Building an ARCADE Machine

Hello steemians,

Ever dreamed of playing retro games without wasting coins into the machine?
Playing with friends without sharing a keyboard?
Having a kick ass console without paying big bucks for it?

That was my dream a few year back and I was determined to build my own MAME Arcade Machine!

What does MAME stand for? Multiple. Arcade. Machine. Emulator.
This is pretty well know for emulating all kind of retro games especially arcade ones but also Neo geo among others.

I spent all summer selecting the best multiplayer games and the right software to run it smoothly.
Here were a few of my selection:

Metal Slug 2: The classic shooter.

Mark Of The Wolves: SNK's Legendary fighting game

Cadillacs & Dinosaurs: I mean... What else, right?

Puzzle Bobble: Ageless. Literally hours of fun!

Software-wise I used the classic Mame32 and a front end "GameEX" to make it look nice.
I even got the computer to reboot directly to the software skipping windows entirely. Yes ;-)

Now on to the cabinet itself!

Being broke at the time, the goal was to use only recycled material.
So on my way to school, in the streets of Paris, I would always keep an eye out for what they called "les monstres".
Literally "The monsters" in french, meaning that time of the month where you leave bigger furniture out in the street to be picked up.

That way I found:

• An old television
  -A broken cupboard
  -A glass window

I had looked at tutorial and blogs online but had never built something of my own.

I drew the shape of the machine on the cupboard and started cutting it with a power saw.
I nailed the different parts and placed the television screen inside.
I must admit that at this point I thought it would never fit. I did manage to push it in eventually.

I now went on to the controls!
Building my own custom control pad with joystick.
I bought the buttons online and connected everything according to the explanations.

Nothing crazy here... but I did pierced a smaller wooden board to fit them all.

So here what I ended up with.

Of course it's missing the luminous marquee and paint but I can play all my favorite games with family and friends!
Here's what it could be like with final touches...

Or maybe not...
How would you paint it?
What's your favorite retro game?

Let me know in the comments below. It'd love to have your take on the project.
Thanks for checking out my blog.

See you on the other side,

Jrej