Defender and 6 button fighter control panel. Can it be done?

[boomerbrian]

I really want to play Defender but my kids are wanting to play Street Fighter and other fighting games. Has anyone been able to make a control panel that can handle both without too much compromise or having a frankenpanel?

[PL1]

TGov mentions one method here that works for him.


Scott

[Jack Burton]

Of course you can.  I always used this layout:

[boomerbrian]

I was looking to keep the original defender button layout. Thanks for the input though.

[PL1]

If you want to keep the original Defender layout (+ "inviso" for Stargate?), you might consider either a standalone panel for Defender/Stargate or swappable panels.


Scott

[wp34]

I've seen people mention using the 2nd player buttons for thrust, smart-bomb and fire. 

The thing for me is the reverse button has to be close to the joystick.  You have to be able to tap it without thinking or stretching.  With most 7-button layouts the reverse button is still to far away IMHO.

[TOK]

I put a thumb button for Reverse near my player 1 stick and used two of the top buttons in the player 2 setup and one below for thrust, fire and smart bomb. Hyperspace was the only button wildly out of place, I just mapped an easy button to reach for it.

The layout was a little wider than the real thing, but worked out fine... Definitely do-able!

[boomerbrian]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will probably try something like TOK mentioned.

TOK - do you have a build thread with this control panel layout?

[paigeoliver]

Go look at multiwilliams control panel overlays and add buttons until it supports the fighters you want to play.

[Cynicaster]

I put a thumb button for Reverse near my player 1 stick and used two of the top buttons in the player 2 setup and one below for thrust, fire and smart bomb. Hyperspace was the only button wildly out of place, I just mapped an easy button to reach for it.

The layout was a little wider than the real thing, but worked out fine... Definitely do-able!

This is pretty much what I do.  Player 1 stick moves you up and down.  The left-most button in the second row on the player 1 side is close enough to comfortably hit with my thumb, so that's reverse.  The other buttons are on the player 2 side. 

I also employ the player 2 buttons for Asteroids for slightly improved authenticity in the layout. 

Purists cringe, but a general purpose cab is a general purpose cab--compromises abound. 

I also use the "thumb button" trick on twin-stick titles like Battlezone and Rescue.  It works OK so long as the thumb button is used only intermittently; if you have to mash it, then forget it.  For example, just last night I played Mad Planets for the first time and found it just too difficult to always be using the thumb button while accurately moving the joystick.  It's a shame, because that game seems really awesome.   

 

[gatordad]

More easily accomplished with a 7 button layout per each player
Can play fighters as well as get creative for classics
Lower buttons in the config I dispay below can be used for neo geo stuff as well
Use player 1 joystick for up down
Use player 1 button 4 for reverse

Use player 2 button 2 for thrust
Use player 2 button 3 for fire
Use player 2 button 4 for smartbomb
Use player 2 button 7 for hyperspace

     1     2    3
     4     5    6
7

You get the idea

[TOK]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will probably try something like TOK mentioned.

TOK - do you have a build thread with this control panel layout?

I don't even remember... This is on my original MAME machine I built in like 2004.
I'm a Defender freak, so after this machine I built a bartop with a dedicated Defender layout, then still went out and bought a real Defender machine. 

Here are pics of the panel. I'd put this at about 80% the playability of the real thing, 90%+ with the simple switch to a lower balltop joystick. My gaudy color choice of buttons will be helpful with the explanation!

You can see the reverse button on the side of the stick (I did it on both sides because it also somewhat mimic's a Neo Geo layout), then on the player two side, I'd use the blue for Thrust, yellow for Fire and orange for Smart bomb... The thumb button on the player 2 side could be used as Inviso for Stargate, but its a bit of a reach. I used the red on the main layout of the player 2 side for Hyperspace.