Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: jedimasta on July 15, 2014, 01:44:31 pm
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Subject pretty much says it all. I've got an I-PAC 2 for my controls, which I'm pretty sure doesn't support the typical spinners available on Ultimarc and elsewhere. Assuming that, I'm left with a USB solution, but I can't help but think I could cobble one together with a little help from the more experienced. I've got potentiometers lying around the workshop that might work well if I can get them to interface with the PC and MAME.
Has anyone done this? Is there a way to wire it to USB and have it recognize as, for example, an X-axis for Arkanoid?
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Opti-wiz @ http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_85 (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_85)
or
Opti Pac @ ultimarc.com
Or search for spinner/mouse hack here or on google.
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Use a mouse.
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Since you mentioned Arkanoid, don't bother even trying to mess with an el-cheapo hack -- get a TT2 from GGG.
Best. Spinner. Ever.
Potentiometers (turn range is usually limited) need an analog encoder like a KADESTICK AVR (see link in sig), an A-Pac, or a U-HID.
Spinners (turn range not limited) use an optical encoder (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Optical_Encoders) like Optiwiz, OptiPac, U-HID, or some of the KADE firmwares.
Scott
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The problem with potentiometer based spinners is that they aren't going to work right for anything you want to play. They got phased out around the same time that games went from color to black and white (I think the Gee Bee / Bomb Bee series were the last to use them). You stick a pot based spinner on Arkanoid and it is going to want to keep moving in whatever direction the pot is off center from.
Also, Pot based spinners wear the heck out really fast, I think that is why the industry moved away from them. Almost every time I get some old black white game in that used them the pots are all wrecked and all need replacement at $20+ each.
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On the topic of spinners should i play spinners games with a trackball or use a real spinner. I dont have any of those but considering one not both
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If you can only have one then you want the trackball.
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Ok thanks
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Holy crap! Good to see you posting Paige (",)
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be aware, a cheapish pot by any manufacturer is only rated for ~3000 cycles before it starts going out of specification.
please people also note, most monitor adjustment pots are rated for 200 cycles. Quit farting around with them.
A high quality pot designed for heavy use (500k to 2m cycles that use cement and wirewound resistive wire instead of a printed resistive element.) would likely meet or even exceed the parts cost for a decent optical setup.
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Yeah the potentiometers on Pong wore out really quick. I read that it was estimated the number of cycles they were rated for would be exceeded within one week of being on location. What you want is an encoder wheel if you're to make something yourself. They sell them at places like Sparkfun or you can hack an old mouse (I believe you need an old ball mouse rather than a laser mouse).
And to whoever was asking about playing spinner games with a trackball... they really don't have the right feel at all in my experience. I would recommend getting both.Tempest with a trackball is arcade blasphemy.
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If you can only have one then you want the trackball.
A TB is definitely more versatile and the better option for those who want to cover as many games as possible.
Although there's a little gray area in there - if you're a fan of a dozen spinner games and maybe one or two trackball games, maybe a spinner may be the better option.
Also, not taken into consideration is that a spinner (at least nowadays) takes up a heck of a lot less space than a trackball. You could almost throw a TT2 spinner in as an afterthought, not so much with a trackball.
If you have to make omissions on your panel, make that "must-play" list first before planning out the panel.
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Although there's a little gray area in there - if you're a fan of a dozen spinner games and maybe one or two trackball games, maybe a spinner may be the better option.
The trackball games I always go back to are Cabal, Sylvalion (Japan only release where you play as a dragon and can spin around and stuff), Marble Madness, Centipede/Millipede, and Missile Command. I really wish the SegaSonic game would control better because obviously a lot of love went into making that game by Sega.
Spinner games may be less numerous... Tempest and Arkanoid really. The spinner was underutilized I think. Oh yeah and Blasteroids.
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Although there's a little gray area in there - if you're a fan of a dozen spinner games and maybe one or two trackball games, maybe a spinner may be the better option.
The trackball games I always go back to are Cabal, Sylvalion (Japan only release where you play as a dragon and can spin around and stuff), Marble Madness, Centipede/Millipede, and Missile Command. I really wish the SegaSonic game would control better because obviously a lot of love went into making that game by Sega.
Spinner games may be less numerous... Tempest and Arkanoid really. The spinner was underutilized I think. Oh yeah and Blasteroids.
Lot more spinner games than that. I like trackball games, but if I had to choose one, it would be a spinner.
