Best 4 player arcade cabinet design

[processedmeat]

My kids and their friends like to play beat-em ups on our 2 player mame cab. 

Was thinking as we have more space now in the arcade to build a 4 player beat-em up. 

Which is the best design to play on?  Space considerations?  Build?

The Atari Gauntlet


Konami 4 Player


Or am I missing another design?

Thanks

[Vigo]

Well, as much as I love Gauntlet, it was designed to have two players stand on the side of the cabinet to play comfortably. If this is about a dedicated 4-player experience, then the Konami cab makes more sense design wise.

[Gilrock]

We've been discussing a similar topic in this thread below where someone is wanting to design a slimmer Gauntlet cab.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,164808.0.html

[Mike A]

If you are building a CRT cab it is tough to beat the Konami cab.

[yotsuya]

Here’s another vote for the Konami/Midway 4 player.

Although Gauntlet would be an interesting design if you’re interested in saving space. It’s really not that much bigger than a standard cabinet widthwise.


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[thomas_surles]

Here’s another vote for the Konami/Midway 4 player.

Although Gauntlet would be an interesting design if you’re interested in saving space. It’s really not that much bigger than a standard cabinet widthwise.


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As much as I love gauntlet, I hate that 4 player layout. But I've played left character with 3 other friends and didn't have trouble seeing the screen.

[csnow]

I have a pedestal cabinet from RecRoom Masters that I really like.  They offer a four player control panel.  Obviously this would limit you to a flat panel but an OLED 48" panel paired with some of the beat-em up PC remakes would make for a really sweet setup or you could just output MAME to it with self-generated scanlines.  I use mine with XBOX and Playstation consoles for newer fighting games and shumps.  You can request what control panel comes with your pedestal.  Some of them require an upcharge depending on model. The build quality is good and they replaced one of my legs that got a gouge in shipping with no questions asked.

https://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension-Stand-Up-Pedestal-Arcade-Machine-p/rm-xt-ped-stand.htm

https://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension-4-Player-Control-Board-Ultimate-Edition-p/rm-xt-sd-board-4p-ult.htm

[processedmeat]

So I'm finally at the point to build this 4 player cabinet. 

I was going to go ahead with a Konami cab control panel but then I saw that NBA Jam control panel layout was a little different.  I had assumed that they were identical.  So which would you go with?




Konami seems like there is more space between players but the NBA Jam control panel has the nice 4 joysticks in a row so I can put some dual joystick games in there as well.

 

[slybunda]

konami is good if adults play.

[ericball]

Prototype it!

Seriously, you really won't know until you and your friends give it a try.  Build something out of cheap plywood or similar material and play some games with friends.

[pbj]

Do the offset controls like on Simpsons.  It's more whimsical and you can still play Smash TV on it.

That NBA Jam panel is machine like and dull.  Some designer sketched that out on graph paper.

[vertexguy]

Plenty of 4 player cab examples in the projects thread to reference for details, but staggered in an arc like setup like the simpsons is a good start to best fit 4 players IMHO.  I also echo Erics comments about prototyping.  Simple cardboard does the trick

[Zebidee]

I agree with pbj, the Simpsons layout looks like fun.

Once you have the initial control panel done, you can use it as a template, making it easy to copy (for different layouts) if needed.

[RandyT]

From a practical perspective, I like the pedestal cabinets with some curve or angle at the outer extents.  This not only looks better, but also increases the distance between players.

[NuclearWarren]

Here's a couple renderings on a 4 player cab I've been working on. The panel outline is someone else's design that I liked. Prolly making first cuts this weekend!

nuclearW

[NuclearWarren]

From a practical perspective, I like the pedestal cabinets with some curve or angle at the outer extents.  This not only looks better, but also increases the distance between players.

Agree here, the panel for this design is separate and could go on a pedestal.

nw