Golden Axe II controls

[MindController]

Perhaps it's just my edition, but the controls using the 6 button controller are crazy. The d-pad doesn't work at all. Instead, the "mode" button on the side of the controller moves the character right, the x button moves him left, the y button moves him down and the z button moves him up.

Is it this way because the game was made before the 6 button controller came out and it doesn't know how to react to the extra input? Or is my controller on the fritz?

[Kµro]

Golden Axe II could be one of the games where you HAVE to hold down the mode button while you turn on the system. Give that a try.

[goldenband]

Golden Axe II could be one of the games where you HAVE to hold down the mode button while you turn on the system. Give that a try.

It absolutely is one of 'em. Annoying if you forget, especially on a Model 2 where you have to wait through the TMSS screen.

[MindController]

Thanks for the tip. Never would have figured this out on my own

[synapse]

I thought my copy of the game was broken or something until I remembered I had to push Mode. It happens with Forgotten Worlds and a few others too. I wouldn't use the classic controller 'cause I LOVE the touch-and-feel of the 6-button one

[Why-Disciple]

Is there a reason that just these few games require this?

[N.Saibot]

I have no idea why some games aren't fully compatible, has something to do with the way
the games are programmed. This incompatibility was probably the reason for the mode
button to exist in the first place. It got nice utilization in some few games though.

When I had Golden Axe 2 as a kid I couldn't explain this phenomenon and just played the
game as it worked - mode moved the character right but the rest of the D-Pad was strangely
in working order. I remember even getting pretty far by overusing a very cheap tactic and
setting the difficulty on lowest setting : D

[goldenband]

Ha, that's a funny story! Reminds me of my attempts to play Indy 500 for the Atari 2600 without the driving controller. (Or, for that matter, the paddle-only games for the Master System.)

[o1s1n]

We ran into issues recently while rigging up the mode button as a 50/60hz switch in a Sega Nomad.

After the mod, to boot up PAL games in 60hz, you hold your finger down on the mode button and it changes the console to 50hz. You then release the button once the game starts up to play it in 60hz.

Problem was that when you were trying to play a PAL region locked 6 button game, holding down mode to get around the lock was disabling the top three buttons.

So 6 button PAL locked games like Ranger X and Street Fighter 2 would only boot with three buttons on the Nomad.

Found a way around it though. The region check is after the TMSS screen. So you let the console boot up normally in 6 button mode, then when the TMSS screen vanishes you hold mode immediately, switching it to 50hz and getting around the lock.

As for game compatability, I've tried the 6 button pad with some games that apparantly have issues. PAL Golden Axe 2 works perfectly as does Decap Attack. They must have removed the issues in those games before releasing them in Europe.

[Axl]

Mortal kombat 2 doesnt automatically recognise the six button controller either. I hate having to go to the options screen when I just want to jump in and play. I'm that lazy. Not quite the same thing but annoying nonetheless.

[Kµro]

The errors have something to do with different mapping/logic. On the 3-Button Controller everything including the four d-pad directions had it's own pin and some sort of direct control. When the 6-Button Controller came they had to use some logic to get more then one button on one pin.
But that still doesn't explain why a few games get confused with the 6-Button Controller while most of them work just fine. The age doesn't seem to be a factor...

By the way, there is a little list of games that require you to force 3-Button Mode in the manual of the 6-Button Wireless Controller.

Air Driver
Alien 3
Clue
Decap Attack
Double Dragon 3
John Madden Football
Jordan vs. Bird
Pit-Fighter
Slime World
Stormlord
Trouble Shooter

Strangely no Golden Axe II or Forgotten Worlds. I bet some of the listed games will also work just fine.

[Assman]

Mortal kombat 2 doesnt automatically recognise the six button controller either. I hate having to go to the options screen when I just want to jump in and play. I'm that lazy. Not quite the same thing but annoying nonetheless.

That kind of bugs me too. Basically every other 6-button game ever made knows when you're using a 6-button, but one of the principal games the controller was made for doesn't? Hell, even MK1 didn't require an option change.

[M.U.S.H.A.]

Thanks for the info, guys! I never would have figured this out.

[BrianC]

That kind of bugs me too. Basically every other 6-button game ever made knows when you're using a 6-button, but one of the principal games the controller was made for doesn't?

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits requires the mode button to be pressed during gameplay of Robotron or Defender II in order to enable the 6 button controller.

[retrospiel]

*Rise from your grave* I wonder if Golden Axe 2 could be hacked to be compatible with a 6-Button controller ?

PAL Golden Axe 2 works perfectly as does Decap Attack

^ This is interesting... I remember the game working perfectly without holding down the mode button on a PAL console. I gotta try this again.