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Author Topic: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?  (Read 6711 times)

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WillyByte

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MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« on: December 05, 2015, 11:14:17 pm »
I'm building a cabinet limited to games that benefit from a 4-way Joystick.  Most of the games I anticipate installing are listed on the page attached to the link below.

http://armchairarcade.com/neo/node/486

Not including admin, coin, or player buttons is there a simple way to find out how many buttons I'm going to need?  Are there ways to sort game lists by number of buttons required?
« Last Edit: December 06, 2015, 09:37:28 am by WillyByte »

Ian

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2015, 11:23:14 pm »
From what I can tell, it looks like only 2 buttons. You may want to go 3 just in case.
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WillyByte

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2015, 09:39:39 am »
Thank you Ian.  I'm going to make it 3. 

haynor666

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2015, 02:08:14 pm »
Iron Horse uses 3 buttons and that's a max but Telephone Mahjong uses also mahjong panel.

mgb

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2015, 05:24:28 pm »
3 will definitely cut it for you but I think you'll find two covers pretty much any classic 4-way game.

paigeoliver

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2015, 08:14:52 pm »
Iron Horse uses 3 buttons and that's a max but Telephone Mahjong uses also mahjong panel.

Iron Horse is an 8-way game that mame mistakenly lists as 4-way.

The real answer to that question is 2 buttons, unless you want Mouse Trap, in which case you need 4 buttons.
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

PL1

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2015, 08:12:50 am »
Iron Horse is an 8-way game that mame mistakenly lists as 4-way.

The real answer to that question is 2 buttons, unless you want Mouse Trap, in which case you need 4 buttons.
Iron Horse looks like it allows you to use the whip on a down-right diagonal, but that's just the sprite animation for the down direction.

Gun only shoots in 4 directions.

Movement is only in 4 directions.

Based on first-level gameplay, this doesn't appear to be an 8-way game.

Am I missing something here?   :dunno


Scott
P.S. Updated this FAQ entry.

kooky

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2015, 12:37:52 pm »
Punch Out / Super Punch-Out has three buttons - those games are awesome and both on your list.

haynor666

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2015, 01:05:58 pm »
Iron Horse is 4-way. Just try enter any diagonal and see what happens ;) This game uses 3 buttons - shoot (whip, gun, fist), bomb and kneel.

PL1

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2015, 01:29:06 pm »
Punch Out / Super Punch-Out has three buttons - those games are awesome and both on your list.
Good call, Kooky -- added both games to the FAQ.   :cheers:

Minor correction, Super Punch-Out!! needs a 4th button for duck. (Verified in MAME)
Quote from: history.dat
Control : 4-way joystick (pull up on the joystick to duck)

Buttons : 3

=> [1] LEFT BLOW, [2] RIGHT BLOW, [3] KNOCKOUT BLOW


Scott

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2015, 02:12:09 pm »
Took a closer look at the list linked in OP and noticed that Karate Champ is on it. (two 4-way joysticks per player)



I'd take the list as a good starting point, but check the entries since the guy who compiled it posted this reply:
Quote from: Bill Loguidice
Quote from: ibdone
Hi Bill, thanks for this list. I'm wondering if I'll need (two) 4-way sticks for any of these? For instance, if PacMan was simultaneous two-player. Thanks much...

No, they're all pretty much one player alternating, so only one joystick is needed.

Interesting side note: The source Bill credits for the list is this BYOAC thread from 12 1/2 years ago.

Paigeoliver started that thread -- his 83rd post here -- 10,052 posts ago.     :o    ;D


Scott

paigeoliver

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2015, 02:53:31 pm »
I was mistaken, Iron Horse is indeed 4-way.

Iron Horse is an 8-way game that mame mistakenly lists as 4-way.

The real answer to that question is 2 buttons, unless you want Mouse Trap, in which case you need 4 buttons.
Iron Horse looks like it allows you to use the whip on a down-right diagonal, but that's just the sprite animation for the down direction.

Gun only shoots in 4 directions.

Movement is only in 4 directions.

Based on first-level gameplay, this doesn't appear to be an 8-way game.

Am I missing something here?   :dunno


Scott
P.S. Updated this FAQ entry.
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

keilmillerjr

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #12 on: December 09, 2015, 07:56:09 am »
You don't need admin buttons.

DeLuSioNal29

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2015, 11:53:18 am »
I have 3 on my 4-way CP, just in case.  I'm using a xx-in-1 and in the service menu it needs 3 buttons to navigate around.  So I'd go with 3 to be safe.

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WillyByte

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #14 on: December 15, 2015, 10:39:05 am »
Just found out (or reminded after 30 years of not having played) that Defender requires 5 buttons.   It's not a 4-way joystick game as I specified in my original question and I am thrilled with the 3 button CP I built.  Still, I'm adding this comment in case it's helpful to anyone who may see this down the road and is at a similar stage of planning/building.

Defender
Joystick: 2-way (up, down)
Buttons: 5 [Fire-Thrust-Reverse-Hyperspace-Smart Bomb]

Thenasty

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Re: MAME Cabinet - How many buttons do I need?
« Reply #15 on: December 15, 2015, 01:24:51 pm »
unless you run the HACK for Defender and it brings you down to 3 buttons (Fire, SmartBomb, Hyperspace)

The hack if I remember correctly you use the LEFT/RIGHT on the Joystick to REVERSE/Thrust.

Thenasty's Arcademania Horizontal/Vertical setup.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=26696.0

Free VGA Breakout Cable
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38228.0

Ultimate All in One Coin Mech write up (Make your own)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=19200.0