Donkey Kong: Ultimate (Project Code Name: Regal) - FINISHED

[ChanceKJ]

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[yotsuya]

Totally fixable, brah.

[ChanceKJ]

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[Rockhart]

In other news, Rockhart was able to remove the tie from all of my DK artwork assets. So we're back in business with the art package soon. Andrew did some wicked work on them, make sure you check out his page here: www.andrewlockhartdesign.com. Seriously wicked stuff.  Massive thanks to him! 

Happy to help dude!  Thanks for the shoutout!

[Nephasth]

---fudgesicle--- wick. At least get yourself a soldapult.

[ChanceKJ]

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[ChanceKJ]

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[SpaceHedgehog]

Nice workstation Chance! Not sure I like all the different smaller logos though - it will detract from the classiness of the build imho.

[ChanceKJ]

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[jdbailey1206]

Super jelly of your work stations.  Guess I shouldn't be.  I have all the components I just have to get off my fat lazy ass and put mine together.  Good to see it is starting to come together even with the hiccups.  I have to say the artwork just doesn't do it for me.  The name labels look like added on bumper stickers.  On a quick search I found out that Nintendo put out a Donkey Kong game in 1994.  The game itself is the same generic tripe but the game box should be something you should take a look at.  It incorporates all of the characters from the games you are using.  All you have to do is add Luigi in there.
I added a high def link here.

By the way, still jelly of your work station. 

[yotsuya]

Tighe on KLOV is using that Donkey Kong '94 art on a custom build of his.

[BorgDog]

  The name labels look like added on bumper stickers. 

I'd be of the mind to run with the bumper sticker idea and make them larger and random and angled like an old travel truck.

[yotsuya]

[ChanceKJ]

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[Vigo]

Just this man's humble opinion, but ditch the bumper stickers. I know you want to advertise what the cab can do, but first and foremost, this is a showpiece. With the bumper stickers, it just kinda smells like a DK that had a X-in-1 shoved in it. I would probably even get rid of the "Help!", (That might be partially because on my monitor, it looks like she is screaming "Kelp!")

I think art creep can be as tempting as feature creep, but honestly, it looks really good when it is clear and simple. If you want something showier, I would personally try to experimenting with expanding from the main art piece, something like the 2005 combo cabinet, but hopefully in a way where the art styles don't clash as much.

[yotsuya]

Just this man's humble opinion, but ditch the bumper stickers. I know you want to advertise what the cab can do, but first and foremost, this is a showpiece. With the bumper stickers, it just kinda smells like a DK that had a X-in-1 shoved in it. I would probably even get rid of the "Help!", (That might be partially because on my monitor, it looks like she is screaming "Kelp!")

I think art creep can be as tempting as feature creep, but honestly, it looks really good when it is clear and simple. If you want something showier, I would personally try to experimenting with expanding from the main art piece, something like the 2005 combo cabinet, but hopefully in a way where the art styles don't clash as much.

***80s guy slow clap***

[BorgDog]

^^what he said 

[chopperthedog]

An original 4way DK joystick, the ping of the omron micro-switches and unique profile of original buttons is half of the character of playing the kong games on a Nintendo cab. On my arcadeSD based multikong I ended up disabling mario brothers after a week since it's a much more fun game in the co-op situation with 2 joysticks and I found people starting 2 player games thinking it was an alternating game. Super mario bros. was never even a consideration to me since it was 8way and 2 buttons and wanted to have a true DK panel with nothing extra with all proper parts. Just some things to consider or you can just tell me to suck an egg.



good day.

[yotsuya]

An original 4way DK joystick, the ping of the omron micro-switches and unique profile of original buttons is half of the character of playing the kong games on a Nintendo cab. On my arcadeSD based multikong I ended up disabling mario brothers after a week since it's a much more fun game in the co-op situation with 2 joysticks and I found people starting 2 player games thinking it was an alternating game. Super mario bros. was never even a consideration to me since it was 8way and 2 buttons and wanted to have a true DK panel with nothing extra with all proper parts. Just some things to consider or you can just tell me to suck an egg.



good day.

***80s guy slow clap***

[ChanceKJ]

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[yotsuya]

No, this is a valid point.

With Mario and Super Mario out of the picture that basically leaves me with only 4-way games.

Joystick choice has been bugging me. I was stuck on a ServoStik vs a Dominux8, but now I'm really not sure. I wanted the feel of the leaf switches, but I wanted the automated 4/8 switch of the ArcadeSD board. The joystick choice is entirely subjective. I just need to make up my mind.

I will be adding a second button. I'll need it for another part of the project I'm planning.

I really loved this project when it was still Donkey Kong: Ultimate.

[ChanceKJ]

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[yotsuya]

Don't you have better things to do today Yots' 

***80s guy slow clap***

I'll just say this - I found your original idea for this cab when you told me about it via PM to be unique, original, and fresh.

[ChanceKJ]

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[yotsuya]

Now I'm gonna have to go back and read that.   

Ok smart guy, if you were building this what stick would you use?

I'll throw this out here once. Like chopper said, you can consider it or tell me to pound sand. It's just my opinion.

You told me your idea for Ultimate DK being a cab that could play DK, DKII, DK Jr, DK3 and DK: PE all in one. I though, that's cool - all those games use the same controls, the same control scheme, same amount of buttons, same monitor orientation - that's a great idea. It's unique, and in a world of "Let's emulate everything under the sun!", it stand out. Yes, it's **only** 5 games, but it's 5 games with a shared history. Even Nintendo hasn't released anything like that. To me, that's a A+ Project, something that is attention-worthy.

