Main > Main Forum

Ready to order controls! (first part of cabinet) -- Need some help!

Pages: (1/3) > >>

sofakng:

Today I purchased John St. Clair's "Project Arcade" book... and after about a year I'm finally ready to start my first cabinet project.  First I'm going to order a keyboard encoder, joystick, and buttons.  With this I'll be able to fool around with connecting it to my PC so I have something to use while I save up for the rest of the parts.  Next I'll buy a 25" or 27" (most likely 27") TV.  After that I'll start putting together the actual cabinet.

So, with that said... Here is my control panel parts list:

Happ's Super Joysticks (TWO of them)
http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/super_joy.htm

Happ's Pushbutton with Horizontal Microswitch (TWELVE of them)
http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/5891xxl.htm
Note:  This includes 8 buttons per player, 1 & 2 player start buttons, and 1 & 2 player "insert coin" buttons.  Other functions will be used via a "shift" button.

KeyWiz v1.5
http://www.groovygamegear.com/Page5.html

Now... here are my questions/concerns...

Joystick:  I'm not sure if the Happ's Super Joysticks are the right joysticks for me.  I plan on playing a lot of fighting games (Capcom almost exclusively), but also a lot of Metal Slug and other games including older 4-Way Pac-Man type of games.  Since this is my first cabinet and I want to start cheap (but be able to expand), I like the ability to switch between 4-way and 8-way.

Buttons:  These are pretty much a definite.  They seem to be the standard buttons for nearly all types of cabinets.  Do I have enough buttons?

Keyboard Encoder:  This is another area I'm not sure about.  Should I buy a KeyWiz over an IPAC?  I only plan on building a 2-player cabinet.    Does Ultimarc still sell the Mini-Pac?  Would that be the way to go if I plan on adding a spinner and trackball?

Other:  As I mentioned above, I do plan on adding a trackball almost definitely.  The spinner I'm not so sure about, but a trackball sounds like an awful lot of fun.  Please take this into account when giving me suggestions.

Any help would be greatly appriciated!  I'd like to order the parts either tomorrow or monday so I could (hopefully) get the parts by next weekend.

Again, thanks for any help.

jcoleman:

You're going to need more than 12 buttons...

Also, you probably don't need 8 per player, unless you are planning on using the cabinet for Playstation games too.  I'd go with 6 or 7, depending on whether you want to match the Neo Geo layout or just approximate it with the Capcom layout.  Add your 1 and 2 player buttons and credit buttons and you have a total of 16, 18, or 20 buttons depending on how many you need for each player.

abrannan:

I used supers in my project and I couldn't  be happier with them.  I play pretty much the same mix of games that you do.  Yes, if you had all of the various kinds of joysticks side by side, you might find you like another model better, but I don't think you'll be missing anything with the supers.

As far as buying from Happs, be paitent, they tend to do a joystick sale every now and then, which can knock the price down by almost half.  There are also a couple of ebay stores that sell the joysticks and buttons for cheaper than Happs.  


sofakng:

Well, I might use the cabinet for PlayStation games, but I'm really not sure.  What would you suggest?  (6 or 8 buttons per player?)  Does Metal Slug use 4 buttons? (eg.  1 2 3 4, instead of Capcom's top row=1 2 3, bottom row=4 5 6)  I'm not sure what to do now...

What about keyboard encoders and my trackball situation?  Any suggestions on that?


AmericanDemon:

Do a Cap/Neo Geo layout 7 button config.

Basically you have all 6 of the capcom buttons like normal, but you add 1 more button a little lower and to the left and then you have an almost perfect Neo Geo layout too!

Pages: (1/3) > >>

Go to full version