While you can control spinner games with a trackball.. it never plays well enough to enjoy... due to losses of accuracy when you have some vertical vectors in your movements.
From the Wiki:
Conventional spinner games
Arkanoid arkanoid
Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh arknoid2
Blasteroids (version 4) blstroid
Wolf Pack (prototype) wolfpack
Tempest (rev 3) tempest
Tron (set 1) tron
Mad Planets mplanets
720 Degrees (set 1) 720
Aztarac aztarac
Forgotten Worlds (US) forgottn
Kozmik Kroozr kroozr
Crater Raider crater
Wheel Of Fortune wfortune
Victory victory
Omega Race omegrace
Cameltry (US) cameltry
Cosmic Chasm (set 1) cchasm
Dark Planet darkplnt
Vs. Hot Smash hotsmash
Boxing Bugs boxingb
Star Trek startrek
Push/pull spinner games
Discs of Tron (Upright) dotron
Zwackery zwackery
Forgotten Worlds forgottn *(only push)
Horizontal roller
Major Havoc (rev 3) mhavoc
Moonwar moonwar
Kick (upright) kick
Vertical roller
Drag Race dragrace
360° Steering Wheel
Super Sprint ssprint
APB - All Points Bulletin (set 1) apb
Pole Position polepos
Pole Position II polepos2
Road Blasters (set 1) roadblst
American Speedway (set 1) amspdwy
Bad Lands badlands
Demolition Derby demoderb
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat indyheat
Speed Freak speedfrk
Ironman Stewart's Super Off-Road offroad
Ironman Stewart's Super Off-Road Track Pack offroadt
Turbo turbo
Konami GT konamigt
Buggy Challenge buggychl
Championship Sprint csprint
Fire Truck firetrk
Fire Truck firetrk
Grand Champion grchamp
Hot Rod (turbo 3 player) hotrod
Monte Carlo montecar
Stocker stocker
Super Speed Race sspeedr
Final Lap 2 finalap2
Subs subs
Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally (95/05/24) gtmr2
Over Drive overdriv
Redline Racer (2 players) redlin2p
Sprint 1 sprint1
Horizontal paddle games
Boot Hill boothill
Clowns (rev. 2) clowns
Super Breakout sbrkout
Avalanche avalnche
Beam Invader beaminv
Gee Bee geebee
Warlords warlords
Field Goal fgoal
Blue Shark blueshrk
Circus circus
Sea Wolf seawolf
Sea Wolf II seawolf2
Vertical paddle games
Destroyer destroyr
Lunar Lander (rev 2) llander
Dual Spinner Games
Paddle Games
Arkanoid Returns
Off the Wall (Atari)
Off the Wall (Bally Sente)
Warlords (uses 4!)
Pop'n Bounce
Plump Pop
VS Blok Breaker
Flying
Blasteroids
Two Tigers
Driving
Super Off Road
Super Sprint (uses 3!)
Championship Super Sprint
Bad Lands
Ironman Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road (uses 3!)
Ironman Stewart's Super Off-Road Track Pack (uses 3!)
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat
Other
Atari 2 player games
Puzzloop / Puzzloop 2
Puzzle Bobble 2/3/4 (a.k.a. Bust a move)
Forgotten Worlds
* Additionally, you can use a spinner to play pot based racing games like Outrun. Some do not like the lack of centering spring... but its still able to be used well and with good accuracy regardless. (and if one really wanted, they could make a spring solution that can attack and detach as needed)
** I believe the above list is also missing games... due to the POOR level of picture documentation of the Rear side of the control panels. TX-1 for example, also uses a 360 degree optical wheel.. as well as two optical pedals.
*** Ill also add, that the lack of controller assembly pictures (for use in front-ends as well), is also a real shame. Many do not know what the controllers look like, and or even what they are. For example, Segas Turbo uses an optical pedal that has dual optos and a sliding tab... very similar to how the 49 way joysticks work. TX-1 has a dual pedal assembly, in which both pedal units use large diameter optical encoder wheels - the kind they used on Tron spinners...
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** I believe the above list is also missing games.
That page (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Spinners_and_Dials) certainly does need some updates -- "the TurboTwist 2 is relatively new to the spinner scene. " :dizzy: :lol
LMK if you want a wiki login or have specific corrections and/or games to add to the list. :cheers:
Scott
EDIT: Made a few changes to the wiki -- mostly alphabetizing the games within each category, correcting a few errors, and adding several more games.
