Optimal Six Button Config

[MUKid]

Ah, it's the weekend, which means another 2 or 3 days of arcade cab fun!  This weekend's project is to get my buttons laid out on my control panel and wire it up.

I've got a 2-player, 4-button prototype panel that I've put together to experiment with over the last few weeks.  I've got my 4 buttons set up in a slightly skewed diamond pattern, which is very comfortable and works well for all the games I usually play.  Since it's a diamond, the main button is by itself and to the left, which works great for a lot of the single-button games I enjoy.  I can easily reach the second button with my middle finger with my hand in a nice comfortable position -- much more ergonomic than putting them straight across in a line.  It looks like this:

     o
  o   o
    o


So now I'm getting ready to add two more buttons to each station so I can play Street Fighter.  I'm thinking I'm just going to keep the same diamond config, and add the fifth and sixth buttons just to the right of my diamond.  Thing is, it looks really weird when I draw it out, so that I'm not sure if it'd work or not.  It seems like it would be very comfortable, but I'd think more CPs would use this arrangement if that were the case.  It's going to look something like this:

      o   o
  o    o  o
     o    

How do people set up their six button panels, and what has or hasn't worked for you guys when you make your panel?

[SirPoonga]

It's personal preference.  Buttons as close as possible is good.

I like my format. Some like the straight rows that fighters use.

[Serpent]

I feel this layout to be very confortable and versatile, since you can play most games with it. You have 2 rows of 3 buttons, which works well as an ergonomic version for 6-button fighting games. You also have 4 buttons in the upper row, including one for the first finger (thumb), which is perfect for Neogeo games. Ignoring the thumb, you can play games using 3 or 2 buttons with the any of the rows  (eg: 2nd finger for fire, 4th for jump and 5th for special). The buttons are placed according to the lenght and position of the fingers.

[zero-one]

That last button layout is similar to mine. I've added a 7th button (button 4/D) to get an authentic Neo-Geo layout. I've also angled the top row to the left for better ergonomics.

I'm quite happy with it as I get the 2x3 layout for Street Fighter, the flat X layout for Mortal Kombat (with the run button as button 5), and the Neo-Geo layout.

[Mugzilla]

Make sure your layout is comfortable. Those buttons look to be in the right place, in regards to length of human fingers.

BUT,... what about the angle of your wrists and forearms to get your hands over top of them?

[tsaavik]

DOH! i did a 6 button 3x2 but i did it

123
456

i guess

456
123

is more "normal"?

[MiKman]

DOH! i did a 6 button 3x2 but i did it

123
456

I find whatever works for you, you cna remamp the buttons for whatever you are doing.  if button 1 is your primary button then you might find yourself reaching over the lower row in your top example for any 1 button games, unless you remap every one button game to use button 4.  I think everyone uses the other one because it's easier to remap the layout for a few fighter games to get the punch/kick buttons correct versus remaping every other game in mame to use buttons 4-6 instead of 1-3... I'm babbling I will stop now :-)

[grafixmonkey]

If you've ever played Beatmania, or would like to try it (play along with music, timing / speed / accuracy game) then make your buttons so you can fit five fingers comfortably on buttons at the same time.  Serpent's design looks like it would do well in that respect.  I think the button layout usually won't hurt your gameplay much after you get used to it (unless you're a trained grandmaster in some fighter game),   but having five fingers on buttons at the same time is absolutely essential in beatmania.

example... I have something close to MuKid's design - take three buttons in a row, then move the leftmost button down a half inch or so, then duplicate that vertically to get six.  It was real hard to fit five fingers at once  using the bottom three as "white keys" and the leftmost top two as "black keys", then I tried moving my little finger to the top right button so my hand fit better, and immediately beat all of my existing high scores.