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How to build a Nintendo arcade

by russm313 on August 22, 2009

Table of Contents

How to build a Nintendo arcade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: How to build a Nintendo arcade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Building the cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Hack the keyboard to use as an interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Make the control panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 4: Conceal everything inside the cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 5: Finished Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
Intro: How to build a Nintendo arcade
This Instructable will show you how I built my Nintendo arcade. It is a bartop cabinet that plays original Nintendo game. The arcade is completely self contained with one
power switch for everything.

You can see a video of the arcade in action at Youtube, here.

Things you will need:

1 sheet of 4'x8' 1/4" MDF
1 sheet of plexiglass
1 set of joystick and arcade buttons
1 posterboard
several cans of spray paint
an older PC
an LCD monitor
1 USB keyboard
soldering equipment
nes controller ports (ripped from a four score)
DB-25 connector
2 cases of Diet Coke :)

Inside is an old PC and a 17" LCD monitor. The back of the cabinet has two USB ports and two NES controller ports. You can connect regular, un-modded NES
controllers and play with those or use the joystick and buttons on the control panel.

The front end is a simple VB program that auto loads when the PC boots. You never need to connect a mouse or keyboard to load your games. The VB program gives a
list of games installed. Using the joystick, you can select the game you want to play.

Also, you can connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB ports in the back and use the set as a regular PC. It has wireless internet built in.

Step 1: Building the cabinet

Draw out the arcade shape onto 1/4" MDF. Cut it out with a circular saw, jig saw, etc... Measure and cut out the remaining parts. My cabinet is 24"x18"x 24" (H x W x D).
Screw all the pieces together.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes
1. This angle in the back is not necessary, but it gives it a nicer look.

Image Notes
1. I originally was going to make the bezel from MDF, but later decided to use
plexiglass instead.

Step 2: Hack the keyboard to use as an interface

Now let's work on the interface for the joystick/buttons. This is how the controls will communicate with the PC.

You can buy encoders pre-made and save a lot of time, or you can do it on the cheap and spend a lot of time soldering. I prefer to do as much as possible myself, without
buying special parts.

Take apart the keyboard and inside you will find a thin transparent piece of plastic film. It's actually two pieces that you must separate. After doing so, take a sharpie and
mark the contacts that correspond to the keys you want to use.

I used the following keys: tab, esc, ctrl, alt, R, F4, enter, num lock, and the numbers 2,4,5,6,8, all from the num pad, that is very important. The numbers across the top of
the keyboard will not work. This is because I used 2,4,6, and 8 as the up, down, left and right controllers for the emulator. By turning on sticky keys, these same numbers
control the mouse cursor. The num locks enables/disables sticky keys. The number 5 key is the left mouse click. If you are using an 8-way joystick, you can also use the
numbers 7,9,1, and 3 for the respective diagonals. I chose to keep it simple with a 4-way joystick since it was only going to emulate and old school NES.

Inside the emulator, you can choose which keyboard keys control what. This is what I used:

Main buttons:

UP-------------------num pad 8
DOWN--------------num pad 2
LEFT----------------num pad 4
RIGHT--------------num pad 6
START--------------enter
SELECT------------tab
B button------------ctrl
A button------------alt

Secondary buttons:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
Mouse Mode----------num lock
Reset-------------------ctrl+R
Hide/show menu----esc
Mouse click-----------num pad 5
Exit----------------------alt+F4

Now that you have keys marked on the films, we need to trace the contacts out and see which pin corresponds to which contact. each film will have its own set of pins.
One set will be grounds and the others will be opens. The film that is the grounds will have the least amount of pins. My grounding film had 8 pins and the open film had
20 pins. For example: Take the R key on the ground sheet and using a multimeter in continuity mode, find out which pin of the 8 pins leads to the contact for the letter R.
In my case it was pin 5. Doing the same thing for the letter R on the open field shows the R key corresponds to pin 11. Now we know that if we make those two pins touch
each other, that will activate the letter R. That is how a keyboard works. Repeat this for every keyboard key you are going to use, making a list of this information as you
go.

solder wires between the contact pins you need and a prototyping circuit board from radioshack. A nice tip is once you have your solder point done, smother the entire
thing in hot glue so no wire accidentally get pulled off.

