Any reason why this two-trackball setup wouldn't work?

[Well Fed Games]

Ok, say i was building a panel to play 2-player simultaneous Marble Madness via MAME on a WinXP machine. If I used two Happ Trackballs and two Opti-wiz interfaces from Groovy Game Gear, any reason why that wouldn't work? i don't see many dual-trackball panels so I wanted to make sure before I place orders, etc.

(I really am still working on my Raiden cab, promise! Also would love to get a puzzle-game oriented cocktail done for my wife before Christmas.)

(Imagine a Joust cocktail having a very ugly baby with a Millipede cocktail... that is pretty much where i am headed.)

[PL1]

I'm sure you know this WFG, but for less experienced readers who want to follow in your footsteps the two possible problems I see are:

1. Forgetting to order Opti-Wiz's with different USB device numbers.

2. Forgetting to enable multi-mouse in MAME.


Scott

[Well Fed Games]

I'm sure you know this WFG

Of course... 

That was just the info I needed, Scott. Thanks as always!

[drventure]

I've got 2 happ trackballs in my panel. They both look like mice to windows, you DO have to turn on multi mouse support, but once that's done, they work a treat for Marble Madness.

[Well Fed Games]

Thanks for the confirmation drventure. Looking forward to playing Marble Madness, that 2 player Centipede prototype, Rampart, etc. when it is done.

[drventure]

Rampart! Awesome! I didn't realize there +were+ any other simultaneous 2 player trackball games.

[Fursphere]

Multi-Trackball games that I'm aware of...   

Rampart (3 trackballs)
SegaSonic The Hedgehog (3 trackballs, as noted before)
Cabal (2 trackballs, also has joystick version)
Marble Madness (2 trackballs, as noted before)
Blades of Steel (2 trackballs)
Ataxx (2 trackballs)
Boot Camp (2 trackballs)
Tehkan World Cup (2 trackballs)

Single-Trackball Games...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trackball_arcade_games

[drventure]

@Fursphere

Many thanks for that list! Great stuff. I've got to put in some cabinet time with my daughter to check out all these.

[Fursphere]

No problem!

It's a damn shame Marble Madness 2 was never dumped and emulated in MAME. 

[Well Fed Games]

It's a damn shame Marble Madness 2 was never dumped and emulated in MAME.

Too true. Some people's idea of "preserving" a digital thing is ridiculous.

[marioxb]

There is at least one sports game that uses 4 trackballs: Dunk Shot. I wonder if that's the only 4P simultanious trackball game??

Also, there are a few games that use 2 spinners, such as Blasteroids. (Maybe a version of Arkanoid? I know the Famicom version of Arkanioid II can use 2 spinners) Any games that use 3 or more spinners?

[Well Fed Games]

Also, there are a few games that use 2 spinners

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Atari's (very 90s) Off The Wall and will likely put it on this cab w trackball control.

[Haze]

No problem!

It's a damn shame Marble Madness 2 was never dumped and emulated in MAME.

Well MM2 uses Joysticks not trackballs anyway, and is basically terrible ;-)

[BadMouth]

Nooooo!!!  They're all gonna laugh at you!

jk

Atari Football
Street Football

[Fursphere]

No problem!

It's a damn shame Marble Madness 2 was never dumped and emulated in MAME.

Well MM2 uses Joysticks not trackballs anyway, and is basically terrible ;-)

Actually, the original prototypes had two trackballs.  Then some more were released with joysticks.   Ultimately they never went into full production.  Not enough interest or something.

You can see one here: http://www.safestuff.com/marbleman.htm


Although given the simplicity of the games, I'm surprised it hasn't been recreated.  If I knew how to program games, I'd take it on.

[Haze]

No problem!

It's a damn shame Marble Madness 2 was never dumped and emulated in MAME.

Well MM2 uses Joysticks not trackballs anyway, and is basically terrible ;-)

Actually, the original prototypes had two trackballs.  Then some more were released with joysticks.   Ultimately they never went into full production.  Not enough interest or something.

You can see one here: http://www.safestuff.com/marbleman.htm


Although given the simplicity of the games, I'm surprised it hasn't been recreated.  If I knew how to program games, I'd take it on.

Yeah, I'm aware of this.  I also don't think an actual copy of the software for the trackball version has ever been located, so even if the guy was to dump his roms for MAME (which he won't, ever.) then it would only be the joystick version supported.

Even if a trackball version did show up there's no saying how complete it would be either.  Development happens quickly and if they swapped it out pretty early (and keep in mind such a change is a fairly essential decision when it comes to level design etc.) then it might not even really resemble the near-final version we've seen much at all.

[Well Fed Games]

Well MM2 uses Joysticks not trackballs anyway, and is basically terrible ;-)

Ha, yeah, I think keeping the ROM is a major ---meecrob--- move, but there is a reason the prototypes never made it to production.   

[McHale]

Track and Field also used 2 trackballs.



But I don't think anyone has gotten the trackball version working in MAME.