control panel: standing in center when 1 player, yet still supporting 2 player?

[GaryMcT]

Can you think of any control panel example layouts that support games like Smash TV (2 sticks per player) that still allow single player games to not push the player to the left or right side of the cabinet?  Here's my first stab at it, but this looks really crowded and nasty.  Are there better examples?

O = stick
X = button

O X X X O X X X O X X X O
   X X X    X X X    X X X

Maybe this is way overkill and it's okay to use the second from the left stick with the far-right buttons?

O X X X O       O X X X O
   X X X             X X X

I need to build some mockups and playtest 'em. . . just curious if anyone has done this already and what their results are.

Thanks!
Gary

PS: If this were to work, you could put a general joystick like the U360 in the second position for single-player games (the only ones that I can think of where the U360 is a benefit for the games that I care about), and put something cheaper (JLW) in the other 3 slots.

[arzoo]

My cp is a four player with two decks - but the lower deck player 1 and 2 controls do exactly what you're asking. The two center sticks (player 1 right and player two left) are u360's. With two buttons between the u360's any single player game can be left or right handed and you're always centered on the monitor. This layout works really well!

[wp34]

I'm planning something similar but with a trackball.  Smash TV is one of my favorites.

Here are a couple that I like.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=89590.0

http://timoe.blogspot.com/

[drventure]

Rats, arzoo, wish I'd come across your build thread with that layout before I built my CP! Very nice work.

[GaryMcT]

Thanks guys!

It may be hard for me to pull it off with a 24 7/16" wide control panel.  It's going to be swappable anyways, so I may have to do a special panel for Smash TV.

Arzoo, what is the distance between the center of the player 1 left joystick and the player 2 right joystick?  That would give me a good idea of how much space is needed to pull that part of your control panel off in a limited space.

Thanks!
Gary

[arzoo]

Arzoo, what is the distance between the center of the player 1 left joystick and the player 2 right joystick?  That would give me a good idea of how much space is needed to pull that part of your control panel off in a limited space.

I'm on vacation so I won't be able to get that measurement until this weekend. Leaving for the beach now 

[Turnarcades]

Thanks guys!

It may be hard for me to pull it off with a 24 7/16" wide control panel. 

Yes I think it may even be an impossibility if you want 6 buttons per player and space in between, plus it will depend if your cp is 'enclosed' (contained at the sides by the cabinet edges like on a cabaret cabinet) or 'open' (like a seperate control panel surface on Mortal Kombat etc.)

Our 2-player uprights are 21" wide and this is how ours fit with the average joystick:

[GaryMcT]

Thanks guys!

It may be hard for me to pull it off with a 24 7/16" wide control panel. 

Yes I think it may even be an impossibility if you want 6 buttons per player and space in between, plus it will depend if your cp is 'enclosed' (contained at the sides by the cabinet edges like on a cabaret cabinet) or 'open' (like a seperate control panel surface on Mortal Kombat etc.)

Our 2-player uprights are 21" wide and this is how ours fit with the average joystick:

Thanks!

I think I'll end up just doing the streetfighter-style 1 joystick/6 buttons per player layout for one control panel and do another control panel for Smash TV, etc.  I may try to get a 7-th button in each to get the Neo Geo layout on the bottom row.

[arzoo]

Arzoo, what is the distance between the center of the player 1 left joystick and the player 2 right joystick?  That would give me a good idea of how much space is needed to pull that part of your control panel off in a limited space.

7 inches