6 or 7 buttons per player?

[Hyperfan]

Im not sure if to just add 6 buttons per player or add a 7th.

What games emulators use 7?

[severdhed]

if you are only using mame, the 7th button is not necessary.  it is mainly used so that you can have 4 buttons in a row to play neogeo games, and still keep the 6 button layout for fighting games.  if you aren't a neogeo nazi, most people can play neogeo games using the standard 6 button layout.

if you are using other console emulators, then you may need more than 7 buttons

[Ginsu Victim]

if you are only using mame, the 7th button is not necessary.

How's that? You just explained why it IS necessary in MAME (for Neo Geo / Capcom).

[severdhed]

if you are only using mame, the 7th button is not necessary.

How's that? You just explained why it IS necessary in MAME (for Neo Geo / Capcom).

it is not necessary since you can fully play all of those games without it.  some people like having it to be more authentic, but it is by no means necessary.

[Beretta]

+1 to what severdhed said.

no it's not nessary.. neogeo only uses 4 buttons..

what he was saying is people who really like neo geo will sometimes have a 7 button layout.. not because they need 7 buttons but because they'll usually have them a row of 4 then a row of 3..

rather then 2 rows of 3.

on original neogeo cabs you would have 1 row of 4.. THAT is the reason for having 7 buttons to physically match the layout of the original cabs..

you can just as easily use any combination of 4 buttons on the usually 3x2 6 button layout it just is'nt "antithetic" to the original cabs layout.

if you're usin just mame then you most likley dont need more then 6 buttons + start..

like he said if you're gonna emulate some consoles also then you will probably need more then 6, infact you would need closer to 10 depending on what you're looking to play.

[Ginsu Victim]

Ok, maybe "necessary" was the wrong word....

I mean that the majority of 7 button setups are for MAME use.

I'm actually going to get rid of the 7th button in the future. I think a curved 6 button setup is great.

[Turnarcades]

Stick with 6. Regardless of the practicality argument a 7th button just looks as weird as having an extra finger.

[Epyx]

7 or 8 buttons don't look as good but do come in handy for console emulation...for just Mame I would stick with 6. 

[Bender]

I used to think that way too Epyx, but I've come to like the 7 button layout more and more and even aesthetically (I don't even play 4 button neo geo games very often)
I really like the flexibility of laying out the buttons where I want them. I end up using the 4 button layout on the bottom quite a bit
I like that I can hit any of  the four buttons at any second or at the same time(one finger on each button), try doing that with a 6 button layout it's a little harder (I can't do it)
and you can do some cool layouts with games with lots of buttons like defender, asteroids and spyhunter

my suggestion is to make a mock up of both and try it out see what feels right for you

[DaveMMR]

Actually, if you're a fan of NEO-GEO fighting games (e.g. KOF, etc), then you may want the 7 button setup.   However, many non-fighting Neo-Geo games only utilize two or three buttons, which makes the layout slightly needless. 

And now let me simplify:  If you have to ask, you don't need it.   

[Procyon]

I have always wondered why more people don't use the kind of layout that I do, which is:

1 2 3 4
4 5 6

Seven buttons mapped to six inputs.  You get the 1 x 4 layout for NeoGeo fighters, and the 2 x 3 layout for Capcom fighters, and you NEVER have to custom map anything in MAME.  As long as the right button on the top row and the left button on the bottom row are mapped to the same input, MAME works "out of the box" so to speak.

Does anyone else do this besides me?

[Ginsu Victim]

I have always wondered why more people don't use the kind of layout that I do, which is:

1 2 3 4
4 5 6

Does anyone else do this besides me?

Actually, I do. Mine is slightly reverse, though.

456
123
    4

I'm not happy with this setup, though, and will switch to six buttons on the next CP redo.

[bkenobi]

Two comments/questions about a repeated button 4.

1) If you have a repeated button, you don't have an extra button for console emulation.
2) I've found that console emulation deserves a gamepad.  Playing console games (other than fighters) is very frustrating with an arcade CP.  The two are not the same.

I personally have a 7 button layout because I wanted NeoGeo controls to be accurate but I also didn't want a screwed up SF layout.  In the end, it was complicated setting things up in MAME.  However, CFGMagician can dramatically simplify what I did manually.  If you aren't a Neo Geo person, just do 6 buttons and be done with it IMO.

[southpaw13]

Please do the 7th button.  I did 8 and it was too tight, so then I did 6 and missed the extra button for 4 in a row....

After 3 attempts...7 is the way to go...

[Ginsu Victim]

Two comments/questions about a repeated button 4.

1) If you have a repeated button, you don't have an extra button for console emulation.

Mine was originally repeated, but now mine is 7 button, except mapped to "repeated 4" in MAME.

[CDiablo]

Sorry for the noob question(Im planning on building my first mame cab), but is there any use for an 7/8 button layout for games other than repeating?

[Beretta]

there are some games that need 7 or 8 buttons in mame.

mostly casino, card, or other types of gambling.

although some drivers fall into that category you probably would'nt play them with a joystick and buttons though.

for the most part a 6 button layout will cover the vast majority of games.

also in such cases of 7 or 8 button games you need to make sure that the 7th and 8th buttons on the CP have their own inputs rather then are a duplicate of another.

[protokatie]

.. also the 7 button setup is an attempt at making the control layout as authentic for as many types of games as possible (mostly the 4-in-a-row Neogeo setup, while still have the 2x3 6 button matrix for SF2 and the like).

[Ginsu Victim]

.. also the 7 button setup is an attempt at making the control layout as authentic for as many types of games as possible (mostly the 4-in-a-row Neogeo setup, while still have the 2x3 6 button matrix for SF2 and the like).

Welcome back to the beginning of the thread!

[Malenko]

.. also the 7 button setup is an attempt at making the control layout as authentic for as many types of games as possible (mostly the 4-in-a-row Neogeo setup, while still have the 2x3 6 button matrix for SF2 and the like).

and in addition to that, the 7th button makes a great run button in MK3/UMK3 and I like the ABC of the bottom "neo geo row" for the standard 3 button JAMMA layout (especially games like NBA Jam)