Multi-themed cab vs. unified theme

[Timstuff]

Originally for my cabinet, I was going to go with a sort of "collage" theme. I made up a CPO featuring Ryu from Street Fighter against Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat that I poured a lot of time into, and I was in the process of making a marquee featuring a space battle with ships that I designed myself. I also had an image of Solid Snake from Metal Geart that I made and was going to use as sideart. But now, I am starting to wonder if I should re-think my initial descision to have a mutli-themed cab.

I've actually started toying with the idea of having a single unified theme for the cabinet, and as to what it would be, the idea of making the whole thing be Metal Gear themed keeps poping into my head. Maybe it's because MGS3 Subsistance came out a few days ago and it's thrown me into a bit of a Metal Gear fetish, but there are some interesting possibilities for "Metal Gear Arcade" if I chose to persue it. The problem with a mutli-themed machine is that it's a dead giveaway that it's a custom job, and also it's sometimes difficult to strike a good balance of various themes.

So, do you think I should play around with Metal Gear ideas some more and see how I like it, or stick with my original plan and have an "acade classics collage" theme? My brother thinks I should stick with my original idea, but the idea of a unified theme is rather tempting right now, especially since there are a lot of good ideas for it floating around in my head right now.

[Fozzy The Bear]

My brother thinks I should stick with my original idea, but the idea of a unified theme is rather tempting right now, especially since there are a lot of good ideas for it floating around in my head right now.

IMHO Unified Themes always look more professional and finished on a cab. My 2 Cents..

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[PCtech]

I think you gotta go where the inspiration leads ya......I've had quite a few ideas that never reached completion, normally because new ones pop in, and I go with those.

My perfect solution....build 2 cabs...problem solved.

You better get started, you have a lot of work to do! 

Good luck, post lots of picks.

[Timstuff]

Thanks for the advice. I don't have space or the moolah to build two cabs yet, but I do plan on it eventually (we're supposed to be moving into a bigger house sometime in the next two years or so). Last night, I actually started toying around with making a vector sideart image of a Sean-Connery esque "Big Boss" image, and I think it would make a very nice companion to the Solid Snake image I'm already going to have on the other half of the machine.

I think in the end, I may be a lot happier with a more professional looking cabinet with a unified theme. I had been feeling a bit wishy-washy about doing a "multicade" theme for a while, and now I'm definately leaning towards doing a completely Metal Gear themed cab. You can check out what I did with the Big Boss vector last night below.

[RobotronNut]

somebody needs to invent a system for rapid swapping of side panel / marquee / CPO artwork. then you could have a "theme of the week" cabinet.

even better would be to vertically mount a plasma panel on each side of your cab and have RandyT/MikeQ whip up a PlasmaWiz(TM) and PowerMAME that switches side art whenever you start a new game.