Editor's note: Adara asks us to reconsider our views on button-mashing. Not only can it be helpful, but sometimes it's actually necessary. I can't refute the first sentence. I'm guilty of button mashing too. -Jay
We were all button mashers once.
When we first began to play video games, we were button mashers. Before the average gamer began taking 1st and 2nd place in major tournaments, he (or she) was a button masher. Before Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong became champions at Street Fighter tournaments, I'm sure they were button mashers too. Let's face it, when someone's coming at you with a deadly uppercut or Shoryuken, the only thing you can think is, "Holy crap, that move's about to take me out!" And if you really suck, you're probably also thinking about the other 50 matches you lost. You want to win just once, even if you have to resort to frantically tapping any button within reach.
You know what I'm talking about. We've all been in that position where we've been pushed against a wall or caught in the air, our mind just blanks, and all we can think of is victory. I know that's happened to me on more than one occasion. To be honest, I just recently joined the ranks of the players who actually know what they're supposed to be doing in a match.
That's right; I, too, am a button masher, and I only recently overcame this addiction.
Fighting games were never really my thing. Growing up, my mom was totally anti-violence. That meant no water guns, no NERF darts, no marshmallow shooters (honestly, what could I really do with a marshmallow shooter besides stuff my face full of marshmallows?) and absolutely no violent video games. That means until I was about eight or nine, I had never been exposed to anything like Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom, or King of Fighters. That is, until I received my first fighting game: Fighter's Destiny.
Fighter's Destiny, released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, was one of the many fighting games that embraced the brand new three-dimensional technology that the N64 and PlayStation utilized. It garnered mixed reviews; some people enjoyed the new point system used to determine the winner, while others dismissed it because of the N64's poor handling of fighting games in general. Although primitive by modern standards, and not as popular as heavy-hitting titles such as Mortal Kombat and Virtua Fighter, it was still a great game to play. I spent many hours trying to defeat Boro, the major antagonist of the game.
Thus began my button-mashing ways. Like most fighting games, Fighter's Destiny included a command list of increasingly complicated button combinations. Since I was young and uncultured in the ways of fighting games, I couldn't be bothered to memorize the whole list. I'd go into practice mode, ready to learn how to play the game properly, and get frustrated as I failed to hit the right combination of buttons after repeated tries. Unfortunately, this caused most of the game to remain untouched for me. This continued up until I got Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube.
Released in 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee was the successor to the popular Super Smash Bros. on the N64. It took the elements of a traditional fighting game, tweaked them a little, and added an all-star cast of old and new Nintendo characters to create a game that became a worldwide hit in a matter of days. The quirk about this game was that, unlike traditional fighting games which required a complicated series of well-timed button presses to pull off a move, Super Smash Bros. Melee only utilized three or four buttons. This almost eliminated the need to button mash. It also made it easy for new players to jump into the action and defeat seasoned players. (I've had a four year old beat me once by hitting me repeatedly with Zelda's standard attack.) Of course, this new approach was met with opposition. The hard-core fighting game enthusiasts who had been playing fighters for years had a number of complaints, whining about the simple controls that could make a button masher (such as myself) seem like a pro.
It's not just Super Smash Bros. Melee that drew criticism. Tons of characters in fighting games have been criticized and labeled as 'button-mashing characters.' They have simple moves that can unleash havoc on an opponent, which are triggered by repeatedly pushing a button or mashing buttons at random. Notable examples include Christie and Eddy from the recent Tekken 6 (their Capoeira moves are pretty hard to read), Chun-Li's Lightning Kick, and E. Honda's Hundred Hand Slap.
Button mashing isn't always a bad thing. Non-fighting games, such as the old NES game Track and Field, the Kingdom Hearts series, WarioWare, and Mario Party require it to progress through and eventually beat the game.
When I think back to fighting games, which is where the button-mashing debate always rears its ugly head, I personally don't think it's much of a problem. All of us need to do a little bit of it in order to steadily get better. Unless you're a hard-core competitor looking to win tournaments, that's all you need to have some fun, explore the game, and see what works for you. I like to have fun playing my games, so if I get a little bit panicked here and there, I can live with that. I'm concerned with progressing through the story, and unless I want to get every single achievement in games like Tekken and Soul Calibur, it's not a problem if I don't learn every single move for every single instance. Gaming is supposed to be fun. If someone beats me by just mashing buttons, it's no big deal.
When I had finally had enough of blindly swinging at my opponents, and found that it was near impossible to progress in most fighting games' story mode by button mashing, I had to change my tactics. I made it a point to go into Practice Mode, choose the character that I liked most, and just practice. It made a world of difference when I played against other players, and I found myself able to get farther and farther in Story Mode.
Even though I've renounced my button mashing ways, I still slip up from time to time in the heat of the moment, which can cost me precious wins in Tekken 6. Even so, I'm proud to be a button masher, and you should be too.
