The mystery of the 6 button controller

[RCBH928]

Ok, the title is too exciting

but I wanted to know why are there six buttons on a genesis controller(or 3) but only two are used.
many of the genesis games, maybe all, play with the two button wii-mote . Was it ever used or was it just optional for developers who never used it any way?
is the saturn controller used?

while we are at it, will a usb-saturn controller work with a wii?

[Hatta]

The 6 button controller was mostly for fighting games IIRC. Eternal Champions supported it. Pretty much everything could fall back to 3 buttons if necessary.

[Ziggy]

A lot of games used 3 buttons, which is why the Wii Remote sucks for Genesis games. I downloaded Altered Beast and having to play with the 1 and 2 buttons, then reaaaaaaaaach for the A button is a pain in the ass.

[IcKy99]

yes im sure the 6 button was brought to the genesis for fighting games, Street Fighter II CE was always weird playing with a 3 button, but it WAS playable. Mortal Kombat as well.

[Xonticus]

Quite a few games after the controller was released supported it... hell, even Williams Arcade's greatest hits supported it. It is the best controller in my opinion though, even for 3 button games.

[spin the demon]

I use the 6 bottons and the mode button all the time on my sega Cd and my 32x.

[GSZX1337]

Mega Turrican used the six-button controller (you used X,Y, or Z to release your bombs).

[Curlypaul]

The 6 button pad was indeed release to allow SFIICE to be played properly. The 3do version suffered from only having 3 buttons available and the SNES was doing well from having a reasonable SFII and 6 buttons the on the pad which allowed the game to be played as it should be. Sega took yet another bold move and upgraded the controller to allong with all the other things you could buy to bolt onto your mega drive.

when the mega drive was first released games were simpler, but by the end of its life games had much more in depth gameplay. The Saturn controller has a whopping 8 buttons

[MrPopo]

The 6 button pad was indeed release to allow SFIICE to be played properly. The 3do version suffered from only having 3 buttons available and the SNES was doing well from having a reasonable SFII and 6 buttons the on the pad which allowed the game to be played as it should be. Sega took yet another bold move and upgraded the controller to allong with all the other things you could buy to bolt onto your mega drive.

when the mega drive was first released games were simpler, but by the end of its life games had much more in depth gameplay. The Saturn controller has a whopping 8 buttons

The 3DO was interesting because it had the three face buttons, two shoulder buttons, and a start and select button. So the default mappings for SF2 were something like the three face buttons for your kicks, then the two shoulders and start for punch, leaving select as the pause button. As I recall Capcom released a proper 6 button pad that was essentially a Genny 6 button controller with the buttons going through the 3DO controller PCB.

[chipperkwah]

Let's not forget Ranger X! A 6 button controller is essential!