Six player cab?

[kahlid74]

I'm finishing the build on a cab I plan to give to a friend and now I find myself wanting to build a cab for myself.  As I think about this more I've come to realize that I miss the good ole X-MEN 6 Player days.  I have however two primary concerns:

• Are there any other 6 player games that would even make a 6 player cabinet worthwhile?  I looked through Wikipedia's Arcade game list and only saw X-MEN and racing games 6 players or more.  So I'm wondering if I missed any other games like X-MEN (Action oriented) that are six players
• Can you run 6 players with the limited amount of keys available?  Player 1/2 each have 6 buttons and player 3-6 would each have 4 buttons.  Each joystick has four switches which would total 52 keys.  I already see issues with four people playing at the same time causing random weird key combinations in Windows so I would worry there's enough key combinations for 6 players. 

[Donkbaca]

when was the last time you and 5 friends were sitting around saying. "damn I wish we could play 6 player x-men right now"?

To get a 6p x-men you would also need dual screens. As far as I know there are no other 6p simultaneous games

[DaveMMR]

when was the last time you and 5 friends were sitting around saying. "damn I wish we could play 6 player x-men right now"?

To get a 6p x-men you would also need dual screens. As far as I know there are no other 6p simultaneous games

Yeah that. 

Can you do it?  Yes, I believe I read it works in MAME as a six-player setup (though I could be wrong; haven't tried it myself) and you should be able to get something working with either an encoder with enough inputs or devices seen as gamepads. 

But is it worth it?  Unless you have five friends who are obsessed enough with this game that you'll play it all together at least once a month, it may be you'll have an impossibly large machine with two-four sets of controls that never get used.

Maybe you can make a 4-player and then a 2-player machine and wire them so they can connect together for that infrequent game of X-Men but still work as separate machines.

[kahlid74]

As far as I know the 6 player ROM can be played on a single screen.  Additionally my wife's immediate family is quite large with children now and there are always people left out when playing four player games.  So there's a lot of times where the arcade cabinets draw a crowd of people all wanting to play the same game.

They also come over just about every other weekend so there's no shortage in people wanting to play games.

[Donkbaca]

I think you would need the two screens as all those players would make for a really cluttered screen, not to mention the fact that you would need a lot of real estate for the CP.  You ever see one of those in real life?  That machine is easily double the size of a regular cab.

Its not that you would have a lack of people that would want to play games, its that you would have lack of people wanting to play THIS game.  Are all those people waiting around wanting to play x-men?

Even if there are other 6 player games, and I am pretty sure there are not, they are probably garbage and not worth playing, otherwise we would readily be able to think of one.

[DaveMMR]

Yeah, unless these children enjoy playing the same game over and over again, they're going to get board with only playing X-Men on a machine that theoretically has many many more choices.  That's why I suggest saving the space and money needed for the 6-player cab and making two cabs and interfacing them for that once in a while "X-Men" session (maybe even three 2-player bartops). 

Other than that, maybe just use USB game pads instead. IMO, I think you might regret spending the money just for the one game down the road.

[kahlid74]

That's pretty much what I wanted to confirm, which is to say that there really aren't any 6 player games besides X-MEN.  So I'll stick to four player for this build.

[Xiaou2]

I say, build whatever you want.. and dont let anyone else dissuade you.

 If you get a 37" or larger widescreen lcd, you should have plenty of screen for the game...
and additionally, will play many other great widescreen games much better,
such as TX-1, many of the Darious games, and even the 2player driving games.

 4 player games will also be more comfortable to play, due to the extra space of the CP.

 If you do make it... make sure that you make a way to fit it thru doors.  Detachable control panels, possibly multi-part cabinets that come apart.

[DCsegaDH]

I agree with everyone else said, X-Men is the only 6 player game available (I think). Its not worth it for one game, a 4 player cabinet would get more use. A 30 or 40 inch monitor would be ideal if you were going the 4 player cabinet route.

[kahlid74]

Well the initial design would be Showcase/podium in nature with three parts all detachable.  The control panel/TV enclosure would also be detachable so doors won't be an issue..  Additionally I'd be looking at a 47inch~ TV on a round swivel so it can go vertical/Horizontal with the flick of a wrist.  Best buy has floor model 47 inch TV's here in WI for 300-400 bucks so it's a no brainer.  It's not a true arcade monitor but it's multipurpose which is how I build all of my machines.

Thanks for all the feedback.  Really I just wanted to confirm that there aren't any other action oriented games that are 6 payers.  For X-MEN alone I would not build a 6 player but if there were more 6 player games I would.

[compute]

You forgot Tank 8 and Sprint 8.  Just picture that frankenpanel, 8 wheels/pedals and 16 joysticks.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

You forgot Tank 8 and Sprint 8.  Just picture that frankenpanel, 8 wheels/pedals and 16 joysticks.

This is as far as I let myself imagine. After that it's all nightmares.