Ultimarc Vs. Happ Vs X-Arcade

[Tecil]

I'm working with a local vendor to see if I can acquire a gutted cabinet.  If not then I will be using the LuCID plans to build my own.

Right now I'm at a toss up on what to do about the control panel.

If I go premade I'll go for the X-Arcade and just incorporate it into the cabinet.

If I decide to build my own I will definitely go the I-PAC route, but I'm not sure who to buy which controls/buttons from, Ultimarc or Happ.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Nailz]

If you build your own, and you are buying an IPAC, you might as well go the extra step and order the joysticks from him to, save yourself some shipping costs.  

It all depends on what kind of gaming you will be doing that will merit what kind of stick to get, i.e. for fighters, classics, etc....

Don't get me wrong, Happs stuff is good to, but might as well do it all one place, plus if something goes wrong, you'll get better service from someone in the community versus a larger company.

[rampy]

Nailz has a good point.. there's some merit in lumping your purchases together to save on shipping.

May I also suggest if you buy your happs joysticks/buttons from the real bob roberts (his site is pretty retro pagemaker '98... but he is a great guy with good prices on stuff... cheaper than happs!)

I say if you decide to stick with the x-arcade FOR THE LOVE of GAWD, gut it and mount the controls yourself on your cabinet.  (my assumption here was that you had an x-arcade cp already, upon re-reading I realize that was a false assumption)

1. slopping an x-arcade on top of an otherwise "authentic" arcade cabinet looks asthetically bad, and really ruins the arcadey look... (i.e. the subtle difference between building a wooden entertainment center shelf for a pc and TV with an x-arcade shlopped on top and building an MAME/arcade cabinet)

2. The x-arcade sticks are too close together for normal sized adults to comfortably  play say streetfighter II side by side (unless you really like to get close and personal with your pals...)

3. You'll have the satisfactino of still doing most of it yourself and not chezing out on the control panel... (plus you can add in different stuff/change the layout/ do a cool overlay, add a trackball/spinner light up buttons and stuff)

*shrug* what was the question again?

rampy

[Tecil]

I think I may go with the Ultimarc stuff then.

I'm a big fighter fan and I'm sure SF2ce will be getting a ton of play on this.

I just got called back from a local vendor that has a couple gutted cabinets with the control panels setup for $100 each so I'm going to go check them out.

[rampy]

The other option of course is to get a "gutted" cabinet that isn't so gutted and has a "street fighter 2"-esque layout already...

Either you could just wire it to an encoder and go... or replace the sticks/buttons wire it up and go!

*shrug*  but either way... good luck!

rampy

[Tecil]

The other option of course is to get a "gutted" cabinet that isn't so gutted and has a "street fighter 2"-esque layout already...

Either you could just wire it to an encoder and go... or replace the sticks/buttons wire it up and go!

*shrug*  but either way... good luck!

rampy

Thats what I'm hoping with the "gutted" units I'm going to go check out.  Ideally I only want a 6 button config 2 the 1&2 player buttons.  I would just add the credit buttons in myself.  Even if one of the cabinets I find doesn't have a 6 button config, I'm sure I could add one in my self.

[bigmoe]

Thats what I'm hoping with the "gutted" units I'm going to go check out.  Ideally I only want a 6 button config 2 the 1&2 player buttons.  I would just add the credit buttons in myself.  Even if one of the cabinets I find doesn't have a 6 button config, I'm sure I could add one in my self.

If you score the layout you're looking for, and you're using an IPAC, seriously consider using a shift-button for the credits instead of drilling more holes in an authentic cab...

[GadgetGeek]

Or rig switches up behind the reject buttons to be the coin drop buttons.  Assuming you put a coin door on it.