In March of 2017 I’ve watched tons of Youtube videos and joined several different Facebook groups where users have already created their own bartops.  I started to plan out and piece everything I would need to purchase to make a complete RetroPie Bartop Arcade machine.

My bartop arcade is running a RaspberryPi Model 3 board using  RetroPie/EmulationStation/HyperPie

The Outside

T-Molding Cuts Included! – MDF Bartop Arcade Cabinet – Do It Yourself Kit

I’m not that great with cutting wood so I decided to order a premade bartop that was already cut to hold a 19″ monitor and the T-Molding was already cut out.  I watched YouTube videos were people have entire work-shops setup in their garage.  Even tho this was precut and you would think everything should just fit we had to a lot of different modifications.

Purchased On:  eBay

Price:  $85.00

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20ft of 3/4 Chrome T-Molding for Arcade Games, Mame Machine, or Cabinets

Since the pre-cut bartop MDF board we purchased already had the T-moldings cut this was easy to install.  We installed the T-molding after the entire bar top arcade was completed.

Purchased On:  eBay

Price:  $13.00

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Bubble Bobble “B” Arcade Marquee 26″x8″

I had to do a lot of modifications to make this fit.  Lets face it if I did my own cuts and measurements I wouldn’t of had to modify however this was my first bartop arcade build.  I also used a pre-cut bartop layout MDF board that was already cut so we had to do a lot of hacks to get everything to fit correctly.

Purchased On:  eBay

Price:  $18.00

RockStar Print

I ordered all the Vinyl’s from the side art, bezel, controls from Rockstarprint the price was great the only problem is they ship from the United Kingdom with USPS.  Which took a little more then 2 weeks to get to me.  Again the sizing was off since this was a bartop, so we used the best pieces and just cut off the excess.  I used a heat gun on very low heat to get the vinyls to stick nice to the mdf particle board.

Purchased On:  RockStarPrint.co.uk

Price:  $18.00

The Audio

The audio was a key part to the build because I wanted to be able to control the volume.  So I figured if I purchased an Amplifier wired up a potentiometer I could place the volume knob where ever I wanted.  It actually worked out to easy and sounds amazing I’m happy I spent all of the money on good speakers and good hardware it paid off in the end.  So basically I took apart the amplifier, desoldered the volume potentiometer and ran wires to the bottom of the cab.  I also had to use an external usb device more info here.

ONEU Mini amplifier Super Bass Hi-Fi Stereo Audio Amp Booster for Car Moto Home with DC 12V 3A Power Supply, Black

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price: $19.99

RCA Cable, iXCC 6ft Dual Shielded Gold-Plated 3.5mm Male to 2RCA Male Stereo Audio Y Cable

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price: $7.99

Rockford Fosgate R14X2 R14X2

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price: $27.49

Plugable USB Audio Adapter with 3.5mm Speaker/Headphone and Microphone Jacks

More information on how to install this here.

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price:  $7.79

2-pack 500KOhm Long-Shaft Guitar Volume Potentiometers (Pots) – Audio-Taper

Purchased On:  Amazon

Price: $6.99

YMC Chrome-Dome-Knob-4pc 4 Pieces Chrome Brass Dome Knob for Etc Guitar or Bass

Purchased On: Amazon

Price:  $6.31

Cabinet Cooling

This totally was not necessary however I thought it added so much character to the bar-top arcade.  Throughout all the builds I looked at I didn’t see one build with any type of cooling.  I did some google and amazon searches and found this product.  Plugged it into the power strip and it works perfect.

AC Infinity AIRPLATE T7, Quiet Cooling Fan System with Thermostat Control, for Home Theater AV Cabinets

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price: $59.99

Display

The display work was the hardest part of getting the bartop arcade completed.  At first it was hard to figure out how we were going to mount the monitor on the inside.  I should have left it inside the case and just left it as that however since we already disassembled everything we had to get a piece of plexi-glass (purchased from Homedepot or Lowes) on the top and we used pieces of vinyl around the bezel.  For some reason when display turned on.  You would have to press a button to exit out of the display menu.  I noticed however if I held down one of the buttons it would bypass this.  So I soldered all (4) legs of the toggle button which bypassed the menu.

