Large screen or small screen

[Captain]

I play most of my shmups on PC, emulators and all as well as the PC exclusives.

I have a really large monitor.

For me, this is a double edged sword. If I have to do precise dodging and focus on my ship/character, i have a much easier time.

However if I have to keep an eye on everything, if enemies have fast bullets, or I'm practicing scoring patterns, i have to move the screen away for a better view '-'.

What do you prefer?

[eatfrog]

i prefer it to be about the same size as on an arcade cabinet. that is actually quite big compared to gaming on the tv in your living room while sitting on the couch.

[Strikers1945guy]

Arcade cab monitor size seems best to me. Not sure the exact dimensions but I've used a supergun before on large and small monitors and the arcade cab monitor seems erfect if not a little too big. You're also sitting really close to it though.

[Xyga]

What I wrote not long ago in another thread: for playing sitting in front it's 21~25" for me.
Because of my eye's specs and annoying glasses, the 29" (actually 27") of the japanese candy cabs are a bit too much for my viewing comfort.

In any case with LCD's I tend to sit further than CRT's because of the more important eye fatigue those usually induce.

I'd say the correct answer is "it depends". :p
- on one's eyesight
- on the type of display

[Stevens]

Personally it is more of a question of how far away am I sitting?

If I'm playing on my 24 inch crt I sit 4 -5 feet away, if I'm playing on the lcd I sit a bit further away cause the screen is larger.

Or like Xyga said -

I'd say the correct answer is "it depends". :p
- on one's eyesight
- on the type of display

[Doctor Butler]

A smallish/mid-size CRT. Works best.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The distance between your eye(s) and screen must be just right (various eyesight impairments affect this parameter). Generally, further distance is easier on the human eye, so if you must discern fine detail - bigger screen is better for the job. It always take place in some physical space, though, so if you don't have room to position yourself further from a large screen, smaller will be more efficient.

[Aisha]

I think viewing distance is more important to me. When CAVE started porting all of their games to the 360, that was my first real foray into playing shmups on actual consoles, and I found that I performed better sitting closer to the TV than farther away; it felt like I had visual input lag the farther away I sat -- not lag on the screen, but my ability to process what was happening on it. Similarly, my confidence with Mushihimesama skyrocketed when I got a chance to compare it on MAME versus my PS2 since I'm able to sit really close to my PC monitor (although part if the reason is also I could use a keyboard instead of a pad, which I'm hopeless with).

[Obiwanshinobi]

it felt like I had visual input lag the farther away I sat -- not lag on the screen, but my ability to process what was happening on it.

This morning I was thinking about how come we can dream so much in a very brief period of time. Is the thought faster than physical world? I doubt it, but no matter how fast the reality around us, our perception always lags behind. So, we don't dream as much as we seem to think - it's just that we don't dream up the stuff we wouldn't take in anyways. Our dreams must be like film set.

[copy-paster]

14 inch CRT is normal one though, despite some cabs had size like that.

[Kollision]

Even though I'll play on any screen size (I even learned to cope with the PSP screen), I tend to favor larger sets and I also tend to play really close to the screen.

[Jeneki]

However if I have to keep an eye on everything, if enemies have fast bullets, or I'm practicing scoring pattern i have to move the screen away for a better view '-'.

I ran into this issue the first time I played Raiden II on a candy cab. Big 29" screen right next to me, and suddenly those sniper enemies got a lot more effective. Caught me by surprise as I normally do a bit better on a cab.

[SMC]

I'm slightly less bad now that my TV is in front of my face instead of a few feet away.

[evil_ash_xero]

I like to play on large TVs, but I do much better with a smaller one, and sitting kind of close to it (for shmups, obviously).

Especially on a computer monitor. I do way better on those. The clarity has something to do with it as well.

I prefer to play XBox 360 shmups on a 24 inch monitor. Even if they look better on my 36 inch Trinitron (like Guwange or Muchi Muchi Pork).
But if it's too small (say, playing it on said monitor, but not in TATE), I do worse.

[monouchi]

29" crt in cab.

[chempop]

29" crt in cab.

Same here, but I have such strong glasses that everything is considerably smaller for me (pretty extreme near sightedness).
I can see how a 27/29” is too big especially if you aren’t used to it.

[waiwainl]

29" crt in cab.

same here