It was used to move the cursor in the menu screen for the original Legend of Zelda. This threw my three year old brain for a fucking loop.
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Strange and weird buttons on controllers
- Thread starter DownGrader
- Start date
It was used to move the cursor in the menu screen for the original Legend of Zelda. This threw my three year old brain for a fucking loop.
SerTapTap
Member
What is the very top button on a classic controller. It doesn't do anything in any game ever best I can tell. Is it even a button?
It's a hilarious relic of the absolutely horrific UI design of many arcade/NES titles where on the main menu the d pad and A/B button are useless and you used "select" to move and "start" to start the selected option, because who could possibly use a directional pad to navigate a menu or press A to confirm something?
The DS4 controller makes so much more sense, though "press () Options" on title screens looks a bit silly. Just go to "press any button" at this point
It's a hilarious relic of the absolutely horrific UI design of many arcade/NES titles where on the main menu the d pad and A/B button are useless and you used "select" to move and "start" to start the selected option, because who could possibly use a directional pad to navigate a menu or press A to confirm something?
The DS4 controller makes so much more sense, though "press () Options" on title screens looks a bit silly. Just go to "press any button" at this point
The Z-Button was named after the z-axis in 3D space. It was used to refer to the fact that you'd most likely be moving along the z-axis if you're using the center prong to control a game on the N64.
Nintendo also chose the name for the c-buttons because they were anticipated to be used to control the camera.
SpacedCadette
Member
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
DownGrader
Member
What is the very top button on a classic controller. It doesn't do anything in any game ever best I can tell. Is it even a button?
It's not a game button. It's mechanical button which opens two holes on the back of Classic Controller so you can snap grips or other accessories:
MrCunningham
Member
Still better than having a bit red button there. At least the up/ down/ left/ right could be used for extra functionality in 3D games, like weapon/ item switching and whatever else.
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
Were there any Gamecube games that required a keyboard input? The only games that supported online play that I know of were the Phantasy Star Online series.
blame space
Banned
It was made exclusively for Phantasy Star Online.
sleepydeer
Member
The doug button
What does it doooooooo
There are two buttons, Doug and Faster. So, naturally, when it came time to assign the button for bike turbo speed, they went with Doug...
Baron Von Beans
Member
Someone posted in a thread a while back that the start and select buttons on the 3ds always do the same thing. Every game I've tried this on is true -_-
RoadHazard
Gold Member
What is the very top button on a classic controller. It doesn't do anything in any game ever best I can tell. Is it even a button?
It's a hilarious relic of the absolutely horrific UI design of many arcade/NES titles where on the main menu the d pad and A/B button are useless and you used "select" to move and "start" to start the selected option, because who could possibly use a directional pad to navigate a menu or press A to confirm something?
The DS4 controller makes so much more sense, though "press () Options" on title screens looks a bit silly. Just go to "press any button" at this point
While I agree that "press Options to start" is dumb, "press any button to start" wouldn't really work. People would press PS or Share and then be all confused. It should just be "press X to start", which it often is.
The Select button on the 3DS is for DS compatibility only.
I had a chance to do some programming for a 3DS game a few years ago. In software, it receives the same button index for both buttons. You couldn't program a 3DS game to respond separately to the select button even if you wanted to!
I think the Select button in general is just a holdover from the days of the Atari 2600 when you could select the difficulty with a switch on the front of the console. It reminds me of how game manuals have been replaced with in-game tutorials; it took people a while to realize you don't need a separate physical thing for something that you can just do in software.
I had a chance to do some programming for a 3DS game a few years ago. In software, it receives the same button index for both buttons. You couldn't program a 3DS game to respond separately to the select button even if you wanted to!
I think the Select button in general is just a holdover from the days of the Atari 2600 when you could select the difficulty with a switch on the front of the console. It reminds me of how game manuals have been replaced with in-game tutorials; it took people a while to realize you don't need a separate physical thing for something that you can just do in software.
Mexican Sting
Member
Dat Doug button.
It's pretty well written.
I still don't understand how anyone can say that the gamecube controller was anything other than a disgusting, hot, mess. I had to hold 3 buttons down, plus the analog stick to NOT shoot someone with a machine gun in Twin Snakes!
It's pretty well written.
I still don't understand how anyone can say that the gamecube controller was anything other than a disgusting, hot, mess. I had to hold 3 buttons down, plus the analog stick to NOT shoot someone with a machine gun in Twin Snakes!
Surprisingly, A Link Between Worlds uses start and select for different functions. As far as I know, it's the only game that does that.
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
Is this real? No way.
We'll find out what the doug button does next Wednesday
EDIT: FUCK WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT IT DOES MY CANCELLATION BETTER GO THROUGH
DONT WANT TO BE STUCK WITH SOME STICKY FADED PIECE OF SHIT FROM 1999
Fucking LOOOOOL
Minister of the Dog
Member
It was so good they decided to keep using it: the central section is almost like the Nintendo Wii Nunchuk.
What does any of that have to do with anything?
Real, released to work with the Gamecube version of Phantasy Star Online.
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
And people think the Wii U Gamepad is large and awkward to hold, lol!
soxinthebox
Member
I have one and only used the keyboard for online PSO. The controls themselves work just like a standard GameCube controller and work in any game. It actually feels like a Wii U game pad with more comfortable shoulder buttons.I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
It's actually a lot smaller and lighter than it looks and is very comfortable to hold. Due to it's length it actually rests very easily on a lap. Infinitely more comfortable to use than a wii u pad at least, that things a fucking nightmare.
Yes I own one. Basically, it was used exclusively for Phantasy Star Online back in the day.
