Six buttons vs. Seven buttons

[kurtcd]

Hi everyone,

First post on the forums and I am looking for some feedback on my first build, a 4-player pedestal. I was planning on going with a six button layout for P1/P2 and then four buttons for P3/P4. I have set up the computer already and I am emulating up through GC/Wii. I know for certain systems I will obviously have to go with a controller, so I am fine with that.

My main question was really if P1/P2 should have six or seven (or maybe even eight) buttons. Are Neo Geo games uncomfortable to play without that seventh button? For those people with eight buttons, has it increased the number/types of games you can play with the control panel vs a separate controller? Thanks for the feedback everyone and additionally, thank you everyone for building this community. As a lifelong fan of video games, this is just an awesome place.

[newoski]

Personally, I don't think they're necessary... but then again, I didn't grow up playing Neo Geo on a cabinet. So there are two ways to do it... 

 

You can map them like:

 

1 2 x

3 4 x

 

Or

2 3 4 

1 x x

 

I built a bartop though, so real estate was at a premium.... Very happy with 6 buttons. If anything, I wish I had a spinner/trackball

[newoski]

(also, bear in mind... even if you put 8 buttons for systems like PS1, PS2... it's still awkward as hell trying to use these buttons for shoulder functions because they are not positioned logically -- like shoulder buttons.)

 

Again, my preference, would be 6 buttons and then use 360 controller for the PS1, PS2, N64 systems as needed

[rfancella]

Hi Curt,

I recently posed that question to myself and did a lttle (I repeat, little) research.

The best source out there for button layout is SlagCoin: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

But that didn't answer the question for me, it just gave me tons of options for layouts and spacing.

I already have a cabinet that is 2 player with 8 buttons each.  But I started a new build for a friend.  A wireless CB using an XBox360 controller as the "encoder".  With this I am limited to the number of buttons available.

What little reading I did do stated the only games that use more than 6 buttons (in MAME) are casino and majong.  So I opted for six.

As to the layout, many people say to put four along the bottom and two on top:

 

XX

XXXX

 

Or:

 

  XX

  XXX

X

 

The second option does not look comfortable to me at all.  Meh. 

 

I opted for this:

 

XXX

XXX

 

I guess i'll find out as I have a cardboard mockup already built and ready to start testing.

 

Thanks,

Ron

 

Hi everyone,

First post on the forums and I am looking for some feedback on my first build, a 4-player pedestal. I was planning on going with a six button layout for P1/P2 and then four buttons for P3/P4. I have set up the computer already and I am emulating up through GC/Wii. I know for certain systems I will obviously have to go with a controller, so I am fine with that.

My main question was really if P1/P2 should have six or seven (or maybe even eight) buttons. Are Neo Geo games uncomfortable to play without that seventh button? For those people with eight buttons, has it increased the number/types of games you can play with the control panel vs a separate controller? Thanks for the feedback everyone and additionally, thank you everyone for building this community. As a lifelong fan of video games, this is just an awesome place.

[Daitokuji]

Hello, 

 

I built a console that has 4 buttons for Neo Geo arcade and above and to the left I aligned 3 buttons for 6 button fighting games.  I then used a different wheel for Neo Geo and different install directory so I could standardize all of the controls for each without having to map every single game.  Works great for Neo Geo esp. for games like Samurai Showdown 1/2 where you need to hit two buttons together for strong attack. 

 

Of course you could always align them top and bottom but then some Neo Geo only use 3 buttons so, again, you split the controls.  

 

Hi everyone,

First post on the forums and I am looking for some feedback on my first build, a 4-player pedestal. I was planning on going with a six button layout for P1/P2 and then four buttons for P3/P4. I have set up the computer already and I am emulating up through GC/Wii. I know for certain systems I will obviously have to go with a controller, so I am fine with that.

My main question was really if P1/P2 should have six or seven (or maybe even eight) buttons. Are Neo Geo games uncomfortable to play without that seventh button? For those people with eight buttons, has it increased the number/types of games you can play with the control panel vs a separate controller? Thanks for the feedback everyone and additionally, thank you everyone for building this community. As a lifelong fan of video games, this is just an awesome place.

[jonnieboyrevel]

I'd second Daitokuji's layout.

 

I have mine set up like this

 

  XXX

  XXX

X

 

The button that's by itself is actually a bit higher than that but it was the best I could do with X and the space bar...

 

Like Daitokuji, I have a separate wheel for Neo-Geo and have them 1-4 across the bottom. 

 

I actually got the button spacing from Slagcoin as mentioned in rfancella's post above.  It seems to be a comfortable distance between buttons.

[dark13]

The main advantage in having 8 buttons is you can have capcom and neo-geo layout on the same control panel. Honestly i'm not a great fan of neo-geo layout and prefer to map neo geo fighting games in the same fashion of capcom layout

 

Anyway as far as I remember there's one capcom tag fighting game using 7 buttons.

[kurtcd]

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I think I will go with six for now and see how that feels. Thanks again everyone for the advice, I'll probably bug you all for feedback on my attempt at control panel artwork once I tweak that a bit .