Main > Main Forum
New Build Questions
Faerl:
Ok, so lots of questions. This will be my first cabinet build (I do alot of wood working though) so my apologies if these are newbie questions. We're looking at building a MAME cabinet for the office. We're still trying to narrow down exactly which games we'll be putting on it but at this point but for sure it'll be 4 players (gauntlet etc) along with a central location for a spinner/trackball. Beyond that we might add a dual joystick setup or light guns. So, my questions for those that know. Note, this is a company project so we're not likely to skimp on any equipment costs, it's really a question of the most universal without getting cluttered on the controls.
1. Joysticks - Along with all the other games I'd like to be able to play Akari warriors so I was thinking of using the HAPP rotary joysticks for players 1 & 2. Has anyone had an experience with these? Seems like only a few people use the rotary ones but figured I'd check.
2. Then the question becomes what to do for the other two players. I don't know of any 4 player rotary joystick games so I was thinking the HAP 360 joystick for the other 2 in case anyone wants to play fighter type games. Do those have any problems with 'dead' areas or bad detections when you're playing a 4/8 way joystick game? I saw a few posts where it was mentioned but with how old the posts were I wasn't sure if that was the current state of the joysticks or not. If so I might move to one of the 8 ways instead and just not allow quite as much movement for fighter games. Possibly the HAPP competition.
3. I'm going to be using a rather large monitor (~35inches) and as such I'm not at all interested in putting togehter any rotating monitors etc. I'm assuming that I can configure MAME or one of the front ends to modify the game resolution as needed per game? Ie, make it not stretch TRON for example to the full width of the screen?
4. Buttons. Are NEO GEO games the only ones that require 7 buttons per person or are there any MAME games that do? Don't need a list, just debating between 6 & 7 per player. Related to this, are there are any 4 player mame games that require more than 3 buttons (or for that matter any others that do?). I'm trying to stay as flexible as possible but I just can't think of any that would need more than 3 with a 4 player game. Again, I don't want to waste anyone's time creating a list, just curious if anyone knows of any off hand.
I'm sure more questions will come up but I'd appreciate any opinions on the above while I plan out this build. Thanks.
Crax:
--- Quote from: Faerl on February 22, 2007, 06:03:52 pm ---
4. Buttons. Are NEO GEO games the only ones that require 7 buttons per person or are there any MAME games that do?
--- End quote ---
You do realize that neo geo games only take 4 buttons right? People just add a seventh button to a six button layout so they can use the bottom row of 4 buttons for neo geo. It's more for convenience. I can't think of any 4 player games that take more than 3(might be 4 but no higher) buttons.
Faerl:
--- Quote from: Crax on February 22, 2007, 06:08:54 pm ---You do realize that neo geo games only take 4 buttons right? People just add a seventh button to a six button layout so they can use the bottom row of 4 buttons for neo geo. It's more for convenience. I can't think of any 4 player games that take more than 3(might be 4 but no higher) buttons.
--- End quote ---
Nope. Never played neo geo actually, one of the guys at work wanted to possibly support it though which is why I was curious. That would explain why I'm seeing the 7 button configurations though which was what I was trying to figure out. Still can't think of any games with 4 players that need the full 6 buttons... but I'm guessing there are some since I seem to see this is every dual configuration example I've managed to find.
Chris G:
#3 - it's not a problem running vertical games on a horizontal monitor. Once you get going on the software end of the project, it will be apparent.
Spaz Monkey:
--- Quote from: Faerl on February 22, 2007, 06:03:52 pm ---
4. Buttons. Are NEO GEO games the only ones that require 7 buttons per person or are there any MAME games that do? Don't need a list, just debating between 6 & 7 per player.
--- End quote ---
Combo layout for SF games and Neo Geo is
ABC
123
4
SF uses ABC and 123. Top is punch, bottom is kick. Neo Geo has a spread-out pattern and uses 4123 in that order. Some people will use 1ABC (in that order) instead of installing that extra button.