7 or 6 buttons??

[cbmeeks]

I know this has been done to death but I am a newbie working on my CP.

I play SOME fighting games (Mortal Kombat, SF, etc).  So, I know I want at least 6 buttons per player (2-player).  But, do I really need 7??

What games use the 7th button?

Thanks!

-cb

[DaveMMR]

Most times, people will put a 7th button to Mimic a Neo-Geo layout (making that button's input the same as another) or for console emulators.

I'm using a 7th button for Neo-Geo and for SNES games (their pad has a total of 8 buttons).

If you're just using MAME, most likely you'll only need 6.

[SirPoonga]

That row of 4 is for neogeo.   Unless you are into neogeo fighters, you really don't need it

[cbmeeks]

Well, the main reason I ask is that I don't have a lot of money and I am trying to save on the IPac.

Using 6 buttons would leave me with 4 extra buttons to play with.

Would trackball buttons need the IPac?

cb

[DaveMMR]

Well, the main reason I ask is that I don't have a lot of money and I am trying to save on the IPac.

Using 6 buttons would leave me with 4 extra buttons to play with.

Would trackball buttons need the IPac?

cb

If you're trying to save dough then don't put special buttons on just for the trackball.  You can use the regular buttons for those or duplicate the inputs.

Most of the time, you don't need 7 inputs (except for my example as stated).  And if you don't have a coin door, there's two more inputs you could use.

[SirPoonga]

In a 7 button setup, Many people will wire the buttons like this

  456
4123

Then just use mame's ctrlr files to specify neogeo's buttons in the correct order (neogeo.ini).

There's lots of ways to save on inputs if needed.

[cbmeeks]

Well, I do plan on having a coin door (2 slot) but I think I will just use 6 buttons.


Here is what I plan on having:

2 Players, 6 buttons each
One 4-way with 3 buttons
Trackball with 3 buttons
Spinner
2 Coin Buttons
2 Start buttons
Pause button
Exit Button

I was thinking the spinner and 4-way will share the same 3 buttons.
Plus, those 3 buttons could share player 1 and play 2 first 3 buttons??

-cb

[SirPoonga]

2 Players, 6 buttons each
One 4-way with 3 buttons
Trackball with 3 buttons
Spinner
2 Coin Buttons
2 Start buttons
Pause button
Exit Button

I was thinking the spinner and 4-way will share the same 3 buttons.
Plus, those 3 buttons could share player 1 and play 2 first 3 buttons??

The 4 way can share player 1's 8way inputs too.

Heck, you can do what I did, I have a switch for player 1 buttons 1 and 2 to switch them from ipac inputs to mouse inputs.  I generally keep it on mouse anyway.  There are some games that don't like mixing mouse and keyboard inputs, I have noticed.  Hence the switch.  that would save you even more buttons to buy.  If you goto my site look up my control panel layout.  Other than dual joystick games I've been able to play most everything.

[Lilwolf]

But if you do this... and your playing a good fighter with a friend... and beating them badly...

expect them TO GRAB THE 4PLAYER JOYSTICK when you are trying to do your super upper special finishing move when they are dizzy!

(note:  I talk with experience...)

you can add a single switch on the side somewhere that will break the ground connection to all the microswitchs on the 4way and another one for the 8way... so only one is enabled at a time... (breaking the ground is enought to kill it)

2 Players, 6 buttons each
One 4-way with 3 buttons
Trackball with 3 buttons
Spinner
2 Coin Buttons
2 Start buttons
Pause button
Exit Button

I was thinking the spinner and 4-way will share the same 3 buttons.
Plus, those 3 buttons could share player 1 and play 2 first 3 buttons??

The 4 way can share player 1's 8way inputs too.

Heck, you can do what I did, I have a switch for player 1 buttons 1 and 2 to switch them from ipac inputs to mouse inputs.  I generally keep it on mouse anyway.  There are some games that don't like mixing mouse and keyboard inputs, I have noticed.  Hence the switch.  that would save you even more buttons to buy.  If you goto my site look up my control panel layout.  Other than dual joystick games I've been able to play most everything.

