4-player Controls?

[Robedias27]

I'm trying to decide whether or not building a control panel with 4 players would be worth the money. I just feel like in any situation, 4 players at 1 cab would be cramped, and not very enjoyable. Does anyone have or know of a few pictures where 4 people are playing on a standard sized cab at once? I'm not talking about children, mind you...but adults, playing something 4-player. If you have a 4P setup, could you get 4 people involved and take a picture or something? Right now, I'm thinking of making a 4P control panel anyways, whether it's comfortable or not.

Thank you for your input.

Robedias27

[CheffoJeffo]

For all of the talk about Frankenpanels, I think the single biggest regret that folks have is doing a 4-player panel instead of adding some extra controls to a 2-player panel.

[Robedias27]

noted. I'm new to this um...how do i say this...hobby? I'm planning on doing my 1st build. I'm a computer guy, I've built several, and I've worked construction for 6 years. I realize it takes a great deal of craftsmanship and devotion to making a quality cabinet. I'm looking forward to working on it, but I'm waiting as we really don't have a place to put it (no garage, basement gets pretty humid, no 'spare room' in teh house) We're planning on moving, should we be able to sell our house...but I'm getting distracted.

I don't see 4P controls being very useful...i don't have kids old enough to play, and there aren't many gaming enthusiasts in my daily life...so 2P is kinda what I'm leaning towards. I'm also thinking of incorporating Wii remotes as Light Guns for M.A.M.E., though this might come later. Trackball and Paddle are in my plans...but anyways, thanks for the thoughts.

Any additional input would be appreciated.

[upprc04]

I recently bought a x-arcade control panel and plan on using that for 4 player games on a 2nd screen.  Like Cheffo said, most people regret having a 4player control panel.  So I plan on doing this temporarily and have more flexibility to see if I would want to build a 4player arcade machine on its own in the future.

[Nephasth]

I have a 4-player cab... but it's not exactly traditional. Love it, but about 90% of the time it is played with only 1 player, 9% with 2 players, .9% with 3 players, and .1% with 4 players. The 4 sets of controls are more useful in character choice for games that had a certain character for each set of controls like TMNT, Sunset Riders, The Simpsons, etc...

[Robedias27]

Again, I never would have thought of that point, being the greenie that I am. Good point Nephasth. Thanks.

Also please note, I DID search for a forum topic like this and couldn't find anything. I hope my question is legitimate.

[AGarv]

My panel is a 2 player with extra joysticks for smash tv / total carnage. In a pinch it can handle 4 players and we have had some fun gauntlet, avengers, and tmnt sessions.  Unless you can think of 3 other people that are going to be rocking 4p games out with you, it is probably not worth the space for dedicated p3 and p4 controls.  If you entertain groups 4p IS fun though.

[CheffoJeffo]

I have a 4-player cab... but it's not exactly traditional. Love it, but about 90% of the time it is played with only 1 player, 9% with 2 players, .9% with 3 players, and .1% with 4 players. The 4 sets of controls are more useful in character choice for games that had a certain character for each set of controls like TMNT, Sunset Riders, The Simpsons, etc...

As an alternative, you can play the 2-player version of most of those games and just select the character that you want.

[DaveMMR]

I don't see 4P controls being very useful...i don't have kids old enough to play, and there aren't many gaming enthusiasts in my daily life...so 2P is kinda what I'm leaning towards. I'm also thinking of incorporating Wii remotes as Light Guns for M.A.M.E., though this might come later. Trackball and Paddle are in my plans...but anyways, thanks for the thoughts.

When I started I was all jazzed about doing a 4-player panel but then, like you, I began to realize that it was not worth it at all. I hardy have two people at my cabinet at a time, let alone four. Add to that the 4-player games don't have the same addictive qualities as the classic one-player games of the 80's or the two-player fighters of the 90's.

If you can't seem to talk yourself out of it, you can build a cab with the traditional overhang panel (like Mortal Kombat) for two players and then the trackball and spinner in there. Make it easily removable (i.e. use some Molex connectors) and then build a second panel for 4-players that you can easily pop in there. If you follow the lines and size of a traditional "larger" cabinet (look up "NBA Jam" or "TMNT/Simpsons" on KLOV), it won't take up as much space.

Of course, it won't be terrible comfortable - though the controls are traditionally set up so you can stand at any angle and not worry about controlling the game (read: joysticks all point up; not angled.) But get concerns about "being cramped" out of your head. Trying to compensate for that is what leads to excessively large panels that do not work with the overall cabinet (i.e. outer players can't see the screen well) or, at best, take up way too much floor space and look a little silly. Consult the design and dimensions of actual 4 player panels to get a feeling of how they worked out the spacing.

(As an aside: many people shape their panels like a half octagon, with the angled sides housing the outer player controls. It works for many people but I personally never liked the look of them and have found that it actually "forces" people to stand in a particular spot which may, ironically, make things more crowded depending on the size of both the panel and the people using it.)

At the end of the day though, you may be best just going with a simple 2-player panel, especially since you have doubts about the usefulness of having a 4-player setup. Maybe slap a couple of USB ports in the front and have some stand alone controllers if the 4-player bug happens to bite.

[matsadona]

I second what others already said – the number of times you manage to gather at least 3 friends that want to play the same game is very rare. If ever. But, those rare moments when you do are magic!
So it is most probably a waste of time and efforts if you don’t have a lot of friends that are in to this.
I have had up to 10 people at the same time in my gaming basement, and it could be hard even to get 2 persons at the same time at a 2 player game. But of course, I have 20+ cabinets to choose from which might be a reason for that…

Finally, IMHO the only 4 player game worth playing is Gauntlet =)

[quintinbiker]

My mame cabinet and my commercial cabinets all have 2 player controls.

Mame = 2000 + which of only a few is 4 player games

My happy fish 1 commercial machine has i think 2 or 3 3 / 4 player games

Okay, and my cadalacs and dionsours cabinet is a 3 player game, but it's in a converted cab only running 2 players.

BUT

My mame cabinet only got played on both controls a few times with games like mk killer instinct etc.
My commercial one only had both players used in King of fighters 2003
Cadalacs and dinosours, i don't think anyone ever played that game multi player before, even though it got played ALOT

[quintinbiker]

So my friend, it's your money and your cab, do what makes you happy, but personally i think that you won't really use a 4 player setup, it's also going to take more space, and require more space IF YOU WANT TO play the 4 player games.