Once you boot up Maximus Arcade, you are presented with a very straightforward menu that shows you a single console picture and name with arrows on the left and right. Maximus Arcade not only make navigating and launching your favorite classic games extremely easy, but it sports a Flash-based interface that is intuitive and looks good enough to eat.
I hope to create a full configuration guide for Maximus Arcade in the future so I can walk you through it all. If you want true keyboard and mouse-free interaction, you will need a bit more tweaking to tell Maximus Arcade which buttons on your remote will exit out of the games and such (the gamepad isn’t as practical since you have a limited selection of buttons). You will still need to set up each individual emulator for your gamepad’s button layout and such, but if you already have emulators set up on your Windows machine, you should already be set in that department. While Maximus Arcade won’t configure all your emulator’s settings for you, it is pre-configured with line commands to automatically launch your chosen game in its respective emulator. Maximus is a combination of a slick and simplistic interface that is also highly configurable. On the surface Maximus Arcade seems to be a very simple piece of software, but if you have ever dealt with any other front-ends, you can appreciate the hard work the developers have put into it. While I played around with some other pieces of software (known as front-ends), I settled on Maximus Arcade as perfect solution for my needs. Having it look slick while doing all this would also be a bonus.
It is easy enough to find and install arcade and console emulators for Windows, but the real challenge is finding a way to start up the emulators and navigate the different systems and game with only a remote and/or a wireless gamepad. Just recently, I found the time to complete the digital entertainment package by adding full emulation support to this wonderful machine. Since then, my wife and I have been enjoying having out media library available at out fingertips instead of having to deal with discs and such.
A number of months ago, I bought a salvaged Dell desktop PC from my place of employment for $150, added a huge hard drive and a cheap graphics card to it and turned it into a Windows Media Center PC for my living room. I’ve also had this same goal for my other digital entertainment such as my music, movies, and TV shows. After reading that first sentence, you might think I’m lazy, but it really comes down to convenience and simplicity. One of my personal holy grails of my gaming life is to have a single machine that I can play a variety of games from different eras without having to get out of my chair. What does this mean for you? Your X-Arcade was originally made for game consoles and computers in keyboard-only mode, but will now easily support new devices like Nvidia Shield, Android-based consoles and TV boxes, Kodi, Raspberry PI, dedicated emulation consoles and more.Maximus Arcade: Multi-Platform Emulator Front-End for Windows Media Center
Only joystick/buttons are upgraded with this mod.
(Adapters still needed to use on Xbox 360 or XBOX One) Note: You can use this to upgrade all X-Arcade Game Controller/Machines ever produced. You can then play with your X-Arcade as (2) X-INPUT Game Controllers or (2) Directinput Game Controllers.
With the flip of the mode switch on all existing X-Arcade, you can synchronously flip your X-Arcade between Keyboard Mode, Directinput Mode, or Xinput Mode. This kit upgrades functionality, flexibility, and compatibility with new platforms, devices, and games.
Xinput (Xbox Game Controller Mode) is a new standard for game controllers across various platforms, while Android devices and Mac use Directinput. Your current X-Arcade Joystick or Arcade Machine was designed as a keyboard, but new game controller modes (Xinput and Directinput) have become popular since the original release of the X-Arcade.