Please critique CP, focus on classic/80s games

[bmuse]

Hi everyone, longtime BYOAC fan but have been away so long I had to re-register.  I'm working on my second-ever control panel (custom SlikStik CO2), and would welcome any feedback and advice.  First-draft JPG attached, here are some clarification points:

1. This will be used about 99.9% for retro/80s games. Ones I really wanted to design for include Defender, Robotron, Tempest, and Front Line.  (I'd really welcome any advice on configuring Front Line!)
2.  I don't play fighter games at all.  I had a SlikStik before with the 7-btn NeoGeo layout, and never used them.  I wanted a bit more room between the buttons, and a layout that favored classic games.  Saw this layout and thought it would work well.
3.  I don't have a cab -- my CP sits on a wheeled table, and we sit in short bar-chairs.  So, having the Asteroids buttons & 4-way stick near the top of the panel was uncomfortable & difficult.  That's why they're closer to the center.
4.  I had this buttons/trakball/spinner layout before, and loved it.  Perfect for Tempest, Centipede, Missile Command.  I've added the extra black button on the right, to make playing Space Invaders a bit easier (it becomes the fire button).

JOYSTICKS
5.  The joystick in the center is a 4-way.
6.  Left sticks are 4/8-way (or just 8-way), metal handle, balltop
7.  I prefer both sticks the same, but do you think the right sticks should be rotary, for game flexibility?  If so, is it weird playing Robotron with two different sticks?

The measurements aren't exact, nor the final colors.  I would like each player's leftmost button to be reachable by thumb while using the left joystick, but I don't think I've got it close enough.  Any thoughts on measurements will be appreciated.  (I've looked over the Defender CP w/ measurements posted on the site.)

Thanks in advance for your advice, and for taking the time to look it over!

Brett

[stuckpixel]

biggest thing I notice is the joy right above the TB. Probably fine if you're just going to play centipede but not so much if you want to do anything that requires a big spin.

[f4phantomii]

I'm not seeing why you need two joysticks per player.  Why not go with two rotary 8-way joysticks (one for P1 and a second for P2).  Obviously keep the dedicated 4-way.  Battlezone is the only one I can think of that uses two joysticks, and you can configure it to use P1 and P2 joysticks.  I've been thinking of adding a small topfire button to my rotaries for this.

Much like you, I play mostly retro/80's games, some 90's like SpaceGun, Operation Thunderbolt, and Terminator 2.  I don't play any fighter games either.

Here's my setup, with two trackballs so I can play the simultaneous two player games that use trackballs or lightguns.