Minicab dedicated vertical or horizontal?

[murb]

I'm looking for a direction here as I am at the point of deciding if I should go vertical or horizontal.  This would be my first mame machine and it is essentially a proof of concept.  It will only be 1 player, a couple of buttons and I will be using a 14" monitor and either a p100 or p230.    If you have a sound reason of why I should go one way or the other, please post it.

[elvis]

I'd go vertical for 3 reaons:

1) Based on your hardware being quite slow, you'll probably be playing a majority of older titles.  The vast majority of these were vertical.  I'd back this up with some research: come up with a rudementry list of playable games on that hardware, and see what the majority of titles are oriented at.

2) Based on your monitor size being quite small, if you mounted it horizontally, vertical games would be squashed even smaller.  As such, again I'd go vertical.

3) A single-set of controllers is still applicable to many older vertical games (pacman, frogger, etc) in which 2 players took turns on a single set of controls.

Beyond all of that, which games do you prefer?  A cabinet is useless to you if it only plays games you don't like.

[danny_galaga]

yeah, id be inclined to say vertical. bear in mind some notable early exceptions- defender, mario, asteroids. if you really like those games its going to make it a difficult decision...

[captainpotato]

yeah, id be inclined to say vertical. bear in mind some notable early exceptions- defender, mario, asteroids. if you really like those games its going to make it a difficult decision...

It sounds like murb has two PCs as donors from which to choose, so I'd say make one of each

Seriously though, vertical is more use. If you use Vantage, even more so.

[murb]

I have been using the deluxe search at www.mameworld.net/maws/ to filter for vertical/horizontal and it's still a difficult decision... can you believe more difficult then deciding on a control panel layout? 

I've tested the p230 and it's playing the classics well; I've decided it can play up to about the early 90s games.  I'm a fan of vertical shooters as well as the older platform fighters which are pretty much all horizontal.  There are 1694 verts and 4049 hori mame games in total.  There are also many horizontal NES games that would work.

But with 3 posts voting vertical, I think I'm swaying to vertical just for shooters and the other classics mentioned.


I agree, 2 cabs would be better then just 1 but the next cab I make will definetly be a horizontal, multi player with a more capable computer.  This 1st one is going to be very wife friendly. 

[captainpotato]

I agree, 2 cabs would be better then just 1 but the next cab I make will definetly be a horizontal, multi player with a more capable computer.  This 1st one is going to be very wife friendly. 

Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Mr Do, Dig Dug... that should keep her happy, or did you mean in terms of the cab's size?

[RecycledPast]

Are you building a mini or bartop?  If it's a proof of concept I'd say vertical and make it as simple as possible.  But that 2nd machine might be a lot further away then you think since life likes to interrupt your MAME plans.

My first cab was a bartop vertical mame p2-450, 4/8way switchable joystick.

[Stingray]

Vertical. I'm seriously considering doing the same, and it will be just for the vert games.

-S

[murb]

Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Mr Do, Dig Dug... that should keep her happy, or did you mean in terms of the cab's size?

I meant cab size, though if I can find enough puzzles ...

And, to answer Recycled-Past:  I believe this is year 4 of planning for a full size upright.  So, I've switched gears a little and have started this just to have something.

I'm planning a cocktal style table with a hidden control panel and possibly screen.  I'm looking for a very finished look while keeping it simple.

So far, based on the posts, I'm thinking vertical as it will have such a small screen and only 1 joy & 4 buttons which means poor multiplayer action.

[TurboC--]

My ideal setup is my 19" vertical Pac cabinet, and the future one I will build (?) with 27"+ horizontal monitor and giant control space. 

With only 14"... whew.  Well, vertical I guess.

[captainpotato]

I meant cab size, though if I can find enough puzzles ...

Most of the puzzle games that occur to me currently (at work) are horizontals - Tetris, Klax, and so forth.

You could always do what I've done - make the monitor rotating.

[captainpotato]

My ideal setup is my 19" vertical Pac cabinet, and the future one I will build (?) with 27"+ horizontal monitor and giant control space. 

With only 14"... whew.  Well, vertical I guess.

14" isn't so bad on a bartop. For an Australian/Japanese cocktail it works as well. For anything though it's a little (lot) too small.