Back to the Arcade - Part 3 - The Controls

After many years of tinkering and configuring changes I still didn't have the space for an arcade cabinet, but there was no reason that I couldn't build a real arcade control panel that would connect to the TV for somewhat authentic game play.  So I made the decision to build a real control panel.  In January 2017 I put together a list of controls that I would need and made an order!  Actually I made a few orders.  All of the controls and the keyboard encoder came from Ultimarc and the buttons came from Paradise Arcade Shop and Focus Attack because Ultimarc did not stock the concave style translucent buttons that I wanted.  I also had a hard time finding Player 3 and Player 4 buttons which were needed primarily for 2 more of my favorites, Track & Field and Hyper Sports.

Up until this point I thought I was going to run this system from an old PC or laptop (I had plenty of those laying around) but my daughter, the one who was 5 years old when I started this venture was now 23 years old and quite the techie suggested that I use a Raspberry Pi for this project.  At first I was a bit reluctant to go through a new learning curve but as I did a little research it made a lot of sense, so that is what I did.  I'll be discussing a bit more about the Raspberry Pi and the operating system, Retropie in a later chapter.

During my research I couldn't find anyone else that had a dual trackball layout and I really wanted to play Marble Madness head-to-head.  I mentioned in an earlier chapter that I was inspired by Defender, which is true, but Marble Madness definitely played a role in the final layout as well.  The problem wasn't so much in the physical layout of the trackballs as it was to operate two trackballs independent of each other.  Spoiler: I eventually figured it out.

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Mag-Stick Plus

Another really important element to any arcade panel is the joystick; and there are no shortage of choices there.  During my process I was reminded that there are 4-way and 8-way joysticks and just having an 8-way was not optimum because they do not function nearly as well for the 4-way and 2-way games.  I was able to find a 4-way/8-way that was user switchable from underneath but that would prove difficult-to-impossible to access once everything was setup and running.  

I kept searching for a solution and voilà I found the perfect solution.  These are't cheap, but they are the best solution that I found and I think they work perfectly.  It's called the Mag-Stick Plus and is user switchable from the top without any unsightly levers or switches; pure genius!  The only problem remaining is that I wanted the classic ball-top look so I had to spend the extra to get the replacements.

Ball-Top Handle

Another benefit to the 4/8-way joysticks is that I can now add Q*bert and Congo Bongo to my collection because when the joysticks are configured as 8-way they work great as diagonal 4-way sticks for these type of games.

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Complete inventory of controls that I used in my build:

• Mag-Stick Plus (2)
• U-trak Trackballs (2)
• SpinTrak Spinner (1)
• Buttons (18)
• Coin drop switch (final build)

I also added a couple USB ports so I can plug in a steering wheel and pedals as well as an analog flight stick for the games that require those controls.

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A discussion about controls wouldn't be complete with out talking about the keyboard encoder.  This is actually the heart of the control system.  I went with the Mini-PAC Opti which is an Integrated Switch/Joystick/Trackball/Spinner interface.  Since my setup has 2 trackballs, I also used a  U-HID Nano to connect my second trackball.

Mini-PAC Opti

U-HID Nano

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Control Installation and Wiring

Final project with Raspberry Pi installed on the back of the panel housing

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Continue to Part 4 - Control Panel Lights

Intro | The Games | Control Panel Configuration | The Controls | Control Panel Lights | Research | Specific Games | Hardware & Software | Game Configurations | Cabinet Build | Artwork | Bonus | Leaderboard | Summary