Found six _long_ lists of spinner/dial games, including several of yours, Steve. :)
I'll try to sort through them later.
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Finally got around to doing a fairly thorough review/re-organization of the gamelists on the wiki Spinners and Dials (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Spinners_and_Dials#Which_games_originally_used_a_spinner) page.
(Still have a list of >140 games to sort through. :( )
LMK if there's any other games you'd like to see added or if I've mis-categorized any games.
Which games originally used a spinner
The list below is non-definitive, but can be used as a guide to find the most common games that can use a spinner.
Standard spinner games
Arkanoid arkanoid
Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh arknoid2
Arkanoid Returns arkretrn
Aztarac aztarac (spinner and trigger stick)
Blasteroids (version 4) blstroid
Boxing Bugs boxingb
Cameltry (US) cameltry
Cosmic Chasm (set 1) cchasm
Crater Raider crater (spinner and trigger stick)
Dark Planet darkplnt
Ghox (spinner) ghox
Goindol (world) goindol
Mad Planets mplanets (spinner and trigger stick)
Puzz Loop puzzloop
Puzz Loop 2 pzloop2
Star Trek startrek
Tac/Scan tacscan
Tempest (rev 3) tempest
Tempest Tubes temptube
Tron tron (spinner and trigger stick)
Victory victory
Vs. Hot Smash hotsmash
Wheel Of Fortune wfortune
Wolf Pack (prototype) wolfpack
Push/pull spinner games
Discs of Tron (Upright) dotron (push/pull spinner and trigger stick)
Forgotten Worlds forgottn (push spinner and joystick)
Kozmik Kroozr kroozr (push spinner and trigger stick)
Zwackery zwackery (push/pull spinner and trigger stick)
Roller (single axis trackball)
Kick (upright) kick
Kickman (upright) kickman
Major Havoc (rev 3) mhavoc
Moonwar moonwar
360° Steering Wheel
American Speedway (set 1) amspdwy
APB - All Points Bulletin (set 1) apb
Bad Lands badlands
Buggy Challenge buggychl
Championship Sprint csprint
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat indyheat
Demolition Derby demoderb
Drag Race dragrace
Final Lap 2 finalap2
Fire Truck firetrk
Grand Champion grchamp
Hot Rod (turbo 3 player) hotrod
Ironman Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road offroad
Ironman Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road Track-Pak offroadt
Konami GT konamigt
Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally (95/05/24) gtmr2
Monte Carlo montecar
Off the Wall (Atari) offtwall (3 player)
Off the Wall (Sente) otwalls (2 player)
Over Drive overdriv
Pole Position polepos
Pole Position II polepos2
Redline Racer (2 players) redlin2p
Road Blasters (set 1) roadblst
Speed Freak speedfrk
Sprint 1 sprint1
Stocker stocker
Subs subs
Super Speed Race sspeedr
Super Speed Race Junior ssrj
Super Sprint ssprint
Turbo turbo
Paddle games
Avalanche avalnche
Beam Invader beaminv
Circus circus
Clowns (rev. 2) clowns
Cutie Q cutieq
Field Goal fgoal
Gee Bee geebee
Super Breakout sbrkout
Warlords warlords (4 player)
Non-standard spinner and paddle game controllers
720 Degrees (set 1) 720 (Optical 720 spinner/joy hybrid)
Blue Shark blueshrk (Positional gun)
Boot Hill boothill (Y-axis-only analog joystick used for aiming your gun)
Destroyer destroyr (Y-axis control lever)
Fire One fireone (Two periscope-handled player controls with thumb buttons)
Lunar Lander (rev 2) llander (Spring-loaded thruster handle)
Omega Race omegrace (Free-turning potentiometer with a built-in encoder that converts analog to 6-bit gray code)
Sea Wolf seawolf (Periscope)
Sea Wolf II seawolf2 (Two periscopes)
Up Scope upscope (Periscope)
Other game lists:
Mechanical Rotary Joystick Games (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29)
Optical Rotary Joystick Games (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Optical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28Loop-24_or_Happ_Optical_Rotary_Sticks.29)
Analog Joystick and Yoke Games (http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Analog_Joysticks)
Scott
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You missed free kick, tournament arkanoid, and gigas.
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You missed free kick, tournament arkanoid, and gigas.
They're on that 140+ list.
