The in-game settings menu — for tech-savvy PC gamers a veritable paradise, filled with graphical tweaks and adjustable key bindings — is in most console and handheld titles a place few bother to tread. It’s home to your volume sliders, your monoaural/stereo sound selector, your brightness adjustment — and if the developers were feeling particularly generous, you might find options for widescreen, progressive scan, rumble, and surround sound as well.
But in seven games that just so happen to be in my collection, there are opportunities hidden away in the options menu that, should you have the wherewithal, you won’t want to pass up. Whether improving a lackluster control scheme or adding much-needed immersion, these rather unique options actually make their respective games more enjoyable.
1.) Ikaruga’s TATE mode
Ikaruga, the polarity-based shmup by famed developer Treasure, is a fantastic game even played in the pitiful, shrunken “this film has been modified from its original version” horizontal layout that both the Dreamcast and GameCube ports default to. But if you have a rotating monitor, or an old, lightweight TV you don’t particularly care about, there’s no reason to settle for any less than than the full, vertical display of the arcade original, and that’s where TATE mode comes in. Japanese for “vertical,” TATE turns the entire game on its side to let you play the way the developers intended.
Though Ikaruga’s recent XBLA port means that neither the game nor this mode are the well-kept secrets they once were, playing vertically is still a thrill you rarely get on a console — and we’d wager there are readers who’ve yet to experience it.
2.) Geometry Wars: Galaxies‘ swappable screens on DS
Another great shmup, Geometry Wars has captivated many an Xbox LIVE Arcade gamer with its simple dual-analog controls (left stick moves, right stick fires) and addictive gameplay. Since it doesn’t require much in the way of graphical power and is meant for play in short bursts, it makes for an excellent portable title as well. Of course, the Nintendo DS doesn’t have a pair of analog sticks…
By default, the game has a decent workaround for this deficiency — using the D-Pad on the left for movement, the stylus then manipulates the touchscreen to substitute for analog stick #2. The player watches the action unfold on the top screen. While this might typically lead to a disconnect between what the player does on the bottom and sees on the top, in Galaxies the developers have added a targeting reticle to the top screen so you can see generally where you’re pointing… but still, compared to the XBLA version it’s fairly inaccurate.
However, with just a few button presses, you can make this DS port the most accurate, intuitive Geometry Wars ever made. Simply visit the options menu and have the game display on the touchscreen, and you can fire deadly lasers at your foes merely by tapping directly on them.
3.) Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s “Shake Smash” setting
While in proper company I maintain that the only way to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl is with the GameCube controller — the WaveBird acceptable in a pinch — in private you might find me gently caressing my Wiimote-Nunchuk combo instead. Why? Shake Smash.
By default, there’s nothing in Smash Brawl that actually uses the Wiimote’s motion sensing ability, and though the Nunchuk combo’s configuration is similar to that of the GCN, it’s no more fun… and the instability of a single hand on each controller portion renders it unsuitable for even friendly competition. But with Shake Smash, the Wiimote gyroscope literally comes into play, allowing you to flick your wrist in any direction for a quick smash attack, and happily play the fool as you emulate your on-screen character in the real world.
Many SSBB players have probably never seen Shake Smash in action, simply because it requires several steps to activate — go to the options menu, select a profile, select the Wiimote-Nunchuk control scheme, enable Shake Smash, then remember to select that same profile every time you play — but it’s well worth the trouble.
4.) Soulcalibur II’s freely mappable controls
There’s nothing horrible about Soulcalibur II’s default control scheme on PS2 and Xbox — in fact, it’s rather intuitive for one horizontally aligned face button to perform horizontal attacks, one vertically aligned to perform vertical attacks, the bottommost vertical button to assist in crouching and guarding, and the remaining, seldomly used and horizontally aligned outer button to perform kicks. However, certain combinations that use diametrically opposed buttons are nigh impossible with huge thumbs. What to do? Well, looking at the default control scheme, you could potentially use one thumb and one index finger… but that’s unnecessarily confusing when the game allows you to freely map two-button macros to any button on the controller.
I swear by this setup — instead of swearing at my controller every time I want Taki to perform a quick n’ dirty Fan Dance.
5.) Assassin’s Creed’s removable HUD
The picture pretty much says it all: Assassin’s Creed is a damn fine-looking game, and without an annoying set of maps, cleverly disguised health bars and context-sensitive command icons in the way, you can stop being distracted long enough to notice. Plus, a lack of indicators telling you where to go and what to do next will train you to really immerse yourself in the game’s environment — just as a certain someone must immerse himself in his ancestor’s persona. Think of it as… synchronization training.
6.) Genji: Dawn of the Samurai’s perspective-based surround sound
Though its PS3 sequel Days of the Blade wasn’t particularly well-received, Genji remains one of the PS2’s most beautiful titles, and it’s an aural treat as well — even rendered in stereo. But if you have a set of good surround speakers, Genji has a veritable feast laid out in the options menu. The game not only supports Dolby Pro Logic II and its digital variant, but allows users to choose one of three perspectives from which they want to experience the surround sound effects in-game.
“Player” orients sound for you, the player, as you look into Genji’s world as if through a window; “Camera” relative, of course, to the camera; and “Realistic” generates sound as if you were Genji himself.
7.) Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition’s Turbo Mode
Even if you already owned the original, there were plenty of good reasons to buy the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 3. It included Dante’s badass katana-wielding brother Vergil; with an improved save system, it was slightly less likely to make you throw your controller in anguish; and at $20, it was a steal. But buried in the options menu, there was another excellent perk that made hours of monotonous combat fresh again — a turbo mode.
Activated, the entire game ran at 120% of its normal speed, turning bullet streams into barrages, simple sword combinations into flurries of deadly strikes, and testing your reflexes to both dodge and dole out damage like never before.
Conclusion
It’s hard to say how much effort was put into each of these seven options; certainly, most of these seem to simply rotate or translate things that were likely built into the code to begin with. But, for those of us who take the road less traveled — into the options menu — these little considerations can make all the difference.
Some games could even have been saved from mediocrity by simple options; we’ll cover that topic next week.
What games have you run across where a in-game setting improved the experience?
June 7th, 2008 at 12:23 am
re: no. 4
That is why I swear by a good arcade stick for fighters. Much easier to access bigger buttons that are are all on the same surface rather than have to fight against controls that my be mapped to awkward shoulder buttons.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am
The arcade stick: an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
But hokey peripherals and ancient joysticks are no match for a good DualShock at your side.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Street Fighter II’: Special Champion Edition with variable speed setting… it was so much awesomeness. It really helped to get over that irritating Hadouken hit slowdown. There’s a video - SOMEWHERE - that showed a guy playing the CPU on max speed. He didn’t get beyond the first character if I remember correctly.