My Four Player Madness Game

[daronthomas]

Made myself a new toy over the past month.  It plays all four and three player games about 100 in total.  Here are some features.
 
All 4 Player Games
All 3 Player Games
Jukebox
Hyperspin Theatre
Saturday Morning Cartoons
 
12" Subwoofer with RF amp
Illuminated Music Reactive t-molding
Custom Art all around
Color correct joysticks for TMNT
Pushbutton coinslots
LED Marquee light
and 3 easter egg games
 
Pics
http://imgur.com/a/mXgqQ
Menu Video

[Ian]

Hey man, it looks like you put a ton of effort into this machine. Great Job. Out of curiosity how hard is it to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons on an arcade machine?

Second your machine ONLY has 3 and 4 player games?

Again great job on the cab. Looks great!

[yotsuya]

I commend your use of a traditional 4 player shape and button layout.  Great job.

[daronthomas]

Hey man, it looks like you put a ton of effort into this machine. Great Job. Out of curiosity how hard is it to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons on an arcade machine?

Second your machine ONLY has 3 and 4 player games?

Again great job on the cab. Looks great!

Personally I wouldn't sit down and watch movies or cartoons on it but its nice to have it playing the background sometimes but my four year old daughter loves sitting and watching them on it.   Yep, only 3 and 4 player games.  Sometimes less is more, you walk up to it and you already know its a turtles games and only the choice games are there.  Doing a dump of 2000 mame games would only cheapen the build so even though there are only a hundred or so games, those hundred are perfectly configured and work flawlessly.

[CheffoJeffo]

Sometimes less is more, you walk up to it and you already know its a turtles games and only the choice games are there.  Doing a dump of 2000 mame games would only cheapen the build so even though there are only a hundred or so games, those hundred are perfectly configured and work flawlessly.

 

Given the number of quality one- and two-player games out there, this is a tough line to maintain, so kudos.

Playability for the average person trumps every clever or pretty thing the rest of us try to do.

[Ian]

Hey man, it looks like you put a ton of effort into this machine. Great Job. Out of curiosity how hard is it to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons on an arcade machine?

Second your machine ONLY has 3 and 4 player games?

Again great job on the cab. Looks great!

Personally I wouldn't sit down and watch movies or cartoons on it but its nice to have it playing the background sometimes but my four year old daughter loves sitting and watching them on it.   Yep, only 3 and 4 player games.  Sometimes less is more, you walk up to it and you already know its a turtles games and only the choice games are there.  Doing a dump of 2000 mame games would only cheapen the build so even though there are only a hundred or so games, those hundred are perfectly configured and work flawlessly.

Yes! I plan on only having a few games.... too many and you end up like my wife endlessly looking for something to watch on netflix.... 

Great job again!

[Slippyblade]

When you say "Saturday Morning Cartoons", do you just have seasons DL'd on the comp and attached via menu?  Or something else?

[Ian]

When you say "Saturday Morning Cartoons", do you just have seasons DL'd on the comp and attached via menu?  Or something else?

Yeah he has a video... I think its dl'd on the computer and attached to a hyperspin menu.

[Slippyblade]

I watched the video, looked cool.  I was just looking for clarification.

[paigeoliver]

It is a damn shame you put all that money and effort into the machine only to ruin it by installing all the joysticks at ridiculous angles.

Try playing a nice 4 player game of Gauntlet first and see how well that works out.

[Jamesbeat]

It is a damn shame you put all that money and effort into the machine only to ruin it by installing all the joysticks at ridiculous angles.

Try playing a nice 4 player game of Gauntlet first and see how well that works out.

Can you elaborate?

The angles (though obviously the button layout is different) look the same to me as the Gauntlet cab, ie the outer two players are pretty much standing sideways.


I think it looks fantastic, and I applaud the idea of confining the machine to three and four player games only.

[PL1]

Can you elaborate?

You want the sticks oriented like the green, not the red.  (see orientation in the FAQ)



I didn't see it at first, either, but look at the joystick bolt patterns in the OP pic:
- blue stick is either turned ~10 degrees CCW or ~80 degrees CW
- yellow stick is correctly aligned   
- purple stick is almost at a Q*bert angle   
- red stick is either turned ~10 degrees CW or ~80 degrees CCW

Unless there are some very odd adapter plates under the CP, the orientation of the sticks (especially purple) will make them very hard to use without accidently hitting undesired directions.


Scott
EDIT: Found another pic of the CP and the angles are even worse than I thought.

[vwalbridge]

Wow, that is one of the oddest joystick setup I've seen.  I can't understand the red stick for the life of me.

And technically speaking, I don't think even the yellow stick is acceptable.

Why aren't they all just straight? This is fascinating.

[paigeoliver]

In some ways the yellow stick is the worst one, as it is off at an angle so small that you will never properly correct for it without overshooting, you will just hit the wrong directions sometimes.

Stuff like this has to be called out every time it is posted, or else people will keep wasting their time and money building projects that ultimately don't work.

