PuzzleBobble - playing with a spinner

[leapinlew]

I'm working on a spinner cabinet and I really wanted to play PuzzleBobble 1 - 4 on it. When I loaded PuzzleBobble 1, it doesn't even have analog controls as an option, but PuzzleBobble 2-4 do. I loaded up PuzzleBobble 2, and I am able to add my spinner and it plays fine. PuzzleBobble 3 and 4 also let me add my controls, but do not work. This is with Mame 1.48. Has anyone had luck with another version of Mame?

I tried Mame 1.05 and no version of PuzzleBobble worked with a spinner.

[negative1]

according to klov

puzzle bobble - 2 way joystick

puzzle bobble 2 - 8 way joystick

puzzle bobble 3 - 8 way joystick

puzzle bobble 4 - 4 way joystick

later
-1

[PL1]

When I loaded PuzzleBobble 1, it doesn't even have analog controls as an option

Even though the analog controls menu isn't available, you can still map the left and right joystick inputs to "mouse X-" and "mouse X+" using your spinner by highlighting the input, pressing ENTER, and turning the spinner in the direction you want to map to that input.

For anyone wanting to switch between spinner and joystick (i.e. spinner for game play and joystick for initials), you can double map the inputs.
- Map the spinner to the first input then press ENTER again and press the joystick direction.
- Repeat for the other input.

The only downside is that you can't adjust the sensitivity so entering your high score initials with a high resolution spinner like a TT2 is a bit twitchy.

Confirmed working in MAMEUIFX v0.152 so it should be good in MAME v0.148, too.


Scott

[PL1]

I don't see any dipswitches or game config menu items for spinner in PB1, PB3, or PB4. (didn't check PB2)
- Checked using MAMEUIFX v0.152 and MAME v0.238.

PuzzleBobble 3 and 4 also let me add my controls, but do not work.

Try mapping the joystick right and left inputs to "Mouse X-" and "Mouse X+" as mentioned above.
- You can't adjust the sensitivity via the "Analog Controls" menu, but it is playable.


Scott

[leapinlew]

I’ll try tonight with a newer version of mame. Puzzle Bobble 2 definitely works and I could adjust sensitivity.

[KenToad]

None of the Puzzle Bobble arcade games were designed to use analog controls, AFAIK. How did you get puzzle Bobble 2 to work?

[leapinlew]

None of the Puzzle Bobble arcade games were designed to use analog controls, AFAIK. How did you get puzzle Bobble 2 to work?

It works natively with Mame 1.48 - I didn't have to do anything but map the controls. It didn't work with the newest versions.

[leapinlew]

Using the latest version, Puzzle Bobble 2, 3, and 4 work. So I'm good to go!

[KenToad]

Mapping the dial in puzzle Bobble 2 doesn't work for me, using Mame at least a few months old. Looking through the MAME logs, I don't see any updates to analog controls. Could you please explain how you mapped your spinner to make it work with the analog sensitivity adjustments?

[Mozalbete]

None of the Puzzle Bobble arcade games were designed to use analog controls, AFAIK. How did you get puzzle Bobble 2 to work?

The spinner can be mapped to the normal, non-analog controls. Since a spinner will usually have a very high rate of ticks, this results in very sensitive movement but limited to the speed that results when you just hold down the movement button

At least that is what happens in the non-spinner games where I have mapped the spinner to movement

[leapinlew]

Ken - I learned a few weird things along the way, but I'm not sure I have a solution for everything.

First things first - what I modified was the P1 Left and p1 Right settings. I selected them and moved my spinner the direction I wanted (counter clockwise for left, clockwise for right). See the picture for the results. I don't think you can modify the sensitivity, but fortunately, it plays very well, so I don't have a problem with it.

Some weirdness I learned.

First, I'm using version 2.40 and it wouldn't recognize my TurboTwist2 for these inputs. It would recognize if I wanted to change other settings, but not P1 Left and P1 Right. I hooked a mouse up to the system, and it didn't recognize inputs from the mouse. I tried it on a different computer and it recognized my mouse inputs, so I was able to set it up.

I tried Mame version 2.38 and it worked fine with my TurboTwist2, or the mouse.

I tried Mame version 1.05 and nothing worked.

So I'm not why it was acting like that. Could be user error, or something with the mice I was using, or something in Mame. I didn't keep testing after I got it configured. So, the advice I would give is to try to configure those inputs in Mame and if your version of mame or hardware isn't doing it - try mixing things up.

[KenToad]

I was able to map left and right like that with my turbo twist 2. It's playable, but the aiming is twitchy when you make micro adjustments. Analog sensitivity doesn't affect it.

For me, it plays better with the digital controls. If I didn't have a joystick, I would play it space invaders style with buttons for left and right movement.

Thanks for the clarification.