Which keys are best for playing Donkey Kong MAME or Using an 8-Way PC Joystick

[francoisadt]

Hi

Which keys are best for playing Donkey Kong MAME or Using an 8-Way PC Joystick?

How one move your hands/fingers quick enough to move very quickly horizontally and jump while running?

Regards
Francoisadt

[Ohrami]

I use W for up, A for left, S for down, D for right, and K for jump. I have two hands, which makes it pretty easy to do the move you're describing. I simply use either my left hand's ring finger (in the case of moving left) or my left hand's index finger (in the case of moving right) to press and hold the corresponding horizontal directional input intended, and then use my right hand's index finger to press the K button.

[NWnike]

An 8 way joystick is death in Donkey Kong. MAME will only read 4 way input so if you accidentally miss pushing exactly the right direction jumpman doesn't move. Very hard to transition on ladders also. I eventually got an X-arcade Tank stick and it works beautifully in DK. (Buttons are quite loud though according to my wife.)

[francoisadt]

An 8 way joystick is death in Donkey Kong. MAME will only read 4 way input so if you accidentally miss pushing exactly the right direction jumpman doesn't move. Very hard to transition on ladders also. I eventually got an X-arcade Tank stick and it works beautifully in DK. (Buttons are quite loud though according to my wife.)

The reason I mention 8-way is :
- I got an old D-Pad, 8 way PC joystick.
- I expect maybe someone on the forums did had success re-program or map a PC joystick to work 4-way with MAME .cfg key file somehow. Not to use 8-way as DK need a 40way but I do not have a means to convert an old PC joystick to 4-way with some plastick mold/custom plate. Maybe someday.

[NWnike]

You don't need to worry about the cfg files. MAME reads all joysticks as 4 way... something in the emulation. The problem is if you play with an 8 way you can move it to positions that MAME won't read anything because it isn't "true" up or down etc... I tried playing with an Xbox controller using the joystick and the d-pad. Both were horrible.

[CraigT]

It's interesting, but I've found that 8 way joysticks are horrible for DK too, except for the Xbox 360 controller, which I've found works perfectly for me. Unfortunately they keep malfunctioning after a month or so, like Mario automatically climbing ladders even after letting go of the stick for example. I also tried PS4, PS3 and Xbox One controller 8 ways: terrible.

I've found the Xbox 360 controller to be by far the most comfortable, easy to use, and reliable controller for DK (if it hasn't started breaking down). I've lost count of how many I've bought. I tried the D buttons on the PS4 controller, and it's too much hard work. I also tried one of those little SNES controllers for PC, but it's really uncomfortable because it's so small, and not reliable enough for going up.

I might try a different alternative at some point.

[justintxz]

I have tried so many different controllers, mainly ones for the NES/SNES and i would always get stuck going up on ladders. I started using a xbox one controller 4 months ago and I have never been stuck a single time. surprised to see others having that issue.

[NWnike]

I got an X-arcade Tank stick last year... yes it is pricey and yes it is big. However, it plays awesome! It is also very useful for all the games we play in MGL that use multiple buttons. Easy to have them located on a panel than all over a controller.