Help! How many buttons on control panel?

[grumlenz]

I am designing a 4 player control panel from Mameroom. I am wondering how many buttons I should have/need per player. Their default is 7 per player, as seen in this picture http://www.mameroom.com/images/Quad_lg.jpg I have gone through every page of the control panel thread and it seems that a lot of you have either 7 for players one and two and 4 for players three and four, or 6 buttons all around. I tried to research this before asking but could not find much info on it. I appreciate any help. I am wanting to run MAME and emulators for NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis, Master System, Atari 2600, Dreamcast, Pinball, PSX, and maybe a few others. I want as many buttons as are necessary, but not extra ones that will never get used. What are the reasons for 6 or 7 buttons, and why 4, 6, or 7 for the 3rd and 4th players? Please help! Thank you!

[wooowman93]

if your gonna use a pc u will need the 7 button layout for players 1 and 2 and 4 buttons for players 3 and 4 and admin button like pause exit coin and optional admin buttons tab menu and enter

[grumlenz]

Thanks! Do I lose any functionality by not having more buttons for players 3 and 4, or is 4 buttons always enough? I assume this is because there are no 4 player games that require over 4 buttons for the 3rd and 4th player? Do the people that do 6 buttons for every player just do it for looks?

[wooowman93]

there are some but not alot

[Malenko]

and ask yourself how often youre going to play 4 player games, especially 4 player console games that require 6 buttons per player.

the answer is: you prolly only need a 2 player panel with 7 buttons each.

[BASS!]

Thanks! Do I lose any functionality by not having more buttons for players 3 and 4, or is 4 buttons always enough? I assume this is because there are no 4 player games that require over 4 buttons for the 3rd and 4th player? Do the people that do 6 buttons for every player just do it for looks?

The only reason that people load the controls on all 4 players is for console games. For a mame machine though, 6 buttons for players one and 2 is more than enough. If you use that layout you can play just about anything mame throws at you (unless you are a Japanese house wife). People often wire the 1-2 players with an extra button on the bottom for neo geo, but I myself have never even changed the layout once to use that button. Players 3-4 only need 4 buttons ( no games you would want to play in mame use more than 4).

Last but not least. Use the forum search, because this question has been asked and answered so many times, you will have an extremely hard time getting answered with such broad questions.

[severdhed]

MAWS is down right now so i can't search, but i don't think there are any 4 player games in mame that use more than 4 buttons.  the only reason you would need more than that for players 3 and 4 would be for console emulation.

for just mame, 6 buttons for players 1 and 2, and 4 buttons for players 3 and 4 is all you should need.  the 7 button layout is for people who want the 4 in a row neogeo layout available.  

console emulation is different however..

the start and select buttons can be mapped to the normal start and coin buttons that you would use for mame..then

NES needs 2 buttons, plus start and select
SNES needs 6 buttons, plus start and select
N64 needs 9 buttons, plus start
genesis needs 6 buttons, plus start
master system needs 2
atari needs 1
dreamcast needs 6, plus start
playstation needs 8, plus start and select

so you need to decide what you want o be able to do, and perhaps make some sacrifices.  if you want to play playstation games, then you will need 8 buttons each for players 1 and 2.

if you want 4 player N64 games, then you will need 9 buttons each (technicall you could use the coin button and go with an 8 button layout, which would work for most games)

and for the record...i have found that playing console games with arcade controls just isnt that much fun...yeah sure some types of games work ok..but generally, it just doesnt have the same feel.

[grumlenz]

Thanks everyone for your replies. So if I am not in need of the neogeo layout (which is really just to have 4 buttons in an arc for neo geo games right?) then I will be fine with six buttons? And If I do decide to play neo geo games I can just use say the top 3 buttons and one of the bottom buttons? According to Wikipedia there are only 93 neo geo games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Neo-Geo_games, does that sound right? If so, no reason to have an extra button for those games I will probably never play. The only thing I am sacrificing with 6 buttons is the ability to fully play Playstation or N64 right? But even if I had 7 that's still not enough, I would need 8 or 9...so it sounds like 6 is the best option because there is no advantage to 7. And then go with 4 buttons for players 3 and 4. The only thing I read in some other posts is that the 7th button is good for turbo on NBA Jam or for run on the newer Mortal Kombat games. I don't know how often I will have 4 people playing but I figured if I was going to take the time to build a machine, might as well go with 4.

