Anthony Flack wrote: Fri Jun 10, 2022 3:44 amI've never had a trackball controller. Or three friends who want to hang out playing video games.

LOL. In the latter case, I definitely did, when these games were current: had a birthday party or two at a once-prominent chain here called Aladdin's Castle. (Sort of like a Chuck E. Cheese without the animatronics. And no colored balls to jump into/"analog" games. Just arcade games and a some stacks of tokens with which to play them.)

But yeah, beyond licensing, I failed to take into account the variegated hardware/controls for these things. That would present issues. I know that in porting these titles to early Nintendo/Sega consoles compromises along these lines had to be made, to say nothing of compromises in the realm of graphics.

Oh yeah, back when these games were current, friends would drop by in groups of five.

I had a go on The Punisher just now to check it was still awesome - and yep, it never disappoints. I wanted to play as Nick Fury on player 2 controls though, and it reminded me I need to switch out my P2 stick.

These old cabinets are designed to be modular and you can pretty easily switch the control panels out. So when they were putting a new game in, if it needed different controls they could put in a different panel. One day I'll make up some alt panels that fit, like a trackball one or spinner.
Here I have been trying out some different sticks. On the left is a Sanwa with an octagonal gate, and on the right is a knock-off Seimitsu with no gate and a long shaft, which has a crazy wide throw, and is coming off. The buttons are American-style (Happ) mixed with Japanese sticks, but that was normal around here in the 80s and I did it like that on purpose. I still haven't found my perfect stick though. It's like guitar parts y'know; the post could get long here...

A panel with a pair of these Seimitsu LS-30s (with the rotating top) would be a great swap-out, but they are ultra rare now and there isn't really any substitute available.
Oh, I thought of another 4 player Konami game from the same era that would look great on that Simpsons cab - Sunset Riders.

You're more into all of this than I could hope to be. Seems like a fun hobby though.

Also, let's not forget NARC, as far as popular titles from that time go:

https://youtu.be/yptpWO66HA4?t=1032

The new TMNT (6-player co-op!) beat-em-up went up for pre-order a couple days ago and is supposed to release on Thursday. Seems like mindless summer fun…looking forward to playing it with my kid.

DaveA wrote: Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:25 pm You're more into all of this than I could hope to be. Seems like a fun hobby though.

Oh, it's not something I spend a lot of time on, just now and again. I mean it took me over a year to get around to swapping that stick over. But I've got a lot of use out of these cabinets in the time since I fixed them up. They're great if you're a time-starved parent. I am also a video game designer by trade so I do have a professional interest in this sort of thing (and I'm nerdy enough about it to know that Narc was designed by Eugene Jarvis, for instance).

But even so, it's my Nintendo Game & Watch collection that is the true indulgence.

And yeah, Shredder's Revenge looks rather good...

Ample space to accommodate my interests is an issue here, maybe more pressing in the last several years than ever. If it weren't, and I had the dough/free time, getting a cabinet-style gaming apparatus up and running would rule. So I'm mildly jealous of those who can make it work.

STEAM SUMMER SALE is on.

So far:

Tomb Raider
Rise of Tomb Raider
Headlander
Death's Door
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

I finally made a Steam account in the year 2022, because I couldn't pass this up:

^ Thanks for the heads-up: Looks like I just bought my first ever video game, Disco Elysium. Thanks for all the great advice from FMs when I asked about games on FB a while back!

CiV 6 is all consuming.