MAME Control Panel Upgrade Help

[thecountofzero]

Hi all. First post here.

About 10 years ago I got my hands on a Taito cabinet that was being junked. The game, which I don't remember, was completely non functional. So I gutted it and turned it into a MAME machine. It has served me well over the years, but recently I have been wanting to make some upgrades. When I built this 10 years ago I knew nothing and learned as I went along. Not that I know much more now, but there are some things I would like to enhance.

The most significant is the control panel. If I remember correctly, the original game had a joystick and a button on both sides. I modified it to a 2-player 6 button setup.




At the time, I made the decision to go with 8-way joysticks. By doing so, I alienated all of the 4-way joystick games such as Pac-man. For years it bothered me, but I never did anything about it. I would like to fix this problem. I have done some research and I see there are 4-way/8-way joysticks. Are these any good? How much of a hassle are they to switch between modes?

What I think I have decided to do is create a new control panel from scratch. The original was metal (I think steel). I really do not want to mess around with it because it works and I want to preserve my original work. Whenever I look at it I remember the hard work that went into making it. So my plan is to build a new control panel using MDF.

As for the layout, I am thinking I will stick with the same 2-player 6 button setup with 8-way joysticks and in the middle I will put a 4-way joystick with 2 buttons. Any thoughts on this setup?

Or should I go with the 4-way/8-way switchable joysticks and maybe put a trackball in the middle instead?

Project barely underway...




Thanks in advance. I've been reading stuff on this forum and there is some great information here!!!

[VanillaGorilla]

Hi there - big fan of the Taito classic. You have some options:

Option 1: As you mentioned, do a new cp and jam a 4-way in the middle between the 2 8 ways
Option 2: Buy a mechanically switchable joystick like the Mag-Stik, and then you can do 4 and 8 way with the same stick.
Option 3: Do swappable control panels, leave your fighter cp as is and build a new cp for mechanically restricted 4-way action
Option 4: Buy a U360, which will dynamically switch between 2-4-8 way operation via software based on the games original hardware.

Option 4 is probably the best, in my opinion. If you do go this route, allow some time to 'break in' the U360. I was disappointed by it at first, but now I cant imagine not having it.

[Nephasth]

If it were me, I would just go with the 4/8-way sticks in your current panel. But if you really want a new panel, I would try to find a Taito control panel to modify. Then it would bolt right up and look great in the cab. But you've already started your wood panel... and that doesn't look so bad so far.

[thecountofzero]

Option 4 is probably the best, in my opinion. If you do go this route, allow some time to 'break in' the U360. I was disappointed by it at first, but now I cant imagine not having it.

I will look into the UltraStik 360. Do you know if it works well with console emulators. I am currently running Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega and a few others in addition to MAME.

If it were me, I would just go with the 4/8-way sticks in your current panel. But if you really want a new panel, I would try to find a Taito control panel to modify. Then it would bolt right up and look great in the cab. But you've already started your wood panel... and that doesn't look so bad so far.

I agree that would probably be the simplest solution. For some reason I just don't want to take the current one apart. I know it seems silly, but... As for the new wood panel, I plan to have it bolt up to the cab using the latches that secure the existing panel.




My control panel is currently hooked up through a KE-24 keyboard encoder. I am thinking with this new control panel I will use an I-PAC 2 FS32. It seems a lot simpler to deploy. Comments?

[Donkbaca]

I say leave it the way it is and build a dedicated 4 way cocktail cabinet

[thecountofzero]

I say leave it the way it is and build a dedicated 4 way cocktail cabinet

Would love to, but don't have the time, money, resources and most importantly, approval from the misses.

[Donkbaca]

Really? Most wives seem to have a soft spot for cocktail cabs....

That being said, the six buttons per player, plus another joy and 2 buttons looks like it would be pretty cramped, or go U360.

As for console emulators, I prefer to use wireless xbox 360 pads myself.  They are plug and play, no wires to mess with and they have all the buttons you need for every emulator.

[thecountofzero]

Mag-Stik Plus look promising too...

[VanillaGorilla]

You can map the U360 joysticks into snes9x, m.e.s.s., nullDC, etc, or you can re-map the joystick buttons to key presses using joytokey or some other keymapper..