was the select button ever used to select something?

[orangeapples]

Just a mild curiosity. The select button has been around as long as I could remember, but I have never actually used it to select something. games have always had an "accept" button. Back on the NES it was typically A for accept, B for back and that is how I remembered it. I don't think I've ever played a game where the select button was such a necessity that required it to live on for so long.

 

[Trivea]

The 'select' button has always seemed really arbitrary to me... almost like they needed it to balance the controller and shut the OCD people up. It pauses the game sometimes, like in Silent Hill 2 (I found this out on my second playthrough), but beyond that I've never seen a major use for it. Personal experience talking here.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

The 'select' button has always seemed really arbitrary to me.

Indeed it certainly seems that way to me. x3 I never remember ever actually using it for anything. It just seems like it's just an extra button for aesthetic purposes or something. x3

 

[King of the Sandbox]

There were a few games on SNES that used it. Off the top of my head? I can't think of any right at this moment. But I'm sure if you really needed to know, there's a resource out there somewhere that could tell you.

 

[Kurea]

On the original NES/Famicom, the select button was often used to alternate between options on the title screen, i.e. "1 Player" vs "2 Player". Konami games in particular tended toward doing this. At least, that's what I remember.

 

[MellowFellow]

I don't know about selecting stuff, but the select button in NCAA and Madden is used for calling timeouts. Also, I can't remember exactly which games, but some games use the select button to access menus. OH I remember, I'm pretty sure in dragon age origins the select button is used to bring up the inventory screen and other tabs like codex, map, etc.

 

[Faux Furry]

It was used to select alternate weapons in the original Mega Man on the NES. It may have been used to select game modes at the start-up screen a few times, as well.
Microsoft probably realized how rarely it is used for actual selection and opted for a Back button...which is rarely used to move back to the previous menu screen.

 

[Random Encounter]

From what I remember, the select button usually served a purpose when the game was paused. (Like in Super Mario World, clicking it would let you leave levels that you had already completed).

 

[sshakespeare]

I know I used it in a few games on the PS2 mostly to open inventory, cant remember using it on any other console though

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Konami code

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Select Start

See, the select button WAS used for something!

 

[Tazzy da Devil]

On a couple of games I've played it brings up the map screen, but apart from that, yeah, it's pretty useless.

 

[Whateveralot]

The select-button is kind of like having a second start-button! It's just that, naming it start2 is a bit awkward. And yes, it used to select stuff.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

The game i've seen it been used the best is Battlefield and spotting people.

 

[Toriver]

Didn't it select things in the menus in the early Zelda games too?

And I am 100 percent certain select (or back on the 360... renamed, same lack of purpose) is the menu button in Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[Froken Keke]

Konami code

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Select Start

See, the select button WAS used for something!

Well, actually, the code is;
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.

So, no.


(Although, as said, it was used to select game mode on the title screen in the early NES days.)

 

[mysecondlife]

I use select button quite often in NBA 2k11 to call time-out.

very important stuff.

 

[Yvgeny]

Call, press select

Colonel: "I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space, with the tuning fork, does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri rock. I need scissors! 61!

You use it a lot in Metal Gear Solid

 

[Twilight_guy]

I always see it used interchangeably with the start button for auxiliary functions. Never seen it used to select things though. Maybe its named select for the same reason we still use the QWERTY keyboard: laziness and standards.

 

[Ruwrak]

It skips scenes in Final Fantasy 13.
It opens the menu in Metal Gear ( the NES version)
It's used to enter codes for certain games.
It opens the menu in a select few games
It shows the map in games.

And very rarely, the select button means 'back' or 'cancel' but most people use the B button or circle button depending on what you play. (at least on xbox it means cancel & back.. not sure about the PS3 as I don't have one )

 

[Seishisha]

On some games i can remember mostly ps1 titles the select button often brought up a menu of some sort like character inventory, also it was almost always a button used when entering cheat codes, i remember tenchu stealth assassins had a debug menu that let you spawn items and enemies the code was rather complex but im confidant it ended in start+select.