View source for Six Button Control Pad (Mega Drive)

{{AccessoryBob
| accessoryimage=Pad MD Gen3.jpg
| title=Six Button Control Pad
| maker=[[Sega]]
| madefor=[[Sega Mega Drive]]
| releases={{releasesMD
| md_date_jp=1993-01
| md_code_jp=SJ-6000
| md_rrp_jp=2,500
| md_date_eu=1993
| md_code_eu=MK-1653
| md_rrp_uk=14.99
| md_date_us=1993
| md_rrp_us=19.99{{fileref|VG&CE US 53.pdf|page=21}}
| md_code_us=MK-1653
}}
}}
The '''Six Button Control Pad''' became the de facto controller for the [[Sega Mega Drive]], replacing the standard [[Control Pad (Mega Drive)|Control Pad]] internationally around 1993/1994. It is officially known as the '''6 Button Arcade Pad''' in North America and the '''Fighting Pad 6B''' (ファイティングパッド6B) in Japan.

There are two main types of Six Button Control Pad, a smaller model originally intended for Japan, and a larger one intended for the west. The differences in size are due to a perception that the Japanese and people living in similar Asian countries have genetically smaller hands - it is an idea that passed through to the [[Sega Saturn]] and even to the [[Xbox]] before the realisation it might have been easier to produce one single pad for all regions. Indeed the larger variant was phased out by the end of the decade to cut costs and the Japanese variant would replace it worldwide.

The Six Button Control Pad is functionally identical to the previous pad but features three extra face buttons (or "triggers"); {{X}}, {{Y}} and {{Z}}, placed above {{A}}, {{B}} and {{C}}. The {{Start}} button was moved to the centre of the pad, similar to [[Nintendo]]'s set of controllers.

In most regions the Six Button Control Pad was released with ''[[Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition]]'' which made use of the six-button layout. Though the game had been released on the Super NES, it had to assign moves to the {{L}} and {{R}} buttons - the Mega Drive version is therefore more analogous to the original arcade version (and also means a separate arcade stick does not necessarily need to be purchased).

Some games do not function with the six button controller. To fix this situation, Sega added a {{Mode}} button on the top right of the controller. If held while the system is booting, the controller will revert back to a three button pad. Many six button games make use of the {{Mode}} button within play, bringing the total number of buttons to eight (plus the D-Pad). Since the Super NES controller also has eight buttons, this made developing multiplatform games for both consoles easier.

There are some minor aesthetic differences between models. Japanese control pads have blue {{Start}} buttons, PAL models have red ones, and North America has grey ones.

The six button control pad would be used as a basis for the [[Control Pad (Saturn)|Sega Saturn Control Pad]], though the MODE button would be scrapped in favour of an extra two shoulder buttons, {{L}} and {{R}}.

==Compatible games==
===Mega Drive===
{{multicol|
''<DPL>
category=Six Button Control Pad-compatible games
category=Mega Drive games
notnamespace=category
ordermethod=title
order=ascending
</DPL>''
|cols=3}}

===Mega-CD===
''<DPL>
category=Six Button Control Pad-compatible games
category=Mega-CD games
notnamespace=category
ordermethod=title
order=ascending
</DPL>''

===32X===
''<DPL>
category=Six Button Control Pad-compatible games
category=32X games
notnamespace=category
ordermethod=title
order=ascending
</DPL>''

==Incompatible games==
:''note: this list is incomplete''
*''[[Forgotten Worlds]]'' (reads controllers too quickly for the pad to keep up — there is no delay between setting TH and reading the new values, and apparently regular controllers are fast enough to handle this, but not the 6-button)

===Games requiring 3-button mode===
:''note: this list is empty, please help''
*''[[Arch Rivals]]''
*''[[Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' (there's a bit of input lag in 6-button mode)
*''[[The Faery Tale Adventure]]'' (Cursor for item selection at shop menu goes wild in 6-button mode)
*''[[Golden Axe II]]'' 
*''[[Ms. Pac-Man]]'' (Ms. Pac-man controls badly in 6-button mode)
*''[[Sunset Riders]]'' (Can't access "2 Players" and "Versus" modes if both players are in 6-button mode)

''[[King of the Monsters]]'' requires an abnormally long press of the mode button in order to work.

==Mode Button==
Though the mode button is officially used on a six button control pad to switch between six button and three button modes, many developers utilised it in-game as an extra button for gameplay. In many situations the mode button's usage is kept hidden from the player by not being listed in manuals, thus its use is not widely documented.

