2600 bartop arcade project

[sethbramwell]

I was going to hold off on sharing this until the mini joystick I'm waiting for arrived, but it seems to have been delayed another 3 weeks (despite supposedly being in the US).  At any rate, the joystick is the last missing piece so I wanted to share some pictures of this project.  

 

This is a bartop arcade that was inspired by AtariAge FaceBook member James Hamel who made cartridge holders that resembled miniature arcade machines.  I wanted to take this idea and turn it into a machine that would play 2600 carts by inserting the cart into where the marquee would be.  It took some doing, but here's what there is so far.  I just need the joystick to come in.  The switches on the front are, from left to right: Power, Difficulty, Color/BW, Game Select, & Game Reset.

 

Some limitations:  It will only handle one player games/modes with left player input and difficulty and only games with joystick input.  

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by sethbramwell

[Shawn]

You might run into problems with a bus that long off the cart connector to the motherboard with some games.

[sethbramwell]

10 minutes ago, Shawn said:

You might run into problems with a bus that long off the cart connector to the motherboard with some games.

I had not realized that.  Are those the later games?

[Shawn]

On 7/9/2020 at 7:10 PM, sethbramwell said:

I had not realized that.  Are those the later games?

 

Anything that needs more power for sure. EPROM based carts will have an issue with such a long bus as well. Most prom based carts should be fine, I only mention it just so you don't end up thinking your wiring was off or something when it was just a bus length issue. Here is hoping you don't run into any issues. 

[sethbramwell]

8 hours ago, Shawn said:

 

Anything that needs more power for sure. EPROM based carts will have an issue with such a long bus as well. Most prom based carts should be fine, I only mention it just so you don't end up thinking your wiring was off or something when it was just a bus length issue. Here is hoping you don't run into any issues. 

So far, so good.  My biggest issue is the joystick being on the slow boat from China, LOL.  Thanks for the heads up :-)

[Amstari]

This is a great idea! I love the cartridge slot on the marquee area of the arcade machine. Looking forward to seeing the final product. 

[sethbramwell]

4 hours ago, Amstari said:

This is a great idea! I love the cartridge slot on the marquee area of the arcade machine. Looking forward to seeing the final product. 

Thank you!  I found out my joystick (which was supposed be here in mid July) has been pushed back to September despite evidently having been in the US since June 24.  It was my first time trying Wish and I doubt there will be a second but finding a joystick in the small size I wanted proved a lot more difficult than I thought.  The control panel only measures 4 3/4 x 8 inches and of that only about 2 1/8 x 8 inches is available to mount the joystick and fire button.  Thank God the 2600 hand simple controls!

[Nateo]

Wow, that's gonna be GORGEOUS when it's all done. Having the cartridge end label double as an arcade marquee is genius.

[+fdr4prez]

You may want to consider changing the front flip switch from power into the other difficulty switch and move the power switch to the rear (or top).

 

It looks like it is very easy to accidentally hit the power switch when reaching down there, and even if a game is one player sometimes both difficulty switches are used for various game settings.

[sethbramwell]

35 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

You may want to consider changing the front flip switch from power into the other difficulty switch and move the power switch to the rear (or top).

 

It looks like it is very easy to accidentally hit the power switch when reaching down there, and even if a game is one player sometimes both difficulty switches are used for various game settings.

I will have to look into that. I had initially planned to have all switches on the back but convenience won out. I didn't know that both difficulty switches could be used for a one player game either. Thanks!

[sethbramwell]

It's finally finished!  The joystick arrived from China after months of waiting.  Everything is up and working!  I tried to add the right difficulty switch, but unfortunately the board seems to be permanently shorted in easy mode no matter what I do.  Ah well, I'm happy it's done and in one piece!