This is part 1 in a series of demonstrations of how you can make buttons (and other interactive elements) without sprites. In this part, it is a grid of rectangular buttons. Part 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/717777102/ Part 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/717777449/
✦✦✦ How does it work? ✦✦✦ The clicked button is basically determined by dividing the mouse coordinates by the button dimensions. Look inside to get the specifics. The appearance of the clicked button is achieved by using a series of backdrops.