Beginnings
Like many of you, I always got a kick out of either going to the arcade or playing an occasional game at the local pizza place or family fun center. My time at the arcades was not till the early to mid 90s however, so my interests mostly fall in the multi-button 8-way and racing games that I played most often when out. For the most part those interests led to the design, although when I started messing around with MAME I found many other games I enjoyed. I originally started with the idea of creating a MAME cabinet in January using an assembled kit, an X-Arcade and an old computer and TV. Upon finding this site and checking out everyones projects however, the project featured an extreme amount of feature creep and ended up including a new TV, custom controls, custom artwork, lexan, LED lighting and other items.
Theme, Components and Design
The cabinet has gone through several different themes and ideas, going all the way back to when it was just going to be an assembled kit cabinet. It began as a sort of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites / Space Invaders idea, which later morphed into a more moon-focused Lunarcade theme and finally into the sun-focused Solarcade (saving the Lunarcade name for a possible future cocktail). Artwork for the theme initially consisted of an eclipse in the logo and the sun hovering over the earth on the control panel. The original and rough control panel design below, followed by the final design. The final is a longer panel and one that uses a secondary control panel below.
The main pieces of this project will consist of…
- 2 Happ Super joysticks
- 1 Ultimarc UltraStik 360
- 3 sets of 7 Happ pushbuttons (colored red, green and blue)
- 2 sets of 3 ElectricICE pushbuttons (with RGB drives)
- 3 sets of 2 Ultimarc Ultralux Chrome pushbuttons (colored red, green and blue)
- 2 GGG TurboTwist 2s with 7″ Mini Racer wheels
- 1 Ultimarc U-Trak
- 1 Ultimarc I-PAC4
- 1 GGG LED-Wiz 32
- 1 27″ TV with Component inputs
- 1 Happ Triple Entry Coin door
The design of the project will be based off the popular Lusid design found in Saint’s book. The control panel will feature a less standard 3 person layout, with the 3rd player being the UltraStik placed in the center. The two TurboTwists 2s will be placed at an angle in front of the main control panel on the left and right sides. With them will be the 3 GGG ElectricICE buttons to add a little LED pizazz and easily accessible buttons when using either the spinner or steering wheel.
Current Status
Cabinet is now moved and have installed many of the major components. Still need to wire, install t-molding, make a monitor bezel and set-up computer.