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How to Build a MAME Arcade

Posted on January 1st, 2009 by monsterguide
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While playing games on your PC is certainly a fun way to spend a few hours, there really aren’t any good substitutes for the old arcade games. In Nicola Salmoria released the first MAME emulator. MAME is a software application that was designed to emulate the older arcade games. The most recent version supports more than thirty-seven hundred games and has almost seven thousand ROM image sets. While it is certainly possible to play MAME on your PC, many people find that a MAME arcade is much more enjoyable when it is played “old school.”

Required Materials

  • Gaming Cabinet

  • Control Panel
  • Joystick, Buttons, whatever other controls you will need to play the games correctly
  • Interface card
  • Computer
  • Monitor or Television Set

Required Tools

  • Screwdriver

  • Screws

Instructions

  1. Set up your cabinet. The cabinet will most likely be made from medium density plywood or fiberboard that is three fourths of an inch thick. This cabinet will contain the computer, act as a support for the display (which can be either a television or a computer monitor) and the game’s speakers. Sometimes the cabinet comes with decorations already in place, but if you want to, you can repaint put your own graphic design on the cabinet. This cabinet should also have a space where the control panel can be mounted. The easiest way to set up your cabinet is to purchase an pre-built game cabinet.

  2. Set up your control panel. The control panel can be whatever size or shape you wish-and that will probably depend upon which games you have installed. It is a piece of wood that has been cut and drilled in such a way that the game’s individual controls, like the joystick and the buttons, can be mounted. Finding a pre-fabricated control panel is possible, but it is here that you can get creative and really design your own space. Mount the joystick wherever is best for you! The same works with the buttons!

  3. Wire it up! After you have mounted your controls, you will need to wire all of the controls to the interface card. This interface card acts as a bridge between the controls themselves and the computer, and translates your controller’s movements into commands the computer can understand. The interface card can be connected to the computer through either a USB port or a PS2 port. This will turn the controls into your computer’s mouse, keyboard, game pad, etc, depending on your configuration.

  4. Set up the computer. All you really need to run a MAME arcade system is a basic computer. Make certain that everything is installed correctly and that your controls work as they should.

  5. Put in your screen. This can either be a computer monitor or a television screen that is hooked up to the computer. Make sure it sits securely inside the cabinet.

  6. Run tests to be certain that you can turn the system on and off easily and then close up your cabinet.

Congratulations! You now have your own “old school” arcade right at home!

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