Steampunk MAME cabinet

Jake von Slatt sez, "An absolutely exquisite monster MAME cabinet - check out the CNC carved lithopanes!"

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Games • maker • Steampunk

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Anonymous

“And sure, using an Xarcade seems like a cop-out, but really piecing together a control panel is both a pain in the ass and not really “from scratch” as you’re just putting together pieces that someone else has made anyway…”

hmmm… that’s like saying you can’t use screws because someone built them and you didn’t dig the ore out yourself, smelt it into steel and forge them. No this is a shame they haven’t made a themed steam punk control box to go with it and have used this xarcade controller instead. However, for what it is it is beautiful nonetheless. Building a control box is really easy actually. And some nice bronze nobs on the joysticks etc would cap it off… oh and a bigger tv wiht smaller bezel.
Zum Zamim

Wow! If coin op arcade machines looked this good, arcades might just make a comeback.
Anonymous

That’s up there with a “Discs of Tron” one I saw on eBay quite a while ago. B)
Ian70

a) No Trackball? No Spinner?? How are you supposed to play Omega Race with no spinner???

b) Omega Race was a -=raster=- screen game, there was never a full-colour screen for it on MAME, AFAIK… I wonder which version is being shown?
Viktor

That is the most fantastic thing I think I have ever seen!!! I almost had to use all caps…
Anonymous

I totally understand your feelings…I could have put much more effort on the control panel. My defense is that 1. I know woodworking but still have a lot to learn about wiring/electronics and while you assure me it’s easy, I’ve yet to take that plunge… 2. I had no idea the use of an X-Arcade would have such a backlash. They seem to have a great product and an awesome warranty. My attempt to keep it stock enough to be able to send it back under warranty is a compromise, to be sure. I respect your opinion that it was lazy. Point taken.

Thanks for the comments, all!
drono

That’s the most beautiful piece of hardware I’ve ever seen.
I love the mames & that’s like playing in heaven.
Germanico

Just too bad that out of the hundreds of hours they probably took to make this wonderful thing, they didnt found the time to make their own controls.
eustace

Easily teh MOST FANTASTIC THING I’VE EVER SEEN (hell, I did have to use all caps)…
Aurich

It’s pretty ruined for me by the awkward, lazy, and ugly jamming of an X-Arcade in instead of building a custom control panel. Why bother to go through all that time and effort to cop out at one of the most important steps?

I’ve built my own MAME cabinets, the control panel is not difficult, especially not for someone who could pull off the rest of this. Fix it! :)
geech

*sigh* sooooo lovely. Gorgeous Karloff peering out too. Great touch.
Anonymous

Although this is an old post, I am amazingly impressed – this is easily one of the nicest cabinets I have ever seen. It is a work of art. I would love to see some step by step instructions on how you achieved the look, where you acquired the parts, etc.

I am a bit surprised regarding all of the posts that discuss the control panel. Although they are not all that hard to put together, given the interfaces available today, you can play a bunch of games well on an X-Arcade panel very well.

Beautiful job!
Anonymous

Sound system could be a set of old phonograph horns coming out of the sides – bent at a funny angle to be pointing directly at the players’s faces – almost like its attacking the player with sound.

a couple jacob’s ladder’s or something sparking in glass tubes at the top would be amazing – especially if you could hook them up to the sound or game play – so they would pulse with the action and sound.

control panel is pretty weak – look at some of the steampunk qwerty keyboards that are being made. steal from them – its okay.

other than that – the construction, and design of the whole thing is wonderful – the green light is prefect with that copper faux patina look. I can imagine captain nemo playing this mother just before the giant squid.
franko

gorgeous. the most amazing thing to me is, it’s displaying Omega Race, which was one of my early favorite arcade games. I barely ever run across anyone who remembers it. i actually bought an old upright arcade machine of Omega Race, and have it in my living room. I don’t recognize that particular screen, though….
snoproblem

I both remember and enjoyed Omega Race when it was in arcades, Franko. I enjoyed it again when I played it on my Commodore 64, though I didn’t have the arcade controls or the seated-booth console.

I still remember that opening melody, like I heard it yesterday. :)
dculberson

Ian, certainly you mean to emphasize that Omega Race was a -=vector=- game, right? Because MAME is always running on machines with raster graphics, unless you’re outputting XY over the sound card and hooking that up to an oscilloscope…

And sure, using an Xarcade seems like a cop-out, but really piecing together a control panel is both a pain in the ass and not really “from scratch” as you’re just putting together pieces that someone else has made anyway…

It’s a beautiful machine.. just let it be beautiful.