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Buttons required for 4 player MAME panel

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clhug:

I want to confirm what I really need to buttons for a 4 player control panel for MAME.  This will be ONLY a MAME cabinet, no other emulators and no PC games.  But I essentially want to be able to play all MAME games that use from 1 to 4 players, or any 6 player games with up to 4 players (assuming those 6 player games allow only 4 players).

From what I've been able to read up on, it looks like I need 6 buttons for players 1 & 2, and only 4 buttons for players 3 & 4.  Is that correct?

For players 3 & 4, what's the best way to arrange the 4 buttons?  A 2x2 square, or a row of 3 with one underneath, or 4 in a row?  (From what I've seen, the 6 buttons for P's 1 & 2 should be 2 rows of 3.)

Why do I see so many panels that have 7, or even some with 8 buttons, not just for P's 1 & 2 but for all 4 players?  Is that for other emulators or PC games?

Also, I've searched around and can't seem to find one, but does anybody have a graphic, or perhaps PDF file, of the typical 6 or 7 button layout that I could print out and use to mark the panel? 

Thank you!

GGKoul:

spend 2 secs and do a search...

P1 & P2 (6 or 7 buttons)  P3 & P4 (4 buttons will do)

link2005a:


--- Quote from: GGKoul on March 30, 2006, 07:57:05 pm ---spend 2 secs and do a search...

P1 & P2 (6 or 7 buttons)  P3 & P4 (4 buttons will do)

--- End quote ---

It was just a question, there are a ton of posts here, trying to find one single topic isn't the easiest thing. If you don't want to waste your time with questions that have already been answered, then just don't answer. No need to be an ass.

escher:


--- Quote from: link2005a on March 30, 2006, 09:33:33 pm ---
--- Quote from: GGKoul on March 30, 2006, 07:57:05 pm ---spend 2 secs and do a search...

P1 & P2 (6 or 7 buttons)  P3 & P4 (4 buttons will do)

--- End quote ---

It was just a question, there are a ton of posts here, trying to find one single topic isn't the easiest thing. If you don't want to waste your time with questions that have already been answered, then just don't answer. No need to be an ass.

--- End quote ---

While he was a bit of a jerk about, he also answered the guy's question.  Harsh enough to let him know what he should have done, but nice enough to actually answer the main question.  clhug got the answer he needed, and I bet he'll look a little harder next time.  :)

Now, for the rest of it, it's all personal preference.  The main reason for 7 buttons is to add the NeoGeo style fighter pad (bottom four buttons) to the Capcom style fighter pad (2 x 3).  I don't know many (any?) arcade games that will use all 7.  As for why people do it for all four, I'd assume it's either for consistency or console ROMs.  Personally, it never made much sense to me.

www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/CapcomTemplate/Capcom_2P-6B_Template.gif is a good layout to start with, if you're into fighters of course.

clhug:

Thanks for the suggestions folks.  I do appreciate it.  Thanks the pointer to the template escher.

In my own defense, I did search, LOTS, before writing my initial message.  I found lots of messages talking about different layouts and pictures of layouts but not a specific printable overlay.  However, I thought again about the search terms I was using.  I hadn't tried the word "template".  Once I did that then some posts with exactly what I was looking for turned up.

Similarly on the buttons.  I find lots of posts talking about certain games that use certain numbers of buttons and how many you have to have but I couldn't find anything that conclusively told me exctly what I wanted to know.  I put together what I thought was the correct answer based on what I had read and simply wanted confirmation.

And posts like GGKoul's were exactly why I was so confused on the buttons.  "P1 & P2 (6 or 7 buttons)..."  Which is it, 6 or 7, and if the 7th is optional, why do I or don't I want it?  But thank you again escher for explaining that to me.  I understand it.  I don't think I'd be playing any NeoGeo stuff so 6 should be fine for me.  I guess I could always add a 7th later too if I end up needing.  I'd rather leave it out and end up adding it then put it in and never use it.

One question left though.  For players 3 & 4 with only 4 buttons, what's the best arrangement for that?  A single row of 4 buttons, 2x2 sqaure, or maybe even row of 3 with a single button under that  (basically the 2x3 layout for 6 buttons but only 1 button in the 2nd row)?

Thanks again.  I appreciate the responses!


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