Patent ID: 8568213

Claim:
An electronic game apparatus for providing a game simulation on a monitor device, the game simulation including movements of one or more characters within a game environment, the game apparatus comprising: a plurality of player input devices including at least a first type of player input device and a second type of player input device, each type of player input device having a plurality of buttons that are configured to be manipulated by hands of a player, thereby producing a plurality of player input signals for moving at least one of the one or more characters within the game environment; and a base unit coupled to the player input devices and including a game processor configured to receive the plurality of player input signals and to determine therefrom the game simulation, the game processor being further configured to transmit output signals representative of the game simulation to the monitor device, the one or more characters in the game simulation including at least one of a first player character and a second player character, the game simulation including at least one of movements of the first player character based upon first player input signals from the first type of player input device, the first player character being selectable from a first group of player characters corresponding to only the first type of player input device, and movements of the second player character based upon second player input signals from the second type of player input device, the second player character being selectable from a second group of player characters corresponding to only the second type of player input device, the second group of player characters being different from the first group of player characters.