How Many Buttons

[wizhoo]

I am working on designing my CP and was wondering how many buttons do I need other then the actions buttons.

It will be for a two player set-up.
So I know I need:

1 Player One
1 Player Two
2 Coin ?
1 Pause ?
1 Tab?

What do I absolutely have to have and what are nice optional ones to have?

[SirPeale]

*shrug* it depends on what games you want to play, and what must-have options you want on top.

[GGKoul]

Have you even searched around or even read the NEWBIE READ THIS FIRST post above this post?

[wizhoo]

Have you even searched around or even read the NEWBIE READ THIS FIRST post above this post?

Jeez - Sorry!   

Yes, I looked around and did not find exactly what I was looking for. 

I found a lot of post on button placement and questions about how many action buttons were needed.  I did not find what other miscellaneous buttons I might need for a MAME machine that would have to be versatile enough to play many games including fighters. 

[Sephroth57]

all i have on my CP is escape and pause, once you set up your machine properly you shouldnt need anything else

[NoOne=NBA=]

I wired my I-pac so that the PAUSE key is also the SHIFT key.
If you press the button, and HOLD it, you get shifted functions on everything.
If you press the button, and RELEASE it, it pauses.

Using that method, you only need to have ONE admin button.
All the other admin functions can be performed using the other buttons on the CP.

I would probably throw in coin buttons, rather than using shifted player starts for the coinup because you really don't want people to be using the shift function during gameplay.

That means you will need:

(2) coinups
(2) player starts
(1) pause/shift button

in addition to however many sticks/buttons you want for the actual games.

[thrash242]

You don't need anything other than the player 1 and 2 start buttons and action buttons if you're using an IPAC.  That's what I did, except I do have two dedicated shift buttons on either side of the panel box that are fairly discreet.

[NoOne=NBA=]

You don't need anything other than the player 1 and 2 start buttons and action buttons if you're using an IPAC. 

That's what I did, except I do have two dedicated shift buttons on either side of the panel box that are fairly discreet.

Isn't that kind of contradictory?
How do you switch games, pause, etc... without a shift button?