wraggster
October 7th, 2013, 20:48
http://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/customarcadecontrolpanel.jpg?w=580&h=326
Anybody can fire up an emulator and play arcade games of yesteryear, but if you want to capture more of the nostalgia, you should build a custom arcade control panel (http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=1364). [Quinn] started her build by narrowing down which games she was most interested in playing, and decided on a straightforward 2-player setup. The biggest challenge was finding joysticks that would allow for switchable 4-way or 8-way control: some games such as Ms. Pac Man were made for 4-way joystick input, and the added positions on a 8-way can lead to confused inputs and frustrated players.
[Quinn] found the solution with a pair of Ultimarc Servo Stik (http://www.ultimarc.com/servostik.html) joysticks, which use a servo motor to swap between 4 and 8-way mode. The output from both the joysticks and the buttons feed into an iPac encoder (http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html), which converts the signal to emulate a USB keyboard. The panel was first mocked up on butcher paper, with dimensions borrowed from various games: the panel itself resembles Mortal Kombat 2, while the buttons are spaced to matchX-Men vs Street Fighter 2. [Quinn] chose some spare melamine—plywood with a plastic coating—to construct the panel, drilled some holes and used a router to carve out space for the joysticks. A USB hub was added to power the servos and to make room for future additions, which [Quinn] will have no difficulty implementing considering that her electrical layout is enviably clean. To cap it all off, she fit two “coin slot” buttons: a quarter placed into a slot serves as a start button when pressed.
Be sure to see the videos after the break that demonstrate the coin buttons and the servos, then check out a different retro joystick hack for a tripod controller (http://hackaday.com/2013/09/30/game-controller-repurposed-for-flea-market-find/), or look to the future with the Steam Controller (http://hackaday.com/2013/10/01/steam-controller-open-and-hackable/).
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/07/custom-arcade-control-panel/
Anybody can fire up an emulator and play arcade games of yesteryear, but if you want to capture more of the nostalgia, you should build a custom arcade control panel (http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=1364). [Quinn] started her build by narrowing down which games she was most interested in playing, and decided on a straightforward 2-player setup. The biggest challenge was finding joysticks that would allow for switchable 4-way or 8-way control: some games such as Ms. Pac Man were made for 4-way joystick input, and the added positions on a 8-way can lead to confused inputs and frustrated players.
[Quinn] found the solution with a pair of Ultimarc Servo Stik (http://www.ultimarc.com/servostik.html) joysticks, which use a servo motor to swap between 4 and 8-way mode. The output from both the joysticks and the buttons feed into an iPac encoder (http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html), which converts the signal to emulate a USB keyboard. The panel was first mocked up on butcher paper, with dimensions borrowed from various games: the panel itself resembles Mortal Kombat 2, while the buttons are spaced to matchX-Men vs Street Fighter 2. [Quinn] chose some spare melamine—plywood with a plastic coating—to construct the panel, drilled some holes and used a router to carve out space for the joysticks. A USB hub was added to power the servos and to make room for future additions, which [Quinn] will have no difficulty implementing considering that her electrical layout is enviably clean. To cap it all off, she fit two “coin slot” buttons: a quarter placed into a slot serves as a start button when pressed.
Be sure to see the videos after the break that demonstrate the coin buttons and the servos, then check out a different retro joystick hack for a tripod controller (http://hackaday.com/2013/09/30/game-controller-repurposed-for-flea-market-find/), or look to the future with the Steam Controller (http://hackaday.com/2013/10/01/steam-controller-open-and-hackable/).
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/07/custom-arcade-control-panel/