What is the point of the Select button

[Julio III]

Many games systems have a Select button next to the Start button. However, I've never understood why. The start button is generally used as a pause button but the select button usually serves no purpose. It is even still seen on modern controllers. It kind of infuriates me on 2 button pads that they have this extra button but cannot use it for gameplay. Anybody got any views on what the Select button is for and why it features on so many different manchines controllers?

[jb143]

Well...on the NES the select button is used on a TON of games. I can't speak for newer systems though.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Terminusvitae]

Indeed, but even on NES, games let you use the D-Pad eventually rather than the select button for everything.

That's true in some cases. Even so, it's used for mid-battle weapon switching in many games (G.I. Joe), and an even greater number of games assign either a redundant selection function to the button or use it in favor of the directional pad.

[mailman187666]

throwing grenades in Mass Effect (although a modern game) uses select. Sega's systems I don't think ever had any select buttons (maybe master system?). Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, gamegear. No select buttons and all the games went fine without so I can see your point. I see nothing wrong with having select on a controller in case its needed. PS2+3 uses it a bit for bringing up DVD options.

[dsullo]

"What is the deal with the select button, I mean what am I selecting? " - I am doing this in my best Jerry Seinfeld voice.

[Neil Koch]

A lot of Turbografx games use it as a third button.

[TonyTheTiger]

Select buttons are important. It's nice to have an extra auxiliary button for small tasks you usually don't regularly do. Case in point: Because the Saturn pad doesn't have a select button you had to go in the menu first before you could pull up the map in the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night. In most games it may not be needed but every now and then having an extra button can prove useful.

[dcescott]

Duck Hunt, 1 or 2 ducks or the skeet shooting.
Several NES rpgs use it for maps and item changing.

TG-16, press start and select to reset the game, huge advantage to those fatasses who are in the zone and don't want to get up and manually reset the console.

[miaandjohnrule]

maybe master system?

Are you kidding? The pause button is on the console. They use the A button as the run button. There is no select.

[klausien]

In Earth Defense Force 2017 on the 360, the "back" button (select) is how you board vehicles.

[Cryomancer]

Same for the ps2 versions of EDF

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Hmmm ... if you think about it ... it's not really a "select" button at all, since the act of selection is REALLY in the finality of making the final decision ... which is usually handled by the START button.

They should call select button the "move the little triangle on the title screen up and down" button.

And the START button the "make the selection" button.

[jb143]

They should call select button the "move the little triangle on the title screen up and down" button.



Hey. Now I finally understand what everyone means by it later being replaced by the D-Pad. That does seem a little strange to have to do now but I was mainly refering to the games where select serves a function durring the gameplay.

[Rob2600]

Duck Hunt, 1 or 2 ducks or the skeet shooting.

Instead of pressing the Select button on the controller, you could press the Zapper's trigger while aiming away from the TV. It does the same thing.

[XYXZYZ]

Toggling missiles on and off in Metroid.

Nowadays, Xbox controllers have 480 buttons on them and in most game the "back" button and the B button do the same thing.

But like Tony said, it's a nice option to have it as a general purpose button.

[cyberfluxor]

A lot of Turbografx games use it as a third button.

That reminds me, although I might be in a minority here but the controls for Street Fighter II Turbo on the 3DO sucks. A-C punches while L,R and play/pause kick? What the hell, it was so odd.

[Pantechnicon]

It does seem like on a lot of newer systems that the Select button can feel somewhat on the vestigial side. I've run through a few games where you'll be prompted to "press START to begin", but pushing something like button X on your PS2 will accomplish the same end. It's almost as if the programmers said something like, "Half the people buying this game are going to be clueless ADD-addled button mashers under the age of 12, so let's not make the menu operations too specific. Better map in some redundancies..."

On the Atari 2600, the Select button is absolutely essential as the various gameplay options are selected by cycling through the multiple preprogrammed machine states ("Combat - 27 Video Games"). Ah, the good old days of trying to deciphering the color-coded game matrices in the backs of the manuals.:roll:.

[boatofcar]

HSUP B TCELES...A Magic Spell?

[jferio]

It does seem like on a lot of newer systems that the Select button can feel somewhat on the vestigial side. I've run through a few games where you'll be prompted to "press START to begin", but pushing something like button X on your PS2 will accomplish the same end. It's almost as if the programmers said something like, "Half the people buying this game are going to be clueless ADD-addled button mashers under the age of 12, so let's not make the menu operations too specific. Better map in some redundancies..."

It's probably a variation of the "any key" problem that used to plague the computer software industry, where they were guaranteed to get at least a handful of support calls asking which key was the "any" key. Convention for programs, and this has likely spilled over to the gaming console industry, is to still set it up to respond to "any" key, but to tell the user/player to press a specific one like "Start".

[Ajax]

Get your reserve power in mario world (SNES)
Get in and out of your tank in Master Blaster (NES) very important

Its kinda like the d-pad on the N64 controller

[CosmicMonkey]

So what would you prefer:

* 2 Action buttons, and an extra small 'option' button for maps and things (i.e. the Select button, as is)

* Or 3 Action buttons and no 'Select' button?

And do you think it would have made the slightest difference if Nintendo had gone for the second option, and released the Famicom & NES with 3 button pads as standard?

[Gentlegamer]

So what would you prefer:

* 2 Action buttons, and an extra small 'option' button for maps and things (i.e. the Select button, as is)

* Or 3 Action buttons and no 'Select' button?

And do you think it would have made the slightest difference if Nintendo had gone for the second option, and released the Famicom & NES with 3 button pads as standard?I think Nintendo kinda went back to 2 action buttons with the GameCube, based on the face button layout. In fact, it was almost a 1 action button controller given the huge A button and the smaller and irregularly shaped B, X, and Y buttons.

I think that the Select button as a general menu and misc button works quiet well, though in some games it would have been better for it to have been an actual 3rd action button.

There's really only so much room for regular sized action buttons on the face of a controller, though the Sega 6-button controllers for Genesis and Saturn were pretty darn good.

[MarioMania]

Don't forget some NES, SNES games cheats use the Select button

Don't also forget the Mode Button on the 6 Button Genesis Controller

[Dreamc@sting]

I thought about this for a moment. Now this has been mentioned already but...it does help having an extra utility button. Comes in handy to open a map or inventory without having to navigate through a million windows...(or 2 or 3 but you know what I mean)

[exit]

It's used for the 2 player Contra code, the most important code of all.

[chrisbid]

it was helpful on controllers with only 2 action buttons, but you have a valid point with modern machines. its probably part of the same mentality engineers have with remote controls, rather than making on-screen menus to use rare functions, they give every specific function its own button on the remote control.

[Julio III]

Select buttons are important. It's nice to have an extra auxiliary button for small tasks you usually don't regularly do. Case in point: Because the Saturn pad doesn't have a select button you had to go in the menu first before you could pull up the map in the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night. In most games it may not be needed but every now and then having an extra button can prove useful.

What? There was no room to map that onto one of the EIGHT buttons on the Saturn's pad?



it was helpful on controllers with only 2 action buttons, but you have a valid point with modern machines. its probably part of the same mentality engineers have with remote controls, rather than making on-screen menus to use rare functions, they give every specific function its own button on the remote control.

I don't see why they didn't just have a 3rd action button instead of a select button.

[Rob2600]

Regarding home consoles, Nintendo only used the select button on the NES and the SNES. The N64, GameCube, and Wii controllers don't have a select button.