How many Control Buttons (start, pause, exit, etc) are reccommended?

[brownicus15]

I'm a first time Multicade builder, and I'm trying to find out exactly how many control buttons will be enough to do everything I need to do, like start, pause, select, all of that.

Any suggestions?

[rackoon]

I have only enter, exit, and pause on my control panel. 
I leave the rest of to keyboard I hide under my control panel.

If you run a good frontend you wont need to clutter up things.

[Dazz]

I have P1-4 start

I have dedicated Exit and Pause buttons on the back side of my control panel.  Everything else is done via Shifted buttons through the IPAC4.

[bradx]

yup, theyre shifted functions.  i dont have any buttons on my cab that wouldnt be on a real arcade cab.

[SavannahLion]

Shift and even that's hidden.

Pause is for testing if you're talking about arcade cabs.

[wweumina]

I recommend none unless they are hidden. I put Pause and Exit on mine and regret it. Amazing how many people still ask if they can pause or how do they exit though.  I think every first time builder thinks they should add lots of those buttons and I think most 2nd builds get rid of them altogether.

[severdhed]

I like a pause button, but that can also be a shifted function.  the only admin button you shouldn't do without is an exit button.  I have not added an exit button to my DK cabinet yet, and people get confused when they have to hit a button combo to get back to the menu.  guests don't need to even know they can pause the games, but anyone who plays your cabinet will need to exit back to the menu, and without an obvious way to do this, it is confusing for them.

[JustMichael]

I have only 3 dedicated "admin" type buttons.  One is used to launch Mame from the frontend.  That button is also used to exit Mame back to the frontend.  Pause game (often used especially for bio breaks) and reset game (hardly used).

[SophT]

With a combination of HyperSpin and Xpadder I don't have any admin buttons.  At least dedicated ones anyways....

p1 start - starts a game
p1 start + p2 start = exit game.

that's about all you need.  I DO have an "extra" profile that I had loaded in xpadder, that's off by default that allows for some more key combos:

p1 start + p1:1 = pause
p1 start + p1:2 = soft reset
p1 start + p1:3 = tab (mame menu)

this "admin mode" is probably only enabled when you're trying to screw around with something in the background- but you can still play games, because nobody really ever holds down the start button and starts mashing buttons.

[bradx]

I like a pause button, but that can also be a shifted function.  the only admin button you shouldn't do without is an exit button.  I have not added an exit button to my DK cabinet yet, and people get confused when they have to hit a button combo to get back to the menu.  guests don't need to even know they can pause the games, but anyone who plays your cabinet will need to exit back to the menu, and without an obvious way to do this, it is confusing for them.

huh, hold 1P down and tap 2P is that tough?  it might be confusing for a second or two, but theyll get the hang of it.  no escape button on my control panels and noone from little kids to old people has been unable to grasp the concept so far anyways. 

[WhereEaglesDare]

What about those CPs that have a extra stick up near the top of the panel?  It that usually a fourway?  is it used for something administrative?

[DashRendar]

What about those CPs that have a extra stick up near the top of the panel?  It that usually a fourway?  is it used for something administrative?

People usually put either a 4-way (for Pac Man, etc), a Tron stick, or a flight stick in that spot.