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Why is Nintendo afraid of buttons?

huzkee said:
In my experience there hasn't been a game that has been seriously hindered by the lack of buttons on the GBA. Perhaps my memory is hazy but I have a hard time remember any games for the SNES that used all the buttons. There were typically 1 or 2 buttons that were assigned the same function so the loss of 2 buttons is negligible.[/QUOTE]
I think that's because there haven't been as many SNES ports on the GBA as most people tend to think.

I think most SNES games probably had about three buttons that you could consider "indespensable". For Zelda LTTP, Mario World, and Yoshi's Island, that was the case, so Nintendo mapped the third buttons to the "R" trigger, which was only moderately annoying.

AFAIK, SNES-ports on the GBA were outweighed by NES-ports, which (surprise) only needed two buttons.

IMO, like the GBA, the DS isn't going to get the flood of N64-ports everyone is expecting (except for a small handful of them coming mostly from Nintendo), and it'll get outweighed by SNES-ports.
 
Tennis games from NES to PS1 became very complicated in time. On PS1, you can play using 4 to six buttons to have different ways to hit the ball.

But the better tennis game was Virtua Tennis, that you only use 2 buttons for make the moves. It's simpler, have all the complexities from tennis games on Ps1 and much more fun.

Now, with the Revolution, you can play a tennis game with NO buttons. And, for the premise of freehand, it's will be more easy and realistic than play with 2 buttons in DC.

It's will be so simple to see as to play and it's will be make gamers and no gamers want o play a tennis game.

My dad love play tennis and he will want play that in revolution.

It’s the idea behind freehand. In my example, a tennis game can have much more moves and possibilities, and still have a much more natural and easy way to play a game.

It’s not need more buttons to make a better and more complex game. Not with freehand.
 
Behold my L33T MSpaint skillz

nurev6an.jpg
 
You people putting all those buttons: You've got the scale of the controller reall really wrong. If the press pic is to be believed, the controller is about 5-6" tall. Making the dpad roughly the size of teh gamecube, and the a button the size of the A button on the gc as well. Take the press pic and print it out to about 5/6" so you can see. (yes I did that, I was bored =( )
 
huzkee said:
patch-kiss.jpg


In my experience there hasn't been a game that has been seriously hindered by the lack of buttons on the GBA. Perhaps my memory is hazy but I have a hard time remember any games for the SNES that used all the buttons. There were typically 1 or 2 buttons that were assigned the same function so the loss of 2 buttons is negligible.

Maybe not all the buttons, and maybe not a lot out of the whole game library, but I can think of several that used more than 4:

Super Metroid (used all)
Earthworm Jim (5)
Killer Instinct (all)
Mega Man X, X2, X3 (all)
Mortal Kombat (5)
Starfox (all)
Street Fighter 2, etc (all)
Wolfenstein, Doom (5)

That's just off the top of my head. On the GBA, I can tell you for sure that Mega Man Zero and the Metroid games could have used more buttons. I'm not sure I'd say they were "seriously hindered", but the controls were definitely shoe-horned.
 
All I can say is that when I showed the controller to my wife, who has played games casually with others but never owned a non-PC gaming system, she was quite interested. I've been trying to get her interested in some modern games, but the complex controls are often too overwhelming.
 
My first time using photoshop. Nintendo gets to keep their giant A button and we get a few extra. (the dpad would be higher up)

 
Ruzbeh said:
That's nice but that second Z trigger makes absolutely no fucking sense. :lol

I like this a lot. The L and R could be sorta hidden like with the Gameboy Micro, basically, all this adds is two more buttons and you have a perfect SNES pad. But I think we should reserve our judgement until Nintendo reveals that shell they were talking about...
My thoughts exactly. Two face buttons and two rear buttons will overwhelm the new consumers Nintendo wants to attract.

But I would like the standard Revolution controller capable of properly controlling Super NES games without an attachment. That means there needs to be four buttons in a diamond pattern on the bottom (or right, if the controller is rotated 90 degrees) and a second rear button on the bottom (again, or right, when rotated).
 
Ninja Scooter said:
people adding all these extra buttons are really missing the point.


