Joysticks, buttons and trackballs oh my...

[fibreoptix]

Okay so I'm at a point where I'm ready to start ordering parts for the control panel. I would like to have a CP that can accommodate as many games as possible. So with that said... here is what I'd like to have in my CP. If you can give me your recommendations if you think my picks are bad - that would be great.

Joystick - Mag-Stik Plus Ball-Top

LED Buttons - Little lost here. What is the standard amount near the joystick, 6? Hard vs Soft, not sure what this is. If I add 2 vertical buttons for pinall.. are these specialty buttons that work better in a vertical position?

LED Track Ball - http://www.ultimarc.com/trackball.html

Spinner Top - thinking this one http://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.html

Ipac

Some sort of LED controller that does this

Thanks for any input.

[Sjaak]

There are a lot of threads discussing exactly the questions your asking.

You need 8 buttons per joystick if you want to play every game in existence. And you need at least 2 joysticks, but 4 is better.

[Donkbaca]

What game uses 8 buttons?

[Sjaak]

What game uses 8 buttons?

Console games

[Rando]

What types of games are you looking to play?  That should influence what you need/install.

Here is what I've done so far:
- I don't have/want console games on my Cab, and I'm mostly interested in the older games, so I have 2 joysticks, and just 6 buttons per joystick, and think I've only used 4 so far.
- I have a couple trackball games and love the trackball, looking for more trackball games to utilize the feature.
- I want to add a Spinner and Tron type stick in future, but haven't been dying to order/install that yet.
- This is all new to me, so I stayed away from LED buttons for simplicity's sake

Think about what you want it to do and plan accordingly!  Luck.

[Donkbaca]

Most console games don't use 8 buttons, a lot of the ones that do also need analog controls.  You really only need 6 per player

[fibreoptix]

Ya I'm steering clear of consoles. Xbox360 or PS3 games are designed and optimized for pads. Im sure there are games that would be great to play with a CP like Street Fighter or Cap vs Marvel. But I really like NHL 10 and pinball games, GTA and so forth. With out the 2 analog sticks these games are usess.

This is just going to be a pure retro system. So I think I'll go with 6 buttons and 2 more on the sides of the cabinet for Pinball.

There are a lot of threads discussing exactly the questions your asking.

Your right but also what I want to know is what type of buttons do you prefer on your cab and why?