So imagine my surprise when it was now going to run two horizontal games that are Mario-related,  yes, but not Donkey Kong. Again, this was supposed to be Donkey Kong: Ultimate. Now not only are there two games that aren't really related thematically, but they aren't even the same orientation. Also, they need different controls and more buttons. So now you're going from a pure DK layout that can accommodate 5 related games into a hybrid. Add to that your talk about running other games and adding a switchable 4/8 Way joystick, and now it's just a DK-themed MAME cab, not this cool, awesome ultimate Donkey Kong machine.

Silly, maybe, and hey, it's your time, your money, your space, your cab - you build what you want. But I really thought your original idea had the chance to be something special. Maybe I misinterpreted your intentions, and you were thinking multi all along, but your new ideas have tempered my enthusiasm. I'm sure you'll do a great job in whatever you do, you've shown that, but I really think your Ultimate Donkey Kong is something that would have appealed to all sorts on the arcade collector scale, from MAMErs to purists alike.

Good luck on the build.

 

[Nephasth]

BYOAC needs a rep system...

A good cab is what it isn't...

[ChanceKJ]

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[chopperthedog]

Plenty of DK sticks pop up on klov, even north of the border (just make sure it's a true DK shaft/ball and not the smaller shorter ones used in the VS systems). Why not make yourself 2 control panels? I have 2 control panels and 2 SD cards with the appropriate game lists for my DK.



good day.

[ChanceKJ]

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[Louis Tully]

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[ChanceKJ]

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[chopperthedog]

I placed my board towards the front to make it real easy to swap the SD's out when the panel is removed. There is plenty of room in the bottom of the cab to slip the extra control panel through the panel opening to store the unused panel. Have you skimmed the thread on mine?



good day.

[yotsuya]

great ideas, chopper. If you go to Grinkfest next year, let me know. I'm going to buy you a beer.

[Vigo]

It sounds great that this cab design will be getting refocused on the main product first and foremost. To be honest, I am willing to bet that even if you don't include any other games, this machine is gonna turn out as a favorite. 

And you know, if you really gotta have more games, maybe you want to think about just focusing on just making the sd card readily swappable and leave the panel as is. There are a lotta cool games you can sneak in with the same panel and monitor orientation. You got Dig Dug, you got Galaga, you got Satan's Hollow, you got Pacman, Mr. Do, etc....

Mount one of these somewhere inconspicuous for easy SD card swapping and you added another stealthy dimension to your cab with very little effort.

 

[chopperthedog]

And you know, if you really gotta have more games, maybe you want to think about just focusing on just making the sd card readily swappable and leave the panel as is. There are a lotta cool games you can sneak in with the same panel and monitor orientation. You got Dig Dug, you got Galaga, you got Satan's Hollow, you got Pacman, Mr. Do, etc....

Extending the SD slot with only one control panel doesn't apply to what we're selling. Which is why we're talking about 2 panels for each SD card with a 9 or 12 pin molex connector.



My multi panel has an 8way monroe, 4 way wico and 2 leaf buttons. The DK panel is all original omron micro-switch buttons and joy. His original focus was to make it a sexy multikong. With a panel populated with just original DK hardware it can be a simple and sexy multikong. If he's feeling frisky he can change over to the panel that has other controls to compliment the other games and control types available.


good day.

[Nephasth]

These types of panels don't belong in Nintendo style cabs...

[ChanceKJ]

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[Generic Eric]

Now I'm gonna have to go back and read that.   

Ok smart guy, if you were building this what stick would you use?

I'll throw this out here once. Like chopper said, you can consider it or tell me to pound sand. It's just my opinion.

You told me your idea for Ultimate DK being a cab that could play DK, DKII, DK Jr, DK3 and DK: PE all in one. I though, that's cool - all those games use the same controls, the same control scheme, same amount of buttons, same monitor orientation - that's a great idea. It's unique, and in a world of "Let's emulate everything under the sun!", it stand out. Yes, it's **only** 5 games, but it's 5 games with a shared history. Even Nintendo hasn't released anything like that. To me, that's a A+ Project, something that is attention-worthy.

I wanted to do that & add fit it felix jr.  I was going to call it Return of the Rouges or Rally against the Rouges or something.

The plan for the side art was like the DK artwork, but instead of DK hauling Pauline away, DK & Ralph were going  to face off against Jumpman, Pauline, Felix in a Smash Brothers type stance.

The marquee would look a lot like the DK marquee.  The bezel would have Ralph & Felix opposite corners & DK opposite of Pauline & Jumpman. 

But this isn't about me anyhow.

[Vigo]

And you know, if you really gotta have more games, maybe you want to think about just focusing on just making the sd card readily swappable and leave the panel as is. There are a lotta cool games you can sneak in with the same panel and monitor orientation. You got Dig Dug, you got Galaga, you got Satan's Hollow, you got Pacman, Mr. Do, etc....

Extending the SD slot with only one control panel doesn't apply to what we're selling. Which is why we're talking about 2 panels for each SD card with a 9 or 12 pin molex connector.

  I personally think Super Mario Bros is far more unbelonging than Pacman. I would go with having nothing but the core DK games and hack sequels. I only suggested an SD card slot because I simply think that allowing other vertical 4-way games to stealthly play other games is far less obtrusive than trying to cram in horizontal games and 8-way joysticks. Since this is going to be a specialized custom cab, rather than a dedicated cab mamed out, I would avoid about anything smelling mame-ish to preserve that commercial cab illusion.

[ChanceKJ]

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