how are you horiz guys enjoying PUNCHOUT?

[darthbane2k]

Quick question.

How are you guys enjoying punchout and super punchout on your cabs without having two monitors. I know mame displays both screens but that results in a tiny image. hardly enjoyable.

Is there some setting for a single screen mode that I dont know about?

[MaximRecoil]

There is no easy solution for Punch-Out and Super Punchout in a MAME cabinet. It is very irritating for me because here are some of my favorite games:

Super Punch-Out
Punch-Out
Karate Champ VS.
Ikari Warriors

Notice a theme? We all know the problem with the Punch-Out games; i.e. you need two monitors to display it right and then there is the problem of video cards that can do it to arcade monitors (easy enough to do it to PC monitors). Add to that Super Punch-Out's unique joystick function (pull up to duck)...

Karate Champ VS. has dual 4 way joysticks; a unique type at that. Making a control panel specifically for Karate Champ would be easy enough to do, though it wouldn't be very useful for much else.

Ikari Warriors of course have the rotary SNK LS-30's...

I see all these all-in-one type MAME cabinets people have built and I think "Those are great, but of little use for the games I really want in a cabinet."

BTW, the Punch-Out games aren't too bad running fullscreen on a vertical monitor; though it doesn't quite fill the screen side-to-side if you have the aspect ratio set properly (or you can completely fill the screen and have the aspect ratio a bit off). It doesn't compare to a proper dual monitor setup of course.

There is no setting that I know of for a "single screen mode", though some builds of MAME had a page-up/page-down sort of feature that let you fill the screen with just the top or bottom half of the video...great for PC10 games but not so good for Punch-Out, because you lose your view of the health meters and time limit (among other less important things from the top screen).

[LandShark]

I understand what you are saying about Punchout. However, I am running Karat Champ VS and Ikari Warriors without a hitch. My solution was to have Two Happ Super (8-Ways) as Joystick 1&2  plus the happs Mechanical Rotaries as Joystick 3&4 (Which look identical to the Happ 8-ways). I have no problems with Karate Champ using the dual 8-ways and of course Ikari works great using the Rotaries.

My Control Panel is very similar to the Slikstik C02 which I used to copy (BTW - you can build one cheaper then you can buy one for if you try). I realize is a little large for some people, but you could shrink it down a bit and leave some things off. However, you are wanting a two player control panel so it will get a little bit bigger whichever way you go...

I guess it depends on what you want, but I don't think playing both Ikari & karate Champs on a multi-use Control panel is that big of a stretch.

[MaximRecoil]

My solution was to have Two Happ Super (8-Ways) as Joystick 1&2  plus the happs Mechanical Rotaries as Joystick 3&4 (Which look identical to the Happ 8-ways). I have no problems with Karate Champ using the dual 8-ways and of course Ikari works great using the Rotaries.

8-way joysticks drive me nuts in Karate Champ, though T-Sticks would be good probably, and they are easily switchable, plus they have a short stiff throw similar to the original Karate Champ joysticks. The problem with using them on a multipurpose control panel like the SlikStik is that they are too far away from each other, and if you put them as close together as they were on the real machine then that pretty much turns it into a dedicated dual joystick panel, because there is no room for buttons where they should be for single joystick games.

Your setup for games like Ikari Warriors sounds like you would be playing in a weird position, i.e. slightly right of center for player 1 and way right of center for player 2, which would irritate me as well.

Since the games I mentioned are some of my all-time favorites from the arcade, I am more picky about how I would would set up a machine for them than I would be if they were just some games that I thought were just OK and had never played much, if any of, in the arcade.

I think I'd need the original machines for the games that I really liked and played a lot of in the arcades to make me happy, then a general purpose MAME machine for everything else. At a bare minimum I would want:

1 fully functional original Punch-Out machine + 1 Super Punch-Out conversion kit.

1 Ikari Warriors machine

1 Karate Champ Vs. machine

2 general purpose MAME machines (one with a vertical monitor and 1 with a horizontal monitor)

[LandShark]

Well I guess the throw is really a matter of personal attention, so there's not much of an argument there.

[MaximRecoil]

Well I guess the throw is really a matter of personal attention, so there's not much of an argument there.   I tried the T-Sticks, but the short throw seems to be an acquired taste. I liked the feel of the supers better. They seem to have a lighter, quicker feel to them that I have grown to really like. And the Supers responded good on most fighting games (so says my Nephews - I don't really play them much!) I did play a lot of Karate Champ back in the day, but I seem to do better now on these joysticks.

