A question about screen size and viewing distance

[davyK]

For a while now I've been playing DDP:Res and Futari on my 360 on a 50" screen, sitting about 8 feet away.

Yesterday I sat up close to it as I'm having issues with navigating once bullet patterns get tight. Got my high score playing Futari 1.5 Original with normal Reco (got deep into level 4 - scoring 70m).

I have a CRT in my spare room I currently have rotated (25") and I'll play my Saturn and PS2 games on that. Sitting pretty close to that.

Since these games are designed to be played in cabinets, what's the opinion on screen sizes and viewing distances when playing console STGs?

[Stevens]

I sit 8 to 10 feet away on a 46' hd.

The CRT I picked is 24', but I have to sit closer in that room(5 feet) and I think it is too big. I think an 18' would be perfect.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ask your eyes - your mimic muscles (preferably all muscles you are not using for stuff like operating a controller and blinking) should be fairly relaxed as you play. If they are not - there's something sub-optimal about either your condition or gaming setup.
Being designed to stand in arcades doesn't necessarily equal best for one's performance - certain kinds of comfort take room that your average arcade operator did not have to spare.

Spoiler

[fakeXsound]

I'd say it depends on your play style. I often very quickly glance up to find where the enemies are and then focus just north of the character or right on the hit box when there are lots of bullets flying around. As long as I'd be able to quickly go back and forth between those two or three places, I'd be fine. But again, it's more about where you tend to focus your eyes.

[KevinDDR]

I mean, on a candy cab you're sitting about a foot away from a 27/29 inch monitor. Not saying that's necessarily optimal but that's the condition that most superplayers achieved their world records under. I think ultimately it just comes down to whatever hurts your eyes and back the least, but you're unlikely to go wrong starting from that kind of position.

[Jeneki]

It also depends on the style of game. For games with dense, slower patterns I perform better on a 29 inch cab than a smaller screen. But when I play something like Raiden the opposite is true; on the larger screen I miss seeing sniper tanks and get tagged far more often.

[jasoncslaughter]

A 25 or 26" monitor from a couple of feet away works the best for me. When I started getting into shmups, I was playing on a 40" TV from about 8 feet away, and I was certain that I was the worst shmup player in history. After making the transition to cabs and trying out different monitor sizes, I'm only mildly terrible on a 26" monitor.

[Xyga]

When it's LCD I'm in favor of putting a little more distance, especially those with low PPI and maybe an uncomfortable LED backlight (with slow PWM for instance).
But different panels have different optimal viewing angles/distance so that too will matter.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I find that if I play shmups on too large of a screen I have trouble "taking it all in".
Seeing how the shot pattern is evolving and where the gaps will close and pinch in next.