Once the interface is complete, you will wire the buttons to the prototyping boards.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. The all important Diet Coke :) 1. The separated keyboard films
2. Matrix for keeping track of key/pins

Image Notes Image Notes

1. Here you can see the labels written in sharpie so I know which pads are which. 1. set as continuity to trace out the leads.
The films will not be needed once complete. We only need them as a reference
to find out which pins on the keyboard controller corresponds to which keyboard
keys.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. keyboard controller, this one has a volume knob included 1. I used a ribbon cable to make the soldered connections.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. This is soldered ends connected to a prototyping board. The joystick buttons 1. Open pins on keyboard controller
will solder to these points. 2. Ground pins on keyboard controller

Image Notes Image Notes

1. open pins 1. Open connections are finished. The ribbon cable connects the controller
board to the prototyping board. We will connect the joystick and buttons to this
board.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes
1. Completed interface.

Step 3: Make the control panel

Now let's make the control panel. This will involve painting it, adding the joystick and buttons, and wiring them to the interface we created in the previous step.

Paint the entire board the base color of your choice

Mask out the design you want to use with painter's tape

Paint the board again with a different color.

Remove the painter's tape to reveal your design.

Drill the holes to insert the joystick and buttons into.

Install all buttons and joystick. You can additionally install a piece of plexiglass over the control board. I did this and it really made it look a lot nicer.

You can also label your buttons if you wish. I labeled the secondary buttons but chose to leave the main buttons unlabeled. For the text, I used rub on letters. You can get
these from the scrap booking aisle at Hobby Lobby.

Now we need to connect the buttons to the interface.

At the base of each button and joystick is a microswitch. Wire the ground connection to the ground pin that corresponds with that button. Wire the normally open (NO)
contact to the open end that corresponds. For example:

My A button corresponds to the keyboard key ALT. looking at my matrix, I see that the alt key is ground pin 6, open pin 19. for the A button microswitch, I solder a wire
from the ground to pin 6 of my set of grounds. Then I solder a wire from the NO to pin 19 of my set of opens.

The A button is done, now repeat with all others.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. I Painted the control panel lite gray 1. Painter's tape. Don't be cheap here, buy the good stuff, you'll be glad you did!
2. Diet Coke :)

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. Painted dark gray 1. Remove the painter's tape to reveal your design.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. Secondary buttons. They are: reset, hide/show menu, exit, mouse mode, and 1. Joystick assembly
mouse click. 2. Arcade buttons
3. Microswitches that attach to the bottom of the buttons. The joystick has
exactly the same switches. They are already installed on the bottom of the
joystick.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. Wire ends soldered to the buttons and joystick. The other end of these wires 1. Completed control panel. You can now connect it to your PC and test it out.
will go the prototyping boards we made earlier.

Step 4: Conceal everything inside the cabinet

This step will vary depending on the size of your cabinet, size of your PC and monitor etc...

Basically, you shove all the components into the box.

I had to take my PC out of it's case and mount the components into the cabinet. There is a surge protector inside that the PC, monitor, speakers, and marquee light all
plug into. I connected this surge protector to the male power plug that sits flush with the outside of the cabinet. I also put a rocker switch that turns the surge protector on
and off. This way, one switch controls everything.

Add USB ports at this point. You can use a USB extension cable, just plug one end into the PC and leave the other end exposed for access outside the cabinet. The PC I
used had an external USB control board, so I used that instead.

I made a Nes controller port that works with the PCs parallel port. There are plenty of instructions available for this online. It would require another instructable unto itself,
so please look it up. Once the ports are wired up to the PC, leave the ends exposed at the back of the cabinet.

For speakers, I just took apart a set of desktop speakers. I installed them next to the marquee light, facing downward toward the screen. Be sure to drill several small
holes in the wood that the speakers will be facing.

Connect a small fluorescent light kit and mount behind the marquee.

