I wanted to be able to play most games made before 1990. I don't really like fighting games, I mostly like classic Atari games. I wanted to be able to play Asteroids with mostly the same layout of the original, and of course there had to be a spinner for Tempest.

After using the controls for a bit, I reallized I should have put the buttons at least another inch or so farther back, there's no place to rest your palm the way they are. It's still playable, but it could be better.

I bought the Groovy Game Gear TurboTwist, which is a very good spinner. I see that they have just replaced it with the TurboTwist 2. I was going to provide a review, but since you can't buy one anymore, it wouldn't do much good. I really like mine.

I bought the Keywiz Max button interface, and it works quite nicely. It works very well, although having to flip a switch to use a real keyboard is a bit of a pain. Once you get the menu system working well, this problem goes away.

Otherwise the Keywiz has not caused me any problems, and it does the job very nicely.

I bought spools of red and black wire from Rat Shack, and used a wire stripper to cut and strip all the wires. My best tip here would be to get some zip ties to keep your wires managed -- it would be way too easy to create a total rats nest inside the cabinet.

I wanted a metal control panel. I designed up a simple folded metal piece, and called around to the various local sheet metal shops. What a pain in the ass! no one would call me back with a quote, it took weeks... Eventually one company replied, saying that 2 control panels would be $50, and I jumped at the chance. I understand not wanting to deal with a guy who doesn't really know how to make engineering drawings, and doesn't have a $1000 worth of work needing done, but still...

I drilled all the holes myself, I may not have a bending brake, but I do own a drill press. The holes for the buttons were really a little too big for my press, but I took my time and eventually got them all done.

The (very nice) paint job was done with hammer finish Rustoleum spray paint. Highly recommended.