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
I wonder why they included all those extraneous function keys. There's no way PSO uses keys like Ctrl and Tab, right?
You know, now that you mention it, I'm having a hard time thinking of any 3DS games that use the Select button. Someone mentioned ALBW, and I feel like Monster Hunter does too, but that's about it.
Who made it? Sega?
soxinthebox
Member
ASCII was on the box but I'm not sure if that's a brand. Wikipedia makes it sound like an official controller.
Refreshment.01
Member
It is how desgin works, you take a decision that may end affecting others. Even asuming the center handle was the reason for the Z TRIGGER to exist it doesn't change much: It is a digital trigger. What defines it as a trigger is the button's orientation and your index rested exactly on top of it in a perpendicular fashion, not a paralel one like a shoulder button.
It is an arbitrary requirement on your part to declare that a gamepad button needs to be a analog to be considered a trigger. It is quite ironic since most of the times even today, the trigger ends up working as a digital button. The most popular genre now (shooters) use it as a digital input in the majority of cases. Also regarding the concave form factor as a mandate, after the N64, when Sony started implementing triggers themselves they used convex ones (not to everyones liking), but those are still considered triggers due to their form factor.
Triggers go rather well with a wand like grip design, like the one the N64 introduced and that continued with the Wii. One of the really great things for the "feelback" of shooting games on the N64 was that the part that controlled the aiming and shooting (the center handle) felt like having a weapon in your hand. The rumble pak enhanced the sensation further. Basically your hand was gripping someting that to your index finger felt like resting over a trigger and it even vibrated.
Of course you are dead set on not changing your mind nor im trying to. i just limit myself to explain things as logically as i can.
Speedrunners and Smash pros prefer this controller over the regular one because the sticks are more durable and the L & R triggers pop up and down faster.I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
BriareosGAF
Member
We used them in development, also. Raise your hand if you remember how janky the early HIO mailbox implementation was and how little throughput it had. Good times.
O.v.e.rlord
Banned
"Press water to shoot, earth to reload"
I look at this and think "Fifth Element"
bomberman447
Member
I'm surprised no-one has posted this thing yet:
Including the entire keyboard seems a bit excessive. Also, has anyone here ever owned one? I've always wondered if it was a pain in the ass to actually play with since your hands are so far apart....
Sega took a different approach haha
Some older games would flip out and not respond correctly when played with a 6-button pad; the mode button was a necessary inclusion to let you play those older games with your new controller.
Hahahahaha
We'll find out what the doug button does next Wednesday
EDIT: FUCK WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT IT DOES MY CANCELLATION BETTER GO THROUGH
DONT WANT TO BE STUCK WITH SOME STICKY FADED PIECE OF SHIT FROM 1999
Piston Hyundai
Member
No "love" for this bucket on nonsense yet?
I bet that'd be cool for fishing games.
Hydrargyrus
Member
Seems like it was designed by a lefty...
... and I bought it
It's not a game button. It's mechanical button which opens two holes on the back of Classic Controller so you can snap grips or other accessories:
I wish I'd seen attachments like those sooner, like when I was still playing the original Wii...
The Gamecube button arrangement is one of my favourite ever. My ideal gamepad would basically be a Gamecube pad with four shoulder buttons, two of them analogue. Oh and a better right-stick.
Seraph_Nicholas
Member
I'm pretty sure select dates all the way back to the 2600, when it was on the console and used to select different game modes. Just one of those things that people do because people did, I guess.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Not only do people use the share button all the time, but the start button serves no function at all in this scenario lol.
Share & Option buttons on the PS4 controller.
Why...just why? Why make them so stupid, did they conduct years of research to create extremely annoying buttons. Just make normal human buttons not ridiculous nonsense like that.
The Wii U power button is terrible too.
If your idea is flush buttons then go on ahead and flush that idea down the toilet.
Why...just why? Why make them so stupid, did they conduct years of research to create extremely annoying buttons. Just make normal human buttons not ridiculous nonsense like that.
The Wii U power button is terrible too.
If your idea is flush buttons then go on ahead and flush that idea down the toilet.
Cheeseman Battitude
Member
Amiga CD32 had also somewhat unorthodox buttons, like 123 etc.
I prefer this official one. It still looks futuristic:
ShyGuy0504
Member
Seeing the black and white buttons on the Xbox controller in the OP made me remember something.
I used to have a third party Xbox controller that actually put them in the same spot as the bumpers on the 360 and Xbox One controllers. This was a couple of years before the 360 released.
I remember I'd go to Halo LAN parties that my friend hosted and people would comment on how they liked the placement of those buttons. I can't remember what company made the controller.
I used to have a third party Xbox controller that actually put them in the same spot as the bumpers on the 360 and Xbox One controllers. This was a couple of years before the 360 released.
I remember I'd go to Halo LAN parties that my friend hosted and people would comment on how they liked the placement of those buttons. I can't remember what company made the controller.
It was used that way on a lot of old NES games too. Select would cycle the menu options and Start would start the game.
Sega took a different approach haha
I actually really liked how they went for a professional, no frills look. Coming from an era where everything was blob and gak shaped and color it was nice to have a practical looking device for your practical needs.
Amiga CD32 had also somewhat unorthodox buttons, like 123 etc.
Those arent the button labels, those are commands for the built in cd player. The button labels are red, blue, green, and yellow.
Diablohead
Member
The mode button on some megadrive 6 button controllers, I never understood fully what it was for as a kid but I believe it was to help with games which may not respond to 6 button controllers, some really early titles, but I never ran into any.