Gaming Done Right

Anyone that has ever taken on the task of building a home arcade knows that it is hard to get everything right. One of the things that makes arcade games so special is that each cabinet is perfectly suited to its particular game. Street Fighter needs a joystick and lots of buttons, whereas Daytona USA is best suited for use with a steering wheel and pedals. So what do you do when you are making a machine that can play thousands of different games?

In most cases, the best plan is to go with the lowest common denominator — select an interface that works with a wide range of games. This will give a pretty nice experience for most of your games, even if it is not really perfect for any one game. Fortunately, YouTuber Artifextron has come up with a much better idea. Artifextron has developed a modular system that makes it possible to swap control panels in just a few seconds to perfectly tune the interface for the type of game you want to play.

Each of the modules was 3D printed on Bambu Lab X1C and P1S printers using PLA Matte filament. Appropriate joysticks, buttons, and other controls were then installed into these prints, which are attached to the main cabinet with magnets, to support certain styles of games. At this time, there are five types of modules. Omni Deck was designed to be versatile, supporting a wide range of interactions. Fight Night was tuned for fighting games, Controller Bay stows external controllers when original console controllers are all that will do, the Command Deck offers a keyboard and mouse, and the Champion Deck is optimized for single-player games.

If you want to upgrade your own home arcade, the design files, build instructions, parts list, and wiring diagrams are all available for free.