Retropie- build your own arcade style emulation station!

[Biafra]

Hi! 

 

I'm new here and I'd like to share a small project I finished recently just to show you how easy and cheap it is to build a nice machine for retro/arcade style gaming (keep in mind I'm not a native speaker so go easy on me).

 

I started the project by ordering some parts from china. You can get these things in specialized shops all over the world but it is just so much cheaper to grab them from aliexpress or other sites like that (you do have to wait for lenghty delivery). 

 

It's easy to grab a kit like that:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ARCADE-MACHINE-PARTS-2-X-JOYSTICKS-16-BUTTONS-USB-INTERFACE-WIRING-KIT/1881593149.html?spm=2114.031010208.8.61.RYxsqF

 

What I got looked like that and will set you back around 35€:

 

 

I (roughly) designed the case in sketch up:

 

 

I selected MDF as material (18mm thick- sorry inch-people) and got it cut to size at a local store. The whole kit was around 10€ including cutting.

 

 

Finally I got the heart of the whole system- Raspberry Pi2 model B and a decent microSD card (16 gigs).

 

 

I got screws, paint, montage glue and sanding sponge cheap at a local hardware store and got to work. I've cut the holes for joysticks and buttons with a drill (size will depend on the buttons you get for yourself). Shopping and first tests. 

 

 

 

Painting time!

 

 

I decided to design custom graphics for my control panel so I found some fake "8-bit graphics", combined several of them and came up with custom game logo using arcade font. 10 minutes in gimp/PS/#paintmasterrace and I came up with this. I ordered it printed on a laminated vinyl sticker for around 7€. 

 

 

Sticker arrived and I applied it with the help of a hair dryer. 

 

 

Time to assemble the whole thing:

 

 

I used the ready retropie sd card image available at the project website and got it on the card with pi baker. 

 

Some photos of the finished project.

 

 

Action!

 

 

[aneil1998]

Nice build, now only if you had access to a scraped arcade machine

[Biafra]

Building a whole, big arcade is just as easy but it takes up a lot of space. I considered building something in bartop format but it still wasn't compact enough for my current appartment. This one is easy to pop into a drawer and take out when friends come over. I plug it into my TV and we do samurai showdown tournaments or suck at metal slug together. This thing can also be used as a regular fight stick on a windows PC if you just forget the raspberry Pi and hook it up to your rig. 

[Biafra]

Technical question/ Can you see the images properly? Every time I reload the page different photos show imgur error messages... Not sure how to fix it. I have them on another forum as well and they work fine there (also IPboard based). 

 

Seems like some problems at imgur.

[ELSknutson]

Thats pretty cool you should conciser making a full size arcade machine 

[NoobCase]

thats pretty damn awesome

[Biafra]

you should conciser making a full size arcade 

 

 

I plan to expand it to the tabletop format. Something like that: 

 

 

But obviously with cooler vinyls on the sides. Some indiana jones style 8-bit temple perhaps. However my current appartment is too small to store it and my wife would probably evict me with this This build was just a small proof of concept and it works great with the TV when friends come over. I already got an old dell LCD to use in the final project and I use it now everytime I play alone It's cool to get back to the old days and rock Metal Slug or Samurai Showdown again (not to mention all the NES and SNES games). 

 

 

 

[iludez]

This is awesome!

[iludez]

Buddy your probably the best person to ask so ill pm you