It’s been a while since we’ve seen [Sprite_tm] pull a project from thin air, and we haven’t seen him do anything with a Raspberry Pi yet. All things must pass, and finally [Sprite] has unleashed his tiny, pocket-sized MAME machine to the world.
The build uses a Raspi for all the Linux-ey and MAME goodness, but [Sprite_tm] didn’t want to fiddle around with the HDMI or analog video output. Instead, he chose to use an SPI-controlled TFT display that is only 2.4 inches across. This isn’t a new hack for [Sprite] – he figured out how to connect this display over GPIO pins with a Carambola earlier this year.
To make his cabinet portable, [Sprite] opted for using old cell phone batteries with a cleverly designed charging circuit. When the power supply is connected to +5V, the batteries charge. When this power is removed, an ATtiny85 provides 5V of power to the Raspi and display.
No arcade cabinet is complete without a marquee of some sort, so [Sprite] used an extremely tiny 128×32 white OLED to display the logo of the game currently being played. Everything in the Raspi is set up to be completely seamless when switching between games, automatically configuring the controls and marquee for the currently selected game.
You can check out [Sprite]’s mini MAME booting straight into Bubble Bobble after the break along with some gameplay footage and finally switching it over to Nemesis. A very awesome build from an exceedingly awesome maker.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5npkz0xY1fo&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzrvO8r8_pU&w=470]
This NEEDS to be commercialised! So awesome.
Aww thats cute…
I love this. I’m a huge fan of anything made mini and this would awesome on my desk at the office. Thumbs up!
wow
I want to build this, right now!
One small correction: he’s using a parallel interface screen. Impressive anyway!
Add an Xbee module for 1-2mile range p2p network play?
Awesome! Make a Kickstarter, these would sell so fast!
Wow, that’s an great write up, especially liked the battery charge/boost converter.
ben heck gets crazy attention for taking something out of one case and putting it in another when these type of mods really should be getting it. Amazing work on every aspect of this.
This is so full of win!
This is groovy! I like it, should have Street Fighter 2 though!
Dude I admire you.
You guys know there is a larger size version up on kickstarter now – http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimoroni/picade-the-arcade-cabinet-kit-for-your-raspberry-p
I’ve been building some mini arcade cases for the Raspberry Pi. You can check them out at http://www.deskcade.com
Thanks!
-Shea
I really love this hack. I didn’t know this was possible. I have a Rapsberry Pi, but I didn’t know what to do with it. Until now.
good luck with robotron with that right stick LOL
still cool project