The original sticks on the machine were crappy, but that's what seems right to me for that game. They had a short, stiff, soggy throw; in fact, they felt a lot like the original Atari 2600 controllers. Whenever I played a machine with replacement joysticks, usually red ball top Wico-type sticks, even though they were better quality, they just felt weird. T-Sticks are high quality and have the short, stiff throw, though they aren't soggy (I can live without the sog, lol) and are versatile (i.e. easily switchable between 4 way and 8 way); so those are what I would probably use if I didn't have the originals.

As far as how close, I can't remember how close the Karate Champ sticks were together. I know they were closer on the original cabinet, but maybe it's just that I am bigger now (I am 6'3 210) so that could be one reason I like the space. My joysticks are about 9' inches from center to center per side.

They were quite close together. I don't know the exact dimensions but I'm going to guess about 5 or 6 inches:

As far Ikari goes, you have to keep a few things in mind. The Happ Rotaries are the joysticks that are "inner" Joysticks... That is #1 Players Right Joystick and the #2 Player Left Joystick. Therefore, you are closer to center on this Joystick. Frankly, I was concerned with two players they may be a little to close together (ie bumping shoulders). I have thought about moving the rotary to the far right for player two as you have alluded. The other thing is I am also playing on a 27" screen. I was worried about the off-center position you have mentioned, but with the size of my cabinet, it hasn't even been noticed by most discriminating guests. It just seems to match up... <shrug>.

That doesn't sound too bad.

As others have always, a MAME control panel is a project of compromise.  A dedicated machine is always better... as long as you have the space. However, seeing that you are talking 5 machines, you already have a game room in mind and space shouldn't be a concern!    Anyway, kinda turned this thread into an off-topic for the software forum. Good luck on acquiring your machines. Remember to posts some pictures when you get them.

I have plenty of room, including 3 unused bedrooms. That isn't the problem though; the problem is finding the machines I want for a reasonable amount of money and effort on my part. I live in central Maine and I simply don't know where to find anything. I would go as far as Massachusetts to pick up a cabinet; but where are they? The odds of finding a good price on eBay and having it be within a reasonable travel distance from me = slim to none. Arcade auctions? Great! Sign me up. What do I do, call 1-800-arcade auctions? Searching for "arcade auctions" on Google turns up precious little in terms of actual dates and events, to say nothing about stuff near me. It is all very frustrating. I have some money, I have room, I can travel a few hundred miles, and nothing.

 

[spidermonkey]

Maxim_Recoil, I'm fairly sure that these are the sticks that were used in Karate Champ. This guy has quite a few of them. E-mail him and ask him. This is the guy who sells the nos Wico 4-way leaf sticks. He states that these are nos too so they may very well be the ones used in Karate Champ. I think these are actually very early Happ sticks but they could very well be what Data East used back in the day.
Good luck.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARCADE-MAME-STYLE-MICRO-JOYSTICK-2-4-8-WAY-N-O-S_W0QQitemZ6195690738QQcategoryZ13718QQcmdZViewItem

[MaximRecoil]

Those do look like the original Karate Champ VS. Joysticks. He says:

IT USES RUBBER TENSION NOT SPRING STYLE. NICE SHORT QUICK  SMOOTHE ACTION

That sounds right too, especially the rubber tension, which would explain their weird soggy feel, especially when that rubber starts to wear out; if those are indeed the correct sticks.

Thanks for the link.

[telengard]

Maxim_Recoil, I'm fairly sure that these are the sticks that were used in Karate Champ. This guy has quite a few of them. E-mail him and ask him. This is the guy who sells the nos Wico 4-way leaf sticks. He states that these are nos too so they may very well be the ones used in Karate Champ. I think these are actually very early Happ sticks but they could very well be what Data East used back in the day.
Good luck.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARCADE-MAME-STYLE-MICRO-JOYSTICK-2-4-8-WAY-N-O-S_W0QQitemZ6195690738QQcategoryZ13718QQcmdZViewItem

Those look similar but mine have some red on them IIRC.  I bought a KC panel just to get the joysticks and they are (at least the part you can see and feel above the panel) as I remember.  I'll have to dig them out...

As for the original question, you could always make it so that your monitor rotates.   

~telengard