Cocktails - 1 player or 2? Decisions...

[javeryh]

Do you think it is better to have similar CPs on each end of a cocktail or one that has a joy + buttons and the other a trackball/spinner and buttons?  If the CPs are the same then 2 people could sit at it and play a 2-player game with the screen flipping.  If not then you lose the 2 player option but you gain a ton more games to play....  hmmm... what to do??

[oldsage]

3- or 4- sided cocktail...

[CheffoJeffo]

Tough one.

For my cocktail, I chose identical "classic controls" with a 4-way and two buttons at either of the narrow ends. So, for stuff like MsPac, Frogger or DK, they come up in full vertical glory and flip for competitive action.

On one long side, I put two sets of side-by-side "standard fighter controls", each with an 8-way and six buttons.

My mandate with this machine was keep it really, really simple and, since I have a trackball on my Multi-Jamma cab, not include either a trackball nor a spinner.

If I wanted to play trackball or spinner games, the location would likely be determined by the native orientation of the games I wanted to play (which I guess would be vertical, so I could add a trackball to one of my "classic" panels and a spinner to the other ... or I could add them on the 4th side with a horizontal orientation).

Now that I write this, I find myself yearing for those controls for some cocktail Arkanoid and Centipede goodness ...

Cheers,

JAKD

[Tiger-Heli]

Ditto what CheffoJeffo said. . .

[missioncontrol]

I'm going for the same controls on both sides and using the screen flipping feature.....

I like it better personally........

but to each his own............

[Goz]

I've got a cocktail and it usually is configured for screen flipping for playing classic verticals in 2 player mode. I also have a matching set of control panels for trackball and 4 way to swap when I feel like the track ball games.  It really is all up to preference and how you will use it.

-Goz

[whammoed]

My panels are not identical, but they do both have a four way stick because it is the four way (and two way) games that I remember playing on cocktails.

[paigeoliver]

I don't really dig the 3 sided cocktails. Something about them irks me, probably how most of them seem based off the Midway design, but they completely butcher the lines of the cabinet.

A custom designed 3 sided one where a single panel wraps around 3 sides would probabably look a lot better.

There are also some larger cocktails (Atari Football, Track & Field, Dunk Shot, Jack the Giantkiller, etc), that have a full sized 24" wide control panel on each side.

[RayB]

Personally, I find 2-player simultaneous games more fun than 2-player alternating.