For the marquee design, I just printed out the logo I wanted and sandwiched it between two thin pieces of plexiglass.

Get the monitor in the exact spot you need and bolt it down.

Once all of this is done, test it out and if you are happy with the results, install the control panel and the plexiglass over the monitor.

For the bezel around the monitor, I used a sheet of plexiglass and spray painted the edges to hide everything except the viewable LCD area.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. Marquee 1. Motherboard
2. Speakers 2. NES ports
3. Cooling fan 3. USB ports
4. surge protector 4. Power plug
5. speaker
6. speaker
7. light
8. cooling fan
9. DB-25 for NES ports

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. speaker 1. LCD goes in front of everything we just installed into the cabinet.
2. speaker
3. Light
4. Cooling fan
5. Motherboard
6. hard drive goes here
7. power supply will go here.
8. surge protector
9. power plug
10. USB ports
11. NES ports

Image Notes
1. Bolts on monitor stand. These are conduit bolts found on the electrical supply
aisle at home depot.

Step 5: Finished Product

When it's all done, this is what you are left with.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will do my best to help you out.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Image Notes
1. This is the same type of plug you find on the back of a PC. just plug in your
power cord and plug it into the wall.
2. Cooling fan
3. Main power switch
4. NES ports
5. USB ports

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
Related Instructables

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Bookshelf NES Arcade by stand. (Photos) Arcade Machine Nintendo DS Nintendo DS
Arcade (video) Jumpkick007 by ThEoNeS (Photos) by arcade stand / Lite Arcade
by hacker3455 charger by Stand (Photos)
StupidInventions beauwalker23 by chel_cee

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 307 comments

jackman27 says: Mar 16, 2011. 3:59 PM REPLY

i cant get the sticky key trick to work, any help?

jackman27 says: Mar 16, 2011. 2:14 PM REPLY

does anyone know if the 1st super mario brothers has a copyright?

jackman27 says: Mar 16, 2011. 2:12 PM REPLY

did you guys know that it is illegal to play roms with a copyright on them, even if you do own the game? look at this website
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp

Drandula says: Mar 13, 2011. 10:29 AM REPLY

http://drandula.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2y5gw2
And this have been collecting dust for long time, 'cause I am too lazy to wire keyboard or install computer inside.

jporter-2 says: Mar 13, 2011. 1:05 AM REPLY

can you use a 20"

mrsocky says: Oct 26, 2009. 11:52 AM REPLY

where did you get your software to open the games and was there any aditional programming?i realy would like to do this but thats the only problem.

russm313 says: Oct 26, 2009. 12:21 PM REPLY

I wrote a VB code to act as a menu for opening the games, however, I have now discovered that it was not the best way to do so. You can download a
"front end" for emulators. A good one I found is AtomicFE , you just point it at your list of games and it opens them for you, letting you choose which
game you want.

qazwsx755 says: Mar 10, 2011. 7:33 AM REPLY

The "front end" I use in my arcade machine is called RockNESX and you can download RockNESX here http://www.rom-
world.com/file_emu.php?id=48.
For the NES roms I get them from rom-world.com.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 mrsocky says: Aug 3, 2010. 12:37 PM REPLY
where did you get your games?

F-17 says: Aug 15, 2010. 8:43 PM REPLY

This is really the coolest thing i'v ever seen and you made it in a week, even better, and it looks so official, but how did you make the marquee?

ryandean98 says: Aug 21, 2010. 8:09 PM REPLY

Try Ebay

pjrberger says: Feb 25, 2011. 12:46 AM REPLY

U can't buy that mauquee u print 1 out then u sanwitch some plexiglass over the logo

pjrberger says: Feb 19, 2011. 8:14 PM REPLY

I don't get the Internet bit but still awesome project

recordmasta001 says: Jun 12, 2010. 5:26 AM REPLY

Do all the switches use the same ground?

russm313 says: Jun 14, 2010. 7:29 AM REPLY

Yes, I used one common ground for all the switches

king kolton9 says: Oct 9, 2010. 2:04 PM REPLY

is their a site dedicated to consoles turned into stand up arcades?

