Check Out This Gorgeous Steam Link-Based Arcade Cabinet

Custom arcade cabinets are a maker favorite, so it’s not surprising that we feature a lot of them here at Hackster. In the past those were usually built around PCs running MAME, and more recently RetroPie on Raspberry Pis have become extremely popular. But, Redditor Inferno156’s build stands out for two reasons: it doesn’t run MAME or RetroPie, and it’s just plain beautiful.

If you didn’t read the title of this article, you may be wondering what’s powering the arcade if not MAME or RetroPie. The answer is a Steam Link that Inferno156 picked up for an absurdly reasonable $5. If you’re not familiar, the Steam Link is a console-like device that allows you to stream games from your powerful gaming PC to somewhere else in your home.

In this case, that’s to Inferno156’s custom-built, wall-mounted arcade cabinet. That cabinet, which, once again, is beautiful, was designed in Autodesk Fusion 360, and then cut from MDF with a CNC router. Each of the panels was painted, and then covered in vinyl film for a professional finish.

Inside the cabinet is the Steam Link, along with accent lighting and the gaming controls. Those controls can in a kit which provides USB-connectivity, so Inferno156 was able to simply connect them to the Steam Link and map the buttons. Finally, the whole front of the cabinet is mounted on drawer-sliders, so it can be pulled out for gaming, and pushed back in for storage.