To maintain consistency and ensure proper functionality, follow these guidelines when implementing onCreateOptionsMenu() and onPrepareOptionsMenu() in an AppCompatActivity:

onCreateOptionsMenu()
Use the first example where you return true after inflating the menu. This is the recommended approach because super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu) in AppCompatActivity always returns true by default and doesn't perform any additional actions unless overridden.

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.game_menu, menu);
return true;
}
onPrepareOptionsMenu()
Use the second example where you call super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu) first and return true later. This ensures any default behavior is executed, and returning true indicates the menu was successfully updated.

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
menu.findItem(R.id.action_save).setVisible(true);
menu.findItem(R.id.action_reset).setVisible(true);
menu.findItem(R.id.action_about).setVisible(true);
return true;
}