Obviously there are some important issues that need to be worked out, but once those are resolved I have some suggestions for improvements I'd like to see to the MultiMVS The top of this list is what I consider the most important changes with the less important changes near the bottom.
1. Add ability to disable slot change/return to menu shortcuts while in-game (so that the only way you can change slots or go to menu is to reboot and use the launch menu). it'd be nice if these could be disabled independently... so allow slot change but dis-allow return to menu. I suggest this because without this feature the cart can't really be safely installed in a public or semi-public location. I regularly have parties often with children and some guests have a uncanny ability to accidentally find the shortcut to enter system menus and muck up the settings. Without this ability my MultiMVS wont be making an appearance at any these events, and I can't imaging any arcade owner would want to install one without this ability either.
2. On initial boot add ability to disable the intro animation so we get to the menu faster. The MultiMVS's key feature during development was it's speed. watching the animation on first boot is cool the first couple of times but after that it just seems like it's wasting time and making the cart slower than it needs to be.
3. Remove the 5-second to reboot count-down after loading games (if this isn't necessary just reboot already) again, we're already sitting here waiting for the games to load... why make us wait another 5 seconds on top of that?
4. On the boot/slot selection menu, add ability to select your slot or menu while the POW is walking off screen. still have him walk off screen but at least give us the ability to select an option after the countdown but before the reboot.
4. Games list should display (and be sorted by) game name, not ROM folder name. Personally, I think it really detracts from the menu to see the ROM folders listed instead of the full game name. the ROM folders should be irrelevant to the user experience once the SD card is loaded. I can see the merit of displaying the folder name in the additional info at the bottom of the screen, but the game list should be the full game names
5. Add game genre to info box on the bottom, and add genre to filtering options. I often sort my games by genre, if I'm looking for a puzzle game or a SHMUP or a fighting game, or a run and gun It'd be nice to see a short list with just games in a particularly type.
6. Add ability to customize the game name or genre for each ROM. I'd love to be able to drop a text file in each ROM folder where the first line of the text file is the game name as it's displayed on the game list, and the second line of the text file is the game genre. This would allow people to specify the game by the name that makes the most sense to them, especially useful for those games where they have different names in different regions and people prefer one over the other, or if people want KOF games sorted by "King of Fighters" or by "The King of Fighters". And for genres, people have differing opinions on this and some people like to break down into more discrete genres. For instance someone might just want "SHMUP" but others might want two separate genres for "vertical scrolling SHMUP " and "horizontal scrolling SHMUP".
1. Add ability to disable slot change/return to menu shortcuts while in-game (so that the only way you can change slots or go to menu is to reboot and use the launch menu). it'd be nice if these could be disabled independently... so allow slot change but dis-allow return to menu. I suggest this because without this feature the cart can't really be safely installed in a public or semi-public location. I regularly have parties often with children and some guests have a uncanny ability to accidentally find the shortcut to enter system menus and muck up the settings. Without this ability my MultiMVS wont be making an appearance at any these events, and I can't imaging any arcade owner would want to install one without this ability either.
2. On initial boot add ability to disable the intro animation so we get to the menu faster. The MultiMVS's key feature during development was it's speed. watching the animation on first boot is cool the first couple of times but after that it just seems like it's wasting time and making the cart slower than it needs to be.
3. Remove the 5-second to reboot count-down after loading games (if this isn't necessary just reboot already) again, we're already sitting here waiting for the games to load... why make us wait another 5 seconds on top of that?
4. On the boot/slot selection menu, add ability to select your slot or menu while the POW is walking off screen. still have him walk off screen but at least give us the ability to select an option after the countdown but before the reboot.
4. Games list should display (and be sorted by) game name, not ROM folder name. Personally, I think it really detracts from the menu to see the ROM folders listed instead of the full game name. the ROM folders should be irrelevant to the user experience once the SD card is loaded. I can see the merit of displaying the folder name in the additional info at the bottom of the screen, but the game list should be the full game names
5. Add game genre to info box on the bottom, and add genre to filtering options. I often sort my games by genre, if I'm looking for a puzzle game or a SHMUP or a fighting game, or a run and gun It'd be nice to see a short list with just games in a particularly type.
6. Add ability to customize the game name or genre for each ROM. I'd love to be able to drop a text file in each ROM folder where the first line of the text file is the game name as it's displayed on the game list, and the second line of the text file is the game genre. This would allow people to specify the game by the name that makes the most sense to them, especially useful for those games where they have different names in different regions and people prefer one over the other, or if people want KOF games sorted by "King of Fighters" or by "The King of Fighters". And for genres, people have differing opinions on this and some people like to break down into more discrete genres. For instance someone might just want "SHMUP" but others might want two separate genres for "vertical scrolling SHMUP " and "horizontal scrolling SHMUP".