Too many emulators in cab?

[Richardgregory]

I"m thinking of redoing my Hyperspin set up and removing all systems except for MAME.  I'm finding that having so many emulators in it makes the interface too messy and don't think that anyone would be able to explore all the titles anyways.

Thoughts?  What do you all have emulated in your cab(s)? 

[yotsuya]

I"m thinking of redoing my Hyperspin set up and removing all systems except for MAME.  I'm finding that having so many emulators in it makes the interface too messy and don't think that anyone would be able to explore all the titles anyways.

Thoughts?  What do you all have emulated in your cab(s)?

So, you've seen the light too. I did the same thing myself years ago and it was the best thing I ever did.

[DaveMMR]

I've never put in anything more than just MAME (and perhaps Daphne) for that reason.  Just too much clutter on the cab and console games I'd much rather play on a console (or somewhere comfortable, like the couch) rather than standing at a cab.

[tomstewdevine]

Here is my timeline in this subject.

At First - I want every game ever Made inside my Multicade!!

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every Arcade Game ever made to be inside my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every arcade game that fits this joystick I have on my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every fun game with this Joystick that I have on this cab.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want dedicated cabs with one game.....

[Thenasty]

since day one, I only put ARCADE games (MAME) in my cab. I don't need A2600 (Pacman), NES (Pacman), SNES (Pacman) or (any other System/Emu or Games) etc..... 



one exception, Dragon's Lair for DOS 

[BadMouth]

Yeah, after a few years of never playing any console games on a cab other than the occasional dreamcast port of an arcade game I ditched all the consoles.

Not for the faint of heart, but my front end is set up so every arcade game shows up in the MAME gamelist regardless of what emulator it is run on.
(see the SGT's multiple emus in one list workaround stickied in the mala subforum)

It is awesome to have all arcade games together in one coherent list.
I do not know why people keep releasing new front-ends and don't consider adding this as a feature.

I don't currently have the time to work on it, but I've been wanting to make an "only working stuff worth having" list with a corresponding batch file to extract only needed roms from a full romset and a trimmed down mame.xml file.
Of course there will be no concensus, so it's just going to be my damn list.  Take it or leave it.

[Richardgregory]

Well put!  So true.....the reality is as I mature with my cab, I"m finding simple is better.  Heck, I think I might even start removing titles that I know the game isn't good to have on the cab.  Right now, I seem to have every MAME title in there.

P.S.  On a side note, is there a way to have Hypersin skip the wheel selection and jump right into the titles?  In this case, skip MAME and just have the scrolling of the titles. [I know, I know, I shouldn't be asking here]

Here is my timeline in this subject.

At First - I want every game ever Made inside my Multicade!!

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every Arcade Game ever made to be inside my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every arcade game that fits this joystick I have on my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every fun game with this Joystick that I have on this cab.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want dedicated cabs with one game.....

[jbl77]

Thinking when I build my cab I will only use it for MAME.  I have the SNES, NES stuff on my 360 which I think will be better that way for me.  To me, arcade games have a different "feel".  I can stand and play DK (was in my glory when I went to Disney World's Penny Arcade....which I hear they got rid of!!!  )  and have no problem with it.  But give me SMB and I am sorry...I need to be on a couch.

I have MAME on the 360 too but the controls are much less forgiving on the D-pad....hence my desire to build (and the fact I finally got my wife to agree to it...so long as it is nice and not tacky lol)

I think consoles belong in a console (even if they are emu'd on another console ).

[yotsuya]

I've never put in anything more than just MAME (and perhaps Daphne) for that reason.  Just too much clutter on the cab and console games I'd much rather play on a console (or somewhere comfortable, like the couch) rather than standing at a cab.

Exactly.

[yotsuya]

Here is my timeline in this subject.

At First - I want every game ever Made inside my Multicade!!

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every Arcade Game ever made to be inside my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every arcade game that fits this joystick I have on my home arcade.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want every fun game with this Joystick that I have on this cab.

Next - Ok, maybe I don't, I just want dedicated cabs with one game.....

Bravo!

[leapinlew]

Just Mame for me.

I've owned some dedicated machines, but ultimately switched up to MAME to allow the right games for my setup. 

