what vintage console to use in a home made arcade?

[J.Ivy]

Hello everyone, its been a while since ive had a good gaming project and ive finally decided on what to do. Build my own arcade cabinet and use a vintage computer/gaming console inside it. Im a good wood worker, so building the cabinet is no issue.

 

I need to decide between two good working motherboards that i have. An atari 400 and a ti-99/4a.

 

Both have a good amount of games available, so its hard to choose between them.

 

Anyone see any pros and cons of one versus the other?

 

 

 

oh and here is an arcade machine on youtube that is using a 400 as its board.

 

 

just ill be hiding my board inside of the cabinet.

Edited December 18, 2014 by J.Ivy

[+save2600]

As much as I love the TI, I'd probably go with the Atari 400 and an AtariMax cartridge.

 

We do have Supercarts now for the TI that packs a bunch of games onto one cartridge, but the Atari is going to have a better selection of arcade type games and translations for sure.

 

BTW: very cool way to repurpose an old motherboard, please post pics when you're done!

[J.Ivy]

Ive been leaning towards using the Atari 400 board myself, mainly for brand loyalty. With a multicart cartridge, it would make a pretty enjoyable machine.

 

I like the idea of using 80s parts, so I even have a good working 1986 Sharp 19" tv with knobs, that will be easy to mount in a custom arcade cabinet. I recapped it and got it working last year, but its just sat and gathered dust since then. Best to use it in an arcade machine

 

So here is the 400 board. Tested and works well.

 

[J.Ivy]

Picked up the 19" bezel for the crt, as well as ordered the arcade controls.

 

Cant wait till they arrive and i can get on this now.

[MrMaddog]

That's awesome... Before I got a PC for using emulators, I had my 130XE hooked up as a "classic" game system.

[J.Ivy]

Okay, its been an EXPENSIVE month. My wife totalled her car, then went and scraped off the oil pan of MY commuter car, kept driving it despite the smoking engine, till it died.. Yup. Now it looks like were gonna get her a new and waranteed Kia. I will just drive my 1966 volvo and NEVER EVER let her drive it. I love her, but i also LOVE my volvo, shes never gonna drive my baby.

 

So the bezel and controls are ordered, i have the crt and board. Looks like for the time being, i will be wiring this up to get everything to work. Then when i can afford it, im thinking of using oak veneered 5/8" mdf board with T molding, for the arcade cabinet.

Edited December 31, 2014 by J.Ivy

[RJ]

Sounds like you'd better not let her play your project when it's done.