3-Button vs 6-Button Sega Pads in Older Games

[Rurouni_Fencer]

I've been playing tons of Nintendo and Sega games lately, and I came across something interesting today on the Genesis.

I threw Golden Axe II into my Genesis 2 system, plugged in my 6-button Sega pad, and fired that baby up.. After a few seconds of title screens, I got to the player select screen and noticed I couldn't move on the d-pad to choose a character. Face buttons worked fine as I picked Ax Battler; on the first stage I could attack, jump, and cast magic fine - but not move. I then noticed if I pressed 'X', 'Y', 'Z', and 'mode' buttons, my character would walk a different direction according to the button.. After amusing myself for about several minutes, I plugged in a standard 3-button pad to make sure it wasn't something with either the cart or the console, and sure enough everything worked normally! I tried another game, (Greatest Heavyweights Boxing,) and it worked just fine with my 6-button pad, as did TMNT: Tournament Fighters.

Has anybody else ever heard of this with 6-button pads, or even experienced this themselves? Maybe it's just Golden Axe II, or older games in general when played with a newer pad.. Or is my controller the problem..?

[vlame]

hold mode then turn the system on and see what happens. also i was gonna say TRY Street Fighter with a 3 button pad...

[Rurouni_Fencer]

hold mode then turn the system on and see what happens. also i was gonna say TRY Street Fighter with a 3 button pad...

I know Street Fighter uses the 'start' button on a 3-button pad to toggle punches and kicks.. It's an interesting challenge, but the 6-button pad is essential IMO..
I will try holding 'mode' when turning the console on to see what happens.. What's the purpose of the 'mode' button anyway - for instances like this?
Thanks, vlame!

[Hobie-wan]

Yup, the point of the 'mode' button on Gen 6 button controllers is to force them into 3 button mode for games that are freaked out by the extras. Hold mode when powering on the console and XYZ will be disabled.

[vlame]

ta-da!

[Rurouni_Fencer]

Wow.. feel like such a noob.. Thanks, vlame and Hobie!
Guess this is kharma for years of being a Nintendo fan over Genesis...