Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: eytzni on November 22, 2007, 01:30:25 pm
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Hi,
My apologies if this is a newbie question...
I'm designing my control panel and when looking in lots of samples I have noticed that most joystics are on the left side of the buttons (which means I have to hold the joystic using my left hand and press the buttons with my right hand) and for some reason this looks a bit odd to me since I'm a right handed I think it will be much more convenient to hold the stick using my right hand and the buttons with the left. ???
Can anyone explain this to me?
Thanks
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I'm designing my control panel and when looking in lots of samples I have noticed that most joystics are on the left side of the buttons (which means I have to hold the joystic using my left hand and press the buttons with my right hand) and for some reason this looks a bit odd to me since I'm a right handed I think it will be much more convenient to hold the stick using my right hand and the buttons with the left. ???
Can anyone explain this to me?
Joystick on the left and buttons on the right is a "right-handed setup" because "pushing a stick" (even in quarter circles ala Street Fighter II) is a little less intricate a maneuver than pushing specific buttons at specific intervals - depending on the game of course. That's my theory at least - I haven't had the time to research it.
Some older games had buttons on both sides. But the standard is joy on the left.
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It's come up before and the general opinion was that for joystick-only games some people use their right hand on the joystick, but if there are buttons involved the buttons usually require a little more dexterity than the crude movements of the joystick.
On a side note, it's also the way most console controllers are set up. Directional control with the left hand and buttons with the right, and on later models any available extra finger.
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Yeah its a weird one for sure. I'm left handed so it suits me to have the joystick on the left. Even for joystick only games, or where there are intricate button presses, I'd still control the stick with my left hand. I tried it with the right hand once, and it wasn't pretty. :) I'm an oddball though.. I play most sports left handed, but golf and cricket right handed.... :dunno
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A game that I always think of on this subject is one of my favorites as well...720.
Thy used a stick in the middle and gave you the option with buttons on either side for kick and jump...
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It's come up before and the general opinion was that for joystick-only games some people use their right hand on the joystick, but if there are buttons involved the buttons usually require a little more dexterity than the crude movements of the joystick.
On a side note, it's also the way most console controllers are set up. Directional control with the left hand and buttons with the right, and on later models any available extra finger.
Good answer bfauska, I'd never thought of it like that - although it was something I'd been pondering ...
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On a side note, it's also the way most console controllers are set up. Directional control with the left hand and buttons with the right, and on later models any available extra finger.
That should be interesting to see a compilation of "regular" and "goofy" styles. Off the top of my head, the only goofies I know of is the classic Atari stick and the SMS joy. I don't recall of any others off the top of my head. I'll have to look at my collection.
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Another reason to have the buttons on the right is that nearly all the "button-only" games had the thrust/jump and fire buttons on the right, with the movement buttons on the left.
That means that most people will be used to the fastest button pressing with their right hand.
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A friend of mine made a SF-style panel with the buttons on the left and the sticks on the right...we make fun of him for it all the time. When the Nintendo was first released, we all thought it was nuts that the d-pad was on the left. Of course it only took 1 game of SMB to get used to it. I'd recommend the standard setup - most people will be expecting it and will find it too difficult to play another way.
Look at it this way: when you pick up a guitar, which seems more complex to you, fretting or picking? I'd say it's the fretting, yet right-handers fret with their left hands all the time.
Coleman
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Hi,
My apologies if this is a newbie question...
I'm designing my control panel and when looking in lots of samples I have noticed that most joystics are on the left side of the buttons (which means I have to hold the joystic using my left hand and press the buttons with my right hand) and for some reason this looks a bit odd to me since I'm a right handed I think it will be much more convenient to hold the stick using my right hand and the buttons with the left. ???
Can anyone explain this to me?
Thanks
Have you ever played a real arcade machine before? I can't think of any with a typical joystick/button manner of control that had the joystick on the right, aside from bad conversions (sometimes the 2nd player joystick would be wrong-sided).
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When the Nintendo was first released, we all thought it was nuts that the d-pad was on the left. Of course it only took 1 game of SMB to get used to it. I'd recommend the standard setup - most people will be expecting it and will find it too difficult to play another way.
Most of us just accepted the switch as part of the change from joy to pad. IIRC, if you ever have played a Game & Watch, they're all like that. I still have my DK G&W :)
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When the Nintendo was first released, we all thought it was nuts that the d-pad was on the left. Of course it only took 1 game of SMB to get used to it. I'd recommend the standard setup - most people will be expecting it and will find it too difficult to play another way.
Most of us just accepted the switch as part of the change from joy to pad. IIRC, if you ever have played a Game & Watch, they're all like that. I still have my DK G&W :)
I hated the NES pad the first time I saw and tried one, but it had nothing to do with which side the D-pad was on. I thought it looked stupid and it didn't feel right. I thought the console itself looked stupid too, and the game my cousin was playing, "Super Marios Bros." looked stupid. The first thing that impressed me though was when I saw he had Exitebike. For the past few months, I'd been playing that game in the arcade. When he put it in I was amazed that aside from the palette and intermission scenes, the game was identical to the arcade. It was the first time I'd ever played a game on a console that was identical to the arcade. The little gamepad was irritating me though; I wanted a real joystick.
