![]() ![]() I mean c’mon – what kid who grew up in the glorious 80s didn’t dream of having his own arcade game? Remember those cheap miniature plastic table-top Donkey Kong arcades? Man, I wanted one of those in the worst way! With some tools, know-how and an eye for detail, I got to work designing and customizing a Donkey Kong Arcade Game to dress up my new components. ![]() Soon, the designer in me wanted to pretty these components up. Pair this to a real arcade joystick, some buttons and an old computer monitor I had lying around and a guy could lock himself up for a week in nothing but his boxers and a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. My web search soon took me to a beautiful little mini-computer called the RetroPi which could house more games than I’d ever need, all in about the size of one old NES game cartridge – amazing. I reminisced of our home Sega Master System and Turbo Grafix 16 and started to crave some play-time with Space Harrier and Altered Beast. Pacman ghosts and bold announcements of which ‘fruit’ would be next as they conquered level after each tasty level.īefore long, I found myself down the rabbit hole of wanting more old games and my mind became flooded with bike rides to the local arcade in our small town’s shopping mall with pockets full of quarters to spend on games like Shinobi, Street Fighter, and Pole Position. It wasn’t long before the house was filled with the gleeful screams and excitement of little voices being chased the Ms. Anticipation brimmed as I waited for the unit to arrive and introduce my young daughters to some arcade classics. I ended up finding a used ‘Vader’ (all black) Atari 2600 in amazing condition on eBay with about a dozen games, two paddles, two brand-new reproduction joysticks and everything I needed to go into full-on geek mode. Like any true 70s child, my memories are steeped in Kuwahara runs to the local Mac’s store for Slurpees, building jumps and forts out of any scraps we could gather, the 8-bit melodies from wood-grained Atari 2600s, and ‘Kangaroos’ zippered sneakers (you know the ones!). ![]() My Donkey Kong Arcade Machine was inspired one cold winter night in 2016 by a pre- mid-life impulse to buy an Atari 2600. ![]()
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