Games list as 8-way that are really 2 or 4-way?

[OverRide]

Hey guys,

I am %75 finished the construction of my cab (not including art work) and am starting to finalize a game list. The cab is going to be a dedicated 4-way 2 button two player horizontal.
I decided on a dedicated 4-way for a few different reasons. The whole time I was aware of options like the U360.

With that being said, I was putting together my game list using apps like romlister and mamedata. And noticed a few games I was planing on playing that were not there. Games like Ice Climber, Snow Bros, Bust-a-Move, etc. After I looked into it, these games are all listed as 8-way and of course is why they did not appear in my list. As far as I can tell they are all 2-way (bust-a-move uses up and down for menu selection).

Am I completely wrong in thinking that the above games are truly not 8-way? I tried the games on a keyboard and noticed no difference while I was jumping and pressing up, up and right, or just right.

I guess my question is. Are there any good games listed as 8-way but don't use diagonal direction and would work just fine on a 4-way joy?

Thanks.

[Malenko]

bust a move is 8way, you fine tune your aim with the diagonals. I think the way the game works is confusing what you think is 4way from what is 8way (example MsPacMan is 4 way, because you cant move diagonally and it used a 4way stick in the arcades) in busta move I use the diagonals for days

[OverRide]

Good to know about bust-a-move. I will have to try it out again tonight. I haven't played it in years on a real cab. While playing it with a keyboard I did not notice a difference with the diagonal. The keyboard is probably not sending both directions at once.

I get the whole Pacman thing. A 4-way game cannot be played with an 8-way, there is to much room for error and the game messes up. A restricted joy is require to prevent pressing up and right, etc.
The other games listed seem to only be 2-way yet are listed as 8-way. I am guessing the games are listed as 8-way because the joy's were none restricted and the boards took the inputs for up, down, left, right? Maybe during game play up and down are not used and completely ignored, yet while in service mode you need to move up and down?

[Malenko]

well the only bust a move I owned was the NeoGeo MVS one, and they most definately used 8way sticks. I think the list is done with what sticks the dedicated cab used, not always what the game used? I cant say for sure. Off the top of my head I cant think of any 2 player games with 2 buttons and 4 way sticks

[OverRide]

The main reason for 4-way is for tapper which is a fav with my wife and myself. The reason for two player 2 button controls is for bubble bobble(2-way). The other game that is a must is Wonder Boy which is 2-way single player. If it wasn't for tapper I could stick an 8-way in. But I am taking advantage of the fact I have a large basement and don't need to build one mame cab to play everything. My next cab will be 8-way horizontal and I have both 8-way and 4-way vert games covered in other cabs, so in the end it is not a big deal. For snow bros and ice climber I will try each game as 8-way and then as 4-way/2-way and see if it plays differently. Any other games will have to wait until my next upright.
Thanks for the help.

[NOP]

i think you may also be bumping into a problem with MAME's xml file that has been bugging me for years.
It appears to me that the default settings for mame always seems to be joy8way, and if the developer doesn't go in and edit it to the correct stuff, it gets left behind and we're then stuck with inaccurate data.

To show this, take a look at the xml data for centipede.  it's got joy8way in there as a control.  why?

Pop onto maws and do a deluxe search for 8way sticks and I think you'll find a LOT of games that really aren't 8way at all.   burger time, wizard of wor, and plenty of early maze games are listed as 8way even though they most certainly are not.

controls.dat helps with this, but it's not complete.  You could try using Garwil's "bootleg" controls file.

[OverRide]

Thanks NOP. I really just wanted to make sure I would not be wasting to much time if I decide to venture through the 8-way list for 4/2-way games.