[ICEknight]

I just got an Arcade Power Stick II and noticed that it has the START button on the left side, and the MODE button on its right.

While this initially seemed like a bit of an odd choice (since, in other systems, the START button is usually placed next to the face buttons, for easier access), I just remembered that Dragon Ball Z actually uses it in its gameplay, which hints that SEGA might have encouraged the devs to use it more like an R button rather than the normally useless SELECT.


Thing is, I can't remember any other games that even check for it anywhere. Perhaps you guys know of any examples, even if it's just internal checks for... anything?

[saxman]

DOOM uses it. Although it's not written in the manual, you can hold it and press A, B, C, X, Y, Z, or Start to select any one of the seven weapons in the game (assuming of course the player has the weapon of choice).

That's about all I have for you though.

[Meat Miracle]

... where does Dragonball use the Mode button? I've never heard of that. I knew it had a random character select with Y but that was all the 6-button support it had.

There was a game that used Mode button for a cheat code, but I'll be damned if I remember which one.

[ICEknight]

Meat Miracle, on 08 February 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:

... where does Dragonball use the Mode button? I've never heard of that.

It's the "run" button. No need to tap the direction twice with it.

[Neo Hazard]

ICEknight, on 08 February 2012 - 06:46 PM, said:

I just got an Arcade Power Stick II

I had no idea this existed. I have the first Power Stick, but I'll definitely look into getting that one!

As for the Mode button, I've always heard that it was supposed to alternate between having a 3 button and a 6 button setup for certain games that allowed it, but I'm not sure that's totally correct. It may be the case in some instances though.

[toguro max]

Fatal Fury 2 used it to taunt.
Some game had problems with the six-button controller, so you could press Mode at the Sega screen to "disable" the X, Y and Z buttons.

[ICEknight]

Neo Hazard, on 08 February 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

As for the Mode button, I've always heard that it was supposed to alternate between having a 3 button and a 6 button setup for certain games that allowed it, but I'm not sure that's totally correct.

It always puts the controller in "3-button mode" when you hold it while turning the system on, but since it works with old games I'm guessing that's a hardware controlled feature.

[Andlabs]

Nightmare Circus does; Sik can tell you more.

The issue is that with the way the six-button controllers work, some games read their controllers incorrectly and thus trigger the six button mechanism, or something.. I think David Crane's Amazing Tennis is one of those games, though someone would have to double-check.

[Meat Miracle]

Yeah, I remember at least one game that had problems with the 6-button controller.

Also, wasn't it needed for SMS games?

[Sik]

ICEknight, on 08 February 2012 - 07:51 PM, said:

Meat Miracle, on 08 February 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:

... where does Dragonball use the Mode button? I've never heard of that.

It's the "run" button. No need to tap the direction twice with it.

Oh, fuck you.

Andlabs, on 08 February 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

Nightmare Circus does; Sik can tell you more.

No, I don't, never played it, just saw playthroughs (though I recall the game having full 6-pad support anyways). Though that may be the game using the Mode button as part of a cheat.

Meat Miracle, on 08 February 2012 - 10:04 PM, said:

Also, wasn't it needed for SMS games?

Um, no? The 3-pad itself was designed to be compatible with the SMS controller, after all, and the 6-pad is backwards compatible with the 3-pad, so in turn it's also compatible with the SMS. Though some SMS games fail to work properly even with the 3-pad, in which case you're screwed pretty much.

Back on-topic: Shadow Squadron uses it to switch between first and third person camera. Metal Head also switches the camera with it. UMK3 seems to respond to the Mode button in menus, but it does nothing in gameplay.

[Black Squirrel]

Forgotten Worlds needs it (apparently) because it can't cope with six button controllers.

But I think the clue is in the name - it's main purpose was to switch controller "modes".

[Sik]

I think this topic is about 6-pad games that use the Mode button for some function in-game, not for games that neeed the 3-pad compatibility mode.

[Meat Miracle]

Sik, on 09 February 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

I think this topic is about 6-pad games that use the Mode button for some function in-game, not for games that neeed the 3-pad compatibility mode.

I'd be interested in both actually.

[Andlabs]

Never mind what this said before

One of the things I wanted to do was make a table of games by supported accessories; in the case of the six-button pad, there would be Yes, No, and Nonfunctional, and in the case of others it would be Yes and No (I wanted to go with a text list for ease of searching as well).

This post has been edited by Andlabs: 09 February 2012 - 11:55 AM

[Black Squirrel]

We could definitely use a lot more lists these days for all sorts of accessories or sound drivers or whatever. But that being said, I think Sega Retro needs a system where it can read from the bob template and generate lists on the fly. Maybe creating results like this or something.

This information needs writing down but I'm reluctant to have 382903482103 tables and lists that all need to be manually maintained. I've a feeling they might go out of sync after a while.