Is button-mashing a skill, or an innate ability?

[Mr Durand Pierre]

So my friend and I were arguing; is button mashing (i.e. the rapid pressing of a single button multiple times as fast as possible) something you can learn, or something you are more or less born with?

Because while playing God of War I could never perform the finishing move on the minotaurs (where you have to keep hitting the circle button real fast), where as he could do it every time without any problem. But in general, I am the better gamer. I've been playing games for quite some time and have always been pretty good player (for example: I beat Castlevania: CotM without cheating at level 40), but since I was young I have always been horrible at the button mash. Is this something that can be improved upon, or is it like rolling your tongue, where you can either do it or you can't?

[Alpha2]

The button mash is ingrained in you from a young age, it starts with games like Donkey Kong 3 and Galaga and only the truely strong will ever fully master the technique. It will require you to tense appropriate arm muscles untill the range of motion is limited only to that which is required to hit your target button rapidly at high speed. The older you are the more you run the risk of stress fractures and muscle pulls from the steer power required to button mash effectively.

But, if you're still growing you might be able to build this skill but you can never hope to be as good as your friend or arcade fighting game button mashers unless you're a latent button masher but if you've ever performed a hit combo above 5 in a street fighter game without using a Super move I wouldn't count on it.

Good luck grasshopper.

[DT778]

Do you guys do it with your thumb cuz I can only button-mash with my index finger.

[Mr Durand Pierre]

Assuming Alpha2 knows everything (and I have no reason to believe he doesn't) then I was right! I'm in my 20s, so it's too late for me, but I can go on blaming the game designers and not myself. Button Mashing is the bane of my existence.

[DT778]

Work out with fight night 2001.

[onikage]

Do you guys do it with your thumb cuz I can only button-mash with my index finger.

I'm an expert button-masher and I always use my thumb. :mrgreen:

[rocksolidaudio]

skill.

[MorbidAngel4Life]

Diablo 2 will learn you in the ways of buttonmashing. Clicking on a boss about 903294732 times will get you pumped.

[Rig]

I am a very good button masher. (Probably thanks to all those Mario Party games!) I believe it is something some of us can just do, while others have problems with it...

[Backlash]

I am not too good at it. I definitely have to use my index finger, which is kinda awkard in the middle of some games, since I use my thumb for all other button pressing on the main surface of the controller.

[opportunity777]

Just like most anything else practice can make you better, but there are people out there that are genetically superior to you.

[dpatel]

I'm better than most people I know. It really helps with Mario Party. Same thing happened with me for God of War. My friend wasn't able to do it, but I had no problem.

I'm pretty sure I got from playing mortal kombat at an early age. I would button mash like crazy on those mini-games where you have to break concrete, diamond, etc. Same with the simpsons arcade game. At the end of each level you would button mash to blow up ballons for extra points.

[zewone]

Skill. It is something you can pick up, but someone is always going to better without even trying so it is somewhat a innate ability.

[cdeener]

Well, it depends on the person. Because I can button mash but I don't do it with my thumb I do it with index finger too. I can't stand trying to this on small controllers because I have big fingers so instead of hurting my thumb I just button mash with the index finger.

[MeGaWC27]

Practice makes improvement

[indomitable]

I am not too good at it. I definitely have to use my index finger, which is kinda awkard in the middle of some games, since I use my thumb for all other button pressing on the main surface of the controller.

Ditto on these thoughts

[Apossum]

It depends, there is a certain rhythm to it so that part can be innate or learned easily...the other part is speed, which is mostly innate, but you have to workout to get it.

I recommend Track and Field, the most button-mashingest game ever. :-)

[thisiswack]

I mash with the middle finger... and I suck at it.

[escapekey]

"Turbofinger" as we call it, is a skill developed by those who played games before they had turbo buttons on controllers (or before most modern games made turbo buttons obsolete). Also can stem from arcade gaming.

[dserafin1986]

Practice with the Old NES and Track and Field, the best pure button masher ever...If you can set world records in that game, you've got true button mashing ability

[wubb]

I'm a pretty bad button masher myself. I'm usually fine for whatever sort of mashing a game requires (like I can do any of the mashing special attacks in Paper Mario (N64) most of the time) But when I have to button mash against another human player I usually am slower.

[Mr Unoriginal]

The secret is to vibrate your hand. When I button mash, the movement comes from the whole hand being tense and in the claw position. I can then kind of rock my hand back and forth quickly using my palm against the controller as the fulcrum. Damn that sounds confusing, but a true button masher would understand.

[jennie25]

wanna get good at button mashing, this is the game that did it for me

Final Fantasy VIII, when you use a guardian force, I believe you can press select after you upgrade it and allow the guardian to be charged and you gotta press the O button in spurts or else you lose your progress. get like 255 on whatever the first GF is. it was easier as the game progressed.

[BIG5]

Train your thumb you must, young padawan.

[levi333]

I just realized im a pretty fast masher. Playing Alien Homind with a friend, and he thought i was using an autofire controller.
I think its a little of both, takes some practice skill, but on the other hand some people are just good at it.

[normalmode]

The high-tension spaz on the index finger has been the technique I've used since the NES. It actually won me a wavebird at the 2002 E3 Nintendo booth (a month before the wavebird was out on shelves).

It was an elaborate contest:
First, you had be 4 out of 12 people selected in a spinning-wheel roundtable.
Second, you 4 competed over six Mario Party 4 games
Third , I had an expected tie with this girl so all four of us played an additional game, which simply required button mashing. It was one of the most gratifying E3 experiences to see my results bar continue to rise, double of what any of the other three managed.

[uzumaki_star]

I hate button mashing but I think it would require some skill to do it effectively.

[swetooth9]

yea it took me forever to button mash fast enough to beat one of the bosses in GoW...

[repetske]

I recommend Track and Field, the most button-mashingest game ever. :-)

I remember the good old days of Track and Field 2 on the NES. My arm would go numb from my wrist to elbow. Those certainly were the good old days. When I first read this topic, I thought he was talking about the popular method of playing most 3D fighting games such as Tekken and Soul Calibur.

I also agree that it something that can be learned, but some people just have magic thumbs. I've always felt like it was cheating to put the controller down flat and use your index finger.