A few weeks ago we saw how you can use a Game Boy Pocket’s case and buttons to make a Raspberry Pi handheld console. If you don’t have a Game Boy Pocket but have access to a 3D printer, Adafruit has a viable alternative called PiGRRL. The electronics shop made a 3D model for a Game Boy-like case, and then used the hardware from an SNES controller to give the PiGRRL buttons.
Adafruit decided to use its CupCade software to run games on PiGRRL, allowing it to run MAME and NES games.
Head to Adafruit’s website for the link to the 3D files as well as the guide to making PiGRRL.
[via Boing Boing]
Last year we drooled over Love Hulten’s R-Kaid-42, a wooden arcade console. Love has a new piece for us to wish for this year. He calls it the R-Kaid-R, a self-contained portable arcade machine. It has an 8″ 800×600 display, a rechargeable battery that lasts up to 8 hours and a beautiful wooden case that makes it look like an artifact from an alternate past.
The R-Kaid-R looks like a simple wooden box when closed, but as soon as you open it up you’ll see how unique and beautiful it is. As a neat twist, its joystick doubles as a lock that keeps its two halves together. It comes with a 16GB SD card that contains its custom OS and interface.
The R-Kaid-R emulates multiple video game consoles, including the Neo Geo, Playstation 1, Atari 2600, Game Boy, NES and SNES. It will also come with a copy of the critically-acclaimed Cave Story. You can edit your game library via R-Kaid-R’s USB port.
Now for the sad part. As with Love’s other creations, the R-Kaid-R is going to cost you. Love is asking for €2,499 (~$3,400 USD) for this modern classic. At least you’ll be able to choose its color. Head to Love’s website to reserve an R-Kaid-R.
[via Engadget]
Want an retro arcade cabinet, but don’t have a ton of space for one? Look no further than the Minimal T80s, a pint-sized arcade cabinet that you can buy for your desktop.
This weensy little arcade cabinet measures just 15.7″(H) x 7.87″(W) x 7.87″(D). The cabinet is made from durable MDF, melamine and PVC, and has a real 8-way arcade joystick and four buttons. The controls are connected to the tablet via USB, to ensure instantaneous feedback, and the whole thing plugs into a wall outlet.
Games are played on a built-in 7″ Android 4.2 tablet, which is preconfigured with MAME and a custom small-screen front end, and ready to load up your favorite game ROMs. Naturally, since it’s running Android, it can play all kinds of other emulators as well.
So bust out all those rolls of quarters you’ve been saving for the arcade, and head on over to Etsy to order your Minimal T80S arcade cabinet for about $280(USD). The cabinet comes with the standard vinyl decals shown here, but you can order custom ones for around $28 extra.
Tired of hosting his Arcade Club’s gaming sessions at home, Travis Reynolds made the Briefcade. Arcade Club, Assemble!… Somewhere else.
Travis originally wanted to make a foldable tabletop arcade machine, but he eventually scrapped it in favor of the Briefcade.
Travis bought a used briefcase for $5 and then tore down one of his LCD monitors. Then he bought Sanwa-style joysticks and buttons, but found out that the joystick was too big and wouldn’t let him close the briefcase as it is, so he just takes the balltop off of the stick when he closes the Briefcade.
Travis is using a Raspberry Pi and a Linux-based MAME emulator for the Pi called PiMAME. He also connected a USB car charger to step down the voltage on its way from the monitor to the Raspberry Pi.
Hold all calls, cancel all meetings and head to Travis’ blog for more on his Briefcade.
[via Hack A Day]
We’ve seen a small arcade machine that can be powered by a Raspberry Pi. Master modder Ben Heck decided to make an even tinier version of the tiny computer and put it in a custom case with buttons, turning it into a portable gaming device.
Aside from a Raspberry Pi, Ben Heck also used a 3.5″ LCD screen, a Teensy board, a couple of Li-ion batteries and some buttons from a Logitech gamepad.
Then he 3D printed a case, wired everything together and installed MAME on the Pi. You can skip to around 15:10 in the video below to see it working:
Can we just sit back for a minute and process what we saw? He made a freakin’ gaming device. On his own. This guy. This Ben Heck guy. He is quite the guy. If you have the same godly capabilities, head to Thingiverse to get the files you need to 3D print the case.
[via I Heart Chaos]
I guess you could say that most old arcade machines were made from wood, but it was mostly laminated pressboard, covered with shiny vinyl decals. Designer Love Hultén’s latest arcade build offers a much more timeless wooden styling.
The R-Kaid-42 is a complete arcade console built into an elegant handcrafted walnut wood box. Inside, you’ll find a pair of high quality arcade joysticks and buttons, at the bottom of the stack is a compact PC with an SSD drive for emulating games. The joysticks themselves are wireless, and have solid brass handles and ball tops.
To play, simply detach the magnetic sections of the R-Kaid-42, screw in the joystick handles, and connect it to a VGA monitor and power. The system comes with a clean and minimal front-end for a variety of emulators which can play over 20,000 different games. All of this can be operated entirely using the arcade controls.
