Arcade Button Kit - 8 Way joystick

Villan11

Hi All,

First time posting in Arcade & Retro so apologies if this has been covered to death.

I've always wanted my own arcade machine and quietly raised the possibility of it this morning with herself and didn't get a totally negative response. Before I go about getting a cabinet made and all that goes with it, I want to try and get do a "proof of concept".

Basically I want to make a simple MDF box that I can mount the joysticks and LED buttons, then just USB them to a Laptop or PC for some emulated games.

What I am really trying to find out about is getting an 8-way joystick, or if I actually need one? Any of the kits I have found only have up, down left & right, no diagonals, and games like Street Fighter II need that functionality.

Anyone else had experience with this?

Optimus Prime

a lot of joysticks have a restrictor plate on the bottom that can be moved into two positions, one will allow all directions and the other only up down left right.

loads of 8 way ones available though for sure, check here

https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Sanwa-JLF-TP-8S-Ball-Top-Joystick.html

Villan11

Was looking at some button / stick kits, and while the sticks are 8-way, the wiring kits look to be four way? I presume I'm missing something obvious?

Here's a wiring kit I looked at.....
https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/I-PAC-2-And-Wiring-Kit.html

Optimus Prime

yeh all joysticks just have 4 switches, so say you want to hit up+left diagonal, to jump backwards in SF2. When the up and left switch is enabled at the same time, thats diagonal.

its actually the bottom and right switch thats enabled to jump backwards left, as you push the joystick the opposite direction, but the idea is the same..

so when wiring the ipac you just wire up, down, left, right switches, with ground wire too. and then when two switches on the diagonal are activated at the same time, eg up and left, thats where you get the extra 4 from, two switches being hit together.

Villan11

That’s perfect. Thanks. So as long as the stick can move 8’ways I’m good.

Was thinking of getting a cheap kit of AliExpress to get me started.

I’ve a feeling I’ll be reading a lot on this forum.
Thanks.

Optimus Prime

No worrys, get good joysticks! it makes a difference, some of the other lads on here can point you in the right direction there, but ive played SF2 with bad joysicks and its pointless. i made the mistake of going cheap before and you are only wasting your money, you will end up buying the good ones anyways.

Villan11

Villan11 wrote: »

That’s perfect. Thanks. So as long as the stick can move 8’ways I’m good.

Was thinking of getting a cheap kit of AliExpress to get me started.

I’ve a feeling I’ll be reading a lot on this forum.
Thanks.

save yourself the money and get good stuff.
they can always be moved to your next machine.
I wouldn't design your own cabinet either.
that's how monsters are born.
take a look at crapmame and the mame of shame !
Everyone makes the same mistakes (including myself) that can be avoided.

You will spend more on this project than it will cost to buy a real machine and the real one will be 1000% better.

Where are you based ?

Villan11

Thanks for the advice! Will check those sites. The reason I was thinking of a self-build was that I've a friend who is a cabinet maker. I've seen some youtube stuff where fellas have made cabinets and are selling on the plans. was thinking of going down that route. Obviously I've no experience in this, so will gladly take any advice going, always good to learn from lessons learned from others!

I'm in Dublin 5,

Optimus Prime

Ive built one myself and others on here have. it took me a year to make mine, at weekends whenever i had a chance, id never do it again, its much easier to buy a cab and fix it up. Sure its a learning experience, i can understand that but the older cabs fix up great and you still have to wire them etc. you just take out the carpentry side, the routing, the sanding, the spray painting.. basically all the stuff thats a pain in the arse.

Although having said that, check out Brownfingers ones he built... they are amazing.

Pick a classic design and go with it.
My uncle is a cabinet maker and we made my first machine together.
it was really well made but still had multiply flaws and bad design .

Take a look at the two builds I've done since.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin//showthread.php?t=2057121608

And most recently

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=109712423


You gotta remember that sticking a joystick and buttons on a wooden box doesn't make it an arcade machine.
It's the little things,
The fittings like Marquee retainers,the speaker grills,the casters,the coin door etc and give it life!
They have to made to industrial standards to get that feel!
MDF boxes just have no soul at all.

Villan11

Wow, I mean seriously wow......
I did have some concern about appearance in a room but something like that is just fabulous. For me it would be a really cool feature in a room. Love the mini unit especially.
Will do a lot more research on cabinets now, this project might never happen but I can always dream. Still might look at button kits to get me started. Just for proof of concept. If I do that, I will go with better spec ones though. Many thanks for the advice!!!

Thanks,
yea its important they look cool.

I've another one in the works but its still a ways off.
An Atari space duel tribute.

Kidchameleon

Much better to get a real cab

beejee

Yeah I'd echo the advice in here, get a real cabinet if at all possible. Even if its shabby as all hell, the ground work saved must be enormous. Came across a salamander cabinet and it needs a lot of work, but the bones are there and some of the artwork is decent.

Theres this hazy line about whether a "restored" cabinet has been restored too much (can you call it original if its 80% redone? 50%?)

But regardless of all that, try to get an existing cabinet, even a shell

o1s1n

Another +1 on getting an original cabinet.

