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I'm making a 1 player ~20" wide CP, looking for suggestions. 2 joys? 3 buttons?

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quarterback:

I've been reading posts similar to this since I first discovered BYOAC and now I'm posting one of them, although maybe slightly different because it's not my first CP.

My current machine is an upright Konami 2 player CP that's about 30" wide.  99.9% of it's use is single player.  One of the downsides is that the player 1 joystick is too far to the left.... not "too far" for a 2player CP, but "too far" for a single player.  I get annoyed that I'm off center playing this all by myself



I'm still pretty happy with it.  As a 2player CP, I think it works well.  Plus I have a 49-way a spinner and a trackball on there without it feeling too much like a Frankenpanel.  Additionally, the two joysticks are well placed for both Crazy Climber and Robotron.



So now I'm working on a new machine and it's just going to be a single-player machine.  I'm not planning on any side-by-side 2 player action.     The entire CP is about 23 inches wide but I'm estimating I can use ~20" of the real estate.   

My current plan is a single joystick with 3 buttons.  I don't play fighters at all.  I'm pretty much a 'classics' kind of guy but I'm pretty sure there's more than enough space for a single joystick and three buttons.   So, with that in mind, I wonder what else I should do.  Should I add a 2nd joystick so I can play Crazy Climber?  Should I use that extra space for a track ball?  A spinner?   I'm not sure.

I'm going to work on a Visio mockup, but I'd actually like to cut some holes tomorrow.  Are there any good examples of single-player CPs?  It seems like most CP examples are 2 to 4 player layouts.

Thanks

quarterback:

Here are some sample CPs. 
 
The first two include a 2nd joystick for Crazy Climber Robotron.  Anything else I'd use two joysicks with?




I found this 6-button option in Visio.  I'm not sure I'd use it, but I have room.  I guess it would allow me to play that dog/bone/cat/hawk game.   Anybody know of any other reason to do this 6-button layout vs the 3-button shown above?




Here's a single joystick option with a spinner.  Ikari warriors, I guess.   Or tempest/arkanoid, although I think I'd be bothered having the spinner so far to the right.   The joystick is a little closer to the center which, based on my current cab-playing-experience, might be a plus.




I guess I'd rather have a trackball than a spinner, but I'm not interested in dropping any significant money into more controls at this point and I already have an 'extra' spinner.

I don't know, any thoughts on the above?

quarterback:

Ooohhhh, this CP from RetroJames is pretty hot:





GoPodular.com:


--- Quote ---The first two include a 2nd joystick for Crazy Climber Robotron.  Anything else I'd use two joysicks with?

--- End quote ---
Smash TV, Karate Champ (kind of, originally dual 4-ways)


--- Quote ---I found this 6-button option in Visio.  I'm not sure I'd use it, but I have room.  I guess it would allow me to play that dog/bone/cat/hawk game.   Anybody know of any other reason to do this 6-button layout vs the 3-button shown above?

--- End quote ---
Looks like a combination of Stargate and Vanguard of sorts.

If you went with a spinner, I'd seriously look at a trigger stick since you could play a "plain" spinner game with your other setup.  Try a mockup similar to your existing panel but with dual joys that are centered, the visio template in place of the trackball, and a trigger stick in place of the 4-way.  Of course the trigger stick is going to cost as much (or more) than a trackball, so it might not be a viable option.

My obviously heavily biased opinion would be to take the button layout from our Classical MinionsTM panel and put it between top-fire sticks ala our Combat MinionsTM panel.

********
add-on:  I like that layout too, but take note that if you rotate the joystick 90o, you can get the reverse button closer to the stick.  ;)

quarterback:


--- Quote from: GoPodular.com on November 21, 2006, 09:59:53 pm ---
--- Quote ---The first two include a 2nd joystick for Crazy Climber Robotron.  Anything else I'd use two joysicks with?

--- End quote ---
Smash TV, Karate Champ (kind of, originally dual 4-ways)
--- End quote ---

Yeah, and Battlezone!  How could I have forgotten that one.   And it might be a good excuse for me to hack up the topfire Command Control joystick I picked up on ebay.


--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---I found this 6-button option in Visio.  I'm not sure I'd use it, but I have room.  I guess it would allow me to play that dog/bone/cat/hawk game.   Anybody know of any other reason to do this 6-button layout vs the 3-button shown above?

--- End quote ---
Looks like a combination of Stargate and Vanguard of sorts.
--- End quote ---

Vanguard, I had forgotten about that one as well.   That layout doesn't look very ergonomic to me.  I think I'd end up hitting all the wrong buttons.   But a Defender layout might do the trick.   Not that I'm any good at defender, but maybe I'd be better if I had a proper button layout :)


--- Quote ---If you went with a spinner, I'd seriously look at a trigger stick since you could play a "plain" spinner game with your other setup.  Try a mockup similar to your existing panel but with dual joys that are centered, the visio template in place of the trackball, and a trigger stick in place of the 4-way.  Of course the trigger stick is going to cost as much (or more) than a trackball, so it might not be a viable option.
--- End quote ---

Good thoughts, although I should have mentioned that this cab will be in a different location than my current upright, so I'd rather have a normal balltop joystick than a trigger stick.


--- Quote ---My obviously heavily biased opinion would be to take the button layout from our Classical MinionsTM panel and put it between top-fire sticks ala our Combat MinionsTM panel.
--- End quote ---

I'll take a look at that.

I'm thinking 'no spinner' at this point.  I just don't play that many spinner games even if I do have one lying around.   I'll probably go with 2-joysticks though, just for those couple games where 2-joys are imperative.    And even though I suck at Defender, I think I'll try a defender layout.

Thanks again for the comments.

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