Multi-Button Mapping
When overriding gamepad settings inside a core it is possible to define button combinations (e.g. A+B) if you have enough physical buttons.
To allow for this, MiSTer will ask if you want to setup "alternate mappings" after defining a gamepad.
Alternate mappings are active in parallel and allow two kinds of abilities: map two physical button to the same core button (e.g. alternate button for Start), or map one physical button to two-button combo in the core (e.g. map physical X to thr core's A+B).
Bind core button to two physical buttons
The simplest is to map an extra physical button. Only this additional button needs to be defined in the alternate map, as follows:
| Map | D-Pad | A | B |
|---|---|---|---|
main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 2 |
alt | skip | skip | Btn 3 |
The result of using this setup ia that you will have physical buttons 2 and 3 mapped to the core button B.
This also works with gamepad directions. For example, for games that use Up as a jump button, it is possible to map a physical third button to jump.
Bind physical button to core button combo
A more advanced setup is to use both mappings in parallel to make one physical button push two core buttons at the same time.
See the table below:
| Map | D-Pad | A | B |
|---|---|---|---|
main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 3 |
alt | skip | Btn 3 | Btn 2 |
The result of this is that Button 1 will be A, Button 2 will be B, and Button 3 will be A+B.
This is particularly useful for the Neogeo core where some fighting games use A+B and C+D as "strong hit".
(note: unfortunately NeoGeo games are not consistent with each other - so it is not possible to set one mapping for all games)
Example: NeoGeo Breakers / Breakers' Revenge
Assume a six button arcade controller (for Street Fighter 2) with 3 punch buttons on top and 3 kick buttons below.
We will map the buttons so that Breakers / Breakers' revenge has the same kind of layout.
This particular game uses the following attack buttons:
- A: Weak Punch
- B: Weak Kick
- C: Strong Punch
- D: Strong Kick
In addition, most characters have an extra "command" move mapped to:
- Weak Punch + Strong Punch
- Weak Kick + Strong Kick
To match the Street Fighter 2 layout, we can assign this across six buttons:
| - | Weak | Strong | Weak+Strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punch | A | C | A + C |
| Kick | B | D | B + D |
Which translates to the following buttons:
| - | Weak | Strong | Weak+Strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punch | Btn 1 | Btn 2 | Btn 3 |
| Kick | Btn 4 | Btn 5 | Btn 6 |
To obtain this, input the following assignment during main and alternate mapping:
| map | d-pad | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 4 | Btn 3 | Btn 6 |
| alt | skip | Btn 3 | Btn 6 | Btn 2 | Btn 5 |
(in alternate mapping, d-pad and all other buttons can be skipped)
Example: NeoGeo King of Fighters / Fatal Fury Special
Both of these game use the same attack layout as Breakers but their button combination differs:
| - | Weak | Strong | Combo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Punch | A | C | A + B |
| Kick | B | D | C + D |
To map this, we need to switch things around a little bit:
| map | d-pad | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 3 | Btn 2 | Btn 6 |
| alt | skip | Btn 3 | Btn 4 | Btn 6 | Btn 5 |
Example: NeoGeo Samurai Shodown
This game has yet another layout, changing the order of base attacks:
| - | Weak | Medium | Strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slash | A | B | A + B |
| Kick | C | D | C + D |
We can map this as follows:
| map | d-pad | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 3 | Btn 4 | Btn 6 |
| alt | skip | Btn 3 | Btn 2 | Btn 6 | Btn 5 |
Counter Example: The Last Blade 1 and 2
Very similar to the above but a different button combo:
| - | Weak | Medium | Special |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slash | A | B | B + C |
| Kick | C | D | C + D |
In this case, it is not possible to map C three times so we must choose whether to map B+C or C+D.
Option 1: Mapping B+C to button 3:
| map | d-pad | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 2 | Btn 3 | Btn 5 |
| alt | skip | skip | Btn 3 | Btn 4 | skip |
(Btn 6 remains unassigned)
Option 2: Mapping C+D to button 6:
| map | d-pad | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| main | define | Btn 1 | Btn 2 | Btn 6 | Btn 5 |
| alt | skip | skip | skip | Btn 4 | Btn 6 |
(Btn 3 remains unassigned)