I suppose you have a mouse with one button and no scroll wheel.

Buttons are GOOD. Imagine playing Descent with this controller. ALL of its controls are immediately taken up by the 3D movement of your ship (which should rock, btw). So now you've got your buttons left for fire primary, alt fire, select primary, select secondary, drop mine, map, flare, rear view, afterburner, Guide Bot, guide-bot commands, drop marker, headlights, powerup shields...not to mention potential multiplayer controls like drop flag, team talk, and so on.

Come on. You'd be lucky to be able to map all that using crappy toggle commands. What's so hard about having ABXY instead of just A? Wanting a few more face buttons doesn't mean I don't "get it". I get it. It's really simple--that's the point, I know. But I don't think even Grandma is going to faint if there are 4 buttons instead of just one there. Her oven probably has more buttons (or dials) than that, and I promise you she can work it just fine.

Now's the time to voice this stuff--the design's not done, and Nintendo has occasionally listened to fans in recent years.
 
SKOPE said:
My thoughts exactly. Two face buttons and two rear buttons will overwhelm the new consumers Nintendo wants to attract.


I think you're selling people way short. Lots of people are stupid, I'm sure we can agree. But come on! These people are going to have to at least know how to work a TV (probably why Nintendo made it look like a remote in the first place). If they can figure out how to watch Oprah, TNN, or Fox, they can deal with a few more buttons. Then we all win! I don't get why people are being so stubborn about this.
 
Ruzbeh said:
That's nice but that second Z trigger makes absolutely no fucking sense. :lol

I like this a lot. The L and R could be sorta hidden like with the Gameboy Micro, basically, all this adds is two more buttons and you have a perfect SNES pad. But I think we should reserve our judgement until Nintendo reveals that shell they were talking about...
It makes sense when you turn it upside down to have a game use face buttons and the wand instead of the dpad and wand, or in a two wand configuration with dpad + buttons. But you are right my esign could do without it. ;)

the real point is the L and R and the four face buttons. I just wanted it to play SNES stuff out of the box.
 
Jive Turkey said:
Wow...83 GC games sure proves you're not an asshat for bitching about something you haven't tried yet.

You didn't call me on "bitching about something you haven't tried yet". You (in a nutshell) called me a Sony fanboy. I'd say having over twice as many games from Nintendo as from any other publisher, and having more GC games than PS2 games certainly disproves that.

By the way, "bitching" is out, but it's okay to say it's great before trying it? That's hypocritical. Besides, I'm not "bitching". It's constructive criticism. Nobody wants to see Nintendo kick ass more than I do. But I'm not a blind loyalist.


P.S. -- For the future: You're not the only one who posts on GAF. That wasn't directed solely at you.

I started the thread.
 
Leondexter said:
You didn't call me on "bitching about something you haven't tried yet".
Jive Turkey's first post said:
The only way to please the people bitching about the Revolution controller before trying it.
I didn't?
Leondexter said:
You (in a nutshell) called me a Sony fanboy. I'd say having over twice as many games from Nintendo as from any other publisher, and having more GC games than PS2 games certainly disproves that.
Again...Not aimed solely at you.
Leondexter said:
By the way, "bitching" is out, but it's okay to say it's great before trying it? That's hypocritical. Besides, I'm not "bitching". It's constructive criticism. Nobody wants to see Nintendo kick ass more than I do. But I'm not a blind loyalist.
I never said it'll be great. I think it has great potential and if Nintendo is aiming for simplicity wouldn't adding extra buttons be defeating the purpose?
Leondexter said:
I started the thread.
Good for you! I tied my own shoes! Guess we're both big boys now! :)
 
Jive Turkey said:
I didn't?

Again...Not aimed solely at you.

I never said it'll be great. I think it has great potential and if Nintendo is aiming for simplicity wouldn't adding extra buttons be defeating the purpose?

Good for you! I tied my own shoes! Guess we're both big boys now! :)

I like the mushroom girl in your avatar. :)
 
Jive Turkey said:
I didn't?

I don't see the giant picture with "SONY" on it in this post, why not? That implies that I'm bitching because it's not made by Sony, not because I haven't tried it. Apparantly if I weren't a Sony fanboy, I'd be happy whether I'd tried it or not. So no, you didn't.


