4 player CP questions

[ragnar]

This is probably a summer project if I get around to it.  It's this or a Pinball emulator if my investments work out :-)

I currently have a two player cab with u360s.  You can see it in my signature.
I want to do a 4 player cab next. 
After that I am considering a Neo Geo only cab that would be a mini cab and possibly a bartop.  if not a bartop, I might toss a trackball and spinners into it also.


I have some simple questions:

-- 1 --
Should I put a trackball in the middle or is that a possible franken panel?  This is something I am leaning way against.

-- 2 --
What are THE joysticks to get?  I want this to be a 4 player cab for things like NBA Jam, TMNT and the whole popular lot.  I also have a desire for making this a cab for fighters like MK and SF and the Neo Geo lot so the P1 and P2 joysticks should be for these games if possible.

-- 3 --
Buttons.
I want p1 and P2 to have the 7 button layout.  What about P3/4?  Do any 4P games need more than 4 buttons?

-- 4 --
lightguns?  I figure that this could be part of a 4P cab.  Any reason to not do it?  Do lightguns work with LCDs?

[armi0024]

1) I think that is pure opinion, I would just draw it up and take a look or search the designs online and see if you like the look
2) If you want to go fighting with flexibility to do other games, I would suggest JLF's and we should have a long shaft coming in, or there are companies with shaft extenders.  Put an octagon gate on these and they are great sticks for just about everything and the fighters will love them.

[tommyinajar]

4 player NFL Blitz uses 49 way-
A Karate Champ (great game) Uses 2  4 way's a person.
What about some Tank games like Assault, Vindicators ( 2 Player), Cyber Sled (2 Player), then you would need buttons on the joys too!

The JLF is good for a lot of games, & 4 U 360's w/ a button mod on at least 2 would work for most, but I don't particularly like the U360 for fighters. It's impossible to have the perfect setup, without modular panels. Some games are going to suffer.

A 4 player panel should be big enough for a trackball but then you could add a 4 way and a spinner too. If you want a clean look I'd skip it or add it to your other cab. The same with a 7 button layout times 4 kind of too much IMHO.


 I think only a few guns works with LCD, the Ultimarc AimTrak Light Gun probably being the best.

[severdhed]

i too had a 2 player cabinet with u360s and wanted a 4 player cabinet...so here is what i did:

converted the 2 player cabinet to a classics cabinet, with a vertical monitor, a single Sanwa JLW in 4way mode, 3 buttons and a trackball (centipede and millipede)

picked up an empty showcase cabinet and set it up as my  4 player cabinet.  using Sanwa JLWs (in 8way mode) 6 buttons (street fighter layout) for players 1 and 2, and four buttons each for players 3 and 4.  i have plenty of room for a trackball if i choose to add one.  I'm not a golden tee fan, but the kids like world class bowling, so i may add one eventually.  i'm just not sure if i want the added clutter on the panel. 

i originally had my two u360s for players 1 and 2, and JLWs for players 3 and 4, however i liked the JLWs so much, i moved them over to slots 1 and 2. I installed some x-arcade sticks for players 3 and 4 (i had them lying around) and plan on replacing them with two more JLWs as soon as i get the OK from my wife. (promised i wouldn't spend any more money on it until we bought the kids a new swing set). 

the u360s are great because of how versatile they are, but since i moved all of the 4 way games to the other cabinet, the only reason i wanted them in the  4 player cabinet was for qbert....as it turns out, the square restrictor on the JLW makes it a great stick for q-bert (just remap the game to use two inputs per direction)

i am not aware of any 4 player games that require more than 4 buttons, alot of them only use 2. 

[Donkbaca]

I don't like trackballs, and I am pretty anti-franken panel.  With my biases exposed I can tell you that in my opinion a trackball does not equal a frankenpanel. Its hard to quantify a franken panel, its like obscenity, you just know it when you see it.  Though, as a general rule of thumb, to me a franken panel is when you have more joysticks then you have players and when you have way more buttons then needed.  My bias against trackballs is that I personally don't think trackball games are that fun

So is it that you have a 2 player cab and are building a sepereate 4 player cab?  Or is it that you are converting your 2 player into a 4 player?

If you already have a 2 player cab.  I would just go 4 buttons per player for all 4 players, and if people wanted to play fighters I would just have them play the 2 player cab.  For sticks I would probably just get happs supers for all 4, good, versatile, cheap stick


There is no need for more than 4 buttons per player on 4 player cabs, there are a few games that have more than 4, but I have never heard of them or played them and as far as I know, none are properly emulated

for lightguns do a search for aimtraks on the forum, you will get all the info you need.