> Some of you will not appreciate this type of build
Ok, so we'll skip the critique of a 4-player console then.
> The 4 player bat sticks are 8-way, I was told I could switch my player 1 and 2 to 8-way rotary controls and it won't impact the normal 8-way stick games and I won't be able to tell the difference that I'm using a rotary control.
When building a cab, start by first asking yourself which games you will be playing, and build for that.
You picture q-bert on your graphics. If that game is important to you, you have no joy dedicated for it. It uniquely requires a 4-way rotated 45 degrees. I built my cab with a mini-joy specifically for q-bert, becasue I love that game, and this joy is perfect for it. Despite its small size, it is such a good joystick.
You mention rotary controls. Of the thousands of games, there is only a small list of games that need rotary controls... and then, even in that list, there are two kinds of rotary controls (mechanical vs optical)... making the list of games best suited for the TYPE of rotary controls you build even smaller. If these games are important to you, then use rotary controls. You have a spinner on your layout... that can serve as the optical rotary control if you plan to only rarely play rotary joy games. Same for the trackball, it too can substitute for a rotary.
Quote:
Mechanical Rotary Games
Battlefield Top Gunner (bootleg) World Wars Ikari Warriors Victory Road Heavy Barrel Gondomania / Makyou Senshi Bermuda Triangle Time Soldiers / Battle Field Guerilla War / Guevara SAR - Search And Rescue Downtown Victory Road / Dogosoken Midnight Resistance Ikari III - The Rescue Exterminator TNK III
Optical Rotary games (Loop-24 or Happ Optical rotary sticks)
Caliber .50 Touchdown Fever Touchdown Fever II
Also, consider P1 and P3, not P1 and P2, to be rotary, so two-player games you can spread out a little, and not be all bunched up together on one side. That, or wire the stations in this order P1, P3, P2, P4. That way, P1 and P2 are by default spread out.
Even more important, is how many 4-way or 2-way games do you want to be able to play, and how often, because that list is thousands of titles. Looking at your layout, your one 4-way stick seems awkward. I love the old classics with 4-way controls, and so on my panel, comfortable 4-way was important. The switchable 4to8 ways joys are great. Unless you are super-competitive on a world-class scale like Steve Weibe or something, you're not going to notice your 4-way is switchable to 8 when playing.
Consider making one of the player stations switchable to 4-way. So like:
P1(rotary 8 ) * P3 (4-8 way) * P2(rotary 8 ) * P4(8way)
That, and then the dedicated 4-way can be rotated 45 for qbert.
That, and also consider a lot of games do better with two 4-way joys, like Battlezone and other tank-based games, for example. If those are important, then make two player stations switchable to 4-way.
As for push-pull spinner, it takes up no additional real estate, so why not, although you can assign the push-pull to a digital button.
I assume that flight stick is analogue for all the analogue games?
Bottom line is there isn't one right way to make this panel. It entirely depends on the games you want it to be able to play. One panel, no matter how well planned, can ever play everything... unless it rotates !
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