If you think about it, on a real ps2 joystick you can't use the directional pad and the left analog stick at the same time anyway (unless you have 2 left thumbs)
Same with can't use both the right analog stick & the four top buttons at the same time (unless you have 2
right thumbs).
How's this for a cp that can do everything a standard ps2 controller can except the analog buttons:
Two analog joysticks with two trigger buttons each and eight buttons (four are the standard square, triangle, etc buttons, four are copies of the trigger buttons) inbetween the joysticks. Include the toggle switch Dave_K mentioned that switches the left joystick to and from d-pad to analog thumbpad, but the toggle leaves the two trigger buttons in-line.
This means two of the buttons (the L1 & L2) on the cp aren't needed, but there so you don't have to use the trigger buttons on the left joystick for every game. So, if you use the trigger buttons on the left joystick, that leaves 6 buttons on the cp for your right hand, and try telling any SFII player that six buttons is too much.
YOU CANNOT BUILD AN ACCEPTABLE ARCADE CONTROL PANEL FOR A CONSOLE SYSTEM THAT USES MORE THAN 6 BUTTONS
Howard, I think the limit is higher, and more game specific. With a gamepad, the right thumb can only press ~2 buttons at a time, while the right index finger and left index finger are best at pressing only one (trigger) button at a time. That's four buttons, and I have four fingers and a thumb on my right hand. Maybe if you said arcade control panels don't work very well for
games that use more than 5 or 6 buttons at the same time.
Now explain to me how your going to exectue a move that requires you to press l1+l2+r1+r2+up+x+o aaaall at the same time on a arcade control panel.
Up is not a button, it's the joystick in the left hand. And how do you press l1+l2 at the same time on a PS controller? Are you supposed to use the middle finger for l2? (doesn't work for me.) BTW, what game requires six buttons pressed at the same time?
Anyway, how to press l1+l2+r1+r2+x+o:
eight buttons laid out like this:
t l1 r1
s o l2 r2
x
Pinky finger can press r1, r2, or lay across both, same with ring finger and l1 + l2. That leaves four buttons to the index and middle fingers. With above layout, the buttons are curved, like people's fingers. So index presses x, middle presses o, ring presses both l1 & l2, and pinky presses both r1 & r2.
If the l1 & l2 buttons are moved off the cp and onto trigger buttons on the left joystick, pressing the above combo is even easier.
Of course, other button combos would be hard to do with above layout (example: square + triangle + x + l2 + r1 + r2) unless you use your thumb, too. But I find such a combo hard on a controller also.
BTW: How do you press r1 + x + triangle at the same time on a pad? It would be pretty easy with the above button layout, but I can't do it on a standard PS controller without pressing square or O also, or not pressing x or triangle. (Same problem with Dreamcast controller for me, too.) Fat thumb syndrome?