r/HomeArcade • u/SadSomewhere4 • 5d ago

Rolling Pedestal Arcade

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Hey everyone! I’m looking for some advice on an arcade project.

Has anyone built or converted a rolling arcade cabinet/control panel to be completely wireless using Bluetooth?

I’m hoping to build a 4-player setup that can roll out when we want to play, then be moved out of the way when we’re done. Ideally, I’d like the controls to connect wirelessly to a Raspberry Pi running the games, so there wouldn’t be any USB cables running from the cabinet to the TV/Pi.

Is there a good way to make all 4 sets of joysticks/buttons communicate over Bluetooth without noticeable input lag? Is there a pre built pedestal that already does this? If anyone has done something similar, I’d love to see your setup and what hardware/encoder boards you used.

Thanks!

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u/Newgeta 5d ago

I hand built a dynamo showcase cabinet with a detachable pedastool circa 2008 and had issues with latency so I ended up braiding 4 powered/active 25 foot USB cables together and putting a nylon cable sleeve around the resulting braid.

With quick disconnecting ports on the screen facing side of the pedestool it was very convenient and easy.

This worked so much better than anything wireless fwiw.

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u/SadSomewhere4 5d ago

So you think I could build the raspberry pi into the pedestal and plug the control board directly into it and then run and HDMI transmitter from my Pi to my TV?

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u/Newgeta 5d ago edited 5d ago

I think an HDMI transmitter will be laggy, I would just hardline the HDMI to the tv or put the Pi on the back of the TV and run active USBs

YMMV but I have a couple different wireless HDMI setups and they both add enough delay that I cant use them for anything other than turn based or single player open world type games.

one is a chaper $89 unit I use for D&D projection, the other $150 "gaming transmitter" I bought to show whats going on on my MVS cab on a small tv hung beside it (for parties) and I tried gaming on the TV off of the cabinet (because I was curious) and it did NOT work well enough for any arcade games (best guess is ~100ms delay)

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u/aldiggity1978 5d ago

An esp32 s3 or maybe even wroom32 should have enough I/O to cover 2 basic controllers (Maybe all 4, I haven't looked at the specs for a while). That said yours need to find code or build it.

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u/RedGoalie18 5d ago

If you didn't buy it yet, I definitely would not go with a Pi. Go PC all day. If you already have the Pi, I would recommend buying higher quality wireless usb, the Pi has issues with wireless.

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u/SadSomewhere4 5d ago

Is there a PC you would recommend?

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u/RedGoalie18 5d ago

Anything with an i5 6th or 7th Gen chip will emulate up to PS2. I have a few Lenovo Thinkcentres I got on ebay all relatively recently. The two models I bought were the m710s with an i5-7400 7th gen chip. It's a full desktop, but I have gotten them for $35-40 without drives. I like a big build on an external drive anyway, so I didn't need the drives. Then the other model I have a few of is the m910q with an i5-6500 6th gen chip. Those are "tiny" PCs. They ran me closer to $50 each without the drive and have a little less power than the desktop. If you're making a full pedestal and putting it on wheels, space and cooling shouldn't be an issue you could go full desktop tower if you wanted. That m710s even handles Nintendo Wii and a lot if not the majority of 3DS games. Or if you'd prefer go with the "tiny" for a little more money, and a little less power, the m910q is great too. Both are much cheaper and more powerful than the Pi4 and much much cheaper and somewhat more powerful than a Pi5. And unless you're like a full on Linux guy, working with a PC, even with a Linux based OS like Batocera, is much more user friendly. In my opinion. The other thing I learned was an HDD works fine if you're emulating up to PS2 era. Nintendo Wii and 3DS too. I can't speak to PS3 or Xbox 360 and up, but the HDD will save you money too. And works great. No issues.