I guess this only makes sense in the context of consoles, but I think it would be cool if there were some game where every move was made up of combination of buttons pressed consecutively Like if walking just wasn’t as easy as moving a directional pad but required some complexity
Also the new Bennett foddy collab game in development, Baby Steps.
play Magicka if you haven't already
walking around is basically the only thing that isn't a button combo
also I'd argue that some genres like fighting games are so fast-paced and intricate that playing them at all is one big button combo
Some racing games I think?
The obvious answer would be joke games like QWOP and Octodad
the janky controls in gangbeasts are kinda like that but walking is still just a stick, it's just every other action that is funky
This doesn't fit what you're looking for but I just randomly remembered a game that I had years ago on Nintendo GameCube called Odama.
It was a combination Samurai warfare / pinball game. You're commanding your army of samurais to like take an enemy stronghold, but the entire battlefield is a pinball machine (you control flippers with the shoulder buttons).
The army is controlled by voice so there's a GameCube microphone that clips onto your controller and you have to like shout into it "Go Forward!" or "Retreat" or other commands like that, while you use try to use the pinball to take out the enemies and avoid crushing your own guys with it. One of the most bizarre control setups for a game I've ever played.
Spirit tracks and Phantom hourglass mostly use the touch screen for everyone. Not buttons, but also not the D pad
That’s super interesting, where would you find a touch screen? Is it like something you connect to a PC?
They're Nintendo DS games. I'm not sure how people are emulating DS games on PC currently
ds emulation is in a p good place, there are several options
for those interested
https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Nintendo_DS_emulators
I meant more like, how do you do touchscreen stuff? Not all mouse, is it?
Last time I used a DS emulator, it was all mouse yeah, you get the two screen in the emulator and the bottom reacts to your mouse like a touchscreen to a stylus
One of my permanent backlog game ideas is a game titled Horse Horse Horse Horse Horse where you're a horse and you press asdf asdf asdf asdf to run right, and fdsa fdsa fdsa fdsa to run left.
Will the horse get its legs tangled and comically flop over when you fail?! My teen would love this. I would be into it too, but I think he would spend hours playing it with his friends and crying laughing. They all type crazy fast, they would be so good at it too.
I love this idea. Simple, elegant, hilarious, genius.
Old monster hunter and armored core were famous for the claw grip you had to press buttons with to operate. Not exactly what you are looking for though maybe
pre-emulator mega man X where you had to claw grip in order to dash/shoot/jump all at the same time
great games regardless but god damn
Not quite what you're describing, but for novel control schemes and novel movement schemes in particular, Both Ape Escape (1, 2, & 3) and Steambot Chronicles have specialized movement schemes when in vehicles / steambots where you move with a combination of both control sticks, for example left + right stick forward to move forward, left stick back + right stick forward to turn left, etc.
that's usually called "tank controls" if you want to find more of it, it's as old as Battlezone (maybe even earlier idk)
