Suggest companion cab to complement mame cab

[solderguy1]

Just looking for some help brainstorming here.  I'm using my screened-in room as a gameroom and space is critical.  To leave room for playing the pool/ping-pong table, the electronic toys are against one wall, with two pinball machines (currently Twilight Zone and Mr&Mrs Pacman) in the corners.  That leaves room for two uprights, one being Mame.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the second cab, maybe covering some weak point Mame has?  I was thinking Baby Pac-man at first, I do like to fix things, but I'm not a fan of all that yellow artwork.  Maybe.... 
I was also looking at pics of Sea Wolf 2, the double periscope action would be fun for guests, and it's quite a departure from Mame, but they seem hard to come by.  Or maybe Operation Wolf or a dreamcast kiosk.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Kevin Mullins]

You need a good EM game amongst the mix....... 

[ChadTower]

Vectormame.  Or a dedicated vector.

[Matthew Fisher]

Vectormame.  Or a dedicated vector.

Couldn't have said it better myself. 

[Justin Z]

Yup, that's the route I went, and bought a Tempest.

Agree 100% with Chad and Matthew.

[Matthew Fisher]

Yup, that's the route I went, and bought a Tempest.

Agree 100% with Chad and Matthew.

Heck, I didn't even "compliment" a regular MAME cab with a Vectormame, it's the only MAME cab I have!     Still haven't gotten around to the "regular" one...

[solderguy1]

Thanks for the ideas, I'll definitely give it some thought.  I do have a Vectrex that would nice to stick somewhere.

[BradC]

My personal fav has lways been Star Wars.

[Jeff AMN]

Vectormame.  Or a dedicated vector.

Yup.

I'd suggest Star Wars (if you have the cash), Asteroids (for the awesome control scheme), or Tempest. Each of those games has a ton of replay value as their high scores are a lot of fun to chase down.

[Xiaou2]

 Personally, I dont know why people recommend asteroids over asteroids deluxe.

 Deluxe has awesome internal  3d artwork,  and the gameplay is much more difficult
and exciting... which means it will take a lot longer to master, and wont get boring
as quick - if ever.

 
 I also suggest looking into a  Electro Mechanical game,  or something different like
an 'Ice Cold Beer'.  Maybe some sort of game of (physical) skill.

 A dedicated  Robotron  (with true wico 8ways)  would rock the house too.
 

[Paul Olson]

If I had the space for a second cab, I would probably put in a shooting or driving game; probably Area 51 or something like that.

[paigeoliver]

Assuming your mame cab is the standard joystick/trackball/spinner deal then make the other game a driving game that uses a steering wheel. My classic era suggestion there is Sega Turbo, early 90s suggestion is Badlands (2 player, top down Sprint Style game), if going newer than that then anything would be pretty awesome. If you can FIND one then Lucky & Wild is just about the best second game you can get since it is steering wheel AND gun.

I would steer clear of EM games, as they are really just novelty pieces and aren't really good for tiny gamerooms, and to be honest even most of the working ones out there haven't seen more than a handful of plays in decades are and just waiting to be a broken EM game sitting in your gameroom. Ice Cold Beer (and clones) are a bit of an exception in the EM category, but a vid would still see more use.

[solderguy1]

Thanks for the tip PaigeOliver, Lucky&Wild does look like a fun game and there's even one on the Sacramento Craigslist right now.  But a 530 pound machine with 71 inches deep is a little too much for the gameroom and myself to handle.

My Mamecab is almost done (Mame Marquee artwork came in yesterday, drool-drool) and I fired up SW Arcade and Tempest.  They looked decent enough to me, one of the pluses of using an LCD monitor.

I'll probably just make a framing unit for my old mechanical Pachinko.  Maybe install a Vectrex and a small console setup above.  A Sega Master System with 3d glasses could be fun for guests.

[Chapel]

We're gonna pics when your Room is complete.