What's the proper button configuration for the MK series?

[AlanS17]

The button configuration MK games on my machine are all kinda messy. If I spent a while working on it I could probably figure it out, but I figured it would be easier to ask here about it. I have a 6 button layout:

123
456

How would I configure MK to look like this?

HP BL HK
LP BL LK

I seems easier said than done.

[walls83]

what are you going to do about the "RUN" button..?  Heres how I have mine configed..

HP HK BLK
LP LK RUN

[matt888]

 The MK series layout is like this...

    HP  HK
       BL
    LP   LK
 RN

but I would suggest putting BL in the middle of the top and bottom rows.  Also, the game config looks at the buttons as:

    1     2
       3
    4     5
  6

But, there's more!  For some reason, I have found that Mame.72 (and maybe other versions) have mix up the 1 and 2 buttons for this series, so configure your HP as button 2, and HK as button 1 !!!

Obviously, RUN should go in the middle of the bottom row instead of the extra BL if you don't have 7 buttons!
Everyone confused yet?    

[Cisco Kid]

yup a seven button layout would be gravey ... Neo Geo, Street Fighter, MK

    1  2  3
    4  5  6
 7

1= HP
2=BLK
3= HK
4=LP
5=BLK
6=LK
7=RN

I can hear a drill in the background going ... hehe

[DaveMMR]

Ah that run button was always a needless addition (and MK3 and UMK3 needless sequels).  But for the first two MKs (a/k/a the "good" Mortal Kombats) I just made both middle buttons blocks.  

P.S. - Yup, it me takes like an hour to configure the controls for any MK game.  

[AlanS17]

It's very unlikely that I will add a #7 button.

Thanks for the info, though, yall. This will make everything a lot easier on me. I may not even use a run button for MK3. I never used it.

[matt888]

Yeah... run sucks.  No one wants to see a "No mercy" "Anamality" anyways.......what lame stuff!  I can handle the friendships and babalities as they were ironic in a game like that but it sure got old in MK3 on.

Ditch the run!

[u_rebelscum]

Although pretty much answered already, I'd like to put my 2 cents in about the differences between a "control panel button 1" and "mame's game button 1"  (Mentioned in mameworld arcade cab forum, but BYOAC keeps info longer so...)

Mk3 is not a "standard" layout, and even layouts can have different "numbering". Do not confuse the control panel button numbers with mame button numbers. To clear things up a bit, I'll number control panel buttons c1-c6, and mame's game buttons as m1-m6

Your panel layout is

c1 c2 c3
c4 c5 c6

You want

c1 hp
c2 run
c3 hk
c4 lp
c5 block
c6 lk

(personally, I'd flip run and block, but that's just IMO)

Mame MK3 driver buttons are assigned:

m1 hk
m2 hp
m3 block
m4 lp
m5 lk
m6 run


So here's two ways of looking mapping this to what you want:

m1 mapped to c3
m2 mapped to c1
m3 mapped to c5
m4 mapped to c4
m5 mapped to c5
m6 mapped to c2

and

m2 m6 m1
m4 m5 m3

whichever is easier for people to visualize.

I hope this helps

(Note: The person I answered in the mameworld forum wanted a different layout than you.)

In mame 0.72u2, the mk driver is also:
m1 = hk
m2 = hp
m3 = bl
m4 = lp
m5 = lk

[matt888]

Good stuff rebelscum.  

[Cisco Kid]

Yeah... run sucks.  No one wants to see a "No mercy" "Anamality" anyways.......what lame stuff!  I can handle the friendships and babalities as they were ironic in a game like that but it sure got old in MK3 on.

Ditch the run!

I have to disagree with that statement ....

yeah the "Mercy" and most of the Animalities sucked (few cool ones) ... but the RUN button is key in MK3 and up.  Maybe not so much against the AI but against a human opponent its a whole different story.

I spent most of my late teens playing the MK series in the arcades (tournaments and such) and I can tell you if you didn't know how to use the RUN button you were toast.  You didn't use the RUN button you spent a whole 15 seconds blocking and being thrown to death.

It was like a button to switch the action into hyper drive (basically Midways answer to Capcom's Hyper and Turbo editions).

What I didn't like about the MK3 and up was the tapping combos ... any idiot with no skill could jump into the game and tap out a 30% - 40% combo .... which really took away from the earlier series ... air juggling which inflicted less damage and require more skill ... now that sucked!

[matt888]

No way man!  My point is that anything after MK2 let me down...90% because of that Run!  Yes, Midway wanted to change things up, but change doesn't always mean for the better!

I respect your opinion though!  

[walls83]

You have to have the run button.  there are fatalities that use the run button. SUBZEROS for example bl, bl, run, bl, run.  And if you dont use the run button on UMK3 I would guess that your not very good at it.  A good UMK3 player doesnt have to just use specials. Run button gets you in there when an opponent misses their special..

[Howard_Casto]

Anything after mk2 was a bomb for midway until mkda.  

Mkda removed the run button and used the "slower, more fluid" movements of mk2 in leu of the sf2-like combos used in mk3 and mkt (we don't count mk4 as it was sort of a test run for 3d and had it's own distinct style).

So even though this thread is WAAAY off topic I thought I needed to put my 2 cents in, being the mk king and all.

Money doesn't lie..... games with the run button in them didn't make as much money, once it was ditched they started being successful again.  

As to if the run button is important for playing mk3... Well duh it is!  Game designers don't just put an extra button on a cab to make it look pretty.  That's like saying the "bomb" button isn't important on 19XX just because you can technically finish the game without it.  

Stick a 7th button on there, as it's diagonal it doesn't take up any extra room and it comes in handy for a slew of games.  

[said7]

I was goin througnh the same thing you were thats why i came up with this button layout.

 416
 234
1

Trust me it works perfect. You only need 6 buttons and you can run all fighters like a champ.

1 being the run button. (i like the run button.) 3 being block. This setup also lets you run all classics and neo geo without changin to many settings.

[Hoe]

Money doesn't lie..... games with the run button in them didn't make as much money, once it was ditched they started being successful again.  

How does that mean it was the run buttons fault?

Mortal Kombats that didn't use roman numberals in their title didn't make as much money. And I some what doubt that that was it.

Mortal Kombats that wern't full of overly played out gimmics and rubbishy combosystems did well.

[Howard_Casto]

How does that mean it was the run buttons fault?

Mortal Kombats that didn't use roman numberals in their title didn't make as much money. And I some what doubt that that was it.

Mortal Kombats that wern't full of overly played out gimmics and rubbishy combosystems did well.

Mortal Kombats WITH roman numerals in the title made the most money (mkII  mkV).

The played out gimmck WAS the ability to run. The "rubbishy combo system" as you put it was based around the stinkin run button.  

So please make sure you link you counter points together with correct information and logic before you post them.  

[Hoe]

Mortal Kombats that didn't use roman numberals in their title didn't make as much money. And I some what doubt that that was it.

Mortal Kombats WITH roman numerals in the title made the most money (mkII  mkV).

Hi. That is what I said. Thanks.

The played out gimmck WAS the ability to run. The "rubbishy combo system" as you put it was based around the stinkin run button.

It was based around the run button? Nope.

"Note to staff. Run buttons can cause franchies downfall, it's not repeating noveltys. Thanks, -Boss"

EOF.