Buttons per game question

[jer2665]

Well, after a while deliberating, I've decided on doing a 4 player panel, with p360's for p1&p2, and supers for p3&p4 and have decided to add a dedicated 4 way for classics.  How many buttons do I need to play most of the classic 4 way games?  and what's a good dedicated 4 way? 

I was thinking of adding this kinda in the middle of the panel..

[joystick] OOO [trackball] OOO [spinner] OOO

with 4 or 5 buttons or whatever I need for the 4 way.  and i just planned on hooking the spinner buttons and trackball buttons to the same inputs, unless i have extra inputs open.

any input?  thanks guys.  I love this board, everyone's been so helpful so far, and it's nice to not have the "stfu n00b" or troll crap from a lot of the boards (the main reason i only stay on one board usually)

[GGKoul]

You don't need more then 3 buttons for the 4 way... actually I think only 2 will do.

Ms Pacman / Galaga Reunion is a good 4 way.

[jer2665]

that'd be perfect if i didn't need more than 3.  Do any games use a 4way and a trackball, or a 4way and a spinner, or a trackball and a spinner in the same game that'd need different buttons for each?  because if I could just tie all three sets of three buttons to the same input, that'd be kinda nice, to be able to use the trackball and either left or right buttons depending on what's comfortable or necessary,

[Tiger-Heli]

that'd be perfect if i didn't need more than 3.  Do any games use a 4way and a trackball, or a 4way and a spinner, or a trackball and a spinner in the same game that'd need different buttons for each?  because if I could just tie all three sets of three buttons to the same input, that'd be kinda nice, to be able to use the trackball and either left or right buttons depending on what's comfortable or necessary,

Vanguard uses a 4-way and 4-buttons in a diamond arrangement, though.

Honestly, I would just use the P1 buttons for the Trackball and spinner and 4-way, and try to position these controls so that was convenient.

4-way and trackball - not that I know of.
4-way and spinner - Tron (odd 4/8way, but anyways)
Trackball and spinner - not that I know of.

[jer2665]

Here's what I'm thinking. 

Everything is close, but not really to scale.  I think the panel and trackball and buttons are, but i couldn't find the measurments on some of the other stuff

Plus i'll make sure everything is more symetrical, but this is my basic idea.

[JoyMonkey]

I'm a fan of smaller, simpler panels so here's what I'd do-
Since you're planning on using 49-way sticks, I'd drop the dedicated 4-way stick, since the 49-ways can easily switch between 2/4/8/49 way modes (using the GP-WIz-49, thats why they're flavour of the moment).
Since most spinner games can be played just as well with a trackball, I'd drop the spinner.
I'm not sure what all those buttons are for on top, I'd cut them down to 4 start buttons and one shazam/shift button.
Oh, I'd also drop the seventh button from the P1 and P2 controls- it always seems like overkill to me and can be confusing.

All a matter of preference of course.

[Tiger-Heli]

Since most spinner games can be played just as well with a trackball, I'd drop the spinner.

I disagree with this statement, FWIW.

[jer2665]

i was thinking of going 49 way after people were tlaking about it in the forums, but my thinking is that 95% of the time i'm going to be playing 8-way games, as I'm not a big player of the classics, so I figured I was going to just go dedicated 4 way to make it simple and let me use p360's and supers for the rest as 8ways.

[Tiger-Heli]

i was thinking of going 49 way after people were tlaking about it in the forums, but my thinking is that 95% of the time i'm going to be playing 8-way games, as I'm not a big player of the classics, so I figured I was going to just go dedicated 4 way to make it simple and let me use p360's and supers for the rest as 8ways.

Your text says Supers, but the graphic says 49-ways.

whatever that other admin key you want are. 

Enter, probably.

[GGKoul]

that'd be perfect if i didn't need more than 3.

[jer2665]

Your text says Supers, but the graphic says 49-ways.

ahh, you're right, that was back before i got a lot of info in the forums, sorry for the confusion.  p1&p2 will be the two joysticks right in front, and i'm thinking p360's for them.  then supers for p3&p4 no matter what the image says 

[GGKoul]

Your text says Supers, but the graphic says 49-ways.

ahh, you're right, that was back before i got a lot of info in the forums, sorry for the confusion.

[Tiger-Heli]

Your text says Supers, but the graphic says 49-ways.

ahh, you're right, that was back before i got a lot of info in the forums, sorry for the confusion.  p1&p2 will be the two joysticks right in front, and i'm thinking p360's for them.  then supers for p3&p4 no matter what the image says 

I would get 49 ways for P1 & P2 and the GP-Wiz49 interface board.  And remove the 4 way.  As with the GP-Wiz49 board, you can change from 2/4/8 way modes very easily.

Then for the P3 & P4 get supers and a IPAC2 board to wire everything up.

Would take some calculations, but you would need two GP-Wiz49 boards, so you would have either 30 or 46 button inputs available, so I'm not sure you'd need the I-PAC2.

[jer2665]

yeah, my first thinking was

p1&p2 = p360's
p3&p4 = tstick+

then it went to

p1&p2 = p360's
p3&p4 = 49-way

Which then went to

p1&p2 = 49 way
p3&p4 = supers

But my most recent rational was 95% of the time i'm going to be doing 8 way games, why not go with what's said to be the best 8-way stick.  My problem is I'm not sure how well the 49 way feel for 8 way games.  If they feel comparable to the p360's then I can go that way, but while the dsm is nice feature, I figured having dedicated would be better, as the 49 way have to try to be so much, it'd be tough to excel at all of them. 

so basically, it comes down to, the 5% of the time i'm going to play classic games, is the slightly less clutered panel worth it? and do the 49 way play decent for 8 way games, mainly fighters, or are the p360's that much better.  Sadly i haven't heard anyone mention a comparison, and i'm not too sure if anyone has used both that can compare, if so please let me know.