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[MD] Six Button Controller Functionality: What could it be used for?


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Most titles prior to the Model II Genesis and Megadrive were not able to use the Six Button Controller by normal means, unless if coding in features for the controller was done particularly for such titles.

None of the NHL titles on these consoles were ever Six Button Controller compatible, at least in the regard that the X, Y, and Z buttons were ever used, and it truly be kind of a shame too, for I truly do feel that we could have a few luxuries from playing with the extra three buttons, as least to make certain things not as complicated.

Below are some actions that we could probably use if usage of the Six Button Controller's extra buttons was available to us in the NHL series on the Genesis and Megadrive.

Wishfully, some to all of these make some sort of sense here, they do come off as logical actions that could help speed up the gameplay in some form, and maybe even help some matters feel easier, in some regard, have a read.

~ Line Changing: No more having to pick up the puck as your team and then hold down the A Button to bring up the Line Change box, just simply press a button to automatically send in your Player Line.

X would send in Scoring 0I/Power Play 0I/Penalty Kill 0I, Y sends in Scoring 02/Power Play 02/Penalty Kill 02, and Z delivers the Checking line to the arena.

~ Checking Functionality: I never could get used to having to constantly press the B button to switch to a specific player on the ice just to have to hold the B button again so that I could allow the player push their stick out; I know that others would probably disagree with my views on this, but coding the checking action to its own button (Y, in this case) rather than sharing the Switch Player button would make it slightly easier for those that want to use the function right away, rather than have to hold the button and wait about a second to use it.

If the A and C buttons also have similar functions when playing Defense, where one would have to hold down the button in order to do a checking action, then those could be coded to the X and Z buttons respectively, keeping every button to using only one function individually.

~ Main Menu Functions: Not that this would be necessary for some, but X and Z could serve as L and R buttons for moving through the teams faster, while Y would be a Randomizer, of sorts.

X would go back six teams in the list, while Z would go forward six teams; Y would randomly select a team, and that would primarily be there for those that do not wish to have to go through the list to find a team that they want to play as.

~ .... Activation of Cheat Codes, perhaps?: Kind of would defeat the purpose of having to hold down a set of buttons to unlock the Developer Teams, of which can be complicating within itself at times for even the best of us, I am positive.

NHL '98, for example, is kind of wonky with the way that you unlock the EA Sports and THQ: Angry Legion teams, as well as triggering the Blitz Game time setting; If NHL games that have Cheat Codes in them could be coded to use a button sequence instead, then perhaps playing with the extras would be slightly to far more accessible for us, it sure beats having to remember to hold down the buttons for the original codes to activate them every single time that you play the game on actual hardware, that be for sure.

These are the only logical concepts that I would think would become available to us if Six Button functionality were available in the GS/MD NHL titles, each of these concepts do come off as understandable for making it feel a bit more modernized and they do bear some decent to major potential for making the gameplay more accessible and slightly faster for those that are used to the later generations of the franchise in the long run.

Of course, if the ability to use the Six Button Controller in full ever were to be implemented into any ROM hack of ours on here, then chances are that it would probably be made as a feature that you could toggle on and off, and then perhaps it will become a permanent feature once it is optimal for usage by regular means; similar to other topics that I have discussed on here, I do not expect a functionality such as this to become a reality at any point in time soon, but is always good to talk about it beforehand, especially if somebody does have this in mind and wants to work on it.

With that said, feel free to talk about this.

Truly, I was always curious for how Six Button functionality would work in an NHL title, and perhaps some of you have thought the same way on this as I have; the X, Y, and Z buttons clearly do have some worth here in this series, so wishfully, somebody could put this to their advantage, it would be a lovely experience for the lot of us. (:

Edited by Royameadow
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The goalie button hack that Clockwise got done shows it's possible and could be used as a template for adding other functions, certainly line changes without dumping the puck. The key is finding the function to hook the button up to.

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Sort of related: I can't believe nobody uses the goalie control patch because of some confusion over button mapping in emulators. I think we figured out the fix for that when this hack first came out and everyone forgot.

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Sort of related: I can't believe nobody uses the goalie control patch because of some confusion over button mapping in emulators. I think we figured out the fix for that when this hack first came out and everyone forgot.

The last 2 seasons (maybe 3) of Blitz has the button patch included.

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Sort of related: I can't believe nobody uses the goalie control patch because of some confusion over button mapping in emulators. I think we figured out the fix for that when this hack first came out and everyone forgot.

The last 2 seasons (maybe 3) of Blitz has the button patch included.

You can count me as one of the guys who forgot about this (-:

In the 1st season with it, I found that it messed up my timing anyways, so I probably wouldn't have used it anyways...

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Sort of related: I can't believe nobody uses the goalie control patch because of some confusion over button mapping in emulators. I think we figured out the fix for that when this hack first came out and everyone forgot.

It's not a fix, it's a game changing lame fake mod!!!

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