How many buttons for 3rd and 4th player?

[rbbauer00]

I'm designing a control panel for my first multi-arcade cabinet.  I know there is no way one cabinet can be laid out ideally for every game out there, but I am trying to come up with the best compromise.  I want a 7-Button setup with joysticks that switch between 8-way and 2-way.  No problem so far, just buy 4 joysticks, 28 buttons, drill a lot of holes and have a monstrously large control board.

Then it dawned on me that the only 4-Player simultaneous games I can think of (Simpsons and TMNT) only use 2-buttons plus a joystick.  So I could save money and space on my control panel by having a simpler arrangement for players 3 and 4. 

Now my question:  Of all the 4-player games out there, which one uses the most buttons?  If it's only 3 or 4, then I can really simplify my setup.

[paigeoliver]

The two D&D games use 4 so that is how many you need.

[BadMouth]

The two D&D games use 4 so that is how many you need.

And those are the only two that use 4, so if you don't care about D&D then you only need 3. 

You can also map a combo in MAME to post as the missing 4th button.
 
Nearly all the sports games and a fair number of the hack and slash games use 3, so I wouldn't go less than 3.

[pbj]

4 buttons or you'll regret using less.

 

[paigeoliver]

4 buttons or you'll regret using less.

 

Yep, 2 years from now someone will ask about D&D and you will be kicking yourself for saving $5 by leaving off the 4th button.

[rbbauer00]

4 Buttons it is then. I'll put 4 buttons on the outer 2 players, then 7 buttons on the inner two.

Instead of 4 player controls, I thought about using a 4-way VGA switch or KVM to be able to select player 1,2,3, or 4 from a single set of controls. It seems like I could wire the joystick and buttons to the 15 input pins on the switch, then have each of the 4 sets of outputs wired to the 4 sets of inputs on the ipac 4.  Has anyone ever done this?  I doubt I'll ever have 4 people playing simultaneously and I am trying to keep the control panel as uncluttered as possible.

[yotsuya]

I doubt I'll ever have 4 people playing simultaneously and I am trying to keep the control panel as uncluttered as possible.

Then just build a really nice two player machine and call it a day.

[JDFan]

Instead of 4 player controls, I thought about using a 4-way VGA switch or KVM to be able to select player 1,2,3, or 4 from a single set of controls.

Then just build a really nice two player machine and call it a day.

This -- Seeing that most of the 4 player games also have 2 player versions in MAME that allow you to pick the character you want to play so no real need for anything more complicated like a KVM switch !