GATEWAY TFT19W80PS+ 19″ WideScreen LCD Monitor Black w/Speaker Bar & VGA Cable

Since I knew my pre-cut MDF board would hold a 19″ screen I found a nice LCD screen on eBay for cheap.  I actually removed the entire enclosure of the screen then placed a piece of wood over the back and inserted screws through the mounting hardware of the screen.

Purchased on: eBay

Price: $34.00

Premium 10Ft. HDMI Male to DVI-D 24+1 Male Gold Adapter Cable HDTV LED LCD Cord

Purchased on:  Amazon

Price:  $8.89

Power

Powering the device was easy I knew I needed a big power strip and a rocker switch so the machine turns on everything with the flip of a switch.  Wiring the rocker switch was a little difficult there actually wasn’t that much information available since it was an eBay auction.  However I did figure out the correct pin out.

C2G / Cables To Go 14719 18 AWG Universal Power Cord for NEMA 5-15P to IEC320C13, Black (25 Feet/7.62 Meters)

I wanted a long cord especially for testing and getting everything setup so I could virtually plug this thing anywhere in the house and no one would trip over the cord.

Purchase On:  Amazon

Price:  $12.62

1x Green LED Rocker Switch Fuse Holder IEC320 C14 Inlet Power Socket AC250V 10A

Make sure you put the fuse in the one I purchased actually didn’t come with the fuse installed which caused some minor headaches.

Purchase On: eBay

Price: $6.99

If you prefer you can skip all this and download the already assembled BAT file below.

Step 1.  Open up a note pad copy the commands below.

Step 2.  Click on File -> Save As  (Be sure under Save as type you choose “All Files“) so it does not save as a .TXT document.

Step 3.   Now you can simply double click the bat file and I believe it will Reboot all RaspberryPi’s connected to your network.

I was cleaning up files on my computer and before I deleted them I wanted to post them.

The picture below is the mapping of a RaspberryPi B board.

This is the wiring setup for the PiGRRL Zero Plus board.

This is a diagram I created to help easily wire everything to the GPIO.

The device itself is pretty nice the battery time lasts about 1-3 hours depending on usage the buttons are clicky I actually went and installed soft buttons of A,B,X,Y buttons and kept the clicky buttons on the DPAD.  If you notice once I screwed down the screen the screws provided with the 3D printed build I over turned them causing the screws to come out of the plastic which pissed me off a lot.  I was able to sand the plastic down which made it less noticeable.
This can play almost anything from Arcade, Atari, Super Nintendo, Nintendo. Almost everything up til N64 (I tested playing Nintendo 64 ROMs it loaded them just could not handle them on the Pi Zero).

Here are the following guides I followed:
Main PiGrrl Build from Adafruit:
https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-zer…

PiGRRL Zero Plus Build by Jpete (Jpete 3d prints most of the cases and hardware I used for this build he also helped me out a lot during this build).
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1769656

Some of the products I used:
Adafruit PiTFT 2.2″ – http://amzn.to/2qmOtML
Raspberry Pi Zero – http://amzn.to/2oFaEBi
PowerBoost 1000C – http://amzn.to/2qeVIHs
Battery Packs Lithium Ion Battery 3.7v 2000mAh – http://amzn.to/2pcdRa8
10x 6mm Tactile Buttons – https://www.adafruit.com/products/367
1x Slide Switch – https://www.adafruit.com/products/805
USB Mini Wifi Adapter – http://amzn.to/2ptDMLn
Tiny OTG Adapter – USB Micro to USB – http://amzn.to/2pcbowH
2×20-pin Strip Dual Male Header – http://amzn.to/2oQgaMK
Uxcell a13070200ux0794 SPST Momentary Push Button SMD Tactile Tact Switch, 6 mm x 3.5 mm x 4.3 mm – http://amzn.to/2oF8OAF

Products for the Audio
Mini Metal Speaker w/ Wires – 8 ohm 0.5W http://amzn.to/2oPXSvm
5Pcs 16mmx2mm 10K ohm Stereo Volume Control Wheel Potentiometer B103 http://amzn.to/2oTez9H
Adafruit Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire – 2m 30AWG White
– http://amzn.to/2qfdhY3
Adafruit Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire – 2m 30AWG Yellow – http://amzn.to/2pGogN6
Adafruit Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire – 2m 26AWG Yellow – http://amzn.to/2pccqZr
Hakko CHP CSP-30-1 Wire Stripper, 30-20 Gauge Maximum Cutting Capacity – http://amzn.to/2ptt4US