[etumor]

I use the 7 button layout on my cabinet.  The four buttons on the bottom row were designed to mimic the Neo-Geo layout.  I never ever use the 7th button.  For Neo-Geo games that do use 4 buttons, I end up mapping the rightmost buttons, rather than using the bottom row.

Future designs will only use 6 buttons max per player.

-Jeff

[TaaJ]

I would probably use a 7 button layout like this...

    456
     123
   4

[SirPoonga]

You guys have friends that would grab the 4way?  Ok then.  Say every match you alternate sides.

Cheating is stupid, I wouldn't play with a coward if he did that, even if it was my friend.

[spystyle]

I use 4, see the attached chart

[cbmeeks]

Yeah, I would use 4 too if it weren't for the SF games.

So, I think 6 is a good number.

[SirPoonga]

I'v ebeen happy with 6, and since I don't play neogeo fighters I don;t need the 5th neo geo button that much.  Most neogeo games use 2-3 buttons.

[cbmeeks]

I don't understand.

Every Neo Geo I've seen has 4 buttons per player.  What am I missing?

-cb

[etumor]

I don't understand.

Every Neo Geo I've seen has 4 buttons per player.  What am I missing?

-cb

All Neo-Geo cabinets have four buttons per player.  However, the actual number of buttons used depends on the game, and it's really only the fighters that use all four.  The Metal Slug games use 3.  The Puzzle Bobble games only use 1.  Most shooters use 2.

And so on, and so forth...

-Jeff

[cbmeeks]

Then why do so many people use 7 for Neo Geo?

Sorry...I can be dumb

[etumor]

Then why do so many people use 7 for Neo Geo?

Sorry...I can be dumb

I thought we already covered this, but here goes again:

Neo-Geo only used 4 buttons (per player) at most.  They were layed out kind of like this:

     2 3 4
  1

It was really more of a curved line, but that's the best I can do with plain text.

No one actually uses 7 buttons for Neo-Geo.  But what people do is they use 6 buttons for Street Fighter II and similar games.  This makes two rows of three buttons each:

 1 2 3
 4 5 6

Then they add a fourth button to one of the rows (or slightly higher or lower) which forms a Neo-Geo style layout on the bottom row:

    1 2 3
    4 5 6
  7

The seventh button is redundant -- it is only there so that the position of the buttons on the lower row form the same "shape" that it does on a Neo-Geo cabinet.

What has been discussed here is how to map those seven buttons (if you chose this layout), and whether or not the layout is even useful at all.  I personally don't believe it is (and I've had a machine with this layout for a year and a half now).  It's only real advantage is that the buttons end up lining up with the on-screen instructions that some of the Neo-Geo games provide (watch the demo of Metal Slug, or most of the fighter games, and you'll see what I mean).  How important that is to you is a personal choice.

-Jeff

[cbmeeks]

Ahh!

I see.  Thanks.

But why the 7th button?


KIDDING!

lol

cb

[SirPoonga]

    2 3 4
  1

It was really more of a curved line, but that's the best I can do with plain text.

ACtually, most neogeo cabinets had the three buttons in a striaght row, there were few that curved them.

[etumor]

SirPoonga is correct, both designs existed.

I was referring to this design:

[Nefesis]

what does neo-geo mean?

[etumor]

what does neo-geo mean?

Now you're just yanking my chain, right?

Just in case you aren't, the Neo-Geo was a multi-game system that came out in the early 90's for both the arcade and the home.  A single Neo-Geo cabinet could house multiple games, and new games could be swapped in very quickly.  The exact same games that were available in the arcade were available for the home system (which was too expensive for most people to own).  When we talk about "Neo-Geo games," we're talking about games specifically made for that system.

For detailed information, go here:

http://www.classicgaming.com/thedump/neogeo/

Scroll down to the section that says "My $0.02" and it gives a history of the system.

That website hasn't been updated in many years, so all of the information about Neo-Geo emulation is horribly outdated, but the history of Neo-Geo is the best one I've found.

-Jeff