Why do controllers have the "back" button?

[renegade7]

I think it goes back to before the NES (I think the Atari 2600) where "Select" was used to toggle through game modes and "Start" was used to launch the game. On the NES, start was used for pause because it was far away from the gameplay buttons, so you wouldn't accidentally hit it. Since subscreen menus (like the one in Zelda) also paused the game, it stood to reason that you would use that button for that function.

Nowadays, they're just called that because "Press Start" is likely the most well known line in video games.

The final and most important reason is to make new adopters with experience with other console more comfortable. Everyone knows that start is pause, for instance. Familiarity leads to complacence.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Why do Xbox controllers insist on having a "back" button on them? I don't remember a single recent game that used that button as an actual "back" button in games. I most games it's either used to check the score, or for absolutely no purpose at all.

FTFY, and the answer is because Microsoft thought people would be confused by the word select.

Then when was the last time you used the "select" button to select anything?

 

[ElPatron]

They should rename it into the "Any" button. Because that'd make the most sense.

Press Any Button.

It would get a lot of people mad mashing their controllers, don't even try it.

 

[PatrickXD]

I figured they changed it because 'select' is a longer word than 'back'. Other than that I can't think of any particular reason. Not that it matters much, really.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

this is such a non-content thread it's ridiculous. It's like you ask for food, get cotton candy, and discover its made of cobwebs.

It has a button. It has this button to have the button. It is called a certain thing because buttons distinctions, and Microsoft had a controller stolen from other platforms, so they named it funny. that's all there is to this.

 

[-Samurai-]

Plus, it's a "cross" button, not actually an "X."

Wut?

I have a friend that calls it a cross button. He never answered when I used to ask him why they'd have letters on their buttons that are obviously letters, but the "X" is supposed to be "cross". Wouldn't it fit the theme of the controller to have it be "X"?

He also calls "square" "box". I fucking hate him.

 

[Jodah]

Being a PC and PS3 gamer I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out what the hell you meant by back button. For the PS3 it is still called select, as it should be! Also, most games use it as either a shortcut to open a specific menu (Assassin's Creed used it for the map) or to open the menu tabs in general. At least that's how it is for PS3.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Erganomics... We as gamers have evolved to expect the start/select buttons there... like having directional controls on the left, and action buttons on the right! The buttons name and functionality don't really matter, as long as it does something usefull, or familiar.

Xbox renamed it 'back' and it actually does work as a back button in menus on the dashboard, although often the B button will do the same.

I think more people would complain if they took them away... as they are fused into our culture! Look how we instinctively move out right thumbs to that special spot when we see the 'press start' before the menu screen. Also, as we are so used to pressing 'start', why would we want to change it? 'Press menu to start' or 'press pause to start' would just be weird!

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I still remember the "white" and "black" buttons on the original xbox controller. Two shoulder buttons, ABXY, Start, Back and those two. No letters, no assignation beyond a colour code. They were awesome buttons.

And yeah, as others have mentioned, Back is just a replacement of "select" which in itself was never actually used for that purpose. Start should just be renamed "Pause/Menu" and "Back" to "Random/Unassigned".

SNES and N64 controllers still win for best controllers of all time. Of all time.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Why do controllers insist on having a "back" button on them? I don't remember a single recent game that used that button as an actual "back" button in games. I most games it's either used to check the score, or for absolutely no purpose at all.

For that matter why do controllers have a "start" button? Since when has this button ever actually started the game? I mean, even as far back as the NES you could always press "A" to start the game.

Just seems kind of silly to call these the "back" and "start" buttons when they neither go back nor start anything.

PS: Anyone else think the new captchas are absolutely ridiculous? Could they get any more obnoxious with the advertisements?

New captchas? Did you just find this site in the past few months? They've done that before. Some even required you to watch a video. It's there way of annoying you into paying for the Pub Club.

Anyway, back button. In the gaming world there are these things called menus which have multiple screens, they are very common in PC games. When you want to go back a screen, that is what the "back" button is for.

As for start, on a lot of games, it sits on a start page and says "Press Start". Usually any key will work for that. Should try venturing outside of the Xbox sometime, since every other controller out there that doesn't have a "back" key.

Then I just remembered something my old boss told me. In the rules of business (or something), you can legally copy something and call it your own if you change three things about it, one can be the name. Changing a button name to "back" instead of "select" could be two, and swapping the d-pad and analog sticks is three. Then all you have to do is look at the other button you didn't yet change, steal the name of your console from those symbols, then change the symbols to letters.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I think it serves as a quick button for an essential thing in the game, such as a map or leaderboard.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Plus, it's a "cross" button, not actually an "X."

Wut?

I have a friend that calls it a cross button. He never answered when I used to ask him why they'd have letters on their buttons that are obviously letters, but the "X" is supposed to be "cross". Wouldn't it fit the theme of the controller to have it be "X"?

He also calls "square" "box". I fucking hate him.

You got your god in my video games!

 

[General Vagueness]

Plus, it's a "cross" button, not actually an "X."

Wut?

I have a friend that calls it a cross button. He never answered when I used to ask him why they'd have letters on their buttons that are obviously letters, but the "X" is supposed to be "cross". Wouldn't it fit the theme of the controller to have it be "X"?

He also calls "square" "box". I fucking hate him.

Historically anything with two crossing lines could be a cross-- hence the terms crossing and across-- when you cross the street or go across the street, you're moving in a perpendicular line to the street, which, overlaid on the street, would form a cross. If that's not enough, there's the cross of St. Andrew [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Andrew's_Cross].

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

In Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, BACK is used literally. Just something I noticed.

 

[Wayneguard]

I have...... never actually thought about that. Now that you mention it, 'back' makes no sense at all.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Without the Start button, how would we pause the game?

Well, if you are going off of that, then it should be called the 'pause' button.

Probably, but since X is confirm and O is cancel in most western games (which makes no sense) I think it's possible to live with illogical controller button names/functions.

wait..what?

your thumb is generally always on the X button anyways, so ergonomically having it as the confirm button only makes sense, and generally I've always heard that "X" is used when confirming something, e.g. on a ballet, so It makes sense in that context when you map it to the x button.

 

[subtlefuge]

Back just clarifies the button function more. Select could theoretically mean the same thing as start (and in many cases did).

 

[Something Amyss]

Plus, it's a "cross" button, not actually an "X."

Wut?

I have a friend that calls it a cross button. He never answered when I used to ask him why they'd have letters on their buttons that are obviously letters, but the "X" is supposed to be "cross". Wouldn't it fit the theme of the controller to have it be "X"?

He also calls "square" "box". I fucking hate him.

On the PS controllers, it's correctly called a cross. They are symbols. On the 360, it IS an X. I mean, we WERE talking about the controller with the "X" and the "O" on it. Something the Xbox lacks.

And crosses are more than just the Jeebus cross.

 

[Zeraki]

It's the select button... Microsoft just calls it the back button so they can feel like they're special.

Start button pauses the game, and select usually brings up the map/inventory/level up screen.

 

[Something Amyss]

You got your god in my video games!

Oh dear. Now I'm picturing a religious console. Cross, Jesus Fish, Trinity and Crown of Thorns. Not sure what they'd call the triggers, though.