How many buttons for a minimalist 4 player CP ?

[spystyle]

Howdy,

I am going to build a Guantlet 4 player in the future, and I don't know how many buttons to allocate to each player, I would appreciate suggestions very much.

I'm planning to have 4 buttons for players 1&2 and 3 (or 2?) buttons for players 3&4 on a Gauntlet 4 player control panel

I'd like the layout to be compatible with almost all 4 player simultanious MAME games and almost all 2 player simultanious MAME games.

(and if you care to design a nice ergonomic layout within the Gauntlet CP shape, I'll be your best friend!)

Thank you,
Craig

[AmericanDemon]

Players 1 and 2 should have at least 6 buttons if you like fighting games such as Street Fighter.  4 will suffice if you only like Neo Geo fighting games.  

Players 3 and 4 should have 3 buttons.

Then you need to add a start button for each player and also credit buttons unless you have a 4 player coin door.

[TalkingOctopus]

2 four player games use 4 buttons for player 3 and 4.  Those games are:
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over M
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom

I think they are pretty fun and worth the extra button for p3 and p4.

[AmericanDemon]

Yeah forgot about the 4th on those.  Some of the funnest Multi Player games there.

[mattv]

think they are pretty fun

Pretty fun? PRETTY FUN?

Those are the greatest games ever made!

Pretty fun indeed. Humph!


I agree, those two games are well worth the 4 buttons per player (technically they are 5 buttons per player but you can double up the start and inventory buttons)