“The Picade is brilliant. I have always enjoyed playing old arcade game ROMS on my PC, but to do it with a mini-arcade console takes it to another level! Love the feel of those microswitches, keybards just don't compare.
I totally recommend going for the 10-inch display - it's well worth it!
The build was lots of fun and easily do-able in an afternoon. The parts are good quality and the instructions pretty clear, though I would recommend following along with Pimoroni's online videos as well, just to be sure.
Happy building, wiring and gaming!!!”
“Designed to play ROMs in Retropie, but could be a great way to present your homebrew arcade games, too.
I'm trying this now. The picade x hat dispatches (assignable) keyboard events, making inputs easy. (The joystick is also represented by keystrokes, so don't expect analog values). Change settings by editing a simple txt file. Instructions on the picade x hat github repo.
The (honestly really well done) marquee and console graphics can be swapped with your own artwork. Template provided on their github.
Be aware this is some real Maker stuff and assembly is a little fiddly. I've managed to break a pin on the power button, but another great thing about this kit is that all the parts are individually for sale, and cheap.”
“Had great fun building this with my 13 year old daughter. Build quality was great. Instructions were pretty good. It wasn't clear at the start which nuts & bolts to use (several packs looked very similar), but apart from that no major issues. I went for the smaller 8 inch display, and didn't regret it, as the bezel surrounding it looks great. Picade runs great on the Raspberry Pi 4. The hardest part was getting a good button mapping, but all good after some Googling. Recommended.”
“very pleased with item although i had to spend a while fitting the 10 inch display.
also i noticed that the earlier version looked better i.e. extra side buttons, two speakers and a nice hinged back door. otherwise very happy!.”
“Excellent bar-top gaming cabinet, the 10" screen is gorgeous! I absolutely love this little gaming machine.
As some have said already, the instructions aren't the best. Especially for the 10" variant. I also wish I knew this before I started:
* A change in /boot/config.txt is needed for the monitor to work
* The X-Hat _only_ works with Raspbian. Trying to "hack" it to work with other distros isn't worth the headache. (And I'm closing in on 30 years as a Unix admin and system architect)
* The RGB buttons don't look good, and the plates containing the LEDs are very loose. This makes them look inconsistent, and they rattle while you play. The original buttons found their back on the cabinet.
* The hole in the cabinet's back panel does not accommodate the "booster header", which is needed for the "Fan SHIM", which is needed to cool the Raspberry Pi 4.
* The hole in the cabinet's back panel does not accommodate the "Premium Pi Standoff Selection"
I would recommend going with the Raspberry Pi 3, as none of the Pi 4 accessories fit in the cabinet. Same goes for the Pi standoffs. I was too curious not to buy the RGB buttons, but I won't be using them again. You may like them though. :)”
“Very surprised by the quality of this product. Most difficult part of the build was attaching the control panel (task not suited for big hands). Screen is excellent and bright. So happy with the finished product that I'm considering buying another one!”