Does anyone have any input on how comfortable the button setup is to play with 2 rows of 3 buttons across completely straight (like reply #14) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59359.0 Or 2 rows of 3 across like in this curved button layout (as seen in reply #20) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59359.0 that one has 7 but I am concerned about the main 6. Don't know if I should "curve" mine or leave them straight. Unfortunately, I don't have a local arcade that I can go to to test them out. Thanks!

[Turnarcades]

6 P1+2, 4 max P3+4. Full stop.

[grumlenz]

Thanks! So I think I am set on the general button setup. Just a couple more questions:

1: How many buttons are used with the spinner? If I am going to left hand control the spinner (is that how most right handed people do it)? How many buttons will i need to the right of it?

2: If I add a dedicated 4 way joystick for left hand control, how many buttons will I need to the right of it? I am just not sure what all games this supports and how many buttons are needed?

Thanks guys! You are helping me out more than you know!

[severdhed]

yeah, for any of the neogeo games, you can just use the 4 button on the bottom row, it works very well.  As for straight rows or curved rows..there seems to be a big debate on this.

most of my panels have had the 2 straight rows layout, but on my newest panel, i decided to go with a curved layout....i see good and bad things about it.





i think the curved layout is more comfortable for most games.  however the track n field type games seem a little weird with the curve, but it is not bad...the worst thing about a curved layout is when playing trackball games that use more than 1 button.  I use the trackball with my right hand and buttons with the left...being that the buttons are curved for my right hand, it is a little awkward to use multiple buttons at once with my left hand (like in missile command).  it is still playable, and affects very few games..but i just wanted to mention it.

most spinner games use very few buttons...most of them only use 1.  same for the 4 way stick.   since most spinner and 4 way games are single player, or alternating players, you can remap those games to use either player 1 or player 2 buttons, so that you dont have to install any additional buttons if you dont want. 

also, do yourself a favor and install a trackball...you will definately want one.  the ultimarc Utrak is awesome and easy to mount in a wood panel.

and if you want to cut down on the clutter, the ultimarc U360 sticks are very versatile....they work great as 8 way and 4 way sticks.  i removed my dedicated 4 way stick when i built my new panel, because i bought u360s...i am very impressed with how they work.  they work equally as well in street fighter as they do in donkey kong....they aren't cheap..but if you are trying to avoid a frankenpanel, they are a lifesaver

[grumlenz]

Thank you very much severdhed!  Your cabinets look very nice! You answered pretty much all of my questions! I will post up my project once I get it started and try and do a step by step. I will definitely add the trackball and will most likely go with a slightly curved button layout. I will most likely go with your suggestions and map the spinner buttons to player 1. Your answers have helped me a lot, I appreciate it.

[Kordova]

I bought a Mameroom.com quad control with the custom layout.  The button layouts are as follows

Player 1 - 6 buttons + start button + coin button
Player 2 - 6 buttons + start button + coin button
Player 3 - 6 buttons + start button + coin button
Player 4 - 6 buttons + start button + coin button
Trackball - two buttons above trackball for mouse functionality
3 admin buttons (esc, pause, cabinet power) on left edge
1 pinball button on front left
1 pinball button on front right

Hope this helps.

[mlalena]

Maws is back and working here: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/
If I did it right, this is a list of games requiring 7 buttons: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/srch.php?buttons=7

[Ginsu Victim]

If I did it right, this is a list of games requiring 7 buttons: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/srch.php?buttons=7

Five pages of nothing.

[wooowman93]

WOW theres a 4 player street fighter