Anyone else suffering motion sickness from 2D games?

[allyourblood]

I am admittedly extremely prone to motion sickness in certain situations: I can't read for more than a handful of seconds in, or on, a moving vehicle. While playing with my nieces and nephew, if I spin them or myself at all, I get dizzy quickly and begin to feel sick. And of course, a great many 3D games (FPS, mostly) have to the potential to bring me to my knees with blinding, borderline crippling nausea; some of the biggest offenders historically being Doom, Quake, Descent, Forsaken, and more recently, Sleeping Dogs and the two most current GTA titles.

I know precisely what causes my motion sickness in most games, which basically falls in lockstep with the experiences of many other folks I've read over the years: "head bob" in 3D FPS titles, laggy or sluggish controls (leaving a disconnect in timing between button inputs and my brain's expectations), slow frame rates, narrow field-of-view, etc.

In some cases I've been able to overcome the effect. Initially, I was unable to play any FPS, of any era, on any platform, ever, for more than a precious few moments. When Halo arrived on the scene, it would make me sick in minutes. I insisted on playing through the misery though, since so many of my friends and coworkers were intent on playing every chance they got and I refused to sit on the sidelines. The end result was that after dozens of sessions, I found myself playing longer and longer before approaching Vomit Town. Nowadays, I can play most titles comfortably for at least a couple hours (if not more) before I have to take a long break. The 3D Fallout games, Elder Scrolls, Bioshock series, none of these pose much of a threat these days. Still, some games, like GTA IV and V, send me into fits of vertigo in no time flat.

However, I also have experienced this phenomenon more than a handful of times while playing old school 2D games; even platformers. Thinking back, some of the games that seem like they shouldn't cause this, but do, include the following: Bubble Bobble, Super Mario Bros. 2, DuckTales, the pseudo-3D levels of the Sonic the Hedgehog series (for obvious reasons), Super Mario World (at times), and now, very recently I've discovered, Ecco. I sat down to play it again the other day, not having done so in over 15 years, and found myself almost done in after only a few minutes. I don't remember having problems playing any of the Ecco games when I was a kid, so I'm not sure why it's affecting me now, but it is. The only thing I can think of is that given Ecco's movements on-screen, I'm somehow unable to will him to move the way my brain expects him to, and the exaggerated, curvy, slippery way that he swims ultimately doesn't jive with me.

With games like SMB2 and DuckTales, I