[Jamesbeat]

Ah, I see now. Looking at the joystick bolt patterns helped with visualisation.

If it works for the user, that's ok I guess. If not, it can be corrected easily enough with a little Bondo and a new overlay.

[paigeoliver]

Ah, I see now. Looking at the joystick bolt patterns helped with visualisation.

If it works for the user, that's ok I guess. If not, it can be corrected easily enough with a little Bondo and a new overlay.

It won't work for the user, but they will lie to themselves and us about how it "works fine". They are never the one on sides anyway, it is only their guests who get stuck with the terrible playing experience.

[mgb]

Hey man, it looks like you put a ton of effort into this machine. Great Job. Out of curiosity how hard is it to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons on an arcade machine?

Second your machine ONLY has 3 and 4 player games?

Again great job on the cab. Looks great!

Personally I wouldn't sit down and watch movies or cartoons on it but its nice to have it playing the background sometimes but my four year old daughter loves sitting and watching them on it.   Yep, only 3 and 4 player games.  Sometimes less is more, you walk up to it and you already know its a turtles games and only the choice games are there.  Doing a dump of 2000 mame games would only cheapen the build so even though there are only a hundred or so games, those hundred are perfectly configured and work flawlessly.

I've gotta say, when I first saw the title of 4 player madness I was first thinking it was just another 4 player, every game ever made crap build but I stand corrected.
It's not often around here that a 4 player builder uses the phrase "less is more".

Very nicely done. I like the way you worked in the graphics on this cab.

You should consider posting it in the project announcement section.

Oh yeah and welcome to the forums.

[mgb]

I didn't notice the angled joysticks before, just took a quick look.

[PL1]

In some ways the yellow stick is the worst one, as it is off at an angle so small that you will never properly correct for it without overshooting, you will just hit the wrong directions sometimes.

After reading this, I checked the imgur link in OP for more pics and you're right -- the angles are worse than I thought.   

Pretty sure he was angling the sticks according to where that player stands instead of angling them according to the screen.

it can be corrected easily enough with a little Bondo and a new overlay.

Very true.

To be clear, I like everything about this cab except the odd joystick angles.

Fix that and it's a winner.   


Scott

[vwalbridge]

it can be corrected easily enough with a little Bondo and a new overlay.

Ah, maybe. If those sticks are resessed underneath, then that will be fun to re-router. Also that CPO doesn't look cheap. And a new plexi overlay will be necessary. And if he flush cut it himself, that t-molding will need to come off.  And depending how neat and tight the wiring is...etc.  Ultimately, a mistake I wouldn't look forward to correcting.

[Frank Drebin]

I guess thats why you make build threads not look at what I built threads.

[paigeoliver]

I guess thats why you make build threads not look at what I built threads.

It doesn't seem to help. You can catch the guy with just a bare piece of wood with angled joystick holes drilled in it, explain what is wrong and 9 times out of 10 they will still finish the project that way rather than admit they were wrong when they could still easily fix it.

[yotsuya]

Between angled joysticks and the Pi, paige is easily my favorite arcade jihadist here.

[vwalbridge]

I'm wondering what might happen if I built a Pauly Shore themed arcade machine with angled joysticks that operated on a Raspberry Pi. 

[yotsuya]

I'm wondering what might happen if I built a Pauly Shore themed arcade machine with angled joysticks that operated on a Raspberry Pi. 

I respect paige because he speaks from experience and doesn't hold back. Sometimes, that's just needed.

But yeah, a cab like that would blow his mind.

[vwalbridge]

I'm wondering what might happen if I built a Pauly Shore themed arcade machine with angled joysticks that operated on a Raspberry Pi. 

I respect paige because he speaks from experience and doesn't hold back. Sometimes, that's just needed.

But yeah, a cab like that would blow his mind.

Guys like you and paigeoliver bring a smile to my face and keep me coming back here everyday.  It didn't take me long to figure out who are the guys that "get it"   

[yotsuya]

I'm wondering what might happen if I built a Pauly Shore themed arcade machine with angled joysticks that operated on a Raspberry Pi. 

I respect paige because he speaks from experience and doesn't hold back. Sometimes, that's just needed.

But yeah, a cab like that would blow his mind.

Guys like you and paigeoliver bring a smile to my face and keep me coming back here everyday.  It didn't take me long to figure out who are the guys that "get it"   

I'm glad you get it. Best advice I've ever been given in a lot of different areas was always honest, blunt, and didn't pull punches. And ultimately, it made me better in whatever it was being given for. This is no different.

[mgb]

Between angled joysticks and the Pi, paige is easily my favorite arcade jihadist here.

Possibly the best post I have ever read on this fine site.

But you're right, he tells it like it is and at the end of the day, that's what this site is really about.

[DudeRegular]

The alignment is certainly odd in that they are all different. The joysticks are fixable, but then its extra holes in the CPO and plexi.... Pretty nice build otherwise.