Small 2 player CP - ergonomics, distance problems

[Paradise]

Hi,

i do my first CP and play around since days.
Its for a small custom sit-down cabinet.
Looks like that most button layouts i see are meant to be that the player is not standing straight to the monitor.
The first layout i made (to have a starting point) is if i stand/sit straight to the monitor (first attachment).

So my CP has 312mm (12.28") between the sticks and 148mm (5.85") from P1's right button to P2's stick.
I rotated the P1 buttons clockwise that P1's forearm is perpendicular (90°) to the CP.
But i have to rotated P2's buttons counterclockwise like crazy to have his joystick forearm perpendicular and that
elbows don't rub.
Even if i have it like in the second attachment its tight and joystick forearm from P2 is not perpendicular.
I saw that other people here have 2 player CP's and don't have more space between P1 and P2,
but i see nobody rotated there buttons like crazy.

What i'm doing wrong?
Sorry for some misspelling - i'm German.

[Slippyblade]

Honestly, what you need to do is think about how the real machines in the arcades were setup.  None of them had button sets that were rotated in relation to the player/monitor except for 4 player games where the outside players had modified button sets (sticks were still square to the monitor).

I've always considered some elbow jockeying part of playing arcade.

[Paradise]

Ok, but in no store i find Sanwa or Seimitsu elbow pad's

But looks like that for example the Sega Astro City layout is made that P1 is rotated clockwise.
Cause in my experimenting i found out that index finger and middle finger buttons are almost at the same level (if i'm straight to the monitor).

Maybe my forearms to big (did bodybuilding competitions).
And japanese layouts don't fit cause most japanese are pencil necks

[Slippyblade]

Ok, but in no store i find Sanwa or Seimitsu elbow pad's

OK, this made me laugh.  Back in my younger days when I was playing Street Fighter with my friends, half the match was shoulder pushing and elbow wrestling.  I'd have killed for some Chun-Li artwork elbow pads!

[Dcpmark]

Simple. The 4 buttons on the right need to be in the center, and the player 2 controls need to be moved over to the right. This will create more space between the players.

[Paradise]

@Dcpmark sure, but then it would not be the design i have in my head
The Monitor is also not in the middle of the CP.
And other people also have not more space and i just was wondering.

But as Slippyblade said: If you consider body contact as part of the game.
I just need to make sure to only play against girls and i'm happy

[paigeoliver]

You are doing almost everything wrong. Those button layouts are almost unplayable.

Capcom shipped their games with the buttons in 2 straight rows. Mortal Kombat went with a tight X instead. Neo Geo drops the first button slightly, and that had nothing to do with ergonomics and everything to do with squeezing a 4th button onto existing Japanese cabinets that had tight real estate due to using a drop in panel with the controls on it that was smaller than the full panel. None of them shipped a mostly vertical arch of 7 buttons.

Your monitor needs to be in the center of the control panel. Those 4 buttons either need to be relocated or turned into a tight vertical group hugging the right side of the panel.

How wide is the panel, it actually looks wider than the panels that were on most of the original Streetfighter 2 and Neo geo machines.