Left side or Right side?

[Wiliamo]

I'm getting ready to build my own two player control panel. After playing Mame so long with a keyboard, I'm used to firing with my left hand and controling the player with my right. I'd like to hear your feedback on which side of the stick you perfer the buttons on.  BTW: I'm right handed.

[Ambrocade]

I'm right handed also and I definitely prefer the buttons to the right of the stick.  If you play games that require repetitive shooting (button presses) than your dominant hand is most likely stronger...but I guess your left hand is fairly strong since you have been firing with your left hand on the keyboard...but I still personally like the buttons on the right.

[Neil C]

Buttons on the right definitely. If I'm using the keyboard with Mame, I actually cross my hands so the right is on the fire keys and the left on the arrows (I must look very odd) Why I don't simply redefine the keys is beyond me  

[tubuku01]

if your just planning to play shooting games, then i guess that joystick would work on either side.
buuuuuuuut.......... if your to play fighting games, then you might stick with your natural side (buttons on the right side for me). one good way to test is to find your buddy that's good at streetfighter, and try playing against him with your hands switched around i.e. right hand on joystick, left on buttons. after a couple of games, i'm sure you'll know which side to go with.

[Alienreb]

I am left-handed.  When I first put a video game controller in my hand, I began to play games and it never felt weird.  When I went to the arcades, I played with the controller in my left hand with the buttons on the right, and it never felt any different.  I never had to adapt to anything because that is how I had always learned to play games.  The only difference is that my dominant hand(left) allows me better control over the joystick.  In the arcades, there is no need for very much dexterity with the right hand in most situations although I'm sure you could find a few games in which being right-handed would be better than being left-handed.  Having said that, it makes me wonder if the creator of the current conrol panel layout (joystick on the left, buttons on the right) was left-handed so lefties would have an advantage when controlling games because the dominant hand would be used for all movement in most games.    

The crazy thing is that I've had to learn to use a right-handed yoke when I play flight simulator games in the arcade so accuracy in my right hand is probably equal or better than my left hand.   I can play a game with a joystick in my left or right hand and it doesn't feel weird at all.  That's the benefit of being left handed and having to learn in a right-handed world; I can do most things with both hands.  In fact, most ambidextrous individuals were left-handed at some point, and they slowly converted to using both hands.  I'm left-hand dominant, but I could do everything with my right hand with no problems at all if something were to happen to my left arm.  (chopped off for stealing in Osama's homeland, caught in an elevator door, etc)....but that's another topic for another day in another forum.  To answer your question, I prefer the joystick on the left and the buttons on the right because I play a lot of fighting games.  Trying to perform a long combo in Killer Instinct with the layout switched would be most difficult.        

[ErikRuud]

My buttons are on the left.  I think this goes back to the old days when I had an Odyssey2 and my friend had an Atari.

Playing MAME on the keyboard just reinforced that. So far I have not had any compliants from anyone that has tried my CP.

I do plan on changing my CP to be modular like the one that JelloSlug has on his site.  That way the buttons can be left or right at any time.