Yappy Arcade Console
Arcade gaming has evolved tremendously over the years. Today, golden age of arcade gaming maybe behind us with the proliferation of gaming consoles and PC games. But that does mean we have to give away that part of our memory.
OpenBuild SG, the affiliated local counterpart of OpenBuild in US, has been working on a mini arcade machines running on Raspberry PI and Emulation Station. They have been refining the model for some time churning out prototype after prototype. They are now ready to put these awesome big boy toys in your home! Called the Yappy Arcade Console, the machines allow you to play games from the Nintendo classics all the way to PlayStation One games.
We went down to their OpenBuild workshop at Ubi to have a look at the entire building process. All these machines are handmade by Yap, who is one of the founder of OpenBuild SG. From purchasing of the parts to cutting of the wood and finally to the assembly of the machine, all these are done in this workshop. You can check out Yap’s blog post for more details on how he build the console.
Left: Yap, the man behind all these mini arcade machine. Right: Our victorious editor Jax who just beat Yap at a game of Street Fighter.
This mini arcade console has a 10.1″ screen and a joystick with 10 buttons. Sufficient inputs even for your PlayStation games. The machine can be plug straight to your wall plug. It comes with a pair of 4Ω 3W Speakers and the brain of the machine is a Raspberry Pi Ver. B+ rev 2.
The console feels authentic to me. It is amazing how technology enable us to shrink down the good old arcade machine into this mini form loaded with way more games than a single classic arcade console. Of course, the craftsmanship deserves praises as well. While I am no expert in this field, I wouldn’t have guessed that the Yappy Arcade Console is built by hand in a workshop. It seems like the real deal to me. However, given that it is a mini arcade console, we advise against inviting your friends over for a game of bishi bashi.
Inside the gut of the machine
OpenBuild SG is now having a promotion selling these machines in limited quantity at SGD 399. After which, the price will increase. OpenBuild is willing to sell to fellow GameTrader.SG members at SGD 399 for another additional 50 sets. Just tell them that you are a member of GameTrader.SG and they will honour the price. The price of SGD 399 maybe on the high side for the younger gamers out there especially if you compared with a PS4 console which costs around SGD500 plus. However, given the price of the parts which take up bulk of the costs, the price maybe justifiable especially for the craftsmanship. Even if you don’t play it, it does look like a good piece of art to display at your geek corner.
If you wish to purchase one, you can drop a SMS to OpenBuild SG at +65 9113-1344. Yap is usually too busy in the workshop so a message will work best. You can also visit their workshop too at 65 Ubi Road 1, #01-87 Oxley Bizhub 1, Singapore 408729. Do check with them first before coming down.
Oh yes, there is also a two player version! You can contact them for more details. Happy to report that I beat Yap at Street Fighter. +1 for GameTrader! We will schedule a rematch soon.
The 2 player version of Yappy Arcade Console
PS: This is not an advertisement. Purely sharing this awesome machine with fellow GameTraders 🙂