Dreamcast in a cab button layout ideas?

[Rip]

I've successfully hacked my Madcatz DC controllers and was wondering what the best button layout would be for the six buttons on a cab control panel

Chances are it'll be used for sports games (Blitz, NBA, Virtua Striker) and several fighters which all seem to make use of the Z & C trigger buttons.  Is a straight 3x2 setup good enough?  How about a straight 3 with A,B,C in a row, a 4th button (Z) down near the thumb (like a NeoGeo setup), and a top row of 2 X, Y?

Any ideas or snaps of a CP you've built and are happy with would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John

[stellarola]

http://www.x-arcade.com/service/images/Layouts/Dreamcast.htm


Check out that link. Thats the button setup in mine. You may want to change the L and R if you want, but u can change it around in the options of the game. 

[Crowquill]

You can always stick to ASCII's layout of the official stick. It's quite comfortable and everything's within easy reach. Couldn't find a decent pic on the web so I took a quick pic of mine--dust and all.

I'm trying to remember--do the Madcatz C and Z buttons also work as L and R? I was thinking there was a switch to jump between the extra buttons on the face of the controller and the analog triggers.

The X-Arcade layout in the link is how the CP's getting set up for my cab. I'm hacking a PS1 Dual Shock, but run through an Innovation adapter, the DC buttons will be mapped just like that. I favor the straight row of 3 over 3 buttons. Mostly because I like Capcom fighters, but it should be quite flexible for other games as well. The ASCII stick is great, but if I'm going to build an arcade control panel, I'd like it to be as close to Capcom's CPs as possible.

Are you doing something special to keep the analog controls? Otherwise the games you can play with it are going to be limited. It's mostly fighting games and other arcade ports that can use the digital pad on it's own. Most games created for DC only use the analog pad to control movement. I'm thinking Blitz has to use the analog pad.

[Rip]

Yes, the madcatz C & Z are digital equivalents of the analog triggers, and MUCH easier to hack.

I haven't decided what to do with the analog stick.  Most games that I have played are controlled by both the analog stick and digital dpad the same with a few notable exceptions.  NBA 2K2 plays fine with the Dpad but needs the stick in the menus  I may have to mount the little stick through the CP for things like that....or I may have to revert back to NBA 2k instead in that case.

Many hours of Super Mario on the NES has made me a dpad kinda guy anyways
I rarely use the analogs so I won't miss them