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Avoiding a Frankenpanel...
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rcub3:
I'm close to getting my cab built.  Next comes the actual CP...which has been the most challenging part in terms of what to and not to include.

I'm trying to make this as versatile as possible, so these I WILL include:
4 controllers
1 spinner
1 trackball
1 'tron-like' controller

Something like


          /-------------\
         /    sp     tron   \
        /                       \
        \3                   4 /
         \ __1__TB__2__/

Now, I realize that that might be a lot.  So I'm looking for ways to trim the fat:
1. player 3 and 4 will only have 4 buttons
2. I'm thinking players 1 and 2 should only have 6 slightly offset pushbuttons, to allow for the 4 button setup for Neogeo games (see below), while allowing me to play the 6 button fighters:

  X  X  X
X  0  0

3. Thinking of not adding any extra buttons for the trackball.  Will likely have a bottom-mounted Utrak between player 1 and 2 (see my ASCII art above), which would then allow me to use their buttons.
4.  Last but not least, I could minimize admin buttons to Esc, pause, 1-4 player start with a shift button that would allow these 4 to become the coin buttons too.  etc..


Any other suggestions/thoughts?  Any other Admin buttons I SHOULD have?  I've seen some cabs with 8 buttons for player 1 and 2... what are all of those for?

thanks!



leapinlew:
If you could align player 3 and 4, you could play smash TV and Total Carnage. If you made player 3 and 4 top fire joysticks, you could play some of the tank games out there.

So, the tron stick. You really really want that? Trons fun and all, but Tron uses a weird 8wayish style joystick, vertical monitor. I know you can play other games, like Satans Hollow, gorf, etc. I think a frankenpanel is unavoidable with the addition of the tronstick.
Donkbaca:
If its got a tron stick, its a franken panel.

No need for 8 buttons, unless you are trying to play console games, which you shouldn't do with arcade controls.

There are no other admin buttons you should have.  

I would have separate coin and 1p buttons, I hate shift controls.

My thoughts on trying to minimize franken panel-ness:
Ignore the desire to play everything, and focus on having the ability to play what you want to play.  That being said, are you really a big enough Tron geek to pay 200 or so bucks to get the controls and have a weird looking CP just to play Tron.  If the answer is yes, then do it, if the answer is, well , I enjoy Tron occassionally, and would like to play it once in a while, then the answer is no.

Same with the trackball, there are only like 6 good trackball games: Golden Tee, Crystal Castles, Marble Madness, Missile Command, Centipede and some sort of bowling everybody talks about.  Do you really like these games enough to where you will play them often?  For me the answer was no. I got a trackball, fired up MAME, discovered that I couldn't really play any of these games for more than 5 minutes, so the trackball was axed.

Are you really going to have 4 people playing the cab enough to justify a 4p setup?  Once again, there are only a handful of games that are fun with 4p; the D&D games, Turtles, Captain Commando, Simpsons and Sunset Riders, and X-men are the only ones I can think of off hand.  I didn't build a 4p CP because I don't think I will ever have 4 people over that want to play the same 4p game.  Unless you have a couple of kids that you want to game with, I think 4p CPs are a waste.  They are huge, ugly and add to costs.

I am not shooting you down, hey if you LOVE Tron, go for the stick.  If you love marble madness, get a trackball, if you have 4 buddies who love Turtles, build a 4 player CP.  As a rule, if its on your CP, it should get regular use, if it doesn't, axe it.
leapinlew:

--- Quote from: Donkbaca on April 28, 2011, 01:35:22 pm ---Same with the trackball, there are only like 6 good trackball games: Golden Tee, Crystal Castles, Marble Madness, Missile Command, Centipede and some sort of bowling everybody talks about.  Do you really like these games enough to where you will play them often?  For me the answer was no. I got a trackball, fired up MAME, discovered that I couldn't really play any of these games for more than 5 minutes, so the trackball was axed.
--- End quote ---
Donkbaca - did you ever try shuffleshot? We played that one a bit. It was a lot of fun, but for the most part your right. These are high dollar controls and take some time to install and configure.



--- Quote from: Donkbaca on April 28, 2011, 01:35:22 pm ---Are you really going to have 4 people playing the cab enough to justify a 4p setup?  Once again, there are only a handful of games that are fun with 4p; the D&D games, Turtles, Captain Commando, Simpsons and Sunset Riders, and X-men are the only ones I can think of off hand.

--- End quote ---
Agreed and to add on, one of the downsides of Mame is unlimited quarters. This had a big impact on how I played these games. There are 2 player versions of these games that allow you to select your player. Nearly all of them had a 2 player option.
TopJimmyCooks:
You could make it expandable.  :)
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