Help!!! needed specing out my first one

[brianstrange]

I have a golden axe jamma cab and everything is working.
It is a head to head setup with a player 1 and player 2 start buttons.

Each player control has a 8 way joystick and three buttons.

I plan to buy the j-pac and arcade video card from Utilmarc.
I also plan on buying the combo 4\8 way joystick to replace the player 1 joystick.

This is what i need to know:

1) how many buttons per player should I add (if any).
2) What computer speed & memory do I need to run the games?
3) Will a Celeron processor work well?

I want to get the best bang for my buck without starving the machine of power.

[tommy]

This has been asked many many times, the big question is what games do you plan on playing the most, that will determin what pc you need and what button setup to go with.

[brianstrange]

Thanks tommy.

For the most part, it will be the 70's and 80's classics

Space invaders, pac man, frogger, Joust, track and field,  astroids, tetras, donkey kong

[tommy]

You dont need a very powerfull computer to run those old games, also those 3 buttons you have should be enough.

You will need other controles such as trackball, spinner, 4 way stick, ipac among others. (the ultimarc site has the interfaces you need)

If your going to play newer games you will need more buttons and a decent pc.

This is just a general starting point for what you need.

[tommy]

The best thing for you to do is TRY to use the search on this board, all of your questions have been answerd at one time or another.

[GameOver]

For the most part, it will be the 70's and 80's classics

Space invaders, pac man, frogger, Joust, track and field, astroids, tetras, donkey kong

I'm old skool arcade too, but knew with MAME there would be tons of games that would require more than three buttons.  I decided to go with the 6 button config for each player and am glad I did.  Just cuz you only plan on playing the classics doesn't mean you might not find something 'newer' that you get addicted to!  Really not expensive to add the extra buttons either.  My kids also like the newer stuff better which many need more than 3 buttons.

My PC is a 2.2g Celeron.  I haven't played nearly all the games, but everything I've played so far works really well.  I've seen these on sale at US electronix big boxes for @$250 lately.  Not a bad deal.

Add the extra buttons & controllers.  You'll be glad you did!