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making a cheap 4 player cp

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Hey guys,

I have yet to finish my first cab but is proving to be a hit and I can now see the need for a 4 player setup. I'd like to get together some games like The Simpsons and TMNT that feature simultaneous player action. I'd still need to research this a little further, to see what games require what controls etc... 

Anyway, I have pretty much 'blown my wad' (of cash that is) on the first (WIP) cab but I have some extra parts sitting around and just might be able to pull off a second one for cheap.

I have:
Existing cabnet, (was used for rackmount audio equipment)
PIII 800MHz 512 Meg Ram PC
21" Viewsonic CRT monitor
4 green handle Happs joysticks
30+ buttons and switches
several used trackballs
and a 3' by 5' laminated table top for a CP (green woodgrain, Yikes!)

Need:
Encoders
Information about games to run on it.
Time to put into this project

I figured 4 players and a general green theme, Hmmm . . . 
TURTLES! ! !
And then I dug up Rgecko's old SHELL SHOCKED project thread.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35058.0
(Awesome job he did on that one!)

Anyway, getting to the point of this post, I've got a few questions for the general consensus.

1) Is it really necessary to have 7 buttons for each player?
I see many of your CP's only using 4 buttons for P3 & P4.
I kind of like this uncluttered design but hate to think I'd be leaving anyone short changed on the controls.

2) Lots of debate over 'angled joystick placement' in many of the old threads I've been reading. I like the idea of making a little extra elbow room for the middle players and will be using that configuration. (Remember the panel I have to work with is only 36" wide.  Has anyone every REALLY regretted the angled layout after they'd finished their projects?

3) So far the only games I know for sure we'd like to play on this setup are The Simpson's and TMNT. As my experience is with the early to mid 80's games, I'm not real familiar with the latter stuff. Kind of interested in fighters or other action titles. Can anyone recommend a good source for researching more potential games?

**I've seen lots of type about the wiki but I can't say that I've figured out how to use it effectively yet. I'd really like to stumble upon a database of games sorted by # of players and a listing of required controls for each. Seem to remember someone here (Spystyle maybe?)  had a program that sorted ROMs by these options so you could 'weed out' all the ones you didn't need/want. Wish I'd left a train of breadcrumbs to that one!

4) Are there any games they would require 2 trackballs?  Cuz I've got balls to spare now, might as well put em to use someplace.

5) With 4 players smacking away at the controls in a wild frenzy, there has got to be some encoder overload at some point. Could you guys voice your thoughts on the better encoder to use for these 4 player setups? I'm figuring 1 for joysticks & buttone, another for trackball(s) as a minimum.
Also, when using multiple encoders, is it OK to mix say 1 Key-Wiz and  1 iPac? Do they ever conflict or anything weird like that?

OK, I'll try to stop babblin and give you all a chance to pipe in. I'm sure I'll have some more ?'s after awhile. I'll even try to get some preliminary pics to post.

Supermegawarhead thankies to any and all replys!

divemaster127:
Seven button are not required its for a neo geo style setup, but buttons are cheap i use 4 player buttons & 4 credit buttons.  Also I would use a ipac4, with a usb trackball & usb spinner its easy to hook up.
dm

Turnarcades:
Excellent concept geeza. I worked for months on a design to convert a regular 2-player generic compact cabinet into a 4-player machine. I spent ages trying to create a layout that would accommodate 4 players without cramping up the players or ending up with a huge eyesore for a panel.

I eventually came up with this layout:<p><img src=http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7805/024qn9.jpg>

<p>Sorry I don't have the dimensions available anymore but if it helps the control templates are the word templates avalable on this site. You should be able to work out some dimensions using that. As I understand it, no game uses more than 4 buttons for the extra players, and even those ones are rare. It is nice however to have extra buttons for 4-player games in other emulators, such as bomberman, micro machines etc. and this many people do not consider. I'd say 4 is plenty, plus a credit and start button for each, if you aren't using a coin door.

My design is very compact, not complex and when I built a cardboard prototype it was perfectly comfortable without bulking out the machne too much. All you would need is some strong L-brackets for additional support.
Oh, and the ever-reliable ipac4, or a couple of the new minipac interfaces.

Just an idea anyway......!

SithMaster:
bucky ohare, gi joe, xmen, cowboys of moo mesa are good 4 players.

leapinlew:
Sunset riders/Gauntlet/Ghostbusters are decent 4 player games

Smash TV, Total Carnage are good 2 player games that require 2 sticks

Vindicators and a few other games are good tank games that require 2 sticks and 1 stick be button topped.

There are plenty of driving games that are 2+ players - they would require a few spinners.

As for the seven buttons.... I'm not sure if you build a dedicated cabinet for 4 players how often that 7th button would be used. For the sake of making it easy - I'd probably give player 1/2 6 or 7 buttons and player 3/4 4 buttons.

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