How many push buttons?

[Dave Wave]

I am trying to come up with a layout for my control panel. I have seen plenty of units with up to six push buttons per joystick. I am interested mostly in old school games....so is there any need for more than three? How many are in your game?

-Dave

[Skadar]

Many people also run SNES emulators which is very easy to do with excellent results.  You'd want a minimum of 6 buttons per joystick if you were going to do this.

Also, a popular game whether via MAME or SNES emulators is Street Fighter II.  Once again, you'll need 6 per stick.

[RTSDaddy2]

I'll weigh in  here...

I agree, 6 buttons is a pretty fair number to expect per stick.  For just old school games (Pac Man, etc.), I can't think of any that would require more than 3, but like the guy said, 6 is a good number for other emulators you may decide to use at other times.

I also see Dave's concern though, in that one can get so wrapped up in trying to have a button for every conceivable manuever that it becomes overkill and the CP looks "busy."

The hard part is deciding if you're going to leave it old school, or expand.  If you're expanding later, go with six...better to have unused buttons on the CP than have it all set up and have to try and drill new holes while avoiding existing wires, etc.

[missioncontrol]

3 is a good number for oldschool games. that's what I'm going with.

gives me the option of building another cabinet so I can play games that require more than 3 buttons 

[starnix17]

If your playing older arcade games you can get away with 3 buttons and a 4 way joystick. However, for more recent games your gonna want an 8 way joystick and 6 buttons.

[DaveMMR]

Many people also run SNES emulators which is very easy to do with excellent results.  You'd want a minimum of 6 buttons per joystick if you were going to do this.

Also, a popular game whether via MAME or SNES emulators is Street Fighter II.  Once against, you'll need 6 per stick.

Nope, minimum of seven (assuming your have a start button - otherwise eight - but who doesn't have a start button?).  The select button is the seventh. 

[Mark70]

I'm looking at six per stick.  A 1 player button, a 2 player button, two mouse buttons to go with the trackball, and two admin buttons for escape and enter.  If I want other admin functions I'll make sure my encoder has a shift function.

[knuttz]

I'm looking at six per stick.  A 1 player button, a 2 player button, two mouse buttons to go with the trackball, and two admin buttons for escape and enter.  If I want other admin functions I'll make sure my encoder has a shift function.

You really shouldn't need an enter button.  I made that mistake and later changed it to pause.

[Mark70]

I'm looking at six per stick.

[Minwah]

Nope, minimum of seven (assuming your have a start button - otherwise eight - but who doesn't have a start button?).  The select button is the seventh. 

You can get away without a Select button though can't you?  I don't play a lot of Snes but I don't remember ever using it.

[Minwah]

Don't you need enter in the tab menus?  I guess if you get them all set up with the keyboard,  you won't need an enter button on the cp. 

No, just remap UI_SELECT in MAME.  I use my P1 Start buttin for enter in the tab menus.

[stratjakt]

500000 buttons and 14 trackballs and 8 spinners and 6 4-way joysticks and 12 8 way joysticks and a tron stick and a yoke and a steering wheel and a spittoon.  This is the only way to get the authentic arcade experience.

Do whatever you want..  You can always drill another hole.

[Avery]

For old school stuff I'd say 4 per player in a stargate (right hand) layout with what would be the smart bomb or inviso button placed close enough to the joystick that you can use the left button set's as reverse.

Can you tell where a lot of my quarters went?

[KungFuJoe]

Unless space is a serious issue, I would definitely go with 6 for players 1 and 2.  The extra cost is almost nothing, would require little extra work, and the extra space needed is also negligable.  Do it...just in case you run across that one game you want to play and it needs 5 or 6 buttons.

[RTSDaddy2]

I just reread my original post and realized it made no sense in that you could build another cab or control panel and do the same thing. 

Kudos, Kung Fu - you took the words right out of my mouth though...that's what I MEANT to say!

RTSDaddy2