Simple Question about Control Panel Layout *solved*

[markronz]

Hello-
    I am currently starting to design my control panel and I was just wondering why some control panels that I've seen out there have 7 buttons for each player?   I was planning on just using 6 buttons, but once I looked around I saw that 7 buttons was fairly popular.   Is there a lot of roms out there that use 7 buttons for each player?  Or could someone explain why 7?

Thanks

[Hoopz]

The 7th button is layed out to be the 4th button of a Neo Geo layout.  A lot of peole use a lay out so that the bottom row has buttons 1-3 with button setup being used for the offset 4th button.

No arcade games use the 7th button so it's entirely personal preference. 

[markronz]

Ok, that makes sense.   I personally am not into Neo Geo, so I think I will stick with my 6 button layout.  Thanks a lot!

[Justin Z]

Hey markronz keep in mind it makes games like say NBA Jam a lot more comfortable to play because of the hand position for using three buttons.  You can use the 7th, the 4th and the 5th
    O   O
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And it's a lot more comfortable than using 1-3, 4-6, or even 4, 2 and 3.

Justin