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Author Topic: Best controller for Mame?  (Read 3675 times)

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LeedsFan

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Best controller for Mame?
« on: April 22, 2019, 12:11:47 pm »
My Mame cabinet is a single player affair (6 buttons, Ultimarc Servostik and  Spinner).

I learned years ago not to pack loads of controls into one panel. But I want to be able to at least play the likes of Robotron with a gamepad attached. It would also provide an option for some two player action although that doesn't happen all that often. It's why I never went two player in the first place as I wanted the ergonomics to be all about Player 1.

So... no comments about how Robotron is only worth playing with Wicos please... that's not on the table.  ;)

I don't want to spend £50 on a controller either. So are the 3rd party gamepads as bad as many people say?

Anyone had any luck pairing an official PS4 or Wii Gamepad to their PC with driver software? I'm leaning towards an XBox controller at the moment because I already have one for my main gaming rig and I'm fine with it. But you guys might just come up with something left field I never considered.   :)

Titchgamer

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2019, 12:16:57 pm »
Xbox controller would be the obvious choice tbh.

Or if you want arcade type controls a USB fight stick.

Howard_Casto

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2019, 12:42:37 pm »
Xbox 360/Xbox One gamepads are the gold standard of gamepads for the pc.  You can get others, but it isn't really worth it especially considering you want to play robotron.  That being said, if asymmetrical thumbsticks scare you I guess playstation gamepads are also an option.

MartyKong

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2019, 12:52:19 pm »
Keep in mind. I don't know how many 2 player games you plan to set up but the Xbox gamepad and your joystick will both show up as player 1. You'll need to set your pad up in game to work for 2 player.

MartyKong

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2019, 01:04:14 pm »
Actually, after a rethink, you should be able to set all player 2 commands to your joystick pad and use the normal Mame player 1 (Ctrl, alt.... Or whatever you use to player 1. Windows will see the first pad as joystick one. I think that's right :dizzy:

LeedsFan

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2019, 10:07:39 am »
Howard actually touched on something I didn't consider... playing Robotron on an asymmetric XBox controller. So I tried and yeah it worked... but it felt odd. Sure I could have got used to it but I then tried a symmetrical pad and it just felt more comfy. So I've gone for a Dual Shock 3 controller (cos they are much cheaper than DS4) and the build quality is still there. I did have to faff about a bit getting it to work with Win7 as I was missing runtimes and some Windows updates on the cab setup, but it's all sorted now and I'm pretty happy with it for a secondary option.

Mr. Peabody

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2019, 03:00:10 pm »
Robo with no arcade controls makes Mr. Peabody saaad......    Robotron was one of the first things in mind when I thought about control schemes.

Good that you found the pad comfortable....or you could make a new panel......

LeedsFan

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2019, 06:18:44 pm »
Robo with no arcade controls makes Mr. Peabody saaad......    Robotron was one of the first things in mind when I thought about control schemes.

Good that you found the pad comfortable....or you could make a new panel......

If you check out my sig, I actually made a dedicated Robotorn bartop using circular gated U360s years ago.  I fully appreciate how important correct controls are for certain classics. But in this arcade cabinet compromises had to be made.

Mr. Peabody

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2019, 05:05:54 am »
If you have a Robotron bartop, why bother about Robotron on this machine?

Or, the obverse: MAME = Robotron, Black Widow, Karate Champ, possibly Inferno......
« Last Edit: April 30, 2019, 05:07:30 am by Mr. Peabody »

KenToad

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Re: Best controller for Mame?
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2019, 11:30:02 am »
My pick for the best controller for both Mame and other emulators is the Dual Shock 3 connected via the Mayflash wireless adapter for PS3 controllers:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DSFW5MA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Initially, I bought a variety of usb adapters for original gamepads. They worked well, but I grew tired of dealing with all the wires. Playing was a pain, too, just to figure out which controller was player 1, etc, not to mention dealing with controllers reordering because of Windows random assignments on boot (I know that you can fix the order, but it is a lot of configuration for a less than ideal fix). I bought an external hub, thinking that I would just plug in each usb adapter as needed, but I ended up not playing much because of the hassle.

The Mayflash dongle has a switch to alternate between Xinput and Dinput, so you can make your PS3 controller use Xinput for things like Steam games. It only supports one controller via Xinput, but the really cool thing is that it supports 4 controllers via directinput and the controllers get ordered based on the order you activate them. I have 4 PS3 controllers configured and setup through Retroarch, as well as other console emulators not supported by that platform. So far, the Mayflash device has been the best thing for my setup, since it's so easy to use and has been flawless so far. It's super fast and easy to switch between pairing with a PS3 console and the Mayflash dongle, so you can easily use the controllers with both console and PC.

The PS3 controllers, at least for me, have been the best value, because they are basically upgraded SNES pads (well, D-pad slightly downgraded), have built-in long lasting batteries, and have a D-pad that is far better than the Xbox D-pads (which are almost unusable for old school platformers, IMO).

If I was doing it all over again and trying to be as efficient as possible, I would skip the usb adapters and just buy 1-4 dual shock 3's and a single Mayflash dongle.

For a second investment, I highly recommend a Microsoft dongle and 4 Xbox 360 controllers, because there are tons of amazing multiplayer retro games on Steam (Play Towerfall, if you haven't already ...incredible game) and the 360 controllers have always worked flawlessly with every Steam game that I've tried. Then, you can leave your Mayflash dongle set to Directinput for the most part and use your Microsoft dongle for the Xinput stuff.

I find that the convenience of wireless and automatic controller ordering makes it more likely that I will take a few minutes out of my day and play games. It just makes it even easier if you have an easy to use and streamlined frontend that makes game selection virtually effortless.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2019, 11:32:34 am by KenToad »