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Getting ready to start...need opinions please
ffingers:
Let me start by saying I am VERY excited to be doing this. I saw MAME many, many years ago and I am pretty sure I installed it way back when and played some old arcade games with my my keyboard. At the time, I thought it would be awesome to build a cab as it was starting to become pretty common on the web. Alas, I was young, broke, and stupid and it never happened.
Fast forward to today, I am married and just had my first son. I told my wife last week, I think I want to build an arcade cab for video games and stick it in our garage (until we have a dedicated game room ;) )....her response...."okay"....I was shocked. So here I am....obsessively lurking and reading everything I can about cabinet building.
Onto the questions....
As to the design, I am fairly certain I am going to base mine off someone else's base design and tweak it a bit. I am decent when it comes to building things and I like more curves than blocky, but that's for another time.
I determined that I am going to use a 27" TV. Although an arcade monitor would be ideal, I plan on still accessing the computer side of the MAME box occasionally for updating, music, etc. and I understand arcade monitors are not the most "computer user-friendly."
1. First question, is it really that important to remove the TV from the housing and use just the tube? Or is it merely a space issue? Also, is there any place to go (easier than just googling) to find if the TV has the power restore function?
I have an old AMD Athlon 1800+ with 1.2 GB of RAM that I am going to use. It needs a new HDD as the one in there is old and slow, but that should be fine right? Before I start building, I am going to get the computer running with all the software, frontend, ROMS, etc. So I guess I'll know soon enough (just reformatted her last night).
My BIGGEST thing I have been wrestling with and what I need the most help on is the control panel.
I am a huge fighter fan (SF, MK, SNK, CAPCOM, etc.)...so I know that will likely be the BULK of my playing. That being said, I also love me some old games like Ghouls n' Goblins, TMNT, Tron, etc.....I am very much on the fence as to the configuration of my CP.
I really want to put four players on it for games like TMNT. I have friends and in-laws that I think would love the four-player. That immediately makes the CP large (I plan on doing a wrap-around type CP). So now I am at a larger CP. I don't know if I should add the spinner, ball, and analog sticks? I don't like the look of the franken panels, but in the same respect, I don't want to limit myself in playability.
So....how much am I limiting myself if I DON'T add in a analog 4-way stick and dedicated buttons for it. What games other than Tron use the spinner (I know there are a few, can't remember off-hand). Can I get away with a comp 8-way used for a 4-way game?
What would I be losing out on if I did only the typical fighter controls and MAYBE a spinner and ball.
Thanks, looking forward to many questions and posting my progress!
shponglefan:
Hi ffingers,
Welcome to the forums! I'm in the same boat as you (designing my first cab and not wanting to go overboard) so maybe I can help based on what I've researched.
My plan is to have detachable control panel tops. One panel with two 8-ways, a spinner and a dedicated 4-way. The other panel with have three 8-ways for multi-player games. Four player would be nice, but too large for my purposes. Plus I can always build additional panel tops in the future (i.e. for flightsticks, yokes, etc).
For joysticks, I used to have a 2-player control panel with 8-way sticks, and found that 8-ways are not that ideal for 4-way games (i.e. Pac-man, Frogger, etc). One option is to use Ultrastik 360s for your joysticks. They can be programmed to be analog, 8-way, 4-way, or 2-way. Haven't used one myself, but people here seem to love them. The other option is a dedicated 4-way. That's the route I plan to take, because I like having a joystick more in the center of the panel for single-player games. But that's just me.
For spinner games, see this list here. In addition to "true" spinner games, games that use a 360 degree wheel can also benefit from a spinner. GroovyGameGear actually makes a spinner with the option of a mini driving wheel. I plan to utilize that because I want something to play Championship Sprint. But that's just me. :)
Good luck with your design!
ffingers:
Thanks for the welcome.
In between writing I was doing more reading...i will probably be reading forever :dunno
I think I am going to go with a 2P CP now....it seems there are few games that are truly 4P....and among those, I am sure friends would want to play other games. If get a big desire for 4P once I make it, like from my nephews and stuff, I can always build another CP and add two more players.
Right now, the cab is going to reside in the garage so I doubt I'll have four people huddled in my garage playing TMNT (although I had secretly hoped it would happen :lol)
So I guess my real question now lies in sticks. I am a very big fighter fan and, if I remember correctly, the old SFII sticks had the clicking to them. I like the stiffness of fighting sticks with a quick return to center. From what I read, the U360 with the octagonal restrictor is okay for fighting and for most analog games, but some people had issues with the return to center and stiffness. I am thinking if I really want a fun fighting experience, mostly SF, MK, SNK, etc....I will have to go with the Happs comp.???
I guess could put a single U360 in the center with the restrictor plate and that would work for 4/8/analog games right?
Am I correct in assuming that most 4/2/analog games are single player...or at least alternating. There are many games that require simultaneous 4/2/analog are there? I mean a single "multi-use" stick would suffice for those games correct?
If that's the case, I am really leaning towards 2P, six/seven buttons (btw...what is the 7th typically for), one "multi-use" U360, one spinner and maybe a trackball??? Pretty universal?
shponglefan:
For 4 player games, you could always add a couple wireless gamepads to the mix. Then you'd have the option for playing up to 4-players at a time without having to build a control panel specifically for it.
Can't comment on the Comp sticks as I haven't tried them. I currently use Happ Super sticks and they are okay, if a little touchy on the diagonals at times. I know that some people have had issues with the 360, but from what I've read you can get optional stiffer springs as well as widen the "dead zone" via software.
For 4-way joystick games, there's a big list here. Personally I've never had a need for two 4-way joysticks for 2-player simultaneous games.
Your setup sounds pretty good and will cover off most arcade games. The 7 button layouts are based on a hybrid Neo-Geo/Capcom layout. It gives you the option of 4 buttons in a row for Neo Geo games and two rows of 3 buttons for Capcom games.
Ginsu Victim:
--- Quote from: shponglefan on October 08, 2009, 03:28:00 pm ---I know that some people have had issues with the 360
--- End quote ---
That should read, "Most everyone who owns U360s LOVE THEM.....and then there are the microscopic amount of people who nitpick them." ;D
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