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What Arcade Games Use 8 Buttons? (Are They Better?)

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Arcade games are very different from other game consoles. Arcade games are built with everything infused into the arcade machine including the game. Meaning that arcade machines are game-specific. 

Thus, the type of game infused in an arcade is what determines the kind of controls an arcade must-have. Each arcade differs from one another through the number of buttons they have. Most common arcades have four, five, or up to six buttons. But in very rare cases, we find games with 8 buttons.

So What Arcade Games Use 8 Buttons

8 button games have surpassed all other button games and even now, they stand out as the relevant games. They include games such as Aero Fighter 2, Blazing Star, Burning Fight, and many more. 

To see what games currently have 8 buttons, he will want to keep reading this article. 

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Arcade Games with 8 buttons

The following are the games with an 8 button layout

Aero Fighter 2

The game was released in July 1994 under NEO GEO. The game was developed by SNK which is famous for developing the NEO GEO games. Its genre is a Shoot em up game.

Its gameplay is simple. It uses two buttons in which both are for shooting ( one launches projectile missiles while the other one launches special types of bombs). It has 10 levels in which you’ll have to surpass them one by one to finish the game.

Aero Fighter 3

This is a released improvement of the previous version Aero Fighter 2. It was released in 1995 by a video system and developed by SNK systems. Since it’s a sequel, its genre is also Shoot em up.

Its gameplay involves an extraterrestrial scene which is the continuation of the story of its previous version after defeating the aliens at the last level. It also uses two controls one for shooting while the other one for special bombs.

Art of Fighting

The game adds up again to the NEO GEO collection of games. The game was developed by SNK in 1992. It was also among the first NEO GEO combat games. The game offers the user experience of combat. And the best part of this game is its mirror versus multiplayer mode where you and a friend can challenge each other in combat.

The gameplay has more of a story, like a plot, but involves fighting its opponents in a versus like mode. Thus the game uses the Japanese architectural button layout making it use eight buttons

Baseball Stars Professional

The game was created by SNK in 1990. It was one of the first pioneers of not only the sports eight-button layout but also the first NEO GEO game. Normally the opponent was the computer but it also had a multiplayer mode. There were two types of gameplays in which one was the tournament option.

In this, you would face a series of teams in which you would have to defeat to win the championship. And in the second versus mode is where you would compete with either the player or the computer.

Art of Fighting 2

This was a sequel to the Art of fighting arcade game saga. It was developed in 1994 before the release of its previous version. The game was also designed by SNK. The game had much-improved graphics with fewer pixelation views.

The story involves a character named Geese Howard who calls up fighters for martial arts combat tournaments in South town.

Art of Fighting 3

This was the last installment of the Art of Fighting sequel. It was developed in 1996 two years after the second version was released. The game contains new characters along with Ryo Sakazaki and Robert. It was also developed by SNK. After the success of the two prequels, the Art of Fighting 3 failed to meet its expectations.

Many of the critics called the game poorly balanced and its rating was mostly 5 out of 10. Due to its combat options, the game also used the 8 button layout.

Blazing Star

The game was released in 1998 and published by SNK. It was however, developed by Yumekobo. Its genre was a Shoot em up and you could tell by its name. The story is similar to that of the famous franchise movie Transformers, except in this game, it involved cyborgs.

In the game, the cyborgs team up with humans to fight against artificial intelligence systems that develop the cybernetic armies that would wipe out the human race. Like other NEO GEO games, the game used eight buttons.

3 COUNT BOUT

This was among the first wrestling games designed in the arcade history of games. It was ideal for this game to have 8 buttons due to the versatility in the wrestling sport itself. The game was designed by SNK in 1993. It contained 5 championships each with its own stage. It also featured street type of wrestling in which the player had weapons available.

The controls consisted of a variety of wrestling combat skills like kick, jump, punch, and even pin down. Thus on its release, it received positive reviews including scoring 24 out of 40 from NEO Geo.

Aggressors of Dark Kombat

Just like Art of Fighting, the Aggressors of Dark Kombat was a single-handed combat game developed in 1994. It was designed, developed and published by ADK ( Alpha Denshi Corp). The game had characters moving in the opposite direction towards the screen from left to right. The game also had eight usable characters each with his nationality.

The game, however, rates an average from the critics because of the multiple complaints about the controls. It mainly received critics of 7 out of 20 and 25 out 40 from various critics.

Burning Fight

This is a beat me up game developed in 1991. Just like many combat games, the game was developed by SDK. The game comprises 3 games infused together with characters Ryu, Billy (Billy lee from double dragons) and lastly Duke.

Now, each character has his strength and weakness to create balance among the characters. It received positive criticism with rating 74 out of 100 in addition to the tally of the best 8 button games in combat.

Are 8 button machines better than other machines? 

Although eight button machines are not necessarily better than other machines they do serve a different purpose. Most 8 button machines are made for fighting as each button produces a different move for the characters on the screen.

All the different options that a player had when playing these machines is part of what kept them popular when other machines begin to be on the decline. 

Importance of 8 buttons

  1. It is the foundation to modern gaming consoles making it very adaptable
  2. It can serve well in case of button malfunctioning

Conclusion

Arcade games are very different from other game consoles. Arcade games are built with everything infused into the arcade machine including the game. Meaning that arcade machines are game-specific. 

Thus, the type of game infused in an arcade is what determines the kind of controls an arcade must-have. Each arcade differs from one another through the number of buttons they have. Most common arcades have four, five, or up to six buttons. But in very rare cases, we find games with 8 buttons.

8 buttons have surpassed all other button games and until now they stand out as the relevant games