JK Cabinet to MAME - Arcade project Part VI!

SOFTWARE AND CHOICE OF FRONT-END

In order to use the software that emulates the different arcade games in the cabinet is there a need of a computer. The computer that I use for the project is a HP Pavilion 441.se Desktop PC, this is a smaller model which is good since it will be placed inside the cabinet.

HP Pavilion 441.se Desktop PC specifikations:

AMD Ahtlon XP 1800+ 1.53 GhZ

Nivida nforce 420D Integrated CPU

256 MB 266 MHZ DDR (PC 2100) 2x128

60 GB Ultra DMA Hard Drive

Operating system:

Microsoft(R) Windows XP Home Edition

The memory of 256 MB can seem a bit small but is enough to run MAME on your computer.

The computer (HP Pavilion Desktop PC 441.se) will be placed inside the cabinet underneath the monitor. To the left in the picture we see the transformer that is not needed anymore so it will be picked out of the cabinet to give more space for the computer.

Here we see that the computer will just fit inside the cabinet. To provide more space for the computer, the transformer that is to the left of the computer will be removed.

EMULATOR

In order to play different video arcade games an emulator is needed. An emulator is software designed to simulate the function of other hardware or software. För att kunna spela de olika video arkadspel som finns behövs en emulator. The video arcade games that were mounted in the cabinets consisted of IC circuits and components on a circuit board, what the emulator does is to "recreate" these video arcade games in a computing environment. The emulator that I use is MAME, (the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), the emulator can emulate thousands of classic video arcade game from the 70's and onwards.

MAME32 v0.103 for Windows

FRONT-END

There are a lot of different front-end to choose from and it is a matter of taste which one you prefer to use. I have choosed to use a front-end called Mala, (v1.74), it is quite easy to install. With Mala you can easy launch MAME from an interface that does not look like windows, it is a user interface that let you play the games you like quickly.

In Mala you can choose between many different layouts to have as a start image, I chose one called "Game Room (MAME) by Sardu" and it looks like it is in a gameroom.

created at 1024x768 but scalable

shows Marquee, Cpanel, flyers (definable1) and snaps.

Clock shows time

Chalkboard shows game list, manuf/date and count

chalk font and clock font included in .zip

För att få Marguee, Flyer och Snaps i MaLa får man skapa ett bibliotek för varje kategori och spara bilderna av respektive kategori med samma namn som ZIP-filen (name.zip)

HIDE WINDOWS AT START

To get the right arcade feeling when you start your computer in the cabinet you need to get windows as invisible as possible. I have created a custom boot image in Paint Shop Pro that appears when the operating system starts instead for windows startup screen, there are some tricks to "hide" windows startup information and you have to search the internet for instructions and ideas.

VIDEO ARCADE GAME

Video arcade games had its heyday in the late 70's to mid 90's and there are many of these games that have been played in the youth. The big game developers of video arcade games was for example Taito, SNK, Atari, Irem, Konami, to mention a few. Titles like ...

Space Invaders (Midway 1978)

Galaxian (Namco 1979

Asteroids (Atari 1979)

Pac-Man (Midway 1980)

Defender (Williams 1980)

Battlezone (Atari 1980)

Bosconian (Midway 1981)

Commando (Capcom 1985)

Tiger-Heli (Taito 1985)

... was incredibly popular and sold often in 100,000 copies and acquired millions of dollars to the operators. You can not be anything else then very nostalgic when you play any of these titles in an arcade cabinet with real game controls compared to playing them in a conventional computer with a keyboard.

HIGH SCORE

Now it is just one thing missing, high score need to be saved in the game after you exit from Mala and the emulator. Possibility to set high score is a big part of what got the players to come back to the arcade games, se further high score.

Fred´s Arcade

Here is a summary of the games that I managed to start in MAME, there are a lot of games which not work so it is a time extensive job to test all the games. There are often 3-4 different versions of the ROM or a USA, JAPAN, EUROPE variant of the game and it is not always they works. The easiest way is to create a menu in MaLa and add different versions of the ROM and test which version who works or choose the version you want to use. But most of the major titles work so it will be a pretty nice collection of nostalgic feeling you get in your arcade cabinet.

My kids quickly found a favorite in Donkey Kong 3 and new high scores are set all the time ...

Pleasure and Pinball

Have You played A Pinball Today?

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