These helping hands helped me out so much in this build
QuadHands Flex – Helping Hands Soldering Tool Add On – Add Four Flexible Metal Arms to Your Favorite PanaVise – http://amzn.to/2oT6nXg

PiGRRL Zero Plus Case https://www.etsy.com/listing/46545611…

PiGRRL Buttons https://www.etsy.com/listing/45984778…

PiGRRL PCB Gamepads https://www.etsy.com/listing/48642710…

PiGRRL Screw Kit https://www.etsy.com/listing/28069127…

First i’m going to start with all of the products that I used in my RetroPi/Raspberry Pi build.

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Kit with Clear Case and 2.5A Power Supply

This kit is great because it comes with the 2.5A power supply which is good for overclocking, it also includes the Raspberry Pi 3 B model, heatsinks and the case which I haven’t used.  I always switch it for a fan powered case.   $49.99  (Purchase)

Sliced 9 Layers Case Box + Cooling Fan +micro

Next I start off with 9 layer fan powered case which will keep your Raspberry Pi / RetroPie cool when you eventually overclock your device and it looks cool too!  $10.97 (Purchase)

SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC

Next you want to make sure you have a good MicroSD card.  I would stay away from buying these 2nd hand and do not buy them from eBay.  I’ve purchased several from there and they were absolute garbage in the end caused me more money and headaches.  Also if you are using HyperPie I would stick with the 128GB version or 200GB version depending on what type of ROMs you are adding the HyperPie image itself takes about 60GB.  128GB $39.99  (Purchase)

Nintendo Wii U Pro Controller – Black

I’ve tested almost every controller for the RetroPie and I always went back to using the Wii U Pro controller.  I tried controllers from Xbox, PS3, 8bitDo, etc.  The Wii U Pro controller just feels right.  I’ve left the controller hooked up to the RetroPie for a full day I came back and it was still responsive.  It’s a lot more expensive then most controllers but it’s worth.  Also beware of fake knock-off brands.  $39.99  (Purchase)

High-Speed HDMI Cable – 3 Feet

If you do not have an HDMI cable laying around you are going to need one.  Any HDMI cable will do just make sure it’s long enough for your TV.  $6.99   (Purchase)

Product Break down:

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Kit with Clear Case and 2.5A Power Supply $44.99

Sliced 9 Layers Case Box + Cooling Fan +micro $10.97

SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC $39.99

Nintendo Wii U Pro Controller – Black $39.99

High-Speed HDMI Cable – 3 Feet $6.99

Setting up your RetroPie Image

Now that you have purchased and hopefully received your products it’s time to setup the RetroPie / HyperPie image onto your MicroSD.

You will need to download the following files.

• Add the Favorites List to the top of the list
• Remove Consoles/Packs that did not relate to me

One of the benefits of adding Favorites to the top of the list when you scroll all the way up it will stop at the first item. With over 8,000 games installed sometimes I want to be able to find my favorites list to get a quick game in.

Also I had about 15 systems/collections that either had blank ROMs or stuff that I was never going to play so I wanted to remove them.

Step 1. The first thing you need to do is SSH/FTP to your RetroPie using FileZilla.

The file you need to edit is “attract.cfg“.

Please navigate to:

/home/pi/.attract

Above is a preview of my attract.cfg file.  Lets say the display Top 100 Collection section that I have highlighted I wanted to remove, or place in a different area on the display wheel.  You need to make sure you copy the entire section and either delete it, or place it in the section where you would like it to appear.

Once you make your changes save the file and re-upload it to your RetroPie/HyperPie using FileZilla.

Quick Note:  Instead of using a default text editor, I used NotePad++ and I set this as the default editing program for my FileZilla FTP program.

Good to know: If you are accessing your RetroPie installation over SSH the default Raspbian username is pi and the default password is raspberry.

Copy the existing ‘roms’ folder structure to your server

For EmulationStation to be able to see your rom files the paths given to it within /etc/es_systems.cfg need to be recreated on your networked server. Connect to your RetroPie and browse to its roms folder for reference on how each system folder is named. Either copy these folders to your networked server or manually create the folders on your networked server using the same directory names.

