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4 player 2 on 2 Open Ice Themed CP questions
scotthh:
Thanks! This is the information I was looking for before cutting any holes in my CP (I just glued up the box).
Regarding coin buttons: According to my master plan, there will be a coin door. I currently have two 24"x8" CP's. One is a 2 player rotary joystick CP, the other is a 1 player CP with a U360, trackball and spinner. The plan is for these 3 CPs to be interchangeable. I haven't figured out how, I'll need to do that by the time I begin construction of the cabinet. But mrserv0n reminded me that I do want a pause button on the CP.
Regarding alignment and comfort: I don't expect it to be spacious, but I do want it to be playable for 4 people. I don't really expect a lot of 4 player gaming, but I had the itch to make a 3rd panel and I enjoy 2 on 2 a lot.... I'm sold on ++++ because, as DaveMMR pointed out, I've seen a number of people say that they had X++X and people had problems using it. I'm also sold on angling the buttons. Malenko and mrserv0n have convinced me of 7 buttons for players 1 and 2. mrserv0n has me leaning towards four buttons again for players 3 and 4...
mrserv0n:
1) A mame cab with only a coin door would not be all that great, its fun to put your quarter in and show off to your friends but that fun lasts about 1 day and then you want to hit a button to insert a coin.
2) I have never seen someone make a 4 player CP with Square shaped with angled controls.
Here is mine. I have had old and young play on this CP and noone ever questioned once that "the stick is broken and up is left?"
This control panel is 4 feet long, if you make a ++++ your adding a least another foot on your CP and that is huge
DaveMMR:
--- Quote from: mrserv0n on August 26, 2007, 06:01:05 pm ---1) A mame cab with only a coin door would not be all that great, its fun to put your quarter in and show off to your friends but that fun lasts about 1 day and then you want to hit a button to insert a coin.
--- End quote ---
I disagree. Coin doors are part of the arcade experience and if you're building a cabinet, I assume that is the experience you're trying to recapture. Inserting coins is part of that. But that's definitely a matter of preference. Not having coin buttons is no more wrong than having coin buttons. Personally, pressing a button to get credits takes a lot of fun out of some games (especially infinite continue games).
However, "a mame cab with only a coin door would not be all that great?" Nah, it's still awesome!
--- Quote from: mrserv0n on August 26, 2007, 06:01:05 pm ---2) I have never seen someone make a 4 player CP with Square shaped with angled controls.
--- End quote ---
You haven't been reading the "CP critique" threads or some of the examples. I've seen it enough to be firmly against it.
--- Quote from: mrserv0n on August 26, 2007, 06:01:05 pm ---Here is mine. I have had old and young play on this CP and noone ever questioned once that "the stick is broken and up is left?"
--- End quote ---
Reread my post. I said CPs with the corners cut allows for better response with angled controls. So no, people won't think you're "sticks are broken". Once again, I was referring to the rectangular panels - and they do exist. And I didn't even know what your panel looked like, so I wasn't being specific.
--- Quote from: mrserv0n on August 26, 2007, 06:01:05 pm ---This control panel is 4 feet long, if you make a ++++ your adding a least another foot on your CP and that is huge
--- End quote ---
How do you figure he'd be adding "another foot"? Perhaps with your layout. But, as an example, Gauntlet's panel was 29-1/4" wide and TMNT's was 36.875. Even if you were to add another column of buttons to those measurements, that would add 8~10" to the width tops. That still makes them less than 4 feet - let alone the 5 feet you were quoting.
How did they do it? Button angling! Remember, most 4-player games were simple hack-and-slash, beat-em-ups, so the buttons can be in an otherwise awkward position.
I don't get it. Have people who designed 4-player panels ever stopped and played an actual 4-player game in the arcade? I mean, c'mon, NBA Jam and NFL Blitz were big back in the day so someone must have played at least one credit's worth. I'm not directing this at you mrserv0n, but it seems like there has been this epidemic of 4-player panel designs that incorporate false design assumptions. An arcade cabinet doesn't have to look like an airplane and for safety's sake (mainly because those who go wider often and bafflingly go deeper too) probably shouldn't.
That being said, I do like your panel mrserv0n. If you have the space and design for a 4 foot wide panel, than I think you did swell job. But a lot of people (and *ahem* most of the arcades of the past) don't have or want to dedicate the space for that. For those people, I say rest assured, you don't have to go that wide.
I'm not here to tell people how I think things should be done and I'm sorry if I'm coming off that way. I'm just basing all my assertions on real arcade cabinet design conventions. At the end of the day, it's your cabinet. I just have to address a bit of misinformation every now and again.
scotthh:
There will be a coin door on my cabinet, I think they look empty without one. It may take coins/tokens, it may give you credits for pressing the coin return button, it may have GGG's coin buttons. I just don't know yet.
The truth is, most of the 4 player games came out after my arcade years. I remember dropping quarters in Battlezone, Ms. Pac-Man and Pole Position mostly in the early '80s. I don't ever remember playing Gauntlet(1985), and I only ever played Tecmo Bowl (1986) on NES (with the unstoppable Bo Jackson play). I did find a game, Captain America and The Avengers that appears to have angled sticks. But after sifting through a lot of games, it's the minority.
I've attached a picture of my wood CP with the joystick and button holes marked.