![]() Ultimarc also carries real Happ buttons (not knock-offs, like you’ll find on eBay and elsewhere). Ultimarc to the rescue again, with the really excellent iPac 2. The last thing needed is an encoder, which is a circuit board that converts the arcade control inputs into USB keyboard inputs for use by games. It feels different as well as being electrically different in each mode. It’s really awesome, and I could not be happier with these.įor buttons, I went with Happ, as they have the right North American arcade look and feel. The switch is done with a restrictor plate, so the physical motion of the stick actually changes. They take Sanwa sticks, and convert them to be switchable with a servo motor. The magic bullet came in the form of the Ultimarc Servo Stik. I wanted something switchable from the top of the panel, something that would feel authentic in both modes, and something easy enough for guests to use. Physically, it still moves to 8 positions in 4-way mode. Furthermore, the conversion only changes the stick electrically. However, the only switchable 4-way/8-way Happ stick requires dismantling the mechanism to make the change. The former are American, and probably what you played on if you came up in American or Canadian arcades. There’s two main choices for sticks- Happ and Sanwa. The extra inputs will confuse older games, and watch how fast you die in Ms. No, you really can’t play 4-way games with an 8-way stick. With that criteria, the only special gear I needed was switchable 4-way/8-way joysticks. I want to play multiplayer games, but two people is fine- I don’t need four. Yes, I know I’m giving up Centipede and Tempest with this design, but I’m okay with that for now. However, I’m willing to forego trackballs, spinners, flight sticks, and other exotic input devices. ![]() As mentioned, I’m interested in most of the range of arcade games from the 1970s into the early 1990s. This makes ALL the difference in terms of what types of controls you buy, how big the panel is, what type of electronics you need, and so on. The first step in designing one of these is figuring out which games you want to play. I’d also like to thank the You Don’t Know Flack podcast for being very informative, and of course Slag Coin, arguably the best single resource there is on this topic. I did a ton of research over at the Build Your Own Arcade Forum. No crazy airbrushing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles driving the car from Pole Position here. I went with a simple all-white design, because it will match the decor in the room it will be going into. Here’s a demonstration of the coin buttons: They’re real US quarters which sit in slots, resting on buttons underneath. Here’s a close up of two of the signature features: servo-powered joystick mode selection, and coin slots: The feel of dropping in a coin to start a game is an important visceral moment, so I wanted to capture that somehow. I wanted something clean, fairly compact, but beefy enough to play most games from 1970 up through about 1993. Rather like a samurai making her own sword, this is something of a rite of passage for people who want to play these old games The Right Way™. ![]() The boys at No Quarter have rekindled my love of those games, but to play them properly you need the right equipment. If you’ve never played Dig Dug or Space Invaders in a smoke-filled, dimly-lit room with purple carpet, blacklights, and a creepy dude shifting pot in the corner, then you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s all about remembering and reliving classic arcade games, of the sort us folks-of-a-certain-age grew up with. I’ve been listening to a really great podcast lately called No Quarter. This is what happens when there’s nothing on TV.
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