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The Youth In You Demands This Handcrafted Retro Arcade Machine Made Of Wood

Even though our homes can be filled with PlayStation 4s, Xbox Ones and Wii Us, the child in us remembers hitting the arcades in the 70s and 80s, where we would dump coins into arcade machines, and fire up classics such as Double Dragon, Street Fighter II and Pac-Man.

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Unfortunately, arcades these days are filled with nonsensical fishing machines. Where’s the fun in that? In comes Pixel Play, with their ultimate throwback experience, the Pixel Play Arcade.

Though small in size, the Pixel Play Arcade is a self-contained video game emulator encased in a wooden shell, complete with arcade styled controls to play your favourite gaming classics. And we are talking about the early 4-bit games, the popular 8-bit ones, the advanced 16-bit ones and the classic 32-bit ones.

Handmade and crafted by a single person, each Pixel Play Arcade system is a work of art that reminds gamers of what we have lost, but can reclaim again with this. Based on M.A.M.E. (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), the machine is powered by the latest Raspberry Pi Version 3.

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It also comes with the following:

  • 8GB mini-SD memory card (also known as storage)
  • Joystick with 10 LED buttons
  • 5W, 4 ohms dual Speakers
  • 10.1″ LCD Screen with remote control
  • 8-ports 5V, 5 Amp USB

The console is installed with:

  • Latest Raspbian “Jessie” (Linux for Raspberry Pi)
  • Emulationstation (Front end and emulator)
  • A few Shareware games

If you have been following the games emulation scene, you might realise that the Raspberry Pi chip has been the saviour of gamers everywhere, but this is the first attempt at actually packaging the software and hardware, with some top notch dressing.

We had a chance to take one of the machines for a spin and while it doesn’t accept coins like an actual arcade set-up, this is as close as you’re going to get to the real thing. The one we tested was loaded with many game emulators (which we won’t name because this is supposed to work if you actually owned the original copy of the game.). There is a network port in the rear, and USB ports for sticking in your thumbdrive, to load more emulators/games.

Oh, and it supports co-operative play too. You just need to link up two Pixel Play Arcade machines to battle a friend. You can find out more about the project here:

While the Indiegogo fundraising campaign has started, the awesome folks at No Average Joe, who are the partners on this, are bringing three brand new Pixel Play machines to GameStart 2016, to preview it to gamers in the region.

And if you ask nicely, they might even consider selling you a set. But remember, there are only three fully working commercial (not prototypes) units available at the show, so show up early or be prepared to be disappointed.