Why did the GBA lack two buttons?

[Creamu]

Don't see any crippling "controschemes"

Y

 

[Creamu]

Doubt it was a cost saving thing. It's more likely that they were trying to keep the console as simple and accessible as possible, since that's the appeal of handhelds, generally. Remember the original Game Boy also only had two face buttons and was a Tetris machine to most people, and this design choice was most likely to mirror the home console of its time, which was the NES. The GBA having two face buttons was just simple and natural, especially when we consider it's a fully backwards compatible system in the same family as its predecessors. Adding the buttons when the DS came along was a good move, but it didn't hurt them to not have those buttons sooner (except for on the rare occasions that SNES games were adapted to the platform).

But the DS had four and was backwards compatible as well.

 

[Shadow#1]

Y

Y isn't a portable that came before gba

 

[M7L7NK7]

It should've had one big button that squirted water at you whenever you pressed it

 

[Shadow#1]

Then look at it homeconsole counterpart the snes

That's not a portable/handheld

 

[Creamu]

That's not a portable/handheld

The controller is portable though

 

[Creamu]

It should've had one big button that squirted water at you whenever you pressed it

It should make a honk sound as well

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

It should have had 4 face buttons in my view.
The Wiimote should have had four kidney-shaped buttons around A (like in a prototype).

Shoulda woulda couda. I guess Nintendo likes their controllers to appear simple (Iwata or Myiamoto said as much regarding Wii) and force developers to use one button for several things (or motions in the case of Wii).

In Resident Evil 6 I sometimes accidently jump over obstacles because they made running and jumping the same button. Yet IGN (or some other website) complained about complicated controls.

 

[Creamu]

It should have had 4 face buttons in my view.
The Wiimote should have had four kidney-shaped buttons around A (like in a prototype).

Shoulda woulda couda. I guess Nintendo likes their controllers to appear simple (Iwata or Myiamoto said as much regarding Wii) and force developers to use one button for several things (or motions in the case of Wii).

Yeah, and using shaking to trigger actions that really should have a dedicated button. Absolutly horrible design.

 

[Creamu]

That's not a portable/handheld

Look, they had the SNES. Then they came up with a handheld that has the capability to run games close to the SNES. You port games from the SNES to that handheld........ You remove two buttons?

 

[yuyuyup]

Doubt it was a cost saving thing. It's more likely that they were trying to keep the console as simple and accessible as possible, since that's the appeal of handhelds, generally. Remember the original Game Boy also only had two face buttons and was a Tetris machine to most people, and this design choice was most likely to mirror the home console of its time, which was the NES. The GBA having two face buttons was just simple and natural, especially when we consider it's a fully backwards compatible system in the same family as its predecessors. Adding the buttons when the DS came along was a good move, but it didn't hurt them to not have those buttons sooner (except for on the rare occasions that SNES games were adapted to the platform).

but they added shoulder buttons, which in my opinion are more complex than face-buttons. And there were a lot of examples of GBC games that were complex enough that they would benefit from 4 face buttons, there was a very capable SFAlpha for GBC, a Metal Gear GBC game with complex controls, etc. It just doesn't make a single bit of sense to me why they wouldn't include 4.

 

[Shadow#1]

Look, they had the SNES. Then they came up with a handheld that has the capability to run games close to the SNES. You port games from the SNES to that handheld........ You remove two buttons?

They didn't remove any buttons

 

[Creamu]

They didn't remove any buttons

Wrong

 

[jdsteel7]

Playing devils advocate here, but what are some GBA games that would have measurably benefitted from having 4 face buttons? As a kid I don't remember having any issues with the Mario ports or most other Gameboy games, and I kinda appreciated the simplicity of just A and B (plus the shoulders)

 

[Creamu]

Playing devils advocate here, but what are some GBA games that would have measurably benefitted from having 4 face buttons? As a kid I don't remember having any issues with the Mario ports or most other Gameboy games, and I kinda appreciated the simplicity of just A and B (plus the shoulders)

Iridion 2 used button combinations, thats a bit awkward. Also things like dual stick shooters would be possible with 4 face buttons and a directional pad. If it had 4 face buttons Im sure they would have been utilized. Its no coincedence that the 4 facebutton layout is still present in the latest iterations of controllers.

 

[Shadow#1]

Wrong

OK got prototypes that has 4 buttons?

 

[Creamu]

OK got prototypes that has 4 buttons?

 

[Shadow#1]

View attachment 306497

Fake

 

[Creamu]

Fake

Everything on that picture is original nintendo

 

[lone_wolf323]

Everything on that picture is original nintendo

But why is the controller branded Super nintendo when you zoom in on the photo?