Menu

A Menu shows the list of options the player may wish to select after a game's startup has been played. From there, players may select one of the choices available on the screen in order to play the game, find information about it or to sometimes set options.

While most Nitrome games go straight to the menu after the startup, some games, such as Super Treadmill and Roly Poly have a "Click to start" option that the player must click before proceeding to the actual menu. Usually, special animations allow a smooth transition from one option to the other and may even relate to the game's theme. For instance, when a player selects options in the menu when playing Rockitty, an image of a fish will transition the player to the screen for that option. In NES games, a noise may play when the player selects a certain option.

Menu Components
These are some of the components that show up on a game's menu after the startup or startup screen, if applicable.

Play Game
All games will have a "Play" or "Play Game" option that will allow the player to start the game after this option is selected. It is typically placed at the top of the screen, as most players would want to go straight into the game. Players can then select a level they want to play, and the game begins.

Help
The "Help" option can be selected by players to get basic information on how to play the game. Often, it is also given to players when they first start playing. More information is often supplied to the players as they progress through the levels.

Scores
Clicking "Scores" will bring up a list of the top 100 high scores submitted in the game. They do not necessarily display the highest scores, but rather the highest value submitted to the database.

Options
This option appears less frequently in many of the game's menus. It allows the players to toggle some of the game's settings, such as the sound, screen quality or reset the player's progress.

Credits
The "Credits" option shows a list of Nitrome Staff involved with the game's development, which is often shown as artwork, programming and music.

Interactive Menus
In older released Nitrome games, some menus had components related to gameplay that players could interact with before playing the game. For instance:


 * Roly Poly's menu was placed inside a circle that players could rotate upon any option they selected.


 * The letters spelling Dangle hung from webs, and when pulled in a certain direction, would bounce back to where they were first placed.


 * Bubbles trailed behind the player's cursor whenever they moved it into the water area of Aquanaut.


 * The word Power Up was spelt in metal crates which the player could use to create a circuit between the two Robot Heads in the menu.