How to build a Nintendo arcade

Step 5 Finished Product

When it's all done, this is what you are left with.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will do my best to help you out.

Comments

[pblanscet]

Is there a way to get the VB script from ya? still a extremely beginner vb programmer

[thethiny1919]

download an emulator
For Windows XP-Vista-7:
1, click start
2.Click all programs
3.Click STARTUP (folder)
4.put a shortcut to an emulator here
6.enjoy

[brainiac1515]

how big is your monitor and extra side room so i can adjust the size some

[orangeguy81]

Cool job. I did notice you attached the joystick on the top of the panel. You are supposed to put it under the wood. Otherwise, awesome.

[pblanscet]

i think it looks awesome like that. looks retro

[russm313]

22,000 hits and you are the first person to mention that. I thought for sure, when I posted this, I would get eaten alive because of that screw up! I didn't notice it until after I had finished. I am actually redoing the control panel this weekend. I will be fixing the joystick and adding a thicker piece of plexiglass.

[orangeguy81]

ha ha.. I only noticed that because I am building my own stand up cab. awesome job!

[Spokehedz]

I am thinking space dictated this design, rather than aesthetics... I personally like it looking like that, as it reminds me of a old-school arcade where they were exposed like that. Kudos!

[russm313]

Actually, it wasn't space. I wanted it to be an all in one bartop arcade.

[Spokehedz]

Nono... I meant installing the joystick on top of the control panel instead of from the underside.

[russm313]

Oh I understand what you mean now. No, it wasn't a space issue. There is plenty of room below the control panel. I honestly just screwed up and put the joystick on the outside. This is the first arcade I've ever built. I am fixing it this weekend, though. I'll post updated pics once the repairs are done.

[ahmad2117]

is there a way to install a driving wheel? theres a game that has 1 button a driving wheel and a joy stick its a really awsome game and i want to play it all the time thanks

[zeroblood]

correct me if im wrong but the VB program brings up a list of roms to choose when the computer boots right? here is a way to do that with a batch file
put all your roms into a folder ("nesroms" in this case) put them in your C: folder then open notepad and type:

cd C:
start nesroms
exit

then save it as .bat and put it in your startup folder and that should do the trick. just 3 simple lines. great project by the way

[rosenred]

Great work man, loved it. If you have a bar, it makes a hell of a bar top! I was thinking that had you added an extra set of controls, it would be wide enough to allow for a stand alone cabinet... Also the mouse mode idea was brilliant! In this case, even if you do not have a front end like yours, you can pretty much control any emulator without the need of programming a large number of keys.

[ebubbula]

Awesome!!!!! I love what you've done! Do you know about how much it cost?

[lara.games.skate]

hi was wondering if you could send what must we take the computer and send to my email and lara.tmr @ hotmail.com

ah. its arcade and other if you can answer I will wait

[BadrEddine]

Hi
            Great work Man i wiish that i can do it 2 but i will try but i dont have skills working with bsoldering

[LoboNR]

Hi man
congratulations you're so great
but i've some questions
did you use HD on your old computer??
How did you get the visual VBprogram??
i've an old computer and wanna make my own nintendo arcade

could you passme the VB code?? or the complette instructable to mye-mail adress??
my e-mail adress is   [e-mail]

thankyou and another time congratulations!!

[ugee467]

Could you send me or display the VB code you wrote for this system?

[epehnclark]

where do you get the VB program

[themanpear]

How do you get the PC to power on from the main power toggle in the back without a PC power on-button? Also how tall did you make the marquee, gonna attemp this this weekend drawing up my designs now. Great Job!!

[russm313]

Oh, sorry. I missed the question about the marquee. I think it is about 4" tall, I know that it is 18" wide. If you need exact, I can measure it when I get home today.

[russm313]

In the bios you can set the PC to power on after power failure. Enable that option, then anytime it detects a power source, (switched being turned on), it powers up the PC. I'd love to see pics of what you come up with.

[chilll2009]

You can write new bios that have the nintendo logo for fun:)

[themanpear]

I'm probably gonna increase the width of the thing to 24" to accomadate a 2nd player arcade style controls. Also not sure if I'm going to stick with a Ninetendo layout or go for a Super Nintendo one and put all the extra buttons in.

[russm313]

The next one I build will definitely have two player controls and have 6 buttons to accommodate any system emulator. With this one, I wanted to emulate an original NES as much as possible. I wanted it to look like something Nintendo would have marketed had they made one of these. For two player functionality, I added the nes ports in the back. My son and I play Tecmo Bowl all the time like that :)

[themanpear]

I was looking to get a Baseball Stars Tournament going on mine

[russm313]

:) That is my favorite NES game ever made! I would rather play BBS all day than play one of the new realistic baseball games.

[InfectedDead]

How did you write the front end in VB to access the emulator and games? Or what did you write exactly?

[russm313]

I wrote a very basic code in VB. It just displays a list of games and when you click on one, that just opens up the file in the emulator. You could accomplish the same thing in Word using hyperlinks, it's that simple.

[ronmaggi]

The Idea of this i'ble is great, but there is a lot of missing info. There is no reference as to where to find the VB Nintendo emulator. Also, where to find the joystick and buttons is omitted. Goblin shark 123, don't take the film off of the Plexiglas until you are actually mounting it or painting it that way it stays scratch free. You could try to salvage what you have with Flitz metal polish.

[sparkchaser]

I have used arcade controls like these on a number of projects, and I usually get mine from http://www.happcontrols.com/ (but they can be found at many other places as well).

[russm313]

The emulator is not VB. You can use any emulator that exists out there. I wrote a front end in VB to access the emulator and games so no keyboard or mouse was needed. I did not want to endorse a certain emulator, so I left that I out. I figured anyone building this would already have a favorite emulator. The joystick and buttons can be found by a quick google search. There are several companies online that sell them and again I did not want to endorse a certain one. They all pretty much work the same. And I think Goblinshark123 was just joking... Thanks for reading my instructable :)

[dmhjah]

was the emulator a hardware piece or software? I ask because if it is hardware then did you have to, I don't know, write some sort of device driver for it?

[russm313]

The emulator is software

[theSWIT]

This is really cute !No way Im trying out this..but Im saving up for a Wii (off topic but..) Good job !<:

[dmhjah]

I have got to say that this is so very cool. Great job.

[l3owzaaaah]

You see I followed the step by step instructions and stuff, but mine just didn't turn out right; the wood was uneven, the plexiglass scratched, the paint rubs off on my hands, and two of the vb scripted games won't load.