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Avoiding a Frankenpanel...
Malenko:
--- Quote from: Donkbaca on April 28, 2011, 01:35:22 pm ---If its got a tron stick, its a franken panel.
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FRANKENPANEL! lol
--- Quote from: Donkbaca on April 28, 2011, 01:35:22 pm --- 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.
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For the most part, I agree with this. Though NBA Jam and NHL Open Ice are both fantastic 4 player with friends too. Im actually making a swappable 4player NBA Jam panel to go on my MAMED KI1 cab, nothing fancy, just a 4 player factory NBA Jam panel, for when I have 4 players around ( for Open Ice)
But I dont think Id want my MAME cab full time 4 players with just me sitting there playing Galaga, alone, in the dark.
rcub3:
--- Quote from: TopJimmyCooks on April 28, 2011, 01:56:19 pm ---You could make it expandable. :)
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I couldn't agree more that the Tron stick makes it a Franken. :) That's exactly why I was trying to find ways to compensate, mainly by minimizing buttons on the panel.
4 player vs 2 player: I realize that most games will be 1-2 player, but man those 4 player games are just fun.
I may have to go with a separate CP just for the trackball + pushbuttons (maybe 3?) and tron/spinner (yes, unfortunately I'm that big of a DoT fan....even paid extra for the push/pull spinner). I would have to figure out how to get the wiring right to make it easily swappable. :-[
alfonzotan:
I say embrace the Frankenpanel. Look at it this way: I personally would not (and did not) bother with controls for Players 3 and 4, because I'm not terribly interested in 4-player games. But that's me; obviously you value that option, so why shouldn't you include them?
Panel design, in my mind, comes down to what you want to play, and how to do that comfortably. If you want to play games that need a Tron/flightstick, by Crom, include one (I did). If you're dedicated to fighting games or maze games or whatever and don't need a trigger stick, leave it out.
In my mind, the ability to play damn-near everything is what makes MAME and DIY arcading so much fun in the first place, so don't be put off by 'control panel snobs.' Build for what you want to play, period. If what you want to play is limited to a joystick and three buttons, great for you. If not, build the rest; the controls you're most likely to regret are going to be the ones you don't have.
Your layout looks perfectly reasonable to me.
rcub3:
--- Quote from: leapinlew on April 28, 2011, 01:30:11 pm ---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.
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Woa... I didn't know that for games like Smash TV you needed 1-2 adjacent and 3-4 adjacent to each other. Would you then have to play Robotron off to the side (using 1+2)? I thought this could all be mapped in MAMEUI or something per game. It seems that all the researching doesn't end with completing the building of the cab. 8)
Thanks alfonzotan. I do want to include everything, but maybe having a second CP for the extras (TB, tron stick, spinner) is not a bad idea, except for the extra woodworking. I still have more stuff to figure out like speaker arrangement, monitor-selection, etc before I get to the CP.
EDIT: I've even considered using minimalistic art for the CP to avoid the adding to the frankenness. :)
Donkbaca:
edit: If its got a Tron stick, and any other joystick, its a franken panel.
Malenko is in a bust the Donks balls kind of mood today...
I am very, VERY anti-FP, but my reasoning for it is that people put a ton of crap on their panels that never gets used and just confuses guests. That's why I say, if you enjoy and use it, add it, but don't add for the sake of adding.
If you like Tron that much, why not do a dedicated Tron Bartop? The tron sticks just always look funky, uncomfortable and in the way.
4 player games are fun, that's why I have 4 wii controllers and 4 xbox controllers. But how often have I played 4 player games on those systems? Very few. I agree 4p NBA Jam and NHL are very fun 4p, but if you read around here I think there are more people in the "I built a 4p and wish I had built a 2P" panel than the "I built a 2p and wish I had built a 4p" panel
As for the trackball, nope, don't like shuffleshot enough to put a trackball on my cab. THough, I do have one of those plug in x-arcade trackball controllers, so if a guest REALLY wants to play golden tee or something, I can pull it out and set it on my CP, there is enough room between P1 and P2 to have it sit there. Don't use it much though, and if I had to do it all over, I wouldn't have bought one