recordmasta001 says: Oct 9, 2010. 11:43 PM REPLY

http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/

andrewn1 says: Feb 7, 2011. 8:46 AM REPLY

http://www.recroommasters.com/x_arcade_p/rm-xt-arc-t.htm

The Y says: Jan 17, 2011. 6:35 AM REPLY

Dude,
This is so freaking difficult. How many people can do this...:$

andrewn1 says: Feb 7, 2011. 8:45 AM REPLY

http://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension_Mini_Arcade_Bartop_Cabinet_p/rm-xt-mac.htm

andrewn1 says: Feb 7, 2011. 8:45 AM REPLY

This arcade looks really great, but for the time and material cost, buying one makes more sense to me. I bought one a few months ago from a company that
makes them here in the US, shocker. Here's the link to the Xtension Mini Arcade I bought from Rec Room Masters.

http://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension_Mini_Arcade_Bartop_Cabinet_p/rm-xt-mac.htm

Irock148 says: Jan 19, 2011. 6:32 PM REPLY

can thatthing emulate wii or DS games or basicallysomething along those lines I just wanna play mario but who doesn't

bigboss172 says: Jan 19, 2011. 11:38 AM REPLY

Hiya! Any chance of getting some source code from the vb program you used?

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 nintendoplayer says: Dec 30, 2010. 2:36 PM REPLY
hey do you use sticky keys for a secondary mouse mode ?

Intel Inside says: Dec 24, 2010. 3:29 PM REPLY

How Can i do this. Which prosser do u have. I have intel inside pentium 4.

trete says: Dec 10, 2010. 6:21 PM REPLY

whats the paper you have? And how exactly would connect the wires to the pins and all?

ben10886 says: Nov 15, 2010. 10:25 AM REPLY

Where did you find the big nintendo logo? Is it a sticker? I built my own and I need to figure out how to get the large nintendo logo on the front like you have.

Great Job by the way!

Thanks

russm313 says: Nov 18, 2010. 10:13 AM REPLY

It's just an image I printed from my PC. I cut it in half in photoshop and printed each half on 8.5x11 paper. I then cut out the logo and glued it to a piece of
posterboard that was cut to fit the marquee.

itjmiller says: Nov 7, 2010. 11:29 PM REPLY

I was hoping you could elaborate on the NES ports in the back. I am just starting to try this pro'ject out and most of it I understand. The NES ports, however,
I'm having a hard time with. I see that you said you used a four score and created a NES to parallel port cable. Could you elaborate on that process or point
out what site you got that from? I've see guide for ONE NES port to parallel, but not more then one. Actually.. how many are in the back of yours?

itjmiller says: Nov 7, 2010. 11:55 PM REPLY

http://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/4nes4snes/
The "BRD-4NES4SNES" seems to be the best way to go, I'm just wondering if this is the route you went. Although, and extra $20 will bring that $100
budget up a bit...

crafty469 says: Sep 24, 2010. 6:30 PM REPLY

do you have any drawings of the dimensions you used for each part? Prettey sweet

thisissafety says: Sep 17, 2010. 1:15 AM REPLY

Love it. Very well done. would go nice with the trunk i made. Here.

russm313 says: Sep 20, 2010. 6:25 AM REPLY

I've seen this, great job!

FirstSkyler2 says: Aug 19, 2010. 7:21 AM REPLY

And will that work on Windows 7?

staalwart says: Sep 13, 2010. 10:54 AM REPLY

Dude, an older PC (such as the one you would use here, say a PIII-P4) won't run Windows 7 in the first place. You can get an overstock PIII almost for
free in several universities, schools or at your workplace, or try fishing one on eBay or in a garage sale. Or even try to do a MINI-arcade cabinet, with an
older laptop, using its screen as LCD! Anyway, in either case, Linux and/or Windows 98 are your friends. Don't be overkill with the OS; it's a NES
emulator, not Metal Gear Solid 4 in HDMI... ;-)

hintss says: Aug 27, 2010. 10:15 PM REPLY

bah! get linux

Drandula says: Sep 11, 2010. 10:25 PM REPLY

My arcade's case is ready.
I am learning how to solder, then the buttons can be finished. Its now basically just that and installing parts in case.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 rosenred says: Sep 11, 2010. 2:22 AM REPLY
Great work man, loved it. If you have a bar, it makes a hell of a bar top! I was thinking that had you added an extra set of controls, it would be wide enough to
allow for a stand alone cabinet... Also the mouse mode idea was brilliant! In this case, even if you do not have a front end like yours, you can pretty much
control any emulator without the need of programming a large number of keys.

