ILX Plays: Mike Tyson's Punchout for the NES

start button i think? very non-intuitive since it so quickly became strictly the pause or inventory screen button in like 95% of games. not that the two middle buttons would have ever really have been much use in non-secondary roles - too hard to move your thumbs over there - but it's interesting to think that if they'd just laid out the controller hardware differently this could have been a real four-button system. wonder what that would have done for game design.

not that having six 'active' buttons turns every super NES game into a rich, complex super-game, but it does open up some possibilities. definitely would have freed you up from soooooooo many now-forgotten titles with frankly bizarre button combinations to accomplish basic things (down + B to climb ladders or whatever).