Again...Not aimed solely at you.

That's fine, but I'm sure I'm not the only guy who's NOT a Sony fanboy that thinks that controller could use a little more refinement before next year. Some of us are thinking of game design, not trying to defend a corporate agenda or something.


I never said it'll be great.

Maybe not, but I haven't seen any posts calling people Nintendo fanboys just for liking it. But I've offered a suggestion for improvement, so you call me a fanboy. I don't see anyone really knocking the thing in this thread, just arguing over possible changes to it--most of which are centered around it playing SNES games. Which makes your "Sony" post pretty off-base.


I think it has great potential and if Nintendo is aiming for simplicity wouldn't adding extra buttons be defeating the purpose?

That depends on how stupid you think people are. The thing has fewer buttons than even the simplest of TV remotes, so I don't think it would panic anyone if it had a few more.
 
AndoCalrissian said:
I like the mushroom girl in your avatar. :)
She's hot huh? I wish I knew who she is but it probably wouldn't matter she probably isn't a known model or anything.

And to Leondaxter: Really dude. I think you win the CIA award for hitting the wrong target.
 
This is how I envision the introduction of my family to the Nintendo Revolution.

Me: Mom.. Dad, this is the Nintendo Revolution that I just bought for about $300.

Mom: It looks nice.

Me: Here dad, this is the controller just hold one piece in each hand..... No dad, the other way around, that's it.

Dad: What do I do now?

Me: Well.. just treat that stick there like it's Link's sword, and the other as if it's his shield.

Dad: Like this?

The Dog: Yip yip yip!

Me: Try to hold onto it a bit tighter dad and don't swing quite as hard.

Dad: I think I'm going to go back to EverQuest.

Nintendo: Fission Mailed.

The following has been largely a joke, but in the joke lies a kernal of truth. Is someone who doesn't want to hold a controller and press buttons going to hold two pieces of a controller and swing them around like imaginary weapons and sports equipment... I'm a little skeptical. Kudos to Nintendo for breaking the mold.. just too bad that this isn't really an industry that seems to take very well to having molds broken.
 
Leondexter said:
I think you're selling people way short. Lots of people are stupid, I'm sure we can agree. But come on! These people are going to have to at least know how to work a TV (probably why Nintendo made it look like a remote in the first place). If they can figure out how to watch Oprah, TNN, or Fox, they can deal with a few more buttons. Then we all win! I don't get why people are being so stubborn about this.
People use their TV remotes, but how many of those buttons do they use? Channel, volume, power; yes, but far too many people are afraid to press the other buttons and panic when they accidentally enter a menu screen.

This is why more and more DVD Videos go directly to the main feature instead of starting people at the menu screen.

And unlike a game controller, the buttons on a TV remote control do the same things under virtually all circumstances.
Jive Turkey said:
The only way to please the people bitching about the Revolution controller before trying it.
dw55xg.jpg
proves otherwise.
 
SKOPE said:
People use their TV remotes, but how many of those buttons do they use? Channel, volume, power; yes, but far too many people are afraid to press the other buttons and panic when they accidentally enter a menu screen.

This is why more and more DVD Videos go directly to the main feature instead of starting people at the menu screen.

And unlike a game controller, the buttons on a TV remote control do the same things under virtually all circumstances.

Okay, but these same people can work all sorts of other devices as well, from their car stereos to cellphones to ATMs to computers or cash registers or time clocks at work (though not very well, maybe). They probably know how to play dozens of games, from Tic-Tac-Toe to Blackjack to Chess to various sports (which they may know down to minute specifics, like college vs pro football rules).

They are NOT going to freak out because a remote control device has 9 buttons on its face instead of 6. Give me a break. Anyone that scared of technology isn't going to try this even if it has no buttons at all.
 
I found the furor over the PS3 controller quite foolish too.
It's functionally similar to the DS2 and might even be more ergonomic.
The XBOX360 controller is essentially the same as a version of the XBOX pad and everyone loves it becuase it will not disturb pre-established habits.
Anything different frightens the hardcore.
 
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