I think you're right... But, also for the fact that you might want to have both an art overlay for trackball and deck and also a bezel overlay for the lcd screen to show how to hit the type of shots and the numbers for the track ball.... Those really help....

Now... For my top 10...
I love beat em ups and I actually have my own top 10 list of just beat em ups... But, I'll include my all time top 10 mame games... Light gun games will not be included, as those don't emulate as well... Best to own those cabs... But, some really exciting news should be coming soon with the new camera light gun being developed.

1. X-men I think this might be the best beat em up ever... Jump, punch, and special mutant power button. 6 playable characters. All unique, really cool mutant powers... Dazzler is the worst... But, still cool to play as... Lots of amazing bosses... Good presentation. And really nice and varied enemy design. Also love the sentinels exploding... Oh... and great animations.

2. TMNT the first one... And while the 2nd arcade machine is the better machine... This is my top ten... Not what games are the best... And this game wowed me when I first played it... I remember where I was when I first played it... And to me it felt like the cartoon. Just amazing. Loved it so much... Only played it for 1 or two credits... But, it left a mark on me... And even though I said the 2nd one was better... The first is still one of the best beat em ups ever still.

3. Double Dragon I said there would be a lot of beat em ups and to be honest... I don't know which one I played more or liked more... Didn't really play DD in the arcade that much. Mostly the ports and I had the handheld tiger which I could beat as a kid. Still... Loved double dragon and I beat both in mame recently... Both great games...

4. Frenzy I love both Berzerk and Frenzy... I'm not putting both on this list... Just know both are amazing and worth playing... But, I think frenzy edges it out for a few reasons... The breakable walls. So you can choose where you exit the maze, and you can shoot and stun evil otto. But, he comes back pissed off and faster afterwards. But, really this is just one of the best pure arcade games you can ever play. Graphics are bland... Sound is pretty cool... Gameplay is amazing. AMAZING!

5. WWF Wrestlefest Without a doubt this was my 2nd or third favorite arcade game as a kid. And the two main arcades that I went to had one of these. And I would always play 50 cents to a dollars worth on this game... I got pretty good in tag team too. As I could get to the 3rd and sometimes 4th match on just one cred... One time I got to one match away from the Road Warriors... This game is just not only one of the greatest wrestling games ever, its just fun to play.

6. Narc Ohhh man... I love 80s action movies. I own almost all of Dolph Lundgrens movies, stallones, arnolds, mark dacascos, olivier gruner, Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and the American Ninja himself Michael Dudikoff. Narc is basically an 80s action movie turned into a video game. Lots of violence and drugs... No nudity though... Anyway... Love this game. Its insane and over the top. You are a cop but are armed with an uzi and a rocket launcher and you just kill the baddies... But, you can also bust them as well... Loved the graphics at the time. Really nice and bloody game where you can blow people to bits. Love, love this game... But, as a kid it was really hard... I still can't beat Mr. Big without saving up all my rockets to beat him.

7.Knights of the Round Whenever I was low on founds at an arcade I would go and play this game. Mainly because I knew one to two credits could last me a good long time on this game. Loved the art style and it really is a top notch beat em up. One of the best ever.

8. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs Just an amazing and wild beat em up game. I really like the weapon pick ups for this game. They are both frequent and powerful. And they look cool when you use them. Some games the weapon pickups animation are weak... 4 playable characters, and one of the hottest and baddest female characters in a brawler ever. She can dust knuckles with the best of em. Good enemy selection and I like that you don't have to fight the dinos... Great looking and great playing game.

9. Metal Slug You can pick any of the first 5 of them. They're all amazing and fun to play... Sure some might be better than others... But, man what a game. Love the animations. Just fast paced and violent. and while I always stunk at it... I always loved to play it. One of the very best run and gun shooters ever made.

