Add support for the official 3-buttons controller (NEC Avenue Pad 3)

[Steveneska]

3-buttons controller like the NEC Avenue Pad 3 allows the player to map either the SELECT or RUN button (with the toggle of a switch) to a third action button (button III in this case). It is very useful for games that mapped controls besides menus to the SELECT or RUN button. Below is a list of them and how they map a third action to the RUN/SELECT buttons:

PC-Engine CD / TurboGrafx CD Games

1. Akumajou Dracula X - Chi no Rondo (Japan) (FABT, FACT) - Maps item crush to the SELECT button
2. Forgotten Worlds (Japan) / Forgotten Worlds (USA) (En,Ja) - The only game that requires a 3-buttons controller. Maps movement to the SELECT button
3. Gate of Thunder (Japan) (FACT, FADT) - The SELECT button cycles through your speed settings
4. Golden Axe (Japan) / Golden Axe (Japan) (Alt) - The SELECT button casts magic
5. Gradius II - Gofer no Yabou (Japan) - The SELECT button uses power ups
6. John Madden Duo CD Fooball (USA) (RE) - The RUN button is used for passes
7. Martial Champion (Japan) - The RUN button attacks high
8. Metamor Jupiter (Japan) - The SELECT button cycles through ship transformations
9. Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu CD - Soccer-hen (Japan) - ``
10. Ookami-teki Monshou - Crest of Wolf (Japan) / Riot Zone (USA) - The RUN button uses desperation move
11. Spriggan Mark 2 - Re Terraform Project (Japan) - The SELECT button toggles through weapons
12. Valis III (Japan) / Valis III (Japan) (Alt) / Valis III (USA) - The RUN button changes characters
13. World Heroes 2 (Japan) / World Heroes 2 (Japan) (Demo) (SACS) *** - The RUN button is your throw/taunt button

PC-Engine / TurboGrafx 16 Games

1. After Burner II (Japan) - Maps the afterburners to the RUN button
2. Air Zonk (USA) / PC Denjin - Punkic Cyborgs (Japan) / Air Zonk (USA, Europe) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** / PC Denjin - Punkic Cyborgs (Japan) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button fires up rear thrusters to damage enemies behind you
3. Ankoku Densetsu (Japan) / Legendary Axe II (USA) - The RUN button throws bombs
4. Atlantean (World) (Aftermarket) (Unl) - Warps by pressing the RUN button
5. Barunba (Japan) - The SELECT button rotates your cannons
6. Battle Royale (USA) - SELECT + D-pad unleash a special attack
7. Blazing Lazers (USA) / Gunhed (Japan) / Gunhed - Special Version (Japan) *** / Blazing Lazers (World) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button cycles through your speed settings
8. Bloody Wolf (USA) / Narazumono Sento Butai - Bloody Wolf (Japan) - The RUN button throws grenades or flash bombs, uses flamethrower and dismounts motorcycles
9. Cyber Core (Japan) / Cyber-Core (USA) - The SELECT button cycles your speed settings
10. Down Load (Japan) - The SELECT button cycles your speed settings
11. Final Match Tennis (Japan) - Maps the lop shot to the RUN button
12. Final Soldier (Japan) / Final Soldier - Special Version (Japan) (En) *** / Final Soldier (World) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button cycles through your speed settings
13. Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu - PC Soccer Hen (Japan) - ``
14. Ninja Spirit (USA) / Saigou no Nindou - Ninja Spirit (Japan) / Ninja Spirit (USA, Europe) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** / Saigou no Nindou - Ninja Spirit (Japan) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button changes weapons
15. Shinobi (Japan) - The SELECT button uses ninja magic
16. Silent Debuggers (Japan) / Silent Debuggers (USA) - The RUN button fires secondary weapon
17. Soldier Blade (Japan) / Soldier Blade (USA) / Soldier Blade - Special Version (Japan) *** / Soldier Blade (Japan) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** / Soldier Blade (USA, Europe) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button cycles through your speed settings
18. S.C.I. - Special Criminal Investigation (Japan) - The SELECT button uses boost
19. Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Japan) - The RUN button is your third attack, the SELECT button cycles between punches and kicks
20. Super Star Soldier (Japan) / Super Star Soldier (USA) / Super Star Soldier (Japan) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** / Super Star Soldier (USA, Europe) (Wii U Virtual Console) ** - The SELECT button cycles through your speed settings
21. Turrican (USA) - The SELECT button changes weapons

** Need to confirm ROM compatibility with the emulator
*** Need to confirm if controller input is the same as normal version

[drhelius]

I wonder how do you expect this to be implemented.

Add another "III" button that can be pointed to "SELECT" or "RUN" and that you can map to a different button in your gamepad?

[Steveneska]

Ideally the III button mapping could be handled automatically by the emulator using the correct ROM info to set the most appropriate input configuration. Although I'm not sure of the technicality of this solution since this could involve reading the correct ROM hash for it to work. This setup has an advantage in scenarios where a frontend like Retroarch, LaunchBox, etc is involved, to configure inputs or in scenarios where input settings could be saved per-game for example.

[drhelius]

I like it.
The emulator already calculates the rom CRC and compares it to an internal database.
With the info you shared I can update this databese and include the config for the third button.

[drhelius]

I have it almost implemented. But I see in the list that there are some games that have an equivalent Japanese version (or USA version depending on the case) that will have a different CRC.

Can you help me list the name for both JAP and USA versions so I can include both CRCs for them?

There are some CD games in the list that the emu can't support yet.

Check here for the current list:
https://github.com/drhelius/Geargrafx/blob/main/src/game_db.h#L58

[Steveneska]

I'm on it. Do you use No-Intro DATs or GoodROMs to import the CRCs?

Edit: I've updated the list above with JAP and USA names. Also added a few more entries and Wii U ROM versions that can be tested with the emulator.

[drhelius]

GoodROMs, but don't worry about the CRC I can get them easily.

What is really useful is the list of names and default button for Avenue Pad 3.

But sometimes the name of the same game for USA and JAP are different and I may miss one of them in the list. For example, Ankoku Densetsu / Legendary Axe

[drhelius]

Edit: I've updated the list above with JAP and USA names. Also added a few more entries and Wii U ROM versions that can be tested with the emulator.

Thanks for the update!

[Ryusennin]

I'd like to suggest a simple enhancement to this feature: by default, automatically remap RUN to III and SELECT to IV in any game that is not listed in this whitelist.

[drhelius]

@Ryusennin By default, when the game is not detected and you have Avenue Pad 3 Switch in "Auto" the emulated button for III is "Select". Avenue Pad 3 does not have IV so I think it will be very confusing to emulate this button when you have "Avenue Pad 3" selected as your controller.

[Ryusennin]

The problem is that there's only one generic "Avenue Pad" configuration in the menu, which I suppose covers both Avenue Pad 3 & 6. When setting the controller to Avenue Pad 3, the buttons you mapped to III and IV are useless if the game is not in the whitelist.

A default setting of RUN (usually PAUSE) for button III would make more sense in my opinion.