Games That Require Only A D-Pad / Joystick To Play

[PII 1,398]

I'm trying to find as many games as possible that only require the use of a d-pad or joystick - Any Console.  Some leeway is allowed...

What I have so far:

Qbert [NES] ("A" and "B" are used to select controls before the start of the game = 100% YES)

Marble Madness[NES] (Holding "A" speeds up the Marble.  This is mostly a static function so I'm giving it a pass = YES)

Roadrunner[NES] ("A" is jump, but is very rarely essential ie. one level with a few pit-of-doom jumps at the end - gets a pass = YES

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by PII

[Tulpa 3,001]

Pac-man/Ms. Pac-man (Tengen Ms. uses buttons as a speed boost.)

Also, Smash TV NES if you use the two controller method it only uses the D-pads on both to move and shoot.

 

A number of Atari 2600 games.

All the Pac-man ports (Pac-man, Ms., and Jr.)

Frogger and Frogger 2

Freeway

Surround (the Erase game does use the fire button)

Superman (fire button is x-ray vision, but you don't need to use it to win)

Edited August 2, 2020 by Tulpa

[BortLicensePlate 638]

Do games with two joysticks count? Robotron, Smash TV 

[Tulpa 3,001]

8 minutes ago, BortLicensePlate said:

Do games with two joysticks count? Robotron, Smash TV 

There was one for the N64 that used two controllers and the analog sticks. You could also use the C buttons.

[Tekdrudge 126]

I read the title and instantly thought Marble Madness. Then see it was used as an example. Lol.

[Link 1,925]

Canabalt, SkiFree, and many other endless runners.

3D Monster Maze

Edited August 2, 2020 by Link

[Bearcat-Doug 4,469]

I don't know if Frostbite for the Atari 2600 counts or not. The button reverses the flow of the ice, but you can still play without using it.

[mbd39 1,769]

You need to accelerate in order to make the first jump in the ultimate race in Marble Madness so you cannot beat that game only using the dpad.

 

[Gary Hobbesworth 20]

I would imagine all the pornographic Atari games like Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em are one handed.

[Kguillemette 1,186]

Super Monkey Ball

Katamari Damacy

 

[DefaultGen 4,537]

Monkey Ball is a good one. I was thinking of other marble roll games but lots of them have powerups. Many racing games would work. You can play Forza Horizon 4 with just the arrow keys on PC if you really want to. Trackmania is a racing game that comes to mind where even high level players sometimes prefer a keyboard over controller.

[CasualCart 6,093]

And if you simplify even further into 'games that only require one button', there's always that addicting Google Chrome browser game that pops up when there's no internet connection (the one where you're a dinosaur jumping over cacti).

-CasualCart

 

[fcgamer 4,065]

Iirc, Crusin USA on N64 only requires the joystick and the z button in the back for acceleration. I haven't played this one in about fifteen years, but I remember playing it one-handed many times, might have even tried to play a two-player round solo.

[DoctorEncore 3,605]

I don't see it listed here, maybe because it's too obvious, but Pong is clearly the best answer. 

[Tulpa 3,001]

30 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I don't see it listed here, maybe because it's too obvious, but Pong is clearly the best answer. 

There is a version of it on the Sega Genesis Action 52.

Atari 2600 versions usually use the fire button to make the ball go crazy.

 

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can get through Toobin' on NES without using the buttons to throw soda cans.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Tulpa