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John's Retro Arcade is devoted to classic arcade emulation. My custom arcade
cabinet allows me to relive my quarter-wasting childhood of the late 70s and on.
Even though I have been following the arcade emulation scene since it first
appeared in the mid 90s, I just recently decided to share my whole experience
with everyone.
In the Beginning...
Do you remember running Retrocade? How about Cinematronics95? And what about all
the discrete emulators like Gaplus, Pac-Man, and Pengo?
You must remember downloading a small handful of ROMs from Dave's Arcade Classics
to complete your collection. Those were the days! Donkey Kong was huge at 22k.
In 1995 I purchased my first real arcade machine. Once I was a proud owner of a Joust upright,
I realized I needed more.
I was shopping one day and noticed a software package called Williams Arcade Classics (WAC).
WOW! Emulated video games for DOS. WAC included emulated versions of Defender, Defender II,
Joust, Robotron, Sinistar, and Bubbles. Since I already owned a Joust, I was able to
compare the two. The emulated version of Joust was just as good as the real thing minus
the authentic joystick and cabinet.
My idea of creating a multi-arcade cabinet was born.
The Arcade Comes Home
I wondered if I could make my own dedicated cabinet just to play WAC. I had a buddy
down the road who had an extra Jamma cabinet he didn't need. It was ugly as hell and had
no monitor. I proceeded to hack up an extra keyboard and grabbed my multi-meter. I figured
out the keyboard matrix and created my own board that contained just the buttons I needed
for playing WAC.
It was time for an extra computer and monitor. Ouch! The thought of spending
BIG money back in those days for a computer dedicated to just playing WAC didn't fly.
Realizing I would not be able to afford an extra computer at the time, the idea was put
on hold.
I found out about an amusement auction company that frequently held auctions close to
where I lived in North Carolina. I soon found myself scrounging every extra penny to
feed my addiction to video games. I had a Joust, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Star Rider,
Galaxians, Warlords, Space Wars, Rip Off, Solar Quest, Star Castle, and many more. They
were all mine!
What was next? Pinball. I started out with an old electro-mechanical pinball game. (The
name escapes me at the moment.) I soon got my hands on more like Black Knight,
Fire!, Defender, Black Hole, STTNG, Black Knight 2K, Twilight Zone, and others.
My basement was awesome!
Downsizing
Unfortunately, I needed to move back to Florida. Florida meant no basements. I sold
off what I could in North Carolina and crammed the rest in my Florida garage. Once I got
settled in my new home, I realized I was going to have to sell off even more. I had
absolutely no room to even walk in the garage to play any of the games.
Six years later, I had only Space Wars, War Lords (upright), Star Castle, Black
Knight (pinball), Black Knight 2000 (pinball), Defender (pinball), and Rock-Ola Super
Sound jukebox. I missed my old basement arcade.
Less space was what I needed. The next logical step was to revert back to my old
multi-arcade cabinet idea. I had become a single parent with two children, and I needed
something fun for me again. John's Retro Arcade was born.
 The Cabinet is Born
My challenge was to create a nice cabinet from scratch. I wanted it nice enough to
blend into the living room - or at least what I consider blending in.
You can see where I documented my designs and ideas in the various sections of this
site. I'll post new additions and ideas as they progress. I consider my Retro Arcade
cabinet as a constant work in progress.
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