My Galaga Arcade

9600baud

Hey everyone,

first of all, thanks to all who help building RetroPie. That helped a lot with my latest build.

I thought you may like a Galaga Arcade cabinet and that's why I share it here with you. It's not full size, but scaled down to 4/5th. That way it's lighter and over all easier to handle.

galaga arcade cabinet

It's powered by a Raspi 3 and a ControlBlock. Also added a small amplifier from Adafruit.

raspi and controlblock

Here is the product shot:

And I also have two making-of vids:

The complete write up is here: Tinkerlog

Until now it's working fine and gets powered up every lunch break ;)
I have one minor issue, maybe someone has an idea. To use the old TV in portrait mode I had to rotate the video output. I tried first the option to rotate everything in the Raspi settings but that resulted in bad performance in quite some games. Then I tried rotating the display only in MAME4all and that was better than before, but still not perfect (a couple of sound glitches when playing Galaga). Im using RetroPie 3.6, not sure if the newer version would be of any help. If someone has a hint, that would be awesome.

Cheers,
Alex

Morph-X

Absolutely wonderful work! You did an outstanding job, mad mad props!

9600baud

@Morph-X thnx, Morph-X!

BuZz

Very nice!

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@BuZz thanks!

edmaul69

@9600baud love it.

cyperghost

Nice thing :)
I wish I had the same space in my latest build.

But this project seems not to be very portable :)
+1 for this anyway =)

Gee

Very nice build !

9600baud

@cyperghost thanks :D
Yes, even at only 4/5th of the size it weighs at least 40kg, maybe 50kg. You can push it around quite easily, it stands on 4 plastic knobs. But lifting it is definitely a two men job!

DorkVonWaterfall

10-12v on pin 8 in the scart connector could also power on the TV

9600baud

@DorkVonWaterfall cool, thanks for letting me know. But I guess there is no way to switch it to the AV channel with help of the scart connector?

DorkVonWaterfall

@9600baud i guess you have the pie connectet via rca now,right ? (Because the old tv has no HDMI)
So, a simple rca to scart adapter should solve that problem...

DorkVonWaterfall

And then you plug in minijack to rca audiocable and you can have audio on the tv aswell, no need for extra amplifier and speakers

GtBFilms

Very cute!

The 4/5ths size looks really good.

caver01

4/5 is a great idea! I appreciate the videos that show it being played, as you get a much better sense for it's size. You get all of the nostalgia (artwork, iconic form, etc.) without the imposing presence of a full-sized cabinet. It's also kid-friendly!

9600baud

@caver01 Yeah, thanks! The kids of my colleague, 7 and 5, played it and it's perfect size for them :)

Pads

Great cabinet! Seems an ideal size for a small appartment.

What is the plastic frame you used around the coin door?

9600baud

@Pads You mean this?
It's part of the coin door. All sheet metal.

Pads

@9600baud Yes I didn't realize it was part of the coin installation

Thanks!