Need some suggestions with my cabinets..where to go next with these!

[JRoz]

Hey Guys,

I built a custom 4 player showcase cabinet a few years ago out of a Slikstik 4 player panel, a showcase podium, and made a custom monitor stand and marquee to match it.  It originally started out with an old PC in it to run 80s and 90s games, I didnt like how it was performing, with tons of different emulators and pretty much any game you can think of.  Got too messy so I decided to build a mame cocktail cabinet which is my favorite piece.  Plays strictly 80s classic vertical games and a few two person head to head games.  I then turned this 4 player madness into an xbox 360 machine which was pretty cool for the time.  Ran games right from the hard drive, but only had 2 of the 4 players wired up for the 360.  That was fun until the 360 started to RROD on me a few times.  That leaves me now with a sweet cocktail cabinet, and this bare showcase mombojumbo.  I'm helping a friend out with one of his machines and in return i'm getting a NBA Jam/NFl Blitz cabinet.  This is with the 4 player panel.  Now i'm a bit of in the cross roads with what I want to do next...I live in Manhattan and don't really have the room for both the showcase cabinet and for this new cab.  I do have the ability to store things at my parents place about an hour away from me in their basement.  I do have an old broken down pengo cabinet that i'm currently restoring that has a 60 n 1 board.  Eventually when I move out i'm going to want to have all of my cabs together.

My Cocktail to play all of the old verticals that aren't on the 60 n 1 already, plus any head to head 2 player games.

My Pengo cab to play the 60 n 1s

and now this is where I need your opinions.  I've gone through alot with this showcase thing, after building it I really think its too busy for me.  4 players with 6 buttons each, a trackball, spinner, you name it.  I have about $800 or so into the construction and parts for the cabinet.

Here are my options:
1.  Sell it for $625 and be done with it, use the new NBA/NFL cab as my 90s games mame machine. 
2. Put in a new computer that I have laying around that will be able to play a majority of all games including some of the newer ones including SV4 etc.  Tastefully add games and runs hyperspin to make it like a nice mame machine for all of the 90s stuff.  This option would also be replacing the 32" LCD which doesnt really fit with the size of this cabinet and go with a 42" to make it look a little more proportional.  Store the NBA/NFL blitz game at my parents for later
3. Replace the control panel with a 2 person panel and make this cabinet a dedicated fighters cabinet. 
4.  Make this cabinet my dedicated mame machine as is with 4 player control panel, and replace the control panel on the NBA/NFL blitz cabinet to be my dedicated fighters cabinet.

There are so many damn paths and options and trying to figure out if I should get rid of this showcase cabinet I made is a very tough decision.  I don't want to let it go for too little but at the same time the huge size of it and complicated look with 4 players and 7 buttons a piece sometimes bothers me...what games do 4 players use 7 buttons for!! hahah

Anyways rambling is over..what do you guys think I should do, besides shut up and stop posting useless threads hah.

Pics of the showcase cabinet as is is below for your reference.

[HaRuMaN]

Yes.

[JRoz]

thats it?

[HaRuMaN]

thats it?

That, and, needs more cowbell.

[JRoz]

sweet...thanks I guess

[CoryBee]

I kind of like it, but it definitely needs a bigger screen for the 4 player setup you got going. Just throw a bigger screen at it, and a cheap arse computer and you are set. You built that thing with your bare hands, enjoy it! or sell it  whatever

[JRoz]

I do think once I put a 42 or 46" it will fill it out a little better, I wish I can just cut down on the buttons on the panel hah.  The good thing is I have a PC ready to go if I want to put it in there.  The thing is, I dont need the money, and I have the money to put into both cabs, just dont know what I want to do with them..dont really want 2 4player cabs.

[JRoz]

I guess what i'm asking is, should I just start over with this thing and get rid of it, or is it worth putting in another 200 bucks to upgrade to a 42-46"..I can probably get 75-100 for the current monitor, and have my 360 parts to sell

[BadMouth]

"this bare showcase mombojumbo" - you obiously like the idea of a standard cab better. 

If you were to sell it and use the new cab for 4 player, would the new CP end up with as many controls, lights, etc?
If it's going to be simplified, I say sell this one if you can get that much out of it. 

I don't see why the 4 player CP can't also serve as a good 2 Player fighter if they're spaced farther apart than the standard NFL blitz CP. 
Cram Player 3 and 4 up in the corners and make them stand on the sides of the machine. 

[JRoz]

I do like the idea of a 4 player cab, but I honestly dont use the trackball, spinner, 4 way stick up top, and 7 buttons for player 3 and 4....Yes if I ended up selling the current and using the new blitz/nba cab, I would probably just use it as is, 4 player sticks with 3 buttons per person..but I would eventually want another 2 person cab that had 6 buttons for player 1 and 2 atleast for fighters.  So maybe my best bet is to just keep the mame cab as is for 4 players, and then turn the other into a 2 person fighter.  I could just redo the top of the panel like you said and space out player 1 and 2 for a fighter cab.

Only problem with this is my showcase cab looks like it should be a fighter cab with all of those graphics as is.  i'm backwards with this, thats why i'm all over the place with the decision...almost tempted to just start fresh and do it right