Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Random Selection



In my twenty-odd years of video gaming, I don't think I've ever used the SELECT button on a game console's controller. Has anyone? Or is it some vestigial remnant of something from gaming's past, kept around merely out of a sense of tradition, like an electronic appendix?

7 comments:

  1. Start Select was a staple on the SNES - how else would you end a mario level without losing a life?

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  2. But why was it never used to actually "select" an option? It was always "Hit A to select".

    I think it's very suspicious.

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  3. Exactly. The SELECT button was never used to select things. You always used one of the main buttons for that...

    I lied in my original post; I have used it, but only in a "push all buttons to reset game" situation. Curioser and curioser.

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  4. I think it's used in some GB and GBA games for SELECTing weapons. Like in Metroid and such. It's been a while since I've played those, though.

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  5. Wasn't the select button used to pause games? Or was that start?

    Metroid was a great game. I played it for the first time last year under emulation. Or was it Super Metroid? Probably.

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  6. START was used, almost exclusively, to pause games.

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  7. I just got Maximo: Ghosts to Glory for the PS2 a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised to find that it uses the select button. You gather ability pick-ups through the game, but can use only three at a time. The select button brings up the menu to select which ones to use. Unfortunately, that's about all there is to recommend about the game so I don't suggest you see for yourself.

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