[March 2022]
A while ago I bought the Arcade1Up Super Pac-Man 3/4 size arcade from Costco. It is a nice looking cabinet and great for playing mostly single player games.
Initially I had hoped there would have been some soft-mods available that would have allowed me to add games to the existing system, and without the need of any physical changes or modifications. However for this particular Arcade1Up model (Model: 8218, PCBA: GBX70-V01) there was nothing really out there, other than some preliminary attempts that seemed promising. For the time being, there are no real solid mod tools along the lines of Hakchi.
Instead, I followed the common path of modding my arcade with a Raspberry PI in order to play the games I wanted. More specifically, my intention was to play only Arcade games (MAME-2003 and MAME-2003-Plus) and I have no interest in the gazillion other emulators.
Below is my parts list:
- Raspberry PI 3B – I already had one
- Micro SD Card – I used 32GB because I had it, but probably 16GB is enough
- GPIO Stacking Header for Pi – To hook things up to the Pi
- LCD Controller Board for Arcade1UP – To connect the Pi to the screen
- Joystick and buttons for RPi – To replace the crappy ones from the factory
- RPi Fanless Aluminum Case – Pi heatsink style case without fan
- 3.3Ft HDMI Cord – To connect the Pi to the LCD Controller
- Double sided Gorilla tape – To stick things inside the cabinet
- JST PH 2.0 4-Pin Connector – To connect to Speaker connector on LCD Board
- 3.5 Female TRRS 4 Pole Audio cable – To connect Arcade Speakers to LCD Speaker jack
- DC 12V 2A Power Supply Adapter 5.5mm x 2.1mm – To power the Marquee light
- Adapter 5.5mm x 2.1mm Male to 3.5mm x 1.35mm Female – Adapter for Marquee light power
- 5.5mm x 2.1mm Female to Female Coupler – Adapter for Marquee light power
- 5V 2-Channel Relay – So that Pi can control power to screen and lights
In addition, I also used:
- Different sizes of Phillips screwdrivers
- Soldering gun
- Solder
- Painters Tape
- Drill bit to make 1 inch holes
- Sanding drill bit to slightly widen the holes
- Drill
- Old CAT5 network cable
- Butt connectors (26-22AWG)
- Wire cutter/stripper/crimper
- A few pieces of plywood
- 2 household receptacles
- 2-gang device box (to house receptacles and relay switch)
- Old electrical cord
- Few inches of 14AWG electrical wires
- USB Keyboard
- Computer into which you can plug a MicroUSB card and also use SSH/Putty
The attempt was to keep things the same as much as possible to the original looks and functions of the original cabinet, with the difference of more games and better quality buttons and joystick.
Here is the breakdown of steps:
- 1. Disassemble the Arcade
- 2. Connect the Screen
- 3. Add Holes for Extra Buttons
- 4. Install the New Buttons and Joystick
- 5. Configure Arcade Power/Volume Buttons
- 6. Install RetroPie
- 7. Test the Arcade with RetroPie
- 8. Finish up the Arcade Console and Screen
- 9. Customize the Software
- 10. Amplify Sound
- 11. Connect the Marquee Light
- 12. Build Power Supply
For more details on the hardware of this cabinet, follow this link and scroll down to “Generation 5b”.
To get a sense of what the modified Arcade looks like, check out this video.