Arcade1Up recently released a series of mini plug-and-play consoles, and they appear to be solid emulation devices (granted their controllers could be better). I felt the console itself could be a bit more fun so I redesigned it to look like an Insert Coin slot from an arcade machine.
I just turned their console on its side and moved the power button, everything is still aligned to a single PCB board. The only major addition is an internal LED light.
I often wished the arcade cabinet for the TMNT games looked like the Party Wagon, thought I would share my weird idea today. This design made more sense when 4-player cabinets were huge and had large CRT televisions inside, but you could put a driving cabinet inside to make this an actual vehicle of sorts (similar to this old design of mine).
The blast shield folds up to reveal the screen, controls, and marquee. Otherwise it would look like the Party Wagon is parked in your living room.
Tried my best to make it look built of plywood and t-molding, so I do feel this is a very plausible design. Hatchback struts would be needed to hold the blast shield up, and the wheels would need to come from a riding mower, methinks.
Mini arcade cabinets are all the rage these days, even SEGA is getting in on the act! My hope is that a company like Basic Fun or My Arcade will issue a Last Starfighter-themed mini cabinet. Or even better, Arcade 1UP releases a bartop cabinet.
While there are fan-made video games of what was featured in the film, I think the twin flight sticks may make things difficult to execute. I would settle for a Galaga or Missile Command re-skin, or a generic shmup will do. As long as the iconic attract mode from the film is present in some form.
Even a Hallmark keepsake ornament (like this) would be neat. One can dream.
I’ve looked into building a bartop cabinet of this recently (I made the above mockup for that purpose), but I’ve hit a wall: all my email inquiries for custom side panels and vinyl prints have gone unanswered! Probably due to the recent worldwide hullabaloo.
This is a smaller version of a design I posted a few years ago, this time it’s for a single HDMI-based device. It allows you to switch between several devices without having to go behind the TV.
If you’re juggling a bunch of devices this would be extremely handy. Nowadays there are many plug-and-play consoles, clone consoles, video game dongles (from AtGames and Arcade 1UP), streaming devices, single board computers, and soon: gaming handhelds with HDMI output (the upcoming Analogue Pocket). Almost all of these are powered by USB too.
Most of these devices would benefit from a power switch, especially those game dongles which stay powered-on until unplugged (seen in the example below). So I included a humorous kill switch for the robot:
The robot’s body moves like a lever, so powering off this device makes it appear as though you are also deactivating the robot. The arms are loose and swivel freely, the LED eyes indicate power.
Cocktail arcade cabinets have been around for decades, but they are usually for 1 or 2 players. I believe there are enough games to enable a 4-player tabletop version.
This gadget is made possible by an IPS display, a superior display that can be seen clearly from all angles. I also want to include rotary joysticks, which can be toggled like a joystick for regular games (Pac-Man), or rotated for spinner games (Pong). The rotary joystick can be a button as well.
Continue reading ➞ 4-Player Tabletop Arcade
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