Vertical monitor games with 4-way only stick?

[SRGilbert]

This seemed as good as a place as any to ask!

 

I'm thinking of building a new Mame cab using an old cab with a vertical monitor. I'm also thinking of limiting it to only a 4-way joystick and a couple of buttons. What I'm trying to come up with is a comprehensive list of games that work in this configuration.

 

Here's what I've come up with so far:

 

Ant Eater

Bagman

Burgertime

Dig Dug

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Jr

Frogger

Jr Pac Man

Lady Bug

Mouser

Mr Do!

Ms Pacman

Pac man

Pengo

Phoenix

Space Invaders

Space Panic

Super Pac Man

 

added

Lock N Chase

Astro Blaster

Carnival

Galaxian

Galaga

Galaga 88

Mr. Do's Castle

Qix

Pac Man Plus

 

And since I think I'll do the spinner also

Tempest

Arkanoid

Tron

 

 

 

What am I missing?

 

Thanks!

Edited September 6, 2007 by SRGilbert

[Cassidy Nolen]

Qix

Naughty Boy (oh wait, you said that don't suck, right? )

Crazy Kong (same as DK I know but if you are a purist)

Bump N Jump

 

 

 

I am sure there are others, thats all I can think of this morning...

 

C

[+DamonicFury]

A few more...

 

Astro Blaster

Carnival

Galaxian

Galaga

Gaplus

Galaga 88

Mr. Do's Castle

[SRGilbert]

Great suggestions, keep 'em coming!

 

 

Although, after sleeping on it for the night, I'm now considering a new control layout. I'm thinking of a spinner on the left side, a 4-way stick in the middle, and a Happs top fire 8-way on the right (can you say Tron?)

 

Still want a dedicated vertical setup though.

 

I'll call it "THE VERTICADE!"

 

[Atari5200]

Devastators is originally 8-way, but I see no reason as to why it wouldn't work well with a 4 way. In fact, I actually was in shock when I saw the 8-way joystick directions on the cab as I usually noticed myself playing up and down and left to right, very rarely did I go diagonal and there's very little room to actually move diagonal, so i would say 90% of the time playing you are only moving in 4 directions. So up to you if you wanted to add to the list.

[+FujiSkunk]

Don't forget all the other Pac-Man variants, like Pac-Man Plus and Pac-Mania (I'm pretty sure that one used a vertical monitor). There's also the umpteen zillion Pac-Man pirates, but if you have to limit yourself to just one, pick Hangly Man.

[Cassidy Nolen]

FTWIW,

 

If you do go with a spinner, make it a "push" style if you can. That way you can play Tin Star, Wild Western and Frontline

 

C

[SRGilbert]

FTWIW,

 

If you do go with a spinner, make it a "push" style if you can. That way you can play Tin Star, Wild Western and Frontline

 

C

That would be cool, but I don't know if a Tron/Tempest style spinner would work for those games. I remember Front Line (very cool game) and that had more of a rotary switch/knob (almost like the channel knob on a old TV) rather than a spinner.

[warmachine]

If you feel that you'd rather not be limited to just 4-way games, you shoult check out this stick.

 

http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html

 

It's a true analog joystick with a built in encoder that will accept eight inputs and has "plug and play" USB functionallity.

 

Since it's an analog stick, it can emulate multiple types of joysticks such as 2-way, 4-way, diagonal 4-way (q-bert),

8-way, and even 49-way, so you can accurately play a mean game of sinistar (who doesn't like sinistar?).

 

I bought 2 of these for the cabinet I'm converting just so I could play sinistar, and I didn't want to have to limit

the types of games I could play.

 

These sticks feel well built and have a nice smooth movment to them.

 

I havent had a chance to try them out yet since I'm still scraping the money togeather to buy a good size monitor

for my vertical cab, but I haven't read any reviews where the user had any major misgivings about them.

 

If you don't want to limit your game selection, then then it might be worth you time to check these out.

Edited September 7, 2007 by warmachine

[SRGilbert]

If you feel that you'd rather not be limited to just 4-way games, you shoult check out this stick.

 

http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html

 

It's a true analog joystick with a built in encoder that will accept eight inputs and has "plug and play" USB functionallity.

 

Since it's an analog stick, it can emulate multiple types of joysticks such as 2-way, 4-way, diagonal 4-way (q-bert),

8-way, and even 49-way, so you can accurately play a mean game of sinistar (who doesn't like sinistar?).

 

I bought 2 of these for the cabinet I'm converting just so I could play sinistar, and I didn't want to have to limit

the types of games I could play.

 

These sticks feel well built and have a nice smooth movment to them.

 

I havent had a chance to try them out yet since I'm still scraping the money togeather to buy a good size monitor

for my vertical cab, but I haven't read any reviews where the user had any major misgivings about them.

 

If you don't want to limit your game selection, then then it might be worth you time to check these out.

That looks like a cool stick but seems like overkill if you are just using it as a 4-way. Reading the instructions shows that the restrictor plates are meant to be a semi-permanent installation, not something you can just switch on the fly like some of their other sticks. Nope, for me, an old fashioned 4-way stick is the way to go and will be the main focus of this project. So many Mame control panels seem to work in the 4-way stick as an afterthought, I want this one front and center! So many of my favorites work in this configuration, so it seemed a natural.

That said, I am strongly considering what I said above and that is having a spinner on the left and a top-fire stick on the right with the 4-way stick in the middle. I just wish I had room for a trackball too, but that is starting to get out of hand for what started as a simple idea.

 

Just started thinking about that stick, since it's analog, I wonder if that could be made to work with an Atari 5200 or maybe even a Vectrex? Hmmm........

Edited September 7, 2007 by SRGilbert

[Flack]

Not to try and talk you out of your plan, but there are sticks that are made to be switched and can be swapped on the fly.

 

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.p...products_id=195

 

I've been meaning to pick up a pair of these for my own cabinet. Maybe next payday.

[Cassidy Nolen]

No, you are correct. I have owned the real deals and they are indeed microswitched on each degree of rotation. I would imagein and ipac could encode for that or at least be programmed to?

 

Eh, you know, might not be worth it. Wild Western holds a special place to me, so it would be worth it for me on emu. I owned the real one and nobody played it in the gameroom....out it went

 

C

[Nukey Shay]

but if you have to limit yourself to just one, pick Hangly Man.

I disagree. The original (hiding spot and all) is still the best version