you'd be better off buying the whole thing in a lot of cases (if you are interested in coverting a non-jamma to jamma, check out This link.

You will also want to check the condition of the monitor. It's pretty much a given that older games will have some burn in. You'll have to watch out for that. The good news is, if you have to settle for a monitor with burn in, Happ Controls has a good selection of monitors to choose from, if you need to replace it.

Personally, I like to pick up my cabinets from local outlets (like that place Central Distributing). Usually, they are more than happy to let you mess around with it and make sure all the controls work and the monitor looks sharp and the sound works, etc. In other words, you know what you are buying. :)

Once you find yourself a decent cabinet, you can start buying just the PCB's and swap them in an out (nice thing about the Jamma harness, it makes this painless, for the most part). Like I said earlier though, older games ( Pac-Man, Gyruss era) might require a bit more work.

While I realize you don't like emulation, there is a neat cabinet from Hanaho called the ArcadePC. It gives you more of the arcade "feel", while running the games from a PC under MAME or something. Sometimes, this may be your only choice :(

Here is a list of some of my favorite sites (all can be found by searching Google with the keyword 'jamma' or 'jamma pcb' or something like that

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/games/vide oarcade/faq/

http://nexus.nanospace.com/~spo onman/neogeo/faq.htm

http://www.ntrnet.net/~braze/ arcade/tech/repair.shtml

http:/ /directory.google.com/alpha/Top/Games/Coin-Op/Arca de_Games/Collectors/ (TONS of links)

http://members.xoom.com/organian/

If you need more info or anything, feel free to email me (remove the NOSPAM) and discuss!

I'm curious if anyone has built a dedicated emulator machine, and if so what CPU/Video Card combination is ideal.

I'm curious, as running some games, such as Gradius 3 (which I have a masochistic love of), are *really* slow in parts. Like 10 FPS or so. (Average FPS when running Gradius 3 is about 17, as opposed to the 60 FPS or so in 1943).

I'm in the process of testing my skillz by building an arcade joystick. (Thanks be to http://www.arcadecontrols.speedh ost.com/ and Happ Controls for information and parts respectively). If this is successful, I would like to find and strip down an old console. But I'm not going to do it if all the games I want to play run like shit =)

More to the points, are there any tips/advice for speeding up MAME and/or other emulators? Specific video settings, etc?

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