I had no idea that Excitebike was actually a NES game that was ported to the arcade. Whoever heard of such a thing in '85? Seeing the "arcade-perfect" Excitebike on the NES made me think that the NES was powerful enough to do an arcade-perfect port of anything. I guess that is why it was such a disappointment to see Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, and then Double Dragon.
It all grew on me eventually though. Once I saw how expansive SMB was, and started discovering secrets/hidden things, I was hooked on the game—I'd never seen anything like that before. And the NES pads worked great once you got used to them.
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Do what feels best for you. Most, but not everyone, are used to stick left buttons right. One example of a "not", if you're used to flightsticks, stick right, buttons (& throttle) left is the norm.
Story: I had a friend as a kid who loved arcades as much as I did (80's). He only played games with stick right, buttons left, which was fine as most stick games had buttons on both sides of the stick in the early to mid 80's. But as games started having more than 2 buttons and more than one player, they couldn't fit buttons on both sides. The standard started becoming stick left buttons right. And playing SF2 with arms crossed just wasn't cool. So he stopped going. :'(
So if you like stick right, make your CP with stick right.
OTOH, if you make a 2 player CP and want to play others, you might want to think about having one player with stick right and the other with stick left; others here have done that.
OT:
I hated the NES pad the first time I saw and tried one, but it had nothing to do with which side the D-pad was on. I thought it looked stupid and it didn't feel right. . . . . And the NES pads worked great once you got used to them.
I liked the games, but never have grown to like gamepads. I'll use 'em if I have to, but give me a real stick any day. The only pluses I'll give gamepads are: they're cheap, they don't take up very much space, they don't need desk space to use, and they'll work for most types of games. But I'd prefer an arcade stick for arcade/platform games, a steering wheel for racing/driving, a flightstick for flying, or a mouse + keyboard for FPS & RTS. To me gamepads are like pocket knifes, has tools for every game, but sucks vs a real knife designed for the job.
But I know I'm a minority (hey, I think all gamepads are too small, except the original xbox controller). :dunno
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Joystick on the left and buttons on the right is a "right-handed setup" because "pushing a stick" (even in quarter circles ala Street Fighter II) is a little less intricate a maneuver than pushing specific buttons at specific intervals - depending on the game of course. That's my theory at least - I haven't had the time to research it.
If that was true then it should be easier to play Guitar Hero with my right hand. I've tried it though, its not.
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Joystick on the left and buttons on the right is a "right-handed setup" because "pushing a stick" (even in quarter circles ala Street Fighter II) is a little less intricate a maneuver than pushing specific buttons at specific intervals - depending on the game of course. That's my theory at least - I haven't had the time to research it.
If that was true then it should be easier to play Guitar Hero with my right hand. I've tried it though, its not.
I think that's two totally different actions - fretting a guitar and working pushbuttons on a flat surface. I couldn't play guitar left-handed (left hand strums, right hand frets) either. Same thing with Guitar Hero. But yet I feel that if I were put the GH guitar down flat on the ground, I would want to use my right hand to push the buttons (like it were a keyboard).
But I think a lot of how we use our hands is also how we've trained our brains (like rebelscum's friend not being used to buttons on the right). Once again, it's all just speculation. I could probably discredit my theories more by remembering that I often play PC FPS with my left hand on the keyboard and my right hand on the mouse. :dizzy:
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I just remembered about this black kid in my local arcade, who was amazing at Galaga but he crossed his arms when playing.
I remember seeing him and thinking he reminded me of Jimmy Hendrix! That guy was soooo cooool ....
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I liked the games, but never have grown to like gamepads. I'll use 'em if I have to, but give me a real stick any day. The only pluses I'll give gamepads are: they're cheap, they don't take up very much space, they don't need desk space to use, and they'll work for most types of games. But I'd prefer an arcade stick for arcade/platform games, a steering wheel for racing/driving, a flightstick for flying, or a mouse + keyboard for FPS & RTS. To me gamepads are like pocket knifes, has tools for every game, but sucks vs a real knife designed for the job.
But I know I'm a minority (hey, I think all gamepads are too small, except the original xbox controller). :dunno
The only thing I don't like about gamepads (or any handheld controller) is that you can't tap a button with your thumb while holding a pad as fast as you can with your finger on a separate panel-mounted button. That's only a problem for certain types of games though, e.g., shooting games like Asteroids. It is irrelevant for something like Super Mario Bros.
Story: I had a friend as a kid who loved arcades as much as I did (80's). He only played games with stick right, buttons left, which was fine as most stick games had buttons on both sides of the stick in the early to mid 80's. But as games started having more than 2 buttons and more than one player, they couldn't fit buttons on both sides. The standard started becoming stick left buttons right. And playing SF2 with arms crossed just wasn't cool. So he stopped going.
My friend plays Ikari Warriors with his arms crossed, and I have no idea why (and neither does he apparently). He used to play it when we were kids in '86/'87 and it was his favorite game (he was damn good at it too). I got an Ikari Warriors machine last year and when he played it I noticed his arms were crossed. He held the joystick with his left hand like normal, but he crossed his right hand under his left and used the set of buttons that are to the left of the joystick. I asked him why he played like that (Ikari has two sets of button on either side of the joystick so there is no need for anyone to have to cross their arms) and he said he didn't know, but he has always done that on Ikari Warriors.