10. Captain America and the Avengers... Surprise another beat em up... But, this is truly an amazing game. 4 playable characters, each with a weapon/supermove that doesn't penalize you. Each character plays different and you have to use different strategies with each one. The spirte are a bit smaller than most of the beat em ups at the time, but still detailed and look nice. But, the key thing is... Because of the smaller sprites they have more enemies on screen. And that really makes this game shine. As the enemies typically are much easier to dispose of than even more beat em ups, and this helps make you feel more overpowered and heroic. So while more enemies... Doesn't make the game seem harder... Just more people to beat down. This also has shoot em up aspects to it. As it has 2 levels(maybe a third...) where the game turns into a horizontal shooter. And it works... Its a fun stage and helps break up the monotony that plagues the genre. Lastly... This might have the absolute best presentation and story of any beat em up game ever. Just amazing the comic book presentation.

Honorable mention... I would put this in the top 10... But, you'd need a really good arcade emulation pc and can't use a pi to run this one.
Star Wars Trilogy arcade. Love this game. Love all the flying modes. And the shooter levels... I suck at the light saber levels... I hope maybe one day to own this cab actually.

And that is my list... Mostly beat em ups... But, a few run and gun games... I'm not the biggest shoot em up or bullet hell fan... I've played a few... Raiden mostly and enjoy them... But, they're not my cup of tea. And fighting games... I enjoy those... But, I suck so badly at them. I can't beat the first opponent in street fighter 2 turbo... Hate turbo so much... And I love light gun games... Lethal Enforces, Virtual Cop 1 and 2, and House of the Dead!!!! But, again... As mame games go... Those aren't hte best.
But, yeah 6 out of my 10 are beat em ups. Hope you all like my list!!!!!

Ohhhh... Cloak and Dagger... That's a fun game. A mix of Robotron and ... well... Quite frankly I don't know what else... But, what I like about it, is its not just about killing enemies. You can avoid them, the main purpose is to set off the bomb and get the heck out of there.

Really fun and challenging game. Has a few secrets.
I know this is a mame thread and not arcade 1up... But, I'd love a robotron, smash tv, Cloak and Dagger... And another game on a cab from them. That would be a cab worth owning... Or as both Smash tv and robocop would say... I'd buy that for a dollar.

Never heard of that game before. Looks to be a weird, but fun game... Going to add it to my list of games to play. And its always a fun day when I learn of a new arcade game. New for me... But, you all know what I mean.

Guy has priorities... Gotta respect that.

Thanks.
I know they're not really real cabs... But, I hope arcade1up will make a double dragon cab... Among others... I like they're 3/4 scaled size and I Like the idea of having dedicated controller layouts for the game. And I do think they're quality is improving and they're fun to have. Multicades are fun too... But, just something about seeing a whole bunch of those in my gameroom that I like... But, my house is small and I don't have room for full sized cabs, and I am not a big fan of crt machines.
But, I do think when I move to another house I probably will pick up a few real full sized cabs. Would love a time crisis and it be amazing to get a star wars trilogy arcade. Either the smaller of full sized sit down one.

Never played the arcade game. But, as a kid I owned a turbo grafx 16 and I only ever got 3 games for it. As I was both not the richest kid in the world, and the games were hard to find..> And so I bought games for my sega instead. Raiden was one of the 3 games I owned. The others were Jack Nichclaus golf and Keith Courage... Keith Courage is an alright game... And the golf game... Was a golf game... I still played the heck out of all three... But, I really played the heck out of Raiden...

Never could beat it. But, got really far into the game. I think I could beat the first level on the arcade with one cred. As its the same pattern from the T 16 game.
Will say this... Not a really big fan of horizontal or vertical shooters. They hold my attention for a few minutes, but I just get bored with them too soon.

I really enjoy playing Cybattler. That is a fun shooter. You're a flying mech that has a sword and it has a nice shooting mechanic to it as well... Might not be the best shooter ever. But, I really enjoy those type of shooters and so I enjoy it.

You got to use the 2 player simpsons not the 4. That is why you can't select your players as the 4 player cab had dedicated controllers for the characters.