4 player CP

[justinf951]

I am starting to work on a 4 player CP.  But before I begin I have a few questions.  First off how many buttons should each player have 4 or 6?  Also what type of joystick is the best pick for a 4 player CP 4 way or 8 way?  The games I am most interested in are the gauntlet, simpsons, turtles in time games.  Thanks for your help.

[AmericanDemon]

Players 3 and 4 really only need 3 buttons honestly.  A FEW games use 4 buttons but not many.  Definately use 8 ways.

[Bgnome]

the only reason why i would consider more than 4 buttons for players 3 and 4 is for console games.  i plan on running a SNES emulator which would require 6 play buttons, not including start and select, and possibly incorporating a dreamcast/playstation which would require more buttons.  its better to have too many buttons than not enough but the issue at this point is that your cp can easily look cluttered with all the buttons for each player..

[justinf951]

I am a big SNES fan so I think I might go with the 6 button layout thanks for your help.

[TalkingOctopus]

Use 4 buttons for p3 + p4.  The two dungeon and dragon beat 'em ups are the only 4 player games to use 4 buttons and I think that they are definately worth the extra buttons.

[Tahnok]

Hey, wait a minute, why would you need the SNES buttons for players 3 and 4? Seriously, how many SNES games used 4 players? I'm not even sure if they sold a 4-player splitter for the SNES (it seems like they did, although I could be mistaken). If you had a 6-button fighter setup for players 1 and 2, then you would only need 3 or 4 buttons for players 3 and 4.

[TalkingOctopus]

Hey, wait a minute, why would you need the SNES buttons for players 3 and 4? Seriously, how many SNES games used 4 players? I'm not even sure if they sold a 4-player splitter for the SNES (it seems like they did, although I could be mistaken). If you had a 6-button fighter setup for players 1 and 2, then you would only need 3 or 4 buttons for players 3 and 4.

I like playing 4 player games of SNES Super Bomberman 1 + 2 on my cab.  It uses just a few buttons so you are right that you probably only need 4 buttons for p3 + p4 even for SNES.  Almost all of the other 4 player SNES games are sports games.  In fact, sports games, like EA's Madden, are about the only 4 player games that I can think of where 6 buttons may be needed.

[clanggedin]

The absolute only reason why I am putting 6 buttons on my p 3 & 4 is for the future... I'm hoping the dreamcast emulator will work good anough for its 4 player games.

[TalkingOctopus]

What 4 player dc games use 6 buttons? I can't think of any offhand (except probably football, basketball ect... but I don't play those games).

Yeah...I know I have 6 buttons for my p3 + p4, but I have never the 2 extra buttons.  They don't really bother me though.  

[Aceldamor]

Don't the Capcom titles use 6 buttons on DC?

[Bgnome]

Hey, wait a minute, why would you need the SNES buttons for players 3 and 4? Seriously, how many SNES games used 4 players? I'm not even sure if they sold a 4-player splitter for the SNES (it seems like they did, although I could be mistaken). If you had a 6-button fighter setup for players 1 and 2, then you would only need 3 or 4 buttons for players 3 and 4.

I like playing 4 player games of SNES Super Bomberman 1 + 2 on my cab.  It uses just a few buttons so you are right that you probably only need 4 buttons for p3 + p4 even for SNES.  Almost all of the other 4 player SNES games are sports games.  In fact, sports games, like EA's Madden, are about the only 4 player games that I can think of where 6 buttons may be needed.

besides bomberman, secret of mana was a great multiplayer.  cant remember how many buttons it needs though.  i think some of those buttons were used to control or switch between idle characters..

this same question has been bugging me for some time now.  i was planning on adding a keyboard hack to a minipac in order to get enough inputs for 4 players plus 6-8 play buttons each.  i know dc/psx/snes have a lot of buttons but can people think of good non-sports games that used that many buttons?

heres a list of multitap playstation games..  didnt really find anything that caught my eye..  maybe gekido and twisted metal 3
http://www.us.playstation.com/gamefinder.aspx?sysd=1&fead=4&ltr=A&fltr=true&page=1

dreamcast (maybe i need to go steal my brother's.. anyone know how many buttons it needs?):
power stone 2
gauntlet legends
giga wing 2
chu chu rocket

[clanggedin]

Toy Commander
Unreal Tournament

Those are the 2 that we really play multiplayer in.

I have a bunch of multiplayer non-sports titles, but I can't remember anymore that what's already been posted.