===List of Games which use the Mode Button===
*''[[Aerobiz Supersonic]]''
*''[[After Burner Complete]]''
*''[[Batman Forever (Mega Drive)|Batman Forever]]''
*''[[Doom (32X)|Doom]]''
*''[[Dragon Ball Z: Buyuu Retsuden]]''
*''[[Fatal Fury 2]]''
*''[[The Lost Vikings]]''
*''[[Metal Head]]''
*''[[Nightmare Circus]]''
*''[[Star Wars Arcade]]''
*''[[The Story of Thor]]''
*''[[TechnoClash]]''

==Technical information==
In order to maintain backwards-compatibility with existing games, the 6-button gamepad acts the same as the 3-button if the controller inputs are read by the program a maximum of four times per frame. Reading the 3-button gamepad takes two cycles (once with TH=1 to read Up, Down, Left, Right, B, and C; and once with TH=0 to read A and Start), and the 6-button gamepad allows this to occur twice. It then reports the state of the extra buttons when the TH line is changed after the fourth cycle.

The full controller state is read in 8 cycles:

{|class="prettytable"
!Cycle||TH out||TR in||TL in||D3 in||D2 in||D1 in||D0 in
|-
|1||HI||C||B||Right||Left||Down||Up
|-
|2||LO||Start||A||0||0||Down||Up
|-
|3||HI||C||B||Right||Left||Down||Up
|-
|4||LO||Start||A||0||0||Down||Up
|-
|5||HI||C||B||Right||Left||Down||Up
|-
|6||LO||Start||A||0||0||0||0
|-
|7||HI||C||B||Mode||X||Y||Z
|-
|8||LO||Start||A||---||---||---||---
|-
|}

Note: For the 8th cycle, '---' indicates "don't care". These values are all 1 on the 6-button controller, but may be mapped to other buttons on third-party controllers. Software expecting 6-button controllers should simply ignore these values. (6-button detection should be done on the 6th cycle, which presents four 0's on the D lines.)

The controller's internal counter automatically resets after the eighth cycle. It also resets if it doesn't detect a rising-edge (0 to 1) transition on the TH line within 1.5 ms, which ensures that most games that don't support the extra buttons won't read them accidentally.

Some games incorrectly read the controller more than twice per frame, which may cause them to read the wrong set of buttons. If the Mode button is held in while starting the Mega Drive console, the 6-button gamepad will disable the extra buttons and act identically to a 3-button gamepad. (That is, the controller's internal counter will reset after the first two cycles instead of after eight cycles.)


==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Pad MD Gen3.jpg|US model
File:MDControlPad EU 6B.jpg|EU model
File:Pad MD JP II.jpg|JP model
File:MK-1653 LaserActive Front.jpg|[[LaserActive]] model
TectoyJoystick6Botoes MD.jpg|BR model (grey)
</gallery>

==Patents==
<gallery>
Patent USD349527.pdf|USD349527
</gallery>

==Magazine articles==
{{mainArticle|{{PAGENAME}}/Magazine articles}}

==Promotional material==
{{gallery
|{{GalleryPrintAd
|SegaVisions US 15.pdf|sv|15|97
|SegaVisions US 17.pdf|sv|17|131
}}
|{{GalleryPrintAd
|SegaVisions US 21.pdf|sv|21|83
|GamePro US 064.pdf|gamepro|64|167
|SegaVisions US 22.pdf|sv|22|57
|SegaVisions US 23.pdf|sv|23|89
|SegaVisions US 24.pdf|sv|24|101
}}
|{{galleryPrintAd
|MegaForce ES 24.pdf|megaforcees|24|83
}}
}}

==Physical scans==
{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=US
| front=6ButtonArcadePad MD US Box Front Older.jpg
| back=6ButtonArcadePad MD US Box Back Older.jpg
| spinemissing=yes
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=US (newer)
| front=MDController MK-1653 US Box Front.jpg
| back=6ButtonArcadePad MD US Box Back.jpg
| spinemissing=yes
| spine2=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=US ([[Sega Club]])
| front=SC6BC MD US Box Front.jpg
| back=SC6BC MD US Box Back.jpg
| spine=SC6BC MD US Box Spine.jpg
| spine2=SC6BC MD US Box Spine2.jpg
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=EU
| front=MDController MK1653 EU Box Front.jpg
| back=
| spine=
| spine2=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=JP
| front=MDController SJ6000 JP Box Front.jpg
| back=FightingPad6B MD JP Box Back.jpg
| spinemissing=yes
| spine2=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=BR
| front=J6B MD BR Box Front.jpg
| back=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=BR (Master System branding)
| front=J6B SMS BR Box Front.jpg
| back=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=BR (grey)
| front=J6B MD BR Box Front Grey.jpg
| back=
| square=yes
}}{{Scanbox
| console=Mega Drive
| region=CA
| front=6ButtonArcadePad MD CA Box Front.jpg
| back=6ButtonArcadePad MD CA Box Back.jpg
| spinemissing=yes
| square=yes
}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/md/fighting6b.html Sega of Japan catalogue page (Japanese)]

==References==
<references />

{{MegaDrive}}

[[Category:Control pads]]