The project goal is to build an arcade bartop for 2 players, based on retropie.
Inspiration came from http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/the-build-page/porta-pi-arcade-kit/ , but made for 2 players instead of 1 and using an used 19" LCD screen.
Cost for all components is around 250 € (without the wood ; wood and paint is about 50 €).
For now, I built 2 of them and planning to build a third one.
Components
1×
A raspberry Pi 1, 2 or 3
A Pi 2 or 3 is better for NeoGeo games
Some games on MAME and N64 emulators are lagging so I installed a heat sink and a fan (recovered from an used laptop) and overclocked a little bit the Pi 3 following that guide.
Emulators are now running a a little bit more smoothly (some PSP / PSX games are not playable thought).
With the fan, SOC (overclocked) temperature is around 50 ° C.
I just finished my 3rd bartop (and I think last). Build went smoothly (no joystick or screen problem like on the previous one). I added some LED lights at the bottom to make it cool.
Like a lot of people, I had trouble using 2 Xin-Mo joysticks on my second arcade station. It was like both were the same joystick.
It’s really strange since the first one didn’t had that problem and it seems that components are the same. I even dump the SD card from one Raspberry Pi to another without success (same problem on the second arcade station, running a Raspberry Pi 3).
You’ll have to clone Adafruit-Retrogame, configure /boot/retrogame.cfg file, add a udev rule and launch retrogame at startup.
Also, default mapping for select button (space) causes some problem in game (emulator running a lot faster). I had to change the default key (space) for 'b' to fix that bug.
Update 15/05/2021 : Got the same problem on new bar top build and fixed it via that method (unplugged the 2nd player side's 4 pin (up, down, left, right) connector and turned it around and plugged it right).
I inserted 2 power plugs directly inside the cabinet controlled by a switch. One plug will power the screen while the other powers a 5V adapter for the Pi and the amplifier (you’ll need to cut the one side of the Y USB cable to power the amplifier).