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Step 7Controller - Layout and Parts
We are getting closer to the real deal here. The next step is to make the controller with all the buttons and joysticks like the real arcades. This WILL cost you money, these parts are made to be durable and easily fixable so they cost a bit.
I got mine at ArcadeShop.de which was closest to me since i live in the Netherlands. Most of you will probably go to Ultimarc in the US. UK people can go to Gremlin Solutions.
Before I continue I have to point out this site ArcadeControls. It helped me tremendously in building my entire cabinet. BE SURE TO CHECK IT OUT!
So what do you need? Well you can use just about anything you can think of in terms of layouts.
I looked at a lot of games and came to the conclusion that the Street Fighter style setup was the most universal one (and of course most compatible with Street Fighter).
This layout consisted of one joystick and six buttons per player, along with a player one start button and player two start button. What we also need is a button to tell the computer that I've thrown in a credit, It is after all an arcade machine.
Do a bit of math and you'll see that i needed 15 buttons and 2 joysticks.
Note: There are a lot of types of controls in arcades, like spinners for Arkanoid games but they would just make this instructable more complicated. ArcadeControls has all the information you need on them so you can experiment with them, just make sure your keyboard encoder can work with them (see below).
These things do not come with USB cables naturally (imagine 17 USB cables...). Al these things work just like simple electrical switches, even the joysticks work like that. In order to connect these to the computer we are going to use a so called keyboard encoder. This thing takes a simple electrical current, turns it into a key press and sends it to the computer through USB. The one we're using is a specialized version developed by Ultimarc for mame driven computer arcade machines called the I-Pac. They come in all sizes and prices and allowing you to reprogram them for your own custom layout and buttons. i
With a bit of scrolling I found the perfect variant the I-Pac VE. It was equipped with enough inputs for two players with six buttons each, a joystick, start button, coin button and four extra inputs. at a very reasonable price. The only downside was that when the power goes down the chip forgets the customization you programmed in to it and defaults back to the MAME controls, which for our purposes is just perfect.
My total cost was about € 115,- shipping included. This was the most expensive part for me.
I got mine at ArcadeShop.de which was closest to me since i live in the Netherlands. Most of you will probably go to Ultimarc in the US. UK people can go to Gremlin Solutions.
Before I continue I have to point out this site ArcadeControls. It helped me tremendously in building my entire cabinet. BE SURE TO CHECK IT OUT!
So what do you need? Well you can use just about anything you can think of in terms of layouts.
I looked at a lot of games and came to the conclusion that the Street Fighter style setup was the most universal one (and of course most compatible with Street Fighter).
This layout consisted of one joystick and six buttons per player, along with a player one start button and player two start button. What we also need is a button to tell the computer that I've thrown in a credit, It is after all an arcade machine.
Do a bit of math and you'll see that i needed 15 buttons and 2 joysticks.
Note: There are a lot of types of controls in arcades, like spinners for Arkanoid games but they would just make this instructable more complicated. ArcadeControls has all the information you need on them so you can experiment with them, just make sure your keyboard encoder can work with them (see below).
These things do not come with USB cables naturally (imagine 17 USB cables...). Al these things work just like simple electrical switches, even the joysticks work like that. In order to connect these to the computer we are going to use a so called keyboard encoder. This thing takes a simple electrical current, turns it into a key press and sends it to the computer through USB. The one we're using is a specialized version developed by Ultimarc for mame driven computer arcade machines called the I-Pac. They come in all sizes and prices and allowing you to reprogram them for your own custom layout and buttons. i
With a bit of scrolling I found the perfect variant the I-Pac VE. It was equipped with enough inputs for two players with six buttons each, a joystick, start button, coin button and four extra inputs. at a very reasonable price. The only downside was that when the power goes down the chip forgets the customization you programmed in to it and defaults back to the MAME controls, which for our purposes is just perfect.
My total cost was about € 115,- shipping included. This was the most expensive part for me.
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Great instructable!