Why didn't the N64 controller have a select button?

didn't need one

>>11886823 (OP)
Select buttons are largely unnecessary when you have more than a few buttons.

Cause all the options were shit

>>11886823 (OP)
we grew as a species to be able to navigate menus with directional inputs

>>11886823 (OP)
Because they already knew how many people were going to select the psx over the 64.

>>11886848
kek

>>11886834
this one made me laugh (even though I like the N64)

>>11886848
this one did not

What, exactly, is the purpose of the select button and how would it improve the console?

Because the select button essentially derailed from "select game mode" to "special button" by the SNES era, and they realized they could just use other buttons to do that shit, until it sorta came back but different for the wii and beyond

>>11886823 (OP)
the n64 wasnt powerful enough to have a select button

>>11886834
lmao
>>11886848
lol

>>11886867
It allows you to access your Codec

>>11886897
This but unironically, that's why buttons on controllers generally have increased since the NES days.

>>11886867
Lets you view the scoreboard

Probably because it had 6 face buttons + Z trigger + L and R. More than enough.

I play a lot of rpgs and its funny how even the start button is completely useless and unused in those games.

>>11886823 (OP)
FYI I made this as a troll thread about the most boring, inane, stupid question I could think of.

>>11886834
rekt

>>11887064
N64 will always generate replies no matter what

No one has selected anything with the select button for the past 35 years.
>but bro, what if you need two different menus??
Press start and tap the R button. Wow.

And if I may rant further, controllers have too many buttons now.
Why can't we get back to streamlining controllers, instead of bloating them?

>>11886823 (OP)
Why has any controller ever had one?

>>11886951
Enough for what?
If you have your hand on the dpad side the Z and stick are rendered useless.
If you have your hand on the stick then the dpad and L are useless.
Sin & Punishment was made out of pity for the D-Pad, and if you hold it that way then a, b, the c buttons, and r are rendered useless.
Not to mention placement of the c-buttons renders them inconvenient for most regular uses.
They really sent out a system with two buttons and a trigger, even cheaped out on a select button, then wondered what went wrong. If they had a select then at least there would be a little more to work with.

>>11886897
I wouldn't be surprised if this is true due to bus limits or something.

>>11887173
>>11887193
What games actually somewhat meaningfully use select?
>MGS
>>11887183
DS4 is perfect. If somebody made a DS4 with a 3DS touchscreen for the touchpad it would be the ultimate for emulating almost everything. I know some will disagree but other companies need to just put both sticks lined up instead of backwards to try and be different from Playstation.

>>11887204
You just seem to have an irrational bias against the N64.
Who, exactly, wonders "what went wrong"? Are these in the room with us right now?
Most classic, timeless video games only require 2 buttons, 6 at most.
In most cases I remember, select wasn't necessary and only used to select different game modes on the title screen (many Famicom/NES games do this), which seems redundant when you could just press down/up on dpad and start to select a mode.
I could see the problem on, for example, Master System not having a Start button and it being on the console, but no Select button doesn't seem like a problem, as seen on consoles like Genesis.
BTW Treasure made great usage on the N64 controller's left position with Bangai-O. Moving with the dpad and shooting with the stick is the definitive way to play it (and the one they recommend using on the game manual)

>>11886848
/thread

>>11887245
I typed out a response but posting failed, so to be brief, I like N64 and am replaying Mischief Makers right now for the first time. Will try Bangai-O next.

>>11886823 (OP)
They wanted to give a nonce who hadn't been born yet something to shitpost about.

>>11887193
It’s a descendent from things like game mode buttons, but modular; instead of having a set amount of game mode buttons, games could have as many title screen modes as you wanted as players could use Select to change their game mode selection then Start to start the game.
If you go back to the first wave of NES games, they’re all designed like that; you can only select title options with Select and only start the game with Start.

>>11887681
But why couldn't you also just use left and right to also select the mode? Why did they need two extra buttons? Because the buttons had specific singular commands and couldn't be multipurpose like be used in a menu and in a game?

>>11887723
They didn’t realize that until later, they just designed it the way things were designed at the time.

>>11887217
The codec could have been literally any button. It could have been start. All that does is pause the game. Just have it default to the codec menu.

The DS4 already has at least two too many inputs. I don't like having to press in sticks to do shit. I don't even really like having two rows of shoulder buttons. It's cumbersome.

>>11887204
I mean, what wasn't it enough for? I don't think I ever once played an N64 game and felt like I needed more buttons.
Only offering a limited number of inputs forces developers to behave, if anything. Imagine if they wasted a button giving you a sprint ability in Mario 64. That'd be shit, right? Cause you don't need that. All you need to do is press the stick down.
Everyone has this shit wrong, I'm telling you.

>>11886901
What's a Codec and how does it work?
>>11886947
What games have a scoreboard?