ALBAN'S ARCADE

Two games from 2000 · Two joysticks my mother cut the cables off · One 6-year-old

The games

Combat Flight Simulator

Microsoft · 1998 · WWII

Spitfires over the Channel. Flown with the SideWinder 3D Pro Plus — the stick this game was actually designed around.

Midtown Madness 2

Microsoft / Angel Studios · 2000

London and San Francisco, no rules. Driven with the SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel and its pedals.

The machines

SideWinder 3D Pro Plus in repair

1998 · gameport · optical sensors

No potentiometers — a camera and LEDs track all four axes, so it never wore out. Speaks a digital protocol no ordinary adapter understands. Getting an Arduino Pro Micro fitted inside so it can speak USB.

Precision Racing Wheel in repair

1999 · USB · mechanical centering

The counterforce is a real spring and pulley, not electronics — which is why scissors couldn't touch it. Needs one new cable and nothing else.

The arcade box planned

Acer Swift 1 · 2017 · fanless

Lightweight Linux, plugged into the television. Roughly a hundred times more computer than either game has ever needed.

High scores

#Pilot / DriverGameScoreDate
1 — Waiting for the first race — —
Alban goes first. The board stays empty until he sets a time — nobody else gets to be rank 1 on his own arcade.

Build progress

  1. Identify both devices from box art and labels
  2. Find the CDs found
  3. Rip the CDs to disc images before they rot blocked — needs a USB DVD drive
  4. Order an Arduino Pro Micro (5 V / 16 MHz, USB-C) next
  5. Wheel: solder a new USB cable to the board
  6. Joystick: fit the Pro Micro inside, flash the gameport firmware
  7. Acer: lightweight Linux, then both games
  8. Teach Alban to drive