[reptileink]

For me it's a toss up as I have basically gave up ownership of my one cab to my kids. They will play SMB till their legs go numb if I let them..lol. Going forward, I would love to just make a MAME cabinet to play. The reason I have so many consoles on my machine is that I don't currently own a SNES or Nintendo 64. I have a NES, Gamecube, Atari, but not a whole catalog of games. Yes, I know I could go buy the ones I a missing, but then I have to start buying  catalog of games again. I might just make a "console box" with Pi or whatever to leave in the house. That way, I don't need to hook up every physical console to our one living room TV.

I have slimmed down the games on the emu's on the cabinet to be "arcade friendly" at least. Nobody is going to play an RPG standing or sitting in my garage during a cookout/guys night.

Can't wait till the weather turns warmer so I can get started on my next cabinet. Still scouring CL and Ebay for dedicated cabs of my favorite games, but I'm pretty broke....lol.

[jaywv1981]

I have MAME, Future Pinball and some PC fighting games on mine.  I have all my console-based emulators like SNES, NES etc on my HTPC which I play with gamepads.

[EMDB]

...
P.S.  On a side note, is there a way to have Hypersin skip the wheel selection and jump right into the titles?  In this case, skip MAME and just have the scrolling of the titles. [I know, I know, I shouldn't be asking here]
...

Yes. In HyperHQ you can set mode to Single and select the wheel you want.

[Le Chuck]

It depends on the cab.  I don't mind mixing emulators but I do hate long game lists.  My STUN Runner conversion plays

MAME
STUN Runner
Star Wars
ESB
Afterburner

Supermodel
SW Tril

PC
Hydro Thunder
Star Wars Racer

Dolphin
Mariokart GP2x

N64
Starfox
Jetmoto

Pretty much everything else I've stripped off of it because it doesn't fit with the cab.  It's all on one menu and is seamless for guests.  Tons of parties, kids and adults of all ages playing and I have yet to get a complaint about the game list being small or missing anything.  Usually they just play Star Wars Tril or Markiokart anyway. 

[eds1275]

I put a computer in my home theatre that runs console games using a quartet of wired xbox 360 controllers. It works great, and the controllers are pretty good for every system except n64.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,141605.0.html

[BadMouth]

The problem isn't the number of emulators (unless we're talking about console emulators), it's the volume of crap people keep on their cab because they want to have "everything".

I don't mind having a ton of emulators.  I like having newer stuff like NAOMI shmups and Taito Type X fighters on my cab (as well as Steam games).
What sucks is that all front-ends make you divide them up into different lists because they run on different emulators.

Now that I've experienced having all arcade games in one list, I can never go back.
I don't care if I have to create a separate script or batch file for every last game.

Now I do entertain the thought of having a separate cab for each genre of game because they play better with more specifically suited controls.
(short throw joysticks for shmups, rubber grommet 4-way for classics, ect)

[paigeoliver]

How are you running Star Wars Racer? Is there a new patch or something? Last I checked if you had a video chipset made in the last decade then it wouldn't work.

It depends on the cab.  I don't mind mixing emulators but I do hate long game lists.  My STUN Runner conversion plays

MAME
STUN Runner
Star Wars
ESB
Afterburner

Supermodel
SW Tril

PC
Hydro Thunder
Star Wars Racer

Dolphin
Mariokart GP2x

N64
Starfox
Jetmoto

Pretty much everything else I've stripped off of it because it doesn't fit with the cab.  It's all on one menu and is seamless for guests.  Tons of parties, kids and adults of all ages playing and I have yet to get a complaint about the game list being small or missing anything.  Usually they just play Star Wars Tril or Markiokart anyway.

[jtslade]

If you could boot to favorites in a specific wheel or even lock down a favorites wheel it would help for parties and yet you could still explore all those gems in MAME that you never played back in he day but love now.  Like Wonder Momo .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Richardgregory]

With thousands of MAME titles,  the reality is is that only some are really worthwhile to have on a cab IMO.   I think I'll super trim the list down to the ones that actually existed in the arcade and toss out the others. 

I like the idea of making a separate wheel.  One containing the classics: ie. Pacman, Asteroids, DK, etc, - for company that comes over making it easier for them...... and the rest of the other MAME titles will be in a separate wheel.   I think in Hyperspin that can be done - no? 

[EMDB]

With thousands of MAME titles,  the reality is is that only some are really worthwhile to have on a cab IMO.   I think I'll super trim the list down to the ones that actually existed in the arcade and toss out the others. 

