Button mashing
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Button mashing (a.k.a. button bashing) is a term used in console or arcade gaming contexts to refer to quick, repeated, or random button pressings. It is a technique employed in two genres of games, athletic, where faster button mashing translates into better athlete performance, and in fighting games. Takahashi Meijin holds a record of 16 presses of a button in one second.
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[edit] Athletic games
In athletic games, button mashing is used to run or set strength. Over time, different ways of achieving this result have been tried: Epyx relied on moving the directional pad left and right (this practice is commonly called joystick wobbling) and occasionally on 360° turns, Accolade's Challenge games used only one button, while other companies (such as U.S. Gold and ATD) used two buttons.
[edit] Fighting games
In fighting games, mashing is used as a desperation tactic, or if the player does not know a certain move.
In games involving swords, like Bushido Blade, Samurai Showdown or Jedi Outcast, in order to break a sword lock, the player has to press one button repeatedly. [1].
[edit] Auto Fire controls
In order to reduce wear on controllers and allow players to gain the advantages of button mashing without having to actually mash the buttons, game controllers featuring a turbo button can be used. This allows the player to maximize performance in games where a single button must be pressed repeatedly, but gives no advantage when two buttons must be pressed repeatedly one after the other.
Games (like Metal Gear Solid) attempt to detect turbo buttons and end the game if it receives an unreasonable number of button pushes in a short time or a pattern that is too regular. (The NES Advantage controller had variable-speed turbo.)
[edit] Examples
In Final Fantasy VIII, the strength of Guardian Forces can be increased by repeatedly pressing the square button during the sequence showing the GF powering up. Although if square is pressed during certain intervals, the GF’s power is set back to the lowest level, causing the player to boost from scratch.
Capcom's Resident Evil 4 featured several sequences of button mashing incorporated in the gameplay.
God of War used several instances of this, such as when trying to finish off the 1st boss, the Hydra, and when dealing with the various minotaurs throughout the game.
Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS features a boss (the Sonic vs. Blaze fight) which has a button mashing finale.
Minigames in the Mario Party series utilize button mashing of some sort, usually in a competitive setting (i.e. the person who can mash the most before time runs out, or who can hit a button multiple times the fastest, will win the minigame). In the first game, there were also minigames that required the player to rotate the analog stick very fast in order to win.
