Newbie with some Qs

audi321

Hi all. I’ve got my first pi coming tomorrow and I’m so excited about my project which is a retro gaming machine built into an oak table I already have.

My qs are really only as follows.

Is the pi configurable so that (for a 2 player system) it will switch the screen around for player 2 who is at the other end of the table? Also is it a problem to have the tv in portrait rather than landscape?
Is there a recommended joystick for these kind of projects? I want a joystick rather than a joypad really.

That’s all for now. Thanks for your advice and I’ll keep you posted with my progress!

caver01

@audi321 You are describing a 'cocktail' design with the player two flipping. These were common in bars and arcades that had room for a sit down table style arcade systems. They are most often associated with the classics--games like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dig--games that were single player at a time, not dual coop or competitive.

MAME lets you enable a DIP switch per ROM which puts certain games into Cocktail mode. Since arcade games were built mostly as stand-up machines, those that could be packaged into the cocktail table design had the DIP switch setting. It turns out MANY had that ability, so we can enable this in the emulator. That way, it flips around for player 2, and back again for Player 1. Just keep in mind, this is not available for every game ever made.

There are many joystick possibilities. In fact, a recent post here even referenced a handy video reviewing some of them. I cannot find that post at the moment, but you can search YouTube for Arcade Joystick Review. A lot of factors come into play, from budget, knob style, switches, throw, size. Your biggest question might be how you want to deal with 4-way vs. 8-way games. This is a pain point that we all have to deal with.

Click the link in my signature to see my project which is a 4-player cocktail style cabinet. I have a complete parts list in that post. I used Happ Super joysticks which are common, low on features, but very durable and inexpensive.

As for using a rotated screen, vertical orientation is awesome for many of the cocktail classics, but the front end software (emulation station) is not really setup for this orientation. Themes are all built for horizontal game selection, and rotating the display in software at boot causes performance issues (note, there is no problem with orientation during gameplay, as many vertical games are designed to run in vertical orientation anyway).

I have read posts where someone has successfully built a cabinet setup in vertical mode (though this was not a cocktail design) and they were able to use Attract Mode (instead of Emulation Station as the default front end) with success.

Alturis

There also seem to be some games that have a specific cocktail version that you need to get the rom set of ( the zip file ). As always be sure to pay attention to the compatibility list as most of those will also require the files out of the main games rom zip as well. (have to manually integrate those files together into one zip file with the latter name).

e.g.

atetris.zip is the main game rom set.

Then there is also atetrisc which has atetris in its parent field.

So you have to unzip the files from atetris.zip and manually add them into atetrisc.zip and then just put atetrisc.zip in your roms folder.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GaqIIoiWbzKHwZ52S2xCSDQXILo81Ls1mHK6czKGAtM

I always wondered what was different about them. Now I know.

Alturis

@audi321 said in Newbie with some Qs:

Is there a recommended joystick for these kind of projects? I want a joystick rather than a joypad really.

I personally recommend Sanwa Silent sticks:
https://paradisearcadeshop.com/levers-sanwa/1456-sanwa-jlf-tprg-8ayt-sk-silent-joystick.html

But others will recommend different ones. There has been a lot of discussion lately about sticks that can be pulled up and rotated to switch between 4 way and 8 way which would be quite handy for older classics like pacman and the like.

caver01

@alturis said in Newbie with some Qs:

There has been a lot of discussion lately about sticks that can be pulled up and rotated to switch between 4 way and 8 way which would be quite handy for older classics like pacman and the like.

These sticks are switchable by rotating a restrictor plate into position. The best example is the Ultimarc Magstik, or even better, the Magstik-Plus which lets you make the change from the top of the panel. These are not cheap joysticks, and some people complain about the magnetic centering and the very short throw. I guess if I could afford them I would replace all four of mine with the Magstik-Plus in a heartbeat.

audi321

Wow thanks for all the quick responses guys. I’ve looked at the ultimarc magsticks and going to order 2 non plus ones.

So I just can’t wait!! I’m (ahem my kids!) are so excited!

Going to connect an old hdmi tv up and try to run it in portrait mode somehow. I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions tomorrow lol.

Thanks again for a all your advice!

caver01

@audi321 The Plus appears to allow you to make the change from 4 to 8 way by rotating the joystick knob. This can be done from the top of the panel. The regular MagStik apparently only lets you make the adjustment from underneath. In other words, you would have to be able to reach inside your panel amongst the wires etc. to throw the switch. That just seems like a bad idea, especially with kids. I would go for the Plus and not even consider the regular one.

There is also the ServoStik which achieves a similar function using a servo. Of course that would require power to the servo motor and some other means to trigger it. Could be a great project to write a GPIO script to do that and execute the command before launching specific ROMs.

For all I know, there are other innovative switching joysticks out there. Does Ultimarc have the market cornered on this front? Maybe, but I seem to remember a few other options including one that had a switch protruding up next to the stick.

Alturis

@caver01 said in Newbie with some Qs:

I would replace all four of mine with the Magstik-Plus in a heartbeat

I watched a video of those. Man maybe its just me but I can't stand how loud and clicky most joysticks are. Is there a silent version of those too? Haven't seen it.

Sano

@caver01
You seem to know those hardware parts pretty good.
Do you know if some sticks can also adjust to 4 ways X shaped plate, Q*bert style ?

caver01

@sano original cabinet just mounted the joystick rotated at 45 degrees. This is evidenced even in the emulators.

Clyde

@caver01 said in Newbie with some Qs:

@audi321 There are many joystick possibilities. In fact, a recent post here even referenced a handy video reviewing some of them. I cannot find that post at the moment, but you can search YouTube for Arcade Joystick Review.

Do you mean this one?

@audi321 said in Newbie with some Qs:

Wow thanks for all the quick responses guys. I’ve looked at the ultimarc magsticks and going to order 2 non plus ones.

I have two Plus sticks and like them very much. You can read my review here.

caver01

@clyde Yeah, that is the thread I was thinking of.