If you prefer to not use the EmulationStation system directory names and keep the current folder structure you have on your networked server you’ll need to edit es_systems.cfg. Use this command to copy the configuration file to the home directory wherein it will be editable through SMB (//RETROPIE/configs/all/emulationstation) or FTP.

Mount your Share

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to tell Raspbian to wait for your network at boot.

In there, select “Boot Options” and tell it Yes.

Option 1: Add to autostart.sh (Preferred if using v4.0+)

sudo nano /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh

Add the following line to the top of that file, being sure to adjust it for your personal settings, paths and options. This will make the local roms folder use your remote server roms folder instead.

Good to know: If you’d like to host the entire RetroPie folder remotely you can do so by removing the /roms directories from the mount command above. Make sure to have a copy of the RetroPie installation on your remote server or EmulationStation won’t be able to start RetroPie!

Restart your Raspberry Pi with sudo reboot or by simply unplugging the power cord.

Alternatively, if you have a shared folder that allows guest access, you can use the following line in your autostart.sh:

This should also allow you to write save files to your NAS.

Option 2: Add to fstab

Using your favorite editor, open up fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the line to mount your network share. Mine looks like this:

First, make sure it will mount:

Restart and check the folder to make sure it didn’t have any issues mounting at boot

With any luck (and if you have a ton of SNES ROMs like myself), it will be fairly apparent that it was able to mount the share at boot.

Saving Games

Go ahead and make sure everything works. Don’t get to far into a game though, you might not be able to save. If you hit ‘Select + R’ (default save command) and it gives you an error, the easiest solution I’ve found is as follows.

We need to edit retroarch.cfg by deleting the # infront of the savestate_directory and savefile_directory lines and put in the desired path. I’ll be using ~/RetroPie-Save. First, make the target folder:

cd
mkdir RetroPie-Save
sudo nano /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg 

Mine looks like this:

savestate_directory = /home/pi/RetroPie-Save
savefile_directory = /home/pi/RetroPie-Save

If you already have some save files, it would be a good idea to move them to the ~/RetroPie-Save folder we created.

For more information please visit: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-Network-Share

HUGE Thanks to Forrest aka “Eazy Hax” for developing this tool. We have added it run directly from the pi. Go grab his retropie toolkit, lots of good stuff in there and give his video a like, a comment and dont forget to subscribe.

Step 1. VERY IMPORTANT: You must make sure your RetroPie/HyperPie/Bartop Arcade/EmulationStation is connected to the internet via Wifi or direct ethernet cable. If you are not connected this will not work. (It downloads a file to your RetroPie before running the script).

Step 2. VERY IMPORTANT: Use a PC to format your USB drive, whether it is a HDD or just a USB stick, to NTFS. It will not work as any other File System format. (Most HDD’s are already formatted to NTFS).

Step 3. Create a folder in the root of your USB drive called “piroms.”

Step 4. Plug the USB drive into your pi and turn it on, or reboot it.

Step 5. Go to emulationstation by either quitting AttractMode and typing “emulationstation” in the command line (without the “”) or by the attract mode menu choosing to boot to emulationstation.

Step 6. Go to the RetroPie menu inside EmulationStation and scroll to “HDD expansion” and press this option.

Step 7. When it is done you can unplug your USB drive and plug it back into your PC to add your ROMs to the newly created system folders within “piroms/roms/“.

Step 8. Once you are done transferring plug the USB drive into your Pi and reboot or turn back on.

Step 9. Congratulations, your Expanded Rom Storage is now complete. Your roms are now available to play directly from your drive. no other configuration is needed.
**Note** If you ever wish to use a different drive, you must use the option to remove the HDD from the Retropie Menu. Then start the process over again. The script only allows for one (specific) drive to be connected at a time.

I recommend installing this on either a 64GB MicroSD card or a 128GB MicroSD card.

Please note if you are going to the 64GB sd card route, you need to have a Flash Drive handy to use Forrest aka “Eazy Hax” USB Drive Expansion. This will enable you to place all of your ROMs on the flash drive; we need to do this because the HyperPie Image is about 59GB.

• HOW TO “Eazy Hax” USB Drive Expansion
• HOW TO ROMs Over a Network Shared Folder or NAS

Download Links