What's needed to control/navigate in BigBox?

[Exhile]

Hi, 
I am building an Arcade Cabinet and will use BigBox
I was wondering what are the Controllers I should have to navigate?

Do I absolutely need to have access to a Mouse/Keyboard?

I have seen people with Trackballs on their build, are they using it for navigation or it's mostly just because they are playing games that requires it?
I have also seen some with this kind of wheel (not sure what it's called?) Is it used to scroll through games? 

Any recommendation?

Thanks!

[DerSchlachter]

You can set your controls to

- Gamepad/Joystick
or
- Arcadestick and Buttons
or
- Trackball
or
Keyboard 

[C-Beats]

All the core functionality in Big Box can be utilized using a 4 way joystick and two buttons.

[JoeViking245]

The controls you'll use to navigate BigBox are the controls you'll have on your cabinet.  Those controls (buttons, joystick(s) and trackball) will be connected to your encoder, aka a control interface such as an I-PAC which converts the movements and button presses to mouse and keyboard inputs.

The mysterious "wheel" you show is a "dial (or "spinner") used on a handful of machines such as Tempest.  It's not required to be able to play those games, but makes playing a bit more authentic.

Same thing with a trackball.  Think Centipede.   The trackball can also be used as your mouse movements.  Though not really used in BigBox.

Your player 1 joystick will (should) be mapped to your keyboards up/down/left/right arrow keys.  That's how you'll navigate through your platforms and games.

You can add dedicated buttons to you cab and assign them the Select and Back and other things you use in BB.  But that tends to start cluttering up your control panel.  On mine, I mapped Player_1-Start button ("1") to Select and the Pause button ("P") to Back.  

Your encoder will also have a 'hold' button.  On mine it's Player_1-Start.  And to 'press' the keyboards Escape key, it's the button combo Player_1-Start & Pause.  To press 'Enter', it's Player_1-Start & Player_1-Coin ("5").

 

11 hours ago, Exhile said:

Do I absolutely need to have access to a Mouse/Keyboard?

That's a loaded question.  You'll of course need "access" to them for setup purposes and making changes/additions/deletions in LaunchBox.  Mine are in a 'hidden' tray below the control panel.  When setup is complete, you can stow away the mouse and keyboard and simply use your available controls on your panel for navigating BigBox.

 

You can find some ideas for building you cab (inside and out) from beginning-to-end here:

 

[Exhile]

Thanks a lot for the info!!!