Vertical Games and Button Requirements

[wivelden]

Can someone tell me if the vertical MAME games require only two buttons or do some require three/four buttons.
This will help me in designing my control panel layout for my cocktail cabinet.
Thanks

[Drnick]

There are a fair chunk of games that can be set vertically that use 5 or 6 buttons.  But for the most part 4 should be plenty and covers things like all the metal slug games   So I would go with 4 buttons.

[Nephasth]

But for the most part 4 should be plenty and covers things like all the metal slug games   So I would go with 4 buttons.

  The Metal Slug series is horizontally oriented...

I say go with 3 buttons to cover vertical shmups.

[paigeoliver]

Can you name ONE 5 or 6 button vertical game. There certainly isn't a "good chunk". This is the sort of thing that I tend to be pretty knowledgeable about and I can't come up with a single one. Granted I haven't updated my copy of mame in over 5 years, but I really doubt 5 and 6 button vertical games suddenly started getting added left and right. I don't think Drnick knows what a vertical game is.

Are you using a 4-way or 8-way stick?

If you are using a 4-way stick then you need 2 buttons unless you want to play Mouse Trap in which case you need 4.

If you are using an 8-way stick then you should have at least 3 buttons but you will need 4 if you want to cover every possibility (Vanguard).

[NOP]

I concur with the 3 button suggestion:
http://waste.org/~winkles/winterMAME/pix/IMG_0145.jpg

3 buttons and u360's will do you very well, especially ones in cocktail mode.

[wivelden]

Im using switchable 8 way. I will have 4 way on the cocktail ends and 8 way on the third panel for both players. I guess I will add 4 buttons on the end panels then. Thanks guys

[monkey puzzle]

But for the most part 4 should be plenty and covers things like all the metal slug games   So I would go with 4 buttons.

  The Metal Slug series is horizontally oriented...

I say go with 3 buttons to cover vertical shmups.

Correct me if I'm wrong but also, don't the metal slug games use 3 buttons?

[Nephasth]

But for the most part 4 should be plenty and covers things like all the metal slug games   So I would go with 4 buttons.

  The Metal Slug series is horizontally oriented...

I say go with 3 buttons to cover vertical shmups.

Correct me if I'm wrong but also, don't the metal slug games use 3 buttons?

You would be correct!

[Louis Tully]

.

[NOP]

...and while you posted that, I was going to add a list of all the 4 button, cocktail, vertical games. (This is ignoring all the controls, only looking at buttons.)
This is also from mame 135, so YMMV.  Clones removed from this list.

D-Day (Jaleco set 1)
Image Fight (revision A, Japan)
Panic Road
Panther
Pinball Action (set 1)
Romar Triv
Speed Ball
Super Triv
Trivia Master (set 1)
Vanguard (SNK)


yawn.   IMO, 4 buttons just isn't worth it.

[Drnick]

@ Paigeoliver, Yes I do know what a vertical game is.    I looked at this early morning and did not notice that Sortinfo does not remember your selection when flipping between video and input so what I thought I had selected wasn't what I was looking at. My apologies for this, yes Metal slug is 3 buttons and horizontal. This was my bad, I suppose that's what you get for answering before the morning coffee.  

Here is the list from Mame 145, of all vertical games that use 4 buttons or more. Any inaccuracies are not my fault this time.   Looking at the list further you won't be missing out on much by using only 3 buttons

[NOP]

you're missing the fact that he's on a cocktail machine, so that list is actually much smaller.  Not many games support screen flipping.

[paigeoliver]

Wow they have added a lot of garbage since I last updated Mame. Lets just concentrate on the titles showing more than 4 buttons.

I see they still haven't gotten much better at getting the control info correct. Just at a quick glance I see tons of bad information about well known games. Toobin has 4 buttons and a start button, not 5 buttons. Heavy Barrel has two buttons and an 8-way rotary, not 5 buttons. Birdie Try has 2 buttons, not 5.

Most of that list is trivia games that you aren't going to be playing (that indeed are hard to even properly play naturally unless you mimic their control panel).

Next biggest category there is driving games where they are inappropriately counting the shifter as a stack of buttons. Normally driving games can be ignored in this sort of conversation because they almost all need unique control combinations that you basically have to build a custom panel for.

I see a few newer shooters that I am unfamiliar with (like Psyvariar 2). It is possible that those might actually use the number of buttons they list or it can also simply be the common (post 1990) issue of the hardware platform supporting more buttons than the game uses. I have seen this on Uo Poko, Space Invaders 95, and most Neo Geo games.

[wivelden]

Yea its a cocktail machine but it has a third 2 player panel on the front so I can play horizontal games then switch to the end when I want to play vertical games.

[Nephasth]

Toobin has 4 buttons and a start button, not 5 buttons.

Actually Toobin's 5th action button (throw can) doubles as a start button. So it is a 5 button game.

[paigeoliver]

It is still the start button and doesn't need to be any button separate from that one. It would be one thing if the controls data was consistent about when it classified start buttons that do double duty as separate buttons but it isn't.

Plus, Toobin sort of falls into the "Funny layout" category since it just isn't going to play nicely with most setups.

Toobin has 4 buttons and a start button, not 5 buttons.

Actually Toobin's 5th action button (throw can) doubles as a start button. So it is a 5 button game.

[Nephasth]

So are TMNT, Sunset Riders, and The Simpsons 1 button games since you use an action button as start?

Toobin plays just fine on a 6 or 7 button layout...

[paigeoliver]

So are TMNT, Sunset Riders, and The Simpsons 1 button games since you use an action button as start?

Toobin plays just fine on a 6 or 7 button layout...

Eh, the more important thing is that you still can't trust the info mame spits out. You can really call it a one button or a two button, but it should probably be consistent, either count the start buttons on every game or don't count them at all. Right now it is mostly not counting them except when sometimes it does.

[Nephasth]

Eh, the more important thing is that you still can't trust the info mame spits out.

Nor most of the info you spit out...

There's plenty of reliable information floating around based on original/dedicated games.

[paigeoliver]

There sure is plenty of reliable information based on the original games. Can't trust the mameinfo though, you never could.

Eh, the more important thing is that you still can't trust the info mame spits out.

Nor most of the info you spit out...

There's plenty of reliable information floating around based on original/dedicated games.

[Dawgz Rule]

Toobin......all depends on where that start button is......just sayin'