SonicX 22 says: Sep 9, 2010. 10:45 PM REPLY

lucky for me i have the exact same computer :D

dannymosquito says: Aug 29, 2010. 6:37 AM REPLY

Mate thats awesome!! thanks heaps for the great instructions. One thing though, with the rocker switch that turns on and off the power to the surge protector,
did you dismantle the surge protector and just extend off from the existing switch. I feel competent with electronics and electricity however if I can get away
with it I would prefer not to delve into changing or hacking into any of the mains power stuff. For that reason I used an existing pre mounted fluro and I
actually found a powerboard with the male pc style adaptor already on it (they are used for server style UPSs). I guess I can always just switch it on and off
from the wall as I can't think of any other way to do it without hacking the surge protector itself. In any case this is an excellent project thankyou heaps!!

stargazer96 says: Mar 31, 2010. 3:31 PM REPLY

this is very good its brilliant im only 14 and i know where the keyboard controler is lol? im an IT champion at my school ( basicly i know alot about
computers) and ive made one its so powerful .im even amazed. il try and get a picture. (sorry for changing the convorsation around) soon maby tomorow.

Congrats russm313 keep building

hintss says: Aug 27, 2010. 10:26 PM REPLY

and I'm turning 14, linux user, use a dvorak keyboard, and can do CAD, rendering, and stuff at a reasonable speed on a netbook with 400MB RAM. and I
spent days tweaking the configs to make it that much prettier.

murtaza64 says: Jun 9, 2010. 3:37 AM REPLY

yes i'm 10 and an IT genius i'm gonna give this a try.

electronic boy says: Jun 24, 2010. 1:30 PM REPLY

stop being show offs its just a pc in a box PS: u need to know how to solder and circuit trace aswell ! good job russm313 Mario lives on

tomtortoise says: Jan 30, 2011. 9:49 AM REPLY

im only 5 and i work at NASA

FirstSkyler2 says: Aug 19, 2010. 7:19 AM REPLY

You can google search for supplies and things needed and that is pretty darn cool Thats awsome man,thats awsome

chewbaccaa says: Aug 3, 2010. 2:21 PM REPLY

how do you wire the stick :(

Drandula says: Jul 29, 2010. 8:37 PM REPLY

Well, about year ago I bought joysticks and had plans making arcade. I didn't make one because I didn't have any tools or material (or will to do). But
yesterday I started making it :) Its still pretty rough, no holes for buttons, no bezel etc. I haven't hacked keyboard yet and you don't see some parts of arcade
in these pictures. My arcade will emulate NES and GB/C games, and with external controller also SNES and GBA (gotta test power if it can handle N64) Also
with external controller you will be able to use 2 player. Those are my plans for now.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-Nintendo-arcade/
 Drandula says: Jul 29, 2010. 8:55 PM REPLY
I forgot add the measurements: 43.6cm * 40cm * 40cm

The monitor is 15" TFT (one dead pixel :/ ). I see almost everyone keeps their monitor casing, and that uses more space. I took the casing off to fit
monitor in.

Motherboard is 17cm * 17cm Intel D945GCLF2 Intel Atom 330

After I have made all cuts, drill etc. I will disassemble arcade and paint all parts.

Drandula says: Jul 29, 2010. 8:40 PM REPLY

Oh yeah, I totally forgot: How thick wire should I use for connecting buttons and keyboard chip? I thought buying 1.5mm I might buy computer controller what
I will hack instead of keyboard.

view all 307 comments

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