Spinner Controller Input Capture

[colour_thief]

Hey guys!

Just doing a little project for myself, not hoping to release any kind of product (this is definitely a niche within a niche within a niche). But I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and wanted to share it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ZUw6XMpGS8


I've got a microcontroller tapped into the left and right JAMMA pins, reading them to detect the spinner pulses. And then, using the actual gearing ratios and number of windows on the sensor disc etc. it can track the exact orientation of the spinner dial. As far as I can tell it works perfectly, and I swear my visualization is more responsive than the games sometimes.

I'm really passionate about spinners and very sad that this part of culture is being lost. No traditional 4-gear spinners have been mass produced since Puzz Loop 2. Many modern spinner replacements just aren't the same. The weight of the action, how freely it keeps spinning if you release your grip, and the gentle way you can re-apply pressure to slow it down with great precision. So much cool movement tech potentially lost to the ages.

So my next phase will be to capture some nice 1CCs and hopefully show off how good the spinner control format was. Wish me luck!

 

[dos]

This is rad and totally agree on your comments regarding proper 4-gear spinners.

EDIT: What are you using to interface with the F3? A JAMMA passthrough with the wires soldered to it? Always wondered what the "official" solution was for Arkanoid Returns.

 

[colour_thief]

What are you using to interface with the F3? A JAMMA passthrough with the wires soldered to it? Always wondered what the "official" solution was for Arkanoid Returns.

Taito F3 expects the spinners to be hooked up to JAMMA left and right pins. Cameltry expects this as well, so I'm assuming the 80s Arkanoids also do this but I don't have those to confirm. Nothing is soldered, all the "heavy lifting" such as it is, is being done by the control panel cabling routing the spinner input to those pins. It's a very clean solution in my opinion. No custom connectors or cables dangling down from the control panel. And if you want to play joystick games just take 5 minutes to swap in a standard control panel.

This Taito wiring setup is so common that when I bought Puzz Loop 2 it was modded by the previous owner with 4 bodge wires to make it work with Taito wiring instead of a custom connector.

The only tricky case I've seen is Kaneko Super Nova... On other platforms the standard is to let you set the controls in the service menu. Believe it or not, Puzz Loop 1 reads and processes both joystick controls and the spinner controls at the same time. I guess Kaneko never anticipated both could be hooked up at once. So bodge wires will not work, the game plays terribly like that. But if you are willing to dedicate a Super Nova motherboard to spinner games then you can sever the joystick traces after which bodge wires will work to give it Taito wiring support.

 

[dos]

Yeah I knew it was on the JAMMA L/R but was wondering if there were actual factory harnesses to connect the spinners to the Astro front panel connectors, or if it was something like a passthrough being used (as in, how it was specified by Taito).

Original Arkanoid is similar but non-JAMMA, so an adapter is needed. Here's what I ended up doing for it because I really don't like swapping panels (of course, going through the existing 1P/2P wiring is cleaner and preferred, this is just my own method to easily plug in a spinner without going through the panel swap): https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/my-solution-to-the-spinner-problem.20201/

 

[djsheep]

Nice work. Cool to see your passion for the spinners.

 

[colour_thief]

Yeah I knew it was on the JAMMA L/R but was wondering if there were actual factory harnesses to connect the spinners to the Astro front panel connectors, or if it was something like a passthrough being used (as in, how it was specified by Taito).

Original Arkanoid is similar but non-JAMMA, so an adapter is needed. Here's what I ended up doing for it because I really don't like swapping panels (of course, going through the existing 1P/2P wiring is cleaner and preferred, this is just my own method to easily plug in a spinner without going through the panel swap): https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/my-solution-to-the-spinner-problem.20201/

Oh, I see what you mean now, that's a really good question. The random spinner games with custom adaptors are one thing, but what on earth did Taito do? Surely they wouldn't have sold whole control panels or wiring harnesses with their games. Maybe the arcade techs were good enough to mod harnesses as needed? Dang now I want to know the answer to the mystery too.

Your custom spinner stick looks really sick btw! A great solution for your situation.

 

[dos]

Yeah it's a question that has been asked several times on this forum, and I'm not sure has been answered conclusively. For original Arkanoid, it came with spiners and a complete custom harness that you basically rewired your cab with, but I don't think that would fly in the later JAMMA era with the F3.

I just checked the manual, and it looks like the kit didn't even come with spinners:

I guess they figured any OP that was determined to have spinners would figure it out

manual: http://www.pixelatedarcade.com/pdf/Game/2265/Arkanoid-Returns-Instruction-Manual.pdf

 

[colour_thief]

For whatever it's worth, my particular Astro panel (bought second hand but maybe it's still stock?) came with Seimitsu spinners installed and the cabling looks like this:

To my frustration it doesn't even have buttons 2 and 3 wired up even though Arkanoid Returns needs them to access the second half of the game!

 

[dos]

Yeah I'm pretty sure those Seimitsu spinners were mainly sold with Puzz Loop 2, which is a 1-button game. For what it's worth, I don't think there was a "stock" Astro spinner panel other than the Taito one which looks like an Egret panel. The panels like yours are just LS-29s mounted in a standard Astro 2L6B. Whether this was something sold as a complete set with the panel and harnesses, etc. or just built as needed by OPs I have no idea.

 

[dos]

Also, in case you miss it, check your monitor control board harness, it's popping off on the right side

 

[colour_thief]

LOL
I was staring at the picture and noticed the same thing, I actually fixed it moments before I saw your comment. Thanks for looking out for me!

 

[dos]

I just realized I probably answered my own question, due to the memory of there being an official Taito spinner panel. They proibably just sold that Egret II-looking panel as a separate item in their catalogue, and it would connect exactly as you're doing it:

Here it is mounted in an E2, showing it is actually made for Astro: