How do you handle shoulder buttons on a cab?

[FALSE]

I'd like to know how a consoles shoulder buttons are handled on an arcade control panel.
I plan on having a 7 button layout a row of 3 above a row of 7.
How will a console play that has shoulder buttons on it's controller?

Like even snes has 4 buttons and an L and R button.
How comfortable is that to play on a 6 button layout?

[DaveMMR]

Depends on which console you're emulating, really. Systems like SNES, PS1, N64: they're just like any other buttons. But when they're analog like Dreamcast, it's treated like an analog stick - regular buttons will not emulate them properly.  Some of the newer consoles have buttons that are pressure sensitive (PS2 in particular) but it only affects a small number of games and you'd get by with regular buttons for the games you'd want to play on an arcade cab (e.g. not Metal Gear Solid 2, etc.)

Here is how the many stick manufacturers for the SNES handled the shoulder buttons (the greys are the shoulders):


You could always remap to whatever works for you and the games you play though.


 

[Ginsu Victim]

SNES:
YXL
BAR

[Howard_Casto]

I'd like to know how a consoles shoulder buttons are handled on an arcade control panel.
I plan on having a 7 button layout a row of 3 above a row of 7.
How will a console play that has shoulder buttons on it's controller?

Like even snes has 4 buttons and an L and R button.
How comfortable is that to play on a 6 button layout?

The real anwser.... you don't... console games are meant to be played with a gamepad.  The games that do work well with an arcade controller are typically ports of arcade games already in mame. 

[Green Giant]

You plug in a USB gamepad with shoulder buttons.

Any console import that uses more than 6-7 buttons is not a good game for an arcade controller.

[jasonl2972]

I was going to ask this same type of question after seeing alot of cabs running so many emulators and wondered how they'd handle controllers like the playstation 2.But this is why i like this forum so much,i did a quick search and it lead me to this post and now i have my answer.
 I can see having some games from a console on a mame cab,like some fighter games,but for the most part alot of them should be kept on the console and played there and now that makes sense to me.
 When i put in the console games on my cab,i think i will choose more carefully what console games i will install taking into consideration how well it would work with standard arcade controls.

[Howard_Casto]

Well the answer to that is people don't think.

They design their mame cab without ever taking the time to actually play mame and some of the games that they want to play.  If they did then we wouldn't see 4 player cabinets with 10 buttons per player, two trackballs, and 14 dedicated admin buttons.    The problem is once you've invested all that time and money on your frankenpanel, you'll feel defensive about it and adimently deny to anyone asking that those extra controls are useless.

[Malenko]

The real anwser.... you don't... console games are meant to be played with a gamepad.  The games that do work well with an arcade controller are typically ports of arcade games already in mame. 

While this is mostly valid, SNES and genesis era had a TON of side scrolling beatem ups and fighting games that work great with a street fighter layout. Games like Earthworm Jim, TMNT Tournament fighters, Final Fight 2 (3...not so much), Streets of Rage, MegaManX series, Super Punch out, and a lot more.

I believe the point howard is trying to make (and this is my interpretation) is dont make too many extra buttons and changes for games you'll rarely if ever play. Its great to have all the games in the world on a cab but if they never get played or your panel is such a mess they arent playable, then whats the point of having them?

[BobA]

I usually assign the shoulder buttons to pinball buttons on the sides of the cab.

[Howard_Casto]

The real anwser.... you don't... console games are meant to be played with a gamepad.  The games that do work well with an arcade controller are typically ports of arcade games already in mame. 

While this is mostly valid, SNES and genesis era had a TON of side scrolling beatem ups and fighting games that work great with a street fighter layout. Games like Earthworm Jim, TMNT Tournament fighters, Final Fight 2 (3...not so much), Streets of Rage, MegaManX series, Super Punch out, and a lot more.

I believe the point howard is trying to make (and this is my interpretation) is dont make too many extra buttons and changes for games you'll rarely if ever play. Its great to have all the games in the world on a cab but if they never get played or your panel is such a mess they arent playable, then whats the point of having them?

Eh not really.  You got my point BUT 90% of the games you just mentioend don't play well on an arcade cabinet.  This has nothing to do with the controls and everything to do with the pacing.  Final Fight series and Streets of Rage sure... those were designed with the arcade in mind  MMX, EWJ... nope those games are too long, they aren't well suited for a cab.  Platformers in general kind of suck with arcade controls... I think nintendo was smart to stop releasing smb in the arcade.   Super Punch Out.....  well it you like losing, it's playable, but the game is so time critical that it really plays better with a gamepad.


But I'm nit-picking here. 

Yeah that's exactly what I mean.  You build your cab around an average of what most games will need, you don't build it with the intention of having enough buttons to handle every game and situation possible.  Otherwise, like you said, you've got a hot-mess that isn't playable.

[Malenko]

whats 90% of 6 games when you agree with 1/2 of them? 

I was strictly talking about playability with arcade controls, not the leg/neck/back ache of standing there trying to finish Final Fantasy 6 at a cab   As for Super Punch Out, I dont think it'd be unpossible to play, but definitely harder then with a controller/game pad. The best example I can think of would be Zelda:Link to the Past, you *COULD* totally play it standing in front of a MAME cab, but I totally wouldnt want to.

[FALSE]

I 'll just go on record since I started the thread...
I dont intend to have some franken panel that  with tons and tons of buttons.
I figured the shoulder buttons would be laid out in line with the other buttons but wanted to see if there were any other alternatives.

I'm actually not even building a cab atm, I'm just going to build a control panel to use while sitting until I have the room for a cab.

[Malenko]

well super nintendo works just fine with the "street fighter" layout

XYL      LXR
ABR  or YBA

genesis is more obvious:

XYZ
ABC