I like the idea of making a separate wheel.  One containing the classics: ie. Pacman, Asteroids, DK, etc, - for company that comes over making it easier for them...... and the rest of the other MAME titles will be in a separate wheel.   I think in Hyperspin that can be done - no?

I have a single wheel containing about a hundred MAME games, some homebrew and a few of my childhood favorite owned Megadrive, SNES, C64, Amiga games. Plus all versions of all consoles/ arcade of my favorite game all times Donkey Kong:

[ark_ader]

Stick everything in there.  More the merrier.  Just make sure you ghost the drive.

[Le Chuck]

How are you running Star Wars Racer? Is there a new patch or something? Last I checked if you had a video chipset made in the last decade then it wouldn't work.

Yep, there was a new patch that came out a few years ago that brought it back to life.  It took me a while to track down.  I think I have it on my portable HD, if so I'll track it down (I'm away from home right meow).  Runs great, I also have the board sets and controllers for arcade version, just need to build a cab, or build it into a cab for it.  Of course, I've had those for about 3 years now and haven't done it but someday. 

[gildahl]

Nah, gotta have my consoles and classic computers.  No issues with clutter here--though I don't use Hyperspin.  I use the cab 80% of the time, so "my" main menu is fairly complex giving me access to everything.  If visitors are over or I'm in a simple-minded mood, I just turn on the simplified menu.  Problem solved.

[thomas_surles]

I started out with everything for the sake of having them, but now have a collection of consoles and everdrives. I have since trimmed out everything I can play from the couch. I have kept a bit of dreamcast stuff because a lot of it is good fighting or shmup games that are more fun a can than on the actual dreamcast.


so mame and dreamcast gets my vote. just don't throw all the titles in there. just the ones that feel right on your setup.

[Fursphere]

I must be the odd man out here.

Having grown up in the 80s, I have fond memories of arcades of the time, AND consoles of the time.  And many consoles afterwards (I never stopped playing games...   doesn't matter what platform they are on).

So I have many system wheels in HyperSpin.  My young children love playing Sonic on Genesis and Mario Bros on Wii.  I know a lot of people have issues with having the "right" controller for the system.  Well, I grew up playing 8 bit Nintendo with an NES Advantage (arcade style controls) - so playing NES games with arcade controls feels right to me. 

I have a lot of guests who play the cabinet and always ask about some game they remember on a random system - and when I can bring it up, they're always excited.   

Forget being a "purist" - just have fun. 

[leapinlew]

I have a lot of guests who play the cabinet and always ask about some game they remember on a random system - and when I can bring it up, they're always excited.   

Forget being a "purist" - just have fun.

For me, it's more "fun" when my guests can figure out how to use a machine without me having to be there. So, cabs are setup for ease of use, not because I'm trying to be a purist.

[jaywv1981]

I have a lot of guests who play the cabinet and always ask about some game they remember on a random system - and when I can bring it up, they're always excited.   

Forget being a "purist" - just have fun.

For me, it's more "fun" when my guests can figure out how to use a machine without me having to be there. So, cabs are setup for ease of use, not because I'm trying to be a purist.

I agree...that is why I went with the LED controls that light up for each game.  It has made it very simple for guests to figure out which controls to use.

[monkeybomb]

I play handheld systems on my psp and I play console games on a television.  I would never add those to my mame cabinet.  But I like having AAE, Daphne, and demul.  I think the main thing is drastically reducing the mame romset.  My full mame set is still at 3000 but it's almost all US versions with very few clones.  Then I added a tag in the FE that I assign to games that I don't want.  It takes about the time as making a favorite and it's off the list.  The set remains around 3000, but once I tag it, it's gone from the front end.

[05SRT4]

OP I am in the same boat also, I started with the idea of every game possible. I have the same Hyperspin setup on my stand up, bartop and cocktail.

Recently my wife had some friends over and I think maybe 3 games were played. There was an hour of silence of just people going through all the games. I actually felt kind of stupid even though everyone was impressed with everything. So now I am going through and changing everything. Stand up will be strictly MAME and I will dedicate some time to making new Genre/favorites lists so its not a huge bulk list. The bartop will have everything and the cocktail will be just MAME with only a small handful of games.

[Lukem23]

Is their an easy way to setup every game to just highlight the led buttons that are used???

[05SRT4]

Is their an easy way to setup every game to just highlight the led buttons that are used???

Not really the best place to post this question. If you need more help search for LEDBlinky or start a new thread requesting some assistants.

