Another Arcade Stick (NeoGeo MVS Style)

Melvin.FoX

Hi!
Just wanted to show you my build based on RPi3.

It's based on MVS NeoGeo Arcade style as Metal Slug is my most beloved arcade series. I wanted to make it a budget build (you can see on one photo baby seat and that's the reason :)) so most of the equipment has been bought on Aliexpress.
Overall build cost hasn't exceeded $220.

photos are also low budget ;)

Features:

RPi3 based portable RetroPie arcade stick
HDMI and RCA out
2 players + 2 players through USB ports
Front red LED buttons (with coin slot art) for coins
Art and graphics made from scratch

thedeathstar

@melvin-fox Hey man, that looks sweet. Are those LCD's on the top toward the back?

Also, what did you do for your power? It looks really clean.

edmaul69

@melvin-fox as a big neo geo fan I absolutely love this. Any chance you can post links to where you got the rca jacks and the power plug/switch? Great job.

Melvin.FoX

I will try to dig through to find it but I bought almost everything on aliexpress.
For power I used universal two socket extension. I just cut the cable after assemblying everything to get length right to the switch, then soldered it. There are two power adapters - one 2.5 Amp for RPi and regular usb charger to power up leds on front.

There are no LCDs on top - it's just printed :/ I got a plan to make some small 8 digit displays but it was too complicated so I just ledt it to have more original look.

Melvin.FoX

@thedeathstar as for those RCA mounts just type rca panel mount on aliexpress to find one that fits you best:
RCAs I have bought
as for power search for IEC 320 C8 Power switch.

If you need any more details I would be glad to help :)

edmaul69

@melvin-fox thank you for the links.

thedeathstar

@melvin-fox Thanks. I've been thinking about adding a powered usb hub to my setup, and wasn't sure how to power the two things without making a serious misjudgment about my knowledge of circuits. The extension cord trick is great.

batman

@melvin-fox Thanks for posting a link. Are you please able to explain/take a few more photos of how you connected the power supply. I can see that it's still connecting to the Micro USB but am a little lost on how it connect to the main switch.

Melvin.FoX

@batman sorry for late response :/ I really don't have time right now to make some new photos but I send you the ones from WIP. I don't have the exact wiring of this rocker switch but overall it's easy as seller provided me with the diagram (or I would rather say Paint made picture ;))

It should be wired like this:
0_1503989652609_rocker switch.jpg
The ones in the middle goes to the receiver/power extension
The basic idea is: Wall socket -> Rocker switch -> Power extension -> Power adapters -> RPi 3

Here is the photo of wiring inside (don't have photo of the rocker soldered):

batman

@melvin-fox All good and no need to apologise.

Please don't trouble yourself with any additional photos (at least not for me). The diagrams are sufficient for me to get a better understanding of what you did. I just had the impression that you were running a single source of power from the rocker switch to the PI.

I was contemplating a build similar to your but on a smaller scale. Just a single player arcade stick (with the Pi inside) and have a switch on outer case to avoid plugging a micro USB into the PI directly or having the PI exposed directly inside the case. I will be need to re-consider my options.

Thanks for your followup and well done on your build.

Melvin.FoX

@batman if you want to do it like this it's totally doable, you will have to skip the power extension and connect rocker switch to PSU directly.
I came with a simple idea but the only problem is that you will have to break your 5v power supply adapter. Open your PSU, remove those "things" that contacts with the wall plug and replace those with wires going right through the rocker switch.
You can also just wrap those plugs with a wire that is already soldered to the rocker switch but that won't be too elegant solution.
Not sure if I made it clear enough?

batman

@melvin-fox I don't mind destroying an existing micro usb power supply in return for an external switch like you have in your setup but I only know the very basics when it comes to electronics. I would too concerned that I would destroy the Pi or electrocute myself in the process.

I would be content with an alternative switch that is easy to plug in and didn't involve soldering anything to GPIO pins. I've thought about just using an extension cable with a MicroUSB mount but that's still fiddly and has no switch.

Melvin.FoX

@batman you don't need to be a PhD to make it proper way :) you just have to connect two ends and that's it.
Really no rocket science. When soldering and playing around with the cabling don't connect anything to power. Connect it after everything is done and instead of Pi use some other device (old phone?) that has microusb port.
I think it's really hard to break anything this way.

batman

@melvin-fox Appreciate the encouragement.

I've had to reconsider the design and features of the enclosure as I was relying on somebody else to build it and now am unsure on when or if this will happen anytime soon. Using an arcade stick with the Pi was the priority so for now, the Pi will stay as is and outside the initial build (version 1). I'll continue to power it as I always have.

As this is my first arcade stick build and likely to be a temporary solution, it's very low budget. It's currently housed in an cardboard box! I'll look into upgrading it into something more classy once I can establish how much use it's going to get. I received all the parts last week and spent some time on weekend wiring everything up to ensure it was all working.

I'll reconsider the options we discussed here once it's upgraded and decide if an all in one arcade stick/PI solution is the better option. More importantly, if it can be achieved using the few tools I have access to whilst keeping costs to a minimum.