Best of all, you can actually buy the R-Kaid-42 for yourself over on Etsy. It’s selling for $970(USD), and while that might seem like a lot of money, I think it’s a steal for all of the work that went into this thing.
I’ve always wanted an arcade cabinet in my house so I could play all of the classic arcade games like they were meant to be played. But I keep putting off the purchase because I have more important things to do with my money, like pay for food and my mortgage. Still, if I ever have the money lying around, I’ll definitely bite the bullet and buy one. And if I hit the lottery, I know exactly which machine I’m buying.
This extraordinary arcade cabinet was built by Jack Thompson and the crew at ArcadesRFun with a massive Samsung 55-inch LED/LCD Smart TV, and full controls for up to four players. It’s also got a second 37″ LG marquee display at the top so it can display different images up there during gameplay.
It’s got every controller you can dream of, including RGB LED ball top joysticks, RGB LED buttons, an RGB LED trackball (perfect for Marble Madness, Missile Command and Golden Tee), a true 4-way stick for certain games like Q*bert, and dual spinner controls for games like Tempest and Arkanoid, which can be swapped with tiny metal steering wheels for racing games. It’s also pre-loaded with the awesome Hyperspin UI, so it’s easy to flip between games on just about any system you can imagine.
Under the hood, this beast is powered by a Dell Alienware Aurora R4 PC w/i7 3.9GHZ six core CPU (overclocked to 4.1GHz), with 16GB RAM, 2 – 2TB hard drives and a 3GB AMD Radeon 7950 Video card. It’s also got a Blu-ray player. Audio is provided by a powerful 232 Watt Corsair Gaming Series PC speaker with a “giant” subwoofer. And in case playing games on MAME, MESS and other software emulators isn’t enough for you, it’s also got a PS3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 w/Kinect pre-installed. You’ll also be able to play console games using the wireless Xbox 360 gamepads.
You can also select from other custom controls, such as a Discs of TRON style flight stick (also great for games like Zaxxon), dual light guns, and a special push-pull spinner (also needed for Discs of TRON and its pesky custom controls.)
The original one of these machines was built as a custom commission project for Monolith Games/HD FILMS founder/IGN host Jace Hall, who wanted a single gaming system which could “play every known game ever made.” While I’m not certain that you could play all of these on it, it’s got over 50,000 games covered between all of the emulators and physical game systems inside. It’s unclear exactly what the differences are between the model you can purchase and Jace’s original – its creators only say that it’s “slightly scaled down.”
Here’s a video of the original system. Jump to about 1:10 to see the machine in action:
So how much does all of this arcade and console gaming goodness cost? Well, bust out your 401Ks, because this bad boy is selling for a whopping $19,995(USD) over on eBay. If you’re serious about buying one, ArcadesRFun has a demo unit available in New Jersey. And if you can’t afford $20k, but you still want a cool arcade cabinet, be sure to check out their website, where you can get into a smaller 32-inch, 2-player system for under $3k, or an incredible virtual pinball machine, complete with force feedback, for about $8k.
I know it’s a total luxury item that I have no business spending my hard-earned money on, but I’ve always wanted an arcade cabinet that I could load up with MAME and all of my favorite arcade games. But up until now, most of the cabinets out there were a little too tacky for me to actually have in my home. Now that I’ve seen these Retro Space arcade cabinets, I’ve got no excuse – except the money, of course.
These awesome retro-modern arcade cabinets come from designer Martijn Koch in The Netherlands. They each have a gorgeous 27-inch 1920×1200 LCD screen in the middle, as well as two arcade-grade Sanwa 8-way joysticks, real arcade buttons for each player, as well as a 6cm Sanwa arcade trackball and a single analog joystick for those games that support one.
Or if you’re a fan of games Arkanoid and Tempest like me, you’ll opt for the version with the Ultimarc SpinTrac spinner instead of the analog stick. Yes, please.
The cabinet has also got a pair of Canton speakers and a stereo T-amp. Keep in mind that this cabinet doesn’t include a computer – though they’ll be happy to custom fit it with a Mac Mini or Raspberry Pi for an added cost.
Prices range from €2,099 (~$2822 USD) for a slightly distressed yellow unit shown here to €2,499 (~$3360 USD) for the lovely anthracite grey model, so this definitely isn’t a cheap system. Never mind the fact that it may be cost-prohibitive to ship one of these outside of Europe.
I know Christmas is 11-1/2 months away, but I’m putting this on my list now.
A couple of weeks ago we saw a Kickstarter fundraiser for a desktop arcade machine based on the Raspberry Pi. It turns out that hacker and tinkerer Jeroen Domburg has already made a tinier, yet also functional machine based on the same computer.
Wow. So many wonderful features in such a tiny package. I think it’s as small, if not smaller, than the Space Invader cabinet we saw a while back, but this one runs MAME so it can run tons of classic (and not-so-classic) games. It has a transparent cabinet made from laser-cut acrylic, a 2.4″ LCD screen and an itty bitty OLED display up top that displays the logo of the game being played (if available). It runs on a Li-ion battery that can be recharged via USB.
This project is definitely not for beginners, but if you have the skills Domburg has posted a thorough step-by-step on his website.
[via TechCrunch]