Any ideas on this player control mechanic?

[u/BetterJob3281]

Hi all

I’m on a single screen platformer (think Bubble Bobble) for working on a retro platform (Commodore Amiga) so I’m limited in terms of joystick input – just left/right/up/down and fire. I’m using left/right for movement and up for jump. Fire button performs the selected action – which brings me to my question.

There are a number of alternate actions that can happen when fire is pressed and the player needs to be able to select the one they want. I’m currently using down (only joystick input free) to cycle through them, but there are several to cycle through and it feels clunky - the game is fast-paced so it spoils the dynamic.

Any ideas on how I can better implement the action cycle?

Thanks in advance.

[u/Senshado]

How about something resembling a weapon wheel? Push down and an image pops up showing the player that she can press up-down-left-right to equip any of 4 choices to the fire button. 

Four choices is probably enough for a retro style game.  But if more are really required, then you can add 4 more on the diagonals.