Mirror reflected monitor setup.

[SeaMonkey]

Okay, am I high, or did a lot of old arcade machines have the monitor mounted screen facing up, graphics backwards, with a slanted mirror reflecting the reversed (corrected) screen out to the player.

It seems like my Operation Wolf mock-up did that, but when I talked about that today, all these guys that I KNOW I played in the arcades with, back in the day, all looked at me like I was 12 kinds of baked.

Are there links to any cab plans that mount the monitor that way?

[Tilzs]

I don't know about a lot, but yes some did. Operation wolf was one that uses a mirror. I think all the dual monitor games used one that is reflective and one that isn't. Like 6 player x-men, tecmo bowl.

[MonitorGuru]

Just 2 off the top of my head:

Space Invaders: So it could show the image on top of the moon picture.

Kick/Kick-Man: So it could show a cardboard wrap-around city scape that better blended into the monitor (flat reflection instead of the tube sticking out in front so much)

[Bgnome]

im pretty sure that i saw at least a few machines at the last auction that used a mirror.  i cant remember which cabs tho..

[D_Zoot]

Several X-Y games, like BattleZone, Omega Race had that setup.  Both Space Invaders and Space Invaders Deluxe had it.. plus the ones already mentioned and I'm sure several others I don't recall at the moment.

Hard Driving had a monitor up top and reflected downward toward the mirror (if I remember correctly) Made those cabs very top-heavy.

It's a neat idea for a Mame cab. If you used one of those silver coated mirror that the actual games used, you could have some sort of graphic or logo behind the mirror that lit up only when a front end menu was up (not sure how you would make that happen from a control aspect) so your menu had sort of a floating "heads up display" effect against a fixed image.  Plus your machine would have a lower center of gravity and you could make the cab alot thinner as the tube neck would point downward and the cab could have a smaller footprint.  The drawback is you'd either have to hack a monitor to reverse the image or find a way to reverse the image with software (does mame provide for image flipping that way?)


Regards,
D

[MonitorGuru]

You could use 2 monitors, one behind the semi transparent mirror and the refectling one to merge artwork on top of the picture, making it looks closer to the original style.  Of course that's overkill, but still neat.  

Or your could use one computer and monitor for the menu, and another (networked) computer to play the actual game to the other monitor, superimposing the menu over the still playing game or switching the game as you cursor.

Or finally you could mount one monitor horizontally and one vertically (one from on top, one from on bottom and simply flip the mirror instead of rotating monitors... Hey, I might actually build that!

[SeaMonkey]

Actually in Mame32 at least, one of the options is to reverse the screen, so the mirror would actually correct it.

[Dave_K.]

Upright Hard Driving cabs use a mirror, with the monitor mounted above!   This makes it very difficult to move (since you can't just tip it back like a normal cab...too top heavy).

[Witchboard]

Asteriods Deluxe upright used a mirror.  I think Ninja Warriors 3 monitor version did too.

[maraxle]

Or finally you could mount one monitor horizontally and one vertically (one from on top, one from on bottom and simply flip the mirror instead of rotating monitors...

That's the best idea I've heard on this board in a while.

[paigeoliver]

I have a Battlezone mirror kicking around somewhere.

[tep0583]

Tunnel Hunt was setup this was as well.

[MonitorGuru]

Or finally you could mount one monitor horizontally and one vertically (one from on top, one from on bottom and simply flip the mirror instead of rotating monitors...

That's the best idea I've heard on this board in a while.

Thanks!

I actually had that idea for a couple years now.  Mount the one horizontally on top behind the marquee pointing down (since it's generally shallower), then mount the other one vertically pointing up level with the control panel.

Then have a double sided mirror that slides/tilts up and down depending on the monitor you want to see.

Don't know how it would actually work in practice, but moving mirrors is a lot easier than monitors AND no degaussing since the monitors never move.

Dunno if I'll ever get around to building a cab like that, but who knows.

[fredster]

Terminator 2 has the monitor like that.  Lots of shooting games have that feature.


Asteroids Deluxe had the added feature of a clear mirror tinted glass.  It wasn't a mirror, it was see through.  They had part of the space graphics in the back.

I tore apart a projection TV not too long ago.  It has a mirror that was made of a canvas frame stretched with a mirror film.  It was lightweight and very clear.  

Can mame reverse all of the pics or do you have to flip the yoke?

[MonitorGuru]

Mame can flip in either direction. No yoke flipping needed

[ChadTower]

Asteroids Deluxe had the added feature of a clear mirror tinted glass.  It wasn't a mirror, it was see through.  They had part of the space graphics in the back.

Yeah, my AD is funky like that.  The monitor is mounted facing up into a mirror thing that projects it all towards you with the rock graphics and color overlay.