MAME and Libretro/MAME have options to automatically map controls for certain games. This mostly applies to Capcom's 6-button games such as Street Fighter II, the Mortal Kombat series, and the Killer Instinct series. Some layouts will also affect Neo Geo or the default controller layout, and there are a handful of other games that have control tweaks.

Note that some of these layouts are for v34, and may vary slightly in earlier versions.

Also, controls may be overridden via the MAME menu ([TAB] in MAME or Libretro/MAME, [HOTKEY]+ in MAME only). Only the default controls are changed, any custom controls changed in that menu will be saved.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1
Button 2
Button 3
Button 4
Button 5	[L1]
Button 6	[R1]
Button 7	[L2]
Button 8	[R2]
Button 9	[L3]
Button 10	[R3]
Insert Coin	[SELECT]
Start	[START]

If left on Auto, the SNES layout will apply to any custom mapped games.

Any controls not shown in the automatic mapping will use these buttons (for example, Insert Coin and Start will never change). Unless listed otherwise, the Twin Stick with Trigger layout and Rotated 4-Way Stick layouts will apply to appropriate games, and Neo Geo games will use the Neo Geo Mini layout.

This will apply the Default settings to ALL games, and ignore the automatic mappings.

This is the best option to use if you are using a controller with four face buttons and shoulder buttons - this would apply to the SNES controller and most modern gamepads.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (Light Punch)
Button 2 (Medium Punch)
Button 3 (Hard Punch)	[L1]
Button 4 (Light Kick)
Button 5 (Medium Kick)
Button 6 (Hard Kick)	[R1]

This layout applies to any Capcom game with a 6-button control layout.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (High Punch)
Button 2 (Block)	[L1]
Button 3 (High Kick)
Button 4 (Low Punch)
Button 5 (Low Kick)
Button 6 (Run)	[R1]

This will apply to any of the Mortal Kombat games, including bootlegs. Run is only for Mortal Kombat 3 and later.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (Quick Punch)	[L1]
Button 2 (Medium Punch)
Button 3 (Fierce Punch)
Button 4 (Quick Kick)	[R1]
Button 5 (Medium Kick)
Button 6 (Fierce Kick)

This will apply to any of the Killer Instinct games, including bootlegs.

This layout is intended for use with a controller with 6 face buttons and the mappings set up for Batocera & Retroarch's default megadrive layout. Controls are mostly based on the Megadrive versions of the games where available.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1
Button 2
Button 3
Button 4	[L1]
Button 5
Button 6	[R1]

This will apply to any game that doesn't have a special mapping. Buttons 1-3 are on the bottom row, to allow compatibility with 3-button controllers.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (Light Punch)	[L1]
Button 2 (Medium Punch)
Button 3 (Hard Punch)	[R1]
Button 4 (Light Kick)
Button 5 (Medium Kick)
Button 6 (Hard Kick)

This layout applies to any Capcom game with a 6-button control layout as well as the Killer Instinct series.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (High Punch)	[L1]
Button 2 (Block)
Button 3 (High Kick)	[R1]
Button 4 (Low Punch)
Button 5 (Low Kick)
Button 6 (Run)

This will apply to any of the Mortal Kombat games, including bootlegs. Run is only for Mortal Kombat 3 and later. The layout was slightly modified from the Genesis/Megadrive version as the default run button position was problematic.

This uses the layout that a modern fightstick uses. It has 8 buttons in 2 rows of 4. The top row is [R1] [L1] and the bottom row is [R2] [L2]. If you are building an arcade cabinet or stick, this is probably the best layout to use.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1
Button 2
Button 3	[R1]
Button 4	[L1]
Button 5
Button 6
Button 7	[R2]
Button 8	[L2]

This will apply to any game that doesn't have a special mapping.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (Light Punch)
Button 2 (Medium Punch)
Button 3 (Hard Punch)	[R1]
Button 4 (Light Kick)
Button 5 (Medium Kick)
Button 6 (Hard Kick)	[L1]
Button 7 (Unused)	[L2]
Button 8 (Unused)	[R2]

This layout applies to any Capcom game with a 6-button control layout as well as the Killer Instinct series.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (High Punch)
Button 2 (Block)
Button 3 (High Kick)	[R1]
Button 4 (Low Punch)
Button 5 (Low Kick)	[R2]
Button 6 (Run)
Button 7 (Unused)	[L1]
Button 8 (Unused)	[L2]

This layout applies to the Mortal Kombat series. Since MK-specific fightsticks use a unique layout, it is based on the generally accepted layout for a standard stick.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (A)
Button 2 (B)
Button 3 (C)	[R1]
Button 4 (D)	[L1]
Button 5 (Unused)
Button 6 (Unused)
Button 7 (Unused)	[R2]
Button 8 (Unused)	[L2]

This layout applies to Neo Geo games. It approximates the arcade control panel by having Button 1/A in thumb position and the others on the top row.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (A)
Button 2 (B)
Button 3 (C)
Button 4 (D)

This rearranges the face buttons to match the gamepad for the Neo Geo Mini console/mini-arcade cabinet. It is the default layout for Neo Geo games, but can apply to other games if selected manually.

MAME Button	Mapping
Button 1 (A)
Button 2 (B)
Button 3 (C)
Button 4 (D)

This rearranges the face buttons to match the Neo Geo CD's gamepad.

This layout is used by default for games that used two joysticks per player with triggers on one or more of the sticks. The layout is based on Virtual On (currently not working in MAME), but will apply to games like Battlezone. Games that had two sticks but no triggers, like Robotron 2084 and Smash T.V. will not use this layout, but it can be applied manually.

This does not remap any of the buttons, but does change the behavior of the D-Pad & Analog stick.

Q*Bert and it's variants, as well as a few other games like Congo Bongo, used a 4-way stick mounted at a 45-degree angle. MAME's default behavior is to map each of those angles to a direction, so for example pressing up would make Q*Bert jump up and right. This change will only make the input happen if the diagonal is pressed - so pressing up alone does nothing, pressing up and right together (or moving the analog stick to the upper right) will trigger the input.

This will automatically apply to any game using a rotated stick. Note that this does not apply to Jack Rabbit, as that uses an 8-way joystick that will normally function this way (only move on diagonals and ignore single-direction input).