LEDBlinky, once setup and configured it will display the LEDS that are actually used in game.

[Fursphere]

Is their an easy way to setup every game to just highlight the led buttons that are used???

No.  Its a boring painful tedious process.   

[keilmillerjr]

I must be the odd man out here.

Having grown up in the 80s, I have fond memories of arcades of the time, AND consoles of the time.  And many consoles afterwards (I never stopped playing games...   doesn't matter what platform they are on).

So I have many system wheels in HyperSpin.  My young children love playing Sonic on Genesis and Mario Bros on Wii.  I know a lot of people have issues with having the "right" controller for the system.  Well, I grew up playing 8 bit Nintendo with an NES Advantage (arcade style controls) - so playing NES games with arcade controls feels right to me. 

I have a lot of guests who play the cabinet and always ask about some game they remember on a random system - and when I can bring it up, they're always excited.   

Forget being a "purist" - just have fun.

I had the nes advantage when I was young. Thought the quality was crap. Traded it in at gamester for like ten cents or something.

I don't understand the want for console games on a cabinet.

[DaveMMR]

I had the nes advantage when I was young. Thought the quality was crap. Traded it in at gamester for like ten cents or something.

I don't understand the want for console games on a cabinet.

Hey, I liked (and still do like) my NES Advantage. I loved playing (certain) games with that thing. 

But I get what you're saying and agree with you. A lot of console games are just better with the controllers. It's much harder to kick back and relax with an arcade stick in your lap...

[Cynicaster]

I guess I’m one of the rare retro gamers who just enjoys the games and doesn’t place much importance on re-creating childhood experiences exactly as I remember them.  I don’t care if my 12 year-old self spent hundreds of hours playing RC Pro Am with a NES d-pad in the 80s… I’m not 12 years old anymore.  In 2016, with my big man hands, I prefer arcade controls.   

Even though I grew up primarily playing the old home consoles, I have completely lost the ability to enjoy playing video games with hand-held controllers, ESPECIALLY ones with d-pads.  Not sure why or how that happened, but that’s where I’m at.  I can use a d-pad for a few minutes at a time, and then I just want to stop playing because of the controller… which is a shame, because there are a lot of fun games on those old systems. 

So, the obvious thing for me to do is to emulate the games on my cabinet and use the arcade controls to play them.  I realize that there are lots of old console games that just don’t work with arcade controls or don’t make any sense on an upright cabinet (“metroidvania” type games, RPGs, etc.)  but if that’s the case then I guess those games are retired to the annals of history for me.     
     
I don’t understand the “clutter” problem people talk about.  MaLa is my frontend, and guests use my cabinet without ever even realizing the console emulators are on there—all they see is MAME.  If they somehow knew that Colecovision was available on there, they’d have to come get me to show them how to access it, because they’re certainly not going to just stumble upon it.   

[yotsuya]

If it works for you, it works for you. I'm sorry, I ran all those consoles in my cabinet, and it was one of the worst experiences I had as far as playability goes. I'm not missing anything by not having Atari, NES and Super Nintendo games on my arcade cabinet. If it works for you, awesome, but I don't recommend it.

[Osirus23]

I had NES and SNES emus on my cab for all of one day I think.

[leapinlew]

I guess I’m one of the rare retro gamers who just enjoys the games and doesn’t place much importance on re-creating childhood experiences exactly as I remember them.  I don’t care if my 12 year-old self spent hundreds of hours playing RC Pro Am with a NES d-pad in the 80s… I’m not 12 years old anymore.  In 2016, with my big man hands, I prefer arcade controls.   

The thing is.... we build arcade cabinets to recreate our gaming memories. If we didn't care about recreating our previous experiences, we'd play with those Jakk controllers directly plugged into the TV.

An arcade game which lasts 15 minutes tops is a different experience than a final fantasy game which requires 100 hours.

[yotsuya]

^^^ Troof.

Has nothing to do with being a purist. It has everything to do with which button do I push again to simulate the right button on the back of the SNES game pad?

I played Star Fox on my cabinet, and that's all it took for me to realize that I need to get the console emulators off my cabinet. I didn't have this grand idea to use USB controllers that I would plug into ports, but the whole USB in Windows issue and things not staying consistent ruined that for me, too. I wasn't about to keep the controllers plugged in all the time and hidden somewhere.

It's an arcade cabinet. Let it do arcade things.