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Dad builds his daughter her own custom arcade machine

Posted Feb 28, 2009 at 5:17PM EST by Glenn M.

Listed in: Mods Tags: MAME, Pacman, psp mods

0
Now this is gamer love. A dad builds his daughter, Bella, her very own arcade machine and put it in her room, complete with 250 arcade classics and comes in flaming hot pink. News is a little old, but I figured I'd share it with you guys.

The dad, who goes by "Some guy on the Internet" actually built and restored other arcade cabinets before, so this isn't a new thing for him. It's about 80% the size of the original Ms. Pacman machine, it's about 50 inches tall. An adult can sit on a chair and play, while little Bella still needs a step stool to reach the controls and see the screen.

It's equipped with a simple Windows98 machine that boots up to a MAME custom skinned with Bella's Arcade theme. You can play by inserting a coin in the slot, or if you push a button on the coin slot, which could prove useful if little Bella wants to save up some cash.

It's a real cute story. "I had my dad's help lifting it up the stairs and I think I destroyed my back but it was worth it," the dad said. "My daughter LOVES it and she is so excited to have an arcade machine of her own in her room - her reaction was thanks enough."

Another cool mod:

Handicapped gamer builds his own PS3 controller

Via Bella's Arcade

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I work at a daycare. It's great to see parents that are dedicated to their kids like this.. I see too many parents that are quick to drop theirs off in somebody else's hands.

By the way..

snowblindu (3 months ago)

That isn't windows 98 is it?

javeryh (3 months ago)

Haha - no, good catch... I realized I said "98" instead of "XP" after I posted the video.

Copied from the video's comments. javeryh is the man who built the machine

# no effect... just being true to an arcade — DrWho1980 2009-03-01 05:24

Since you are asking this question I assume you arn't old enough to know. But back in the old days when those arcade machines were real and not just emulated, the mashine did a system check during boot-up. During this it checked its roms, cpu and memory. That scrambled screen you are refering to was such a check. Some other games showed a grid or a checklist that got marked as each part was checked ok.

If I'm not mistaking the machine started 'Mr Do's Castle' during boot up. So the scrambled screen was Mr Do's Castle's rom check.

# Centipede! — nensondubois 2009-03-01 06:21

Holy Snafu!

# LOL — Binary 2009-03-01 06:26

He probbly forgot.

# Fool. — Brant 2009-03-01 07:02

Having backups of games you own is legal.

And also, I really doubt that Parker Bros. are going to sue him when they have millions of dollars and he is just doing something completely awesome for his daughter.

# not "Windows 98" — kloplop321 2009-03-01 07:39

Booted up with the XP welcome and the XP task bar on the side... It looks like an LCD screen, collectively I think there is ~(in today's value) $550 in there?

But hey, I think he did a good job :)

# Actually he's correct — blackthorn 2009-03-01 09:36

This has absolutely jack ***** to do with the PSP - which I might point out has absolutely ***** MAME support anyway!

MAME Cabs have been projects for years and whilst this one is most certainly cute, it's not original or new. Go over to BYOAC and you can see 100 or more examples of this as well.

QJ is starting to lose the plot in what's 'newsworthy' on a PSP site. I think they just don't even give a crap if the content is relevant anymore as long as they can keep the post count up.

Cute cab. Zero relevance.

# lol — blackthorn 2009-03-01 09:39

because it's http://pspupdates.qj.net dip*****, not http://anythingremotelygamingrelated.qj.net

# meh, — the by 2009-03-01 11:37

give us another story when they've put a ps3/360 into the cabinet..... oh wait, scrub that one, coz the 360 would just overheat being in a confined space!! lol

# He sounds like darth vader — cmonkey99 2009-03-01 11:52

Bella's dad needs to work on not breathing like an emphysema patient

# well.. — MitchenX 2009-03-01 12:58

i gotta agree with the others that this is not PSP news at all... i don't know why everyone has to say it so rudely, though.... "waah." why not just enjoy it, it's a cool story.

I also have to say, this is one great dad!!! I've thought of doing something like this for my daughter, but now that she has a Wii, she wouldn't be interested in an arcade machine anyway... :(

Although when I finally get a Ps3, I may have to build something like this so I can lock it up, and have it not get stolen (like all my other gaming goods in the past!)

# wat — r3quiem 2009-03-01 13:08

I bet she feels like the nerdiest...I mean coolest girl in the whole world with that amazing arcade system in her room. kudos dad!

also, news on pspupdates is ALWAYS old.

# wow... — anhero 2009-03-01 15:44

instead of dedicating that much time building her an arcade machine that dad should have spent more time with her daughter (playing with her outdoors, ect.). It's a shame some parents have lost concept of whats really important to a kid's childhood. Fortunately I had parents who spent time with me when I was younger...

# nah... — 1337-Scruffy 2009-03-01 15:44

its cool, but my favorite gamer story of all time was the 4 year old who learned to drive using gta 4 lol....

# They fixed RROD — Binary 2009-03-01 16:21

not if its a jasper and good air flow (vents and PC Fans)

also how can you make a insert coin on a xbox/ps3? that would take the fun out of money making. lol

# @ many people — Alcantara617 2009-03-01 19:37

It suprises me to see there are still people that don't realize qj.net isn't just about psp news... I'm definitely reading this story on the ps3 qj, miscellaneous gaming news goes to every page of qj, the ps3, psp, xbox, ds, mobile, EVERY PART, idiots, stop complaining that its not relevant to the part of qj that you're on, its not about ps3 games or a new firmware, but I'm not complaining, thank you glenn for giving me some interesting news, and yes, the 4 yr old that learned to drive thru gta was amazing, lmao. Thanks QJ, continue being my favorite site

# I see... — ov3rkill 2009-03-01 20:17

I didn't even know that misc. news goes through all over the qj network. Then again, like i said, nice info and good news though. :)

# thanks alcantara617 — Guest 2009-03-01 22:56

i'm glad you realize why i put the article everywhere on the site.. thanks, and you're welcome!

# no prob glenn — Alcantara617 2009-03-02 00:35

I guess sometimes I jus happen to have common sense, unlike tons of people, thanks and you're welcome as well!

Not that its important but I think this is the first time Qj staff has replied to me directly, w00t! Stay awesome guys

# no prob — Alcantara617 2009-03-02 00:41

Serving the not so obvious common sense on a regular basis to those that need it.

but yea, that's how it works, as another example you'd probably see the olympic guy training with street fighter on each part of qj and not just ps3 qj, QJ's awesome!

# This rocks — raziel_leonhart 2009-03-02 08:38

this dad rocks to make a arcade cabinet for his kid she is lucky

# oh — Kexbut 2009-03-02 09:00

another spoiled girl

# @Binary — Navani 2009-03-04 16:51

Actually, here in New Jersey one of the arcades on the boardwalk has an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero 2 (WHICH TAKES TWO DOLLARS TO PLAY for FIVE minutes) and two guitars.

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Dad builds his daughter her own custom arcade machine

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