Are Free Kick and Gigas spinner or potentiometer games?
Scott
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They're spinner games. I've got the boards for 'em and use an Arkanoid spinner.
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Thanks, Neph -- all three added. :cheers:
Anyone have any opinions/suggestions about adding either a "270° steering wheel (potentiometer) games" or "Steering wheel (potentiometer) games" category after "Paddle (potentiometer) games"?
Here are the rest of the titles from other spinner game list threads that haven't been confirmed or categorized as one of the following:
-- Standard spinner games
-- Push/pull spinner games
-- Roller (single axis trackball) games
-- 360° steering wheel (optical) games
-- Paddle (potentiometer) games
-- Steering wheel (potentiometer) games (?)
-- Non-standard spinner and paddle game controllers
Atari Mini Golf
Beatmania (all)
BLOCK BLOCK
BUGGY BOY (360 wheel, shifter, and pedals?)
Car Polo
CASCADE
Cerberus
CISCO HEAT
CITY BOMBER
CONTENENTAL CIRCUS
CRAZY CLOWNS
Cyvern
D-DAY
DATSUN 280 ZZZAP
DEAD EYE
DIRT FOX
Double Axle
Double Cheese
DRIFT OUT
DRIVERS EDGE
Embargo
ENDURO RACER
F-1 GRAND PRIX STAR II
F1 EXAUST NOTE
Fighting Soccer
FINAL LAP 3
FINAL LAP R
FOUR TRAX
Gals Panic 4 (?)
Gals Panic S - Extra Edition (?)
Gals Panic S2 (?)
GP RIDER
GRAND PRIX STAR
GRUDGE MATCH
Guts'n (verify if spinner or joysticks)
Hiphopmania Complete Mix
Hiphopmania Complete Mix 2
HYPER CHASE
IMOLA GRAND PRIX
Ixion
Jan Jan Paradise
Jan Jan Paradise 2
Kaiser Knuckle
LAGUNA RACER
LIMITED EDITION HANG-ON
M-79 Ambush
Mahjong Dial Q2 (Japan)
MAX RPM
Night Driver
OUTRUNNERS
Pachinko Sexy Reaction
Pachinko Sexy Reaction 2
Panic Street
Plump Pop
POCKET RACER
Pop 'n Bounce / Gapporin
Prebillian
PUCHI CARAT
RACING HERO
RAD MOBILE
RAD RALLY
RADICAL BIKERS
RAVE RACER
Razzmatazz
ROUGH RACER
ROUND UP 5 - SUPER DELTA FORCE
San Francisco Rush
SARU-KANI-HAMU-ZOU
Sengeki Striker
Sen-Know
SIDE BY SIDE
SIDE BYT SIDE 2
SLIP STREAM
SPACE WALK
SPECIAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
SPEED RACER
SPEED UP
SPRINT 2
SPRINT 4
SPRINT 8
SPY HUNTER
SPY HUNTER 2
SQUASH
STADIUM CROSS
STRAIGHT FLUSH
STREET HEAT
SUPER BUG
SUPER CHASE - CRIMINAL TERMINATION
SUPER FREE KICK
SUPER HANGON
SUPER MONACO GP
Super Off Road
Suzuka 8 Hours
Suzuka 8 Hours 2
TEETER TORTURE
Tel Jan
TOP SECRET
TOP SPEED
TOURNAMENT TABLE
TURBO OUTRUN
TWIN SQUASH
Two Tigers
TX-1
VIRTUA RACING
Vs Block Breaker
Vs Mahjong Otome Ryouran
Wall Crash
WEC LE MANS 24
WHEELS RUNNER
WINDING HEAT
WINK
WIZ WARZ
WORLD RALLY
Zektor
Scott
EDIT: List updated as games are confirmed, categorized, and added to wiki.
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Gigas Mark II, Homo (Goindol clone), Quester, and Riddle of Pythagoras are also spinner games.
Pretty sure Bomb Bee and Razzmatazz are too.
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Gigas Mark II, Homo (Goindol clone), Quester, and Riddle of Pythagoras are also spinner games.
Thanks again, Neph -- all four added. :cheers:
Pretty sure Bomb Bee and Razzmatazz are too.
Haven't found manuals for them yet. :dunno
Scott
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Just get the one that groovy game gear.com sells. Worth every penny. Fits in a standard 1 1/8 inch hole. USB. Spins smooth. works perfectly.