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Need advice on building a 4 player cabinet

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DaveMMR:


--- Quote from: paigeoliver on June 07, 2012, 11:09:18 pm ---
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on June 07, 2012, 10:39:20 pm ---For inspiration - The best scratch-built 4-player cab (assuming it'll get done - but it's well on its way):
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=115203.0

It follows the plans of an actual arcade cabinet so there's no overcompensation for space you often see in a lot of 4-player rigs. And since you're plopping it in the office kitchen, you may be better off with this than going with the showcase cab. Plus I feel those types of cabs are more common to find than showcases (though I am wildly guessing basing on how many TMNT cabs I saw vs. showcases.)

As for your other questions, there's little difference between a regular cab and a 4-player (other than needing an encoder with more inputs) so what worked before will work with the 4-player cab.

--- End quote ---

So after all that reading in the thread I found a black painted TMNT cab with nothing in it!

--- End quote ---

Heh, I said they weren't done. But I should said "cabinet design". I'll go fix that.

omehegan:

Thanks a lot for the tips guys, this is very helpful!

It sounds like I don't necessarily have to do a showcase cab in order to make room for 4 players. That said, we do have space for a showcase cab if we decide to go that route. But maybe I'll check around and see if I can get a 4 player TMNT, Simpsons, or other similar cab locally first. I'll see what I can come up with, and then report back if I have more questions.

Thanks again!

omehegan:


--- Quote from: paigeoliver on June 07, 2012, 09:51:03 pm ---Make sure all the joysticks point up in the right direction, the side ones do not get angled (only the location of their buttons gets angled).

--- End quote ---

So! I finished my "build," by which I mean I bought an Ultimate Arcade II from Mameroom/North Coast and put a Makvision 29" CRT in it. I ordered a 4 player control panel from them with a custom layout which I'm happy with. BUT, I took your advice and oriented all four joysticks the same way, and I'm not liking it. When standing at the player 1 or 4 position, it doesn't feel intuitive to push straight towards the monitor for "up."

I'm considering changing the sticks to orient more in line with the buttons. See below for an image. Any thoughts on this?

(I also think I'm going to move players 1 and 2 to the middle two positions, and 3 and 4 to the outer two.)



paigeoliver:

Ah, there is your set of problems. First you bought a kit cabinet with a 4 player control panel that has the screen straight up and down, a non-showcase 4 player cabinet needs to have the screen angled back 30 to 45 degrees. It both helps the visibility for everyone and helps to minimize the awkwardness of playing on the side spots. Basically every 4 player cabinet from the introduction of Gauntlet until the day the arcades died had the monitor tilted way back (only notable exception is Quartet, and remember that thing about Quartet where it bombed and no one ever heard of it or played it, yeah).

Player 1 and 2 should indeed be the middle positions. Playing a single player game far off to one side would be weird no matter how your sticks were. Honestly, 4 player cabinets were more about being a gimmick to get more coin drop at peak time than they were about playability. If they were built for playability then they would have a control panel 5 or 6 feet wide.

Whatever weirdness you think you are feeling now will be far worse with the sticks angled. There is a reason why only a couple factory built cabinets every angled the side sticks. There is equally a reason why many people who did it have come back and mentioned it was a mistake.

omehegan:

Hmmmm, interesting, no one mentioned the monitor angle before. I might be able to modify it to accomplish that actually. I'll do a little research, thanks for that tip!

I was thinking the weirdness I'm feeling with the side sticks was because my control panel is curved. I was noticing it when playing fighting games. I just looked at the control panels for the NBA games, and they're rectangular so it seems like it would make more sense to orient all the sticks the same way. Gauntlet is different but since it's a top-down view it doesn't seem like it would matter.

I guess I can always try changing the orientation, it's not a big issue. If it seems worse I'll just move them back. I'll do some play testing :)

Thanks a lot for the info!

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