Kaizen's The Last Starfighter Arcade Cabinet Build

[Jintosh]

Wow ! That's the first time that I've seen the game actually played.


(the clicking joystick is mildly annoying. )

 

[Kaizen088]

Wow ! That's the first time that I've seen the game actually played.


(the clicking joystick is mildly annoying. )

That clicking joystick is extremely annoying, I'm looking at options at the moment and may possibly retrofit leaf switches for a silent, softer feel.

 

[Kaizen088]

I'm going to replace the left stick with the same type as the right stick.

The left will be programmed as an analogue joystick and the right is seen as a mouse input.
I did a quick test by reprogramming the right stick and it works well.

The coin door reject buttons don't have lights behind them so I wanted to fit some LEDs to illuminate them.
I had some old LED striplights but they can only be cut into groups of three (if you cut just one off and wire it up to 12v it won't work).

I removed the LEDs from the strip and fitted a 1k resistor to the supply and glued them to the housing.
Perfect solution...

 

[Jintosh]

Good solution.

 

[Fatswaller78]

Umm.... You sir are amazing! This is crazy cool.

 

[yelahttam]

Blown away by this build! - mh

 

[eaviii]

Beautiful build sir! I based my own joysticks on the flight stick you posted. I had originally used Happ top fires but those are actually pretty cumbersome in terms of getting the plastic off the shaft of the joystick. Ultimately, I am not sure what to do about the clickiness. Not sure there's any easy way to silence the arcade microswitches given how they work. Hearing it on the video reminds me how annoying it is. There are a number of options using Cherry MX switches that can give you any level of feel and sound but I am not sure I have seen any good joystick solutions with those, only pushbuttons. I have used those to mimic old Cinematronic and Vectorbeam buttons that are pretty much impossible to find nowadays and have a distinct feel when depressed. There are some sound baffling options for joysticks especially Semeitsu but I do not know that this could be applied to the cabinet. You might be able to dampen it somehow with simple insulation if the open areas under the flanges are acting as an echo chamber to some extent. Leaf switches are always an option but you will be pressed for space in that area depending on the mount.

I had sort of forgot about that clicking and this thread has reminded me. I will see if there is any simple solution I do not know about in terms of the arcade microswitches. Anybody who knows of something please chime in here. The clicking this can be extremely annoying on builds. I will also get into a switch and see if it can be muffled.

Again the build continues to impress. Make the luck of the Seven Pillars of Gulu be with you at all times!

Doc

 

[Rebelscum]

I just happened onto this build today. I'm not here much anymore, but I am sorry I didn't see it before as I could have helped you quite a bit. I had EAVIII's cabinet here at my shop for 2-3 years, during which I fixed up some things on it, but also took detailed measurements to build my own. He also had wooden controls, which I reproduced into working controls.

There are a couple sets of photos of his cabinet, and mine here:

His cabinet:

The New Wookiee Workshop

Mine:

The New Wookiee Workshop

 

[pengbuzz]

I saw this posted on the front page, so after seeing some pics, I went back to the beginning of the topic and read everything until the end!

Kaizen088: you sir are just plain EPIC!!! Reading about how you built this machine from scratch and got it to look and function as the actual game is beyond mindblowing!!!

I don't care if this is a "necropost"; you deserve a encore round of applause on this one!

We of the Star League salute you, Starfighter!!!

 

[Jintosh]

Yes, did you ever fix the clicking joysticks?

 

[azheat01]

Now if we can only get Arcade 1Up to get the rights to this and build it!