Mirrored Arcade Cabinet

[cabinator]

The final bezel for the monitor is almost finished.

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New speakers are placed making it possible to play in 2.1 surround.

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Radical plans led to the next chapter of this project. To overcome the prlem with the dimensions of a crt-monitor with a maximum width of 500mm the monitor will be mounted vertically inside the cabinet in such an angle that a mirror above it can be used for gaming. One would expect that the changing of the display could be done with any video card or with any software from the internet. But no. I tweaked it manually to be able to 'pre-mirror' the image and invert it back with the actual mirror. (You with me?)

The monitor is in place. the subwoofer can be seen below. The mirror is next.

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[cabinator]

The funny thing is that you can peek at your opponents tricks while looking in the mirror. At the time of the picture, the problem with the mirroring was yet unsolved.

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I was looking for a way to fix the mirroring problem when a coworker told me about a joke when fellow students went and switch a wire inside the tv to make the screen flip like I needed. With some decent instuctions and a service manual of the monitor, I managed to do so.

Duke Nukem Forever was a disaster, so time to change to an all time favourite: Earthworm Jim was the next marquee I made.

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The red taped edges got some decent strip material to also cover up some damages on the edges.

The next step would also be a fundmental change. I wanted to hook up 1 or 2 light-guns, but most of them didn''t fit the current hardware. Yes, crt-lightguns are available for the pc'but those for the ps2 were so much cheaper. I managed to buy two p99 wired PS2 lightguns for 5 euros each. The point was that they only work on 50 and 100 Hz screens and not on my 60 Hz pc monitor, unless I could make a connector which would be far too complicated, or buy a switch box for a lot of money. I would spend less for a second handed tv with scart connectors so I could connect both the the pc and the ps2 at once. I happened to heir one from out of the family. It was tweaked the same way as the pc monitor. And the two light-guns accepted the tv tweak without problems.

[Dekar]

Sweet cabinet dude. I don't get why you wanted to put those side grips there though, kinda messed up the looks of the smooth t-molding imo.

Either way, looks like a great build. Looking forward to seeing more!

[cabinator]

That's exactly the reason why I dropped the idea of doing so. The current molding has a much more comfortable shape and seem to give the edges a bit more body.
I will add some more pictures this weekend.

Thanks for the feedback btw!

[Dekar]

Ah I didn't see the last pictures you uploaded. I'm glad you got rid of them, looks much smoother now.

[cabinator]

The casing of the tv takes too much valuable space and is taken off before being put in the cabinet.

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The 'new' display is installed. A new bezel is yet to be made to cover the open spaces.

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The cabinet now is able to run on multiple systems. In this case a pc and a ps2. A 2nd ps2 would soon be added to overcome certain issues with the light guns..

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I finally made a modification I have been thinking about for a long time. My old ps2 had been catching dust after I bought my ps3. In my opinion, the limited resolution of a ps2 just doesn't look good on a 42" lcd screen. It needed to be installed together with a crt display for the best performance. The arcade cabinet was the best solution to this issue.

[cabinator]

Yes, light guns with shower hoses are an affordable alternative for the expensive original arcade guns. The metal hoses will be fixed to the cabinet through the old speaker openings.

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Everything is attached and almost ready for use.

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These light guns have laser pointers as well as recoil. Awesome for playing all ps and ps2 titles. I bet my fishies would like to play as well. (Sorry guys, no chance!)

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[Nathaniel Fletcher]

great game cabinet cabinetor the monitor frame has fit perfectly. nice

[leo]

What's up with the Earthworm Jim marquee?

[cabinator]

The Earthworm Jim marquee was a quick replacement for the Duke Nukem Forever marquee. The joke with Duke Nukem Forever was pretty much gone since the actual game came out. I definately wanted the new theme to be both original and not too general. For example: it's not only a MAME cabinet, it's also a double Ps2 with lightguns and gamepads, so in fact I could waste the whole marquee on being honest about the hardware. I've seen lots of mash-up marquees during my search, but eventually I had to conclude that none of them so far has been as appealing as some of the individual games. And because it's MY project, Ican decide for myself to pick any theme I like.
However, choosing a theme turned out to be more difficult than expected. Themes like Golden Axe or Canis Canem Edit (Bully) would heavily conflict with the guns. And most lightgun games have their own arcade machines. This arcade is not supposed to become a remake of an original cab.

All these difficulties have lead to the following criteria in random order:
- Must have some relation to guns.
- Must not be released as a retail arcade machine.
- Must be one of my personal favourites from over the years.
- No mash-up or too universal theme.
The idea to make a Wolfenstein3D themed arcade machine would be just too controversial for the livingroom of a happy couple.
Earthworm Jim is still one of my favourite characters from back at the age when girls were just girls. This theme actually is a temporary solution that just didn't get pushed off the throne by a better one. But recent thoughts about the Portal game might have taken shape at the next modifications. Ofcourse, Portal doesn't have any fire arms either, so I decided not to use this theme after all. Half-Life would be suitable, but the game is just too recent for an arcade like this.
Building a GTA themed arcade is still on my to-do list, but that would definitely have to be more like a car seat cab if you ask me, with a steering wheel and some kind of digitized gun holstering next to the seat. Who knows, the mirrored arcade dcabinet might not be the only cabinet I will build in my life.
Too many thoughts for one single cabinet and one single post, but I have more plans than space to build!