All of us here who are into arcade machines probably considered building one at the start when we were just getting into the hobby. I can only imagine the monstrosity I probably would have built!

Once you investigate the whole scene a bit you'll see that it's not actually that difficult to get a real cabinet. And you just can't get more authentic than the real thing.

Plus other tidbits of info like avoiding LED buttons at all costs (ends up looking like the boy racer equivalent of an arcade machine!)

Really planning out decals and any kind of artwork - best to try and replicate what has already been done before professionally with recreated original artwork - you'll see a lot of people putting Mario/Sonic decals on machines, which just looks horrendous.

With control panel buttons and sticks, less is more. Unless it's some huge X men style cabinet, no more than two sticks with 6 buttons each.

There's then the elephant in the room that is CRT versus LCD. The whole feel of an arcade machine comes from the 15k resolution radiating (literally!) out of a CRT. For a lot of us, an LCD in an arcade machine defeats the whole purpose. There are some compromises though like an LCD with a scanline generator/a PC running some good CRT shaders.

You've a lot of options, but I'd say the number 1 thing to aim for is just buying a real cabinet.

geotrig

I'll go the other way to everyone else's advise :pac:;) ....build one with lcd and pc and leave the good stuff for the rest of us .....already way too much competition in the markets these days , so much so and for a lot of other reasons ,mainly brokeness !!! I'm only averaging 1 game a year purchase for the last 6-7 years : the good old days are long gone.

but seriously some people are happy with mame and lcds but if going cab and real hardware Its not a cheap hobby that is for sure and don't just buy anything ,get to know your market, there are a lot of chancers out there with some really really overpriced stuff.

Villan11

Suppose now is a good time to nail my cards to my chest....
My plan is to go for LED/LCD screen (24"-27") with PC and emulation.
Primarily controlled with 2 player sticks and buttons (was going to have LED buttons but 2nd thoughts now on advice, thanks). Also hoping to have two front mounted USB sockets where I can add controllers for PS1 emulation of games like Metal Gear Solid and Tomb Raider.

Want the cabinet to look like original but obviously functionality will be different, look and feel of screen will be different. Sorry to the purists who have kindly advised so far.

beejee

Villan11 wrote: »

Suppose now is a good time to nail my cards to my chest....
My plan is to go for LED/LCD screen (24"-27") with PC and emulation.
Primarily controlled with 2 player sticks and buttons (was going to have LED buttons but 2nd thoughts now on advice, thanks). Also hoping to have two front mounted USB sockets where I can add controllers for PS1 emulation of games like Metal Gear Solid and Tomb Raider.

Want the cabinet to look like original but obviously functionality will be different, look and feel of screen will be different. Sorry to the purists who have kindly advised so far.

Dont bother with usbs for controllers.
I'll look like a dogs dinner and you'll never use them,
Dont have your screen upright either,
Lay it down like this ms pacman.

http://www.markronsman.com/MsPacman/Ms_Pacman_Restoration.htm


Less is more.
you cant play all games in one cabinet so dont try.

Oldschool games- vertical monitor,4-way sticks,2/3 buttons (pac-man,donkey kong,frogger etc)
90's games Horizontal monitor,8 way sticks,6 buttons per player (MAX)

console games are a waste of time in a cab

o1s1n

Yeah I'd agree on excluding the USB controllers for PS1.

The best home builds are those made to look like arcade machines. Less is more is the mantra to live by with this alright.

Once you start adding console type bits and turning it into a hybrid you end up going down the 'jack of all trades, master of none' route and it just doesn't work or look right.

I am 100% a purist, however the above advice comes from the design side of me instead. :pac: I have yet to see a hybrid console/arcade machine that didn't look like a monstrosity.

Optimus Prime

Each to their own, but i never understood why anyone would want to play a home console in an arcade cab. You never did back in the day so why would you want to now? I personally just dont get it, i cant even picture standing in front of an upright with a playstation controller in my hand.

Again though, its totally your cab so you can do whatever you want!

Just flick through the "Mame of shame" thread on here first!

Kidchameleon

Make sure you post pics of it when done for the giggles

Villan11

Ah, you lads just want to add me to the mame of shame, that's pure harassment.

Again, thanks for all the advice so far. I will update as project goes along, presuming I get it started.... Actually, if I do get it started I've no doubt that you'll be hearing regularly from me...

Inviere

BrownFinger wrote: »

Dont bother with usbs for controllers.
I'll look like a dogs dinner and you'll never use them

Listen to this man's advice. Let me chime in and say he's right, even if you hide them away nicely, you'll never, ever use them. I know, I've been there. The vast majority of console games simply don't translate to arcade cabs, and while they might look ok running on a cab, they really don't 'feel' ok...even if using a controller.

My advice is to buy a cheap original cab, with a crt screen, make any repairs/upgrades you wish, and make sure it's jamma ready. Buy some original pcb's, and build a little arcade emulation pc for it too if you wish...why not have the best of both worlds? Once it's jamma you can use both, simply by swapping them out as you would any pcb.

Secondly, why not build yourself a nice little mini-itx 'under the tv' emulation pc for all your console needs? Waaaaay better than sitting at an arcade cab with your usb controllers plugged in.