Fightcade Game Controller / Numpad Control

• Author: blueminder (Enrique Santos)
• Created: 2023-05-11

Motivation

In the process of turning my mini arcade cabinet into a dedicated Fightcade machine, I became annoyed at switching between joystick & mouse while looking for new matches. To scratch this itch, I started adding joystick/keyboard navigation to the Fightcade UI.

Controls are optimized for switching between game lobbies, challenging players, spectating matches, and loading the emulator offline for testing/training. As much as I could, I wanted to make sure that any actions performed via game controller did not require an external keyboard or mouse use to close external windows.

Installation

1. Download inject.js and place it in your Fightcade\fc2-electron\resources\app\inject directory.
2. Open Fightcade and press a button on your game controller. You will see a notification that says Game Controller Initialized.

Usage

Game Controller

Using your D-Pad or Left Analog Joystick

Left and Right switches between the following lanes when they are available:

• Game Lobbies
• Looking To Play
• Playing
• Test Game
• Training

A Notification will show up when you switch between lanes.

In Search:

• Selects Game

Up and Down

• Changes Active Game Lobby
• Selects Available Players
• Selects Active Match
• Selects Search Categories (On Search Welcome Screen)
• Selects Search Result On Next Row
• Selects User Status (On User Status Menu)

Button A (or 0)

• Accepts Last Pending Challenge (in any lane)

• Challenges Selected Player

• Spectates Match

• Opens Test Game

• Opens Training Mode

• Opens Selected Game Lobby (In Search)

• Toggles User Status Change (Active / Away)

Button B (or 1)

• Declines Last Pending Challenge (in any lane)
• Deselects Search Result
• Closes User Status Menu

Button X (or 2)

• Toggle User Status Menu (Active / Away)

Button Y (or 3)

• Toggle Search / Lobby Selection

Left Bumper

• Select Previous Game Lobby

Right Bumper

• Select Next Game Lobby

Keyboard Number Pad

You may also use your keyboard's number pad when Num Lock is turned off.

• 4 & 6 correspond with Left & Right
• 8 & 2 correspond with Up & Down
• 0 corresponds with Button A
• . corresponds with Button B
• 7 corresponds with Button X
• 9 corresponds with Button Y
• / corresponds with Left Bumper
• * corresponds with Right Bumper

Tested On

• Wired PS4 Controller
• Logitech Gamepad F310
  • XInput
  • DInput
• QANBA Q4RAF
  • XBOX 360
• Snackbox Micro
  • Uses Brook Universal Fighting Board
• Astro City Mini Joystick
  • Layout adjusted to match XBOX 360
• Retro-bit Sega Saturn Controller
  • Detected as Switch Pro Controller
  • A & B Reversed
  • X & Y Reversed
• BEYEE Zero Delay USB Encoder

Limitations

The HTML5 Gamepad API is weird about the use of POV Hats, so any controllers that represent their D-Pads in that manner are currently not supported. This includes PS3 controllers, though you may use the analog joystick, if available.

Extras

In any open lobby, you may press the F6 key to spectate a random match.

This was included as the start of an "Attract Mode" for my mini arcade cabinet. I aim to attach this function to an idle counter as time goes on.