[Newb Question] IPAC Joystick/Buttons

[iAtoria]

I have been researching cabinets and control panel designs for nearly a week now and I noticed something which I though was interesting.  There are some panels I see which have:

2x 8way joysticks
4x 4way joysticks (1P and 2P have both)

Obviously 1P and 2P share the two different joysticks, so does that mean that the two joysticks are routed together into one IPAC joystick spot or are they simply using a different piece of hardware?  What I mean is can the 1P LEFT wire slot has 2 wires in it (one from each joystick)?

Also, I noticed that the IPAC4 has 32 buttons.  Are there even any 4P games that have more than 4 buttons for each player?  Also, are there any 2P games that have 8 buttons per player?  Does this mean that you have 12 extra buttons?

The main purpose of these questions are key determinants as to whether I buy the IPAC2 or IPAC4.

[Kajoq]

Don't think of it as "joystick spots" and "button spots" they all are handled the same by the ipac.

Each joystick is going to need 4 inputs, Each button needs 1.

You can share the inputs to mirror the 4 way and 8 way through the same inputs by putting the lead from both sticks into the same terminal like you're saying.

You dont need any more than 4 buttons for 4 player games, and realistically 6 for 2p games (unless you're hooking it up to consoles)

You can use the extra inputs for things like admin buttons (menu, pause, exit, etc.)

[iAtoria]

I didn't know that I could send multiple inputs to the terminals.  Thank you for the very quick reply to my post.   

[mscromer]

My CP is set up with 2 8ways with 6 buttons each and one 4way with three buttons. I'm using the Ipac2 and have had no problems playing any games. That said, I don't play any of the fighting games. The fighting games is were you will use allot of buttons. The most buttons I ever use is 4, playing Defender. Most single player games only had one joystick(Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) The game used the same joystick for both players since you don't play at the same time, so you just wire your 4way to player one. The way I have mine wired is my player 1 8way and the 4way are wired to player 1 and the other 8way is wired to player 2. So if you are building a 2 player CP you should only need the Ipac2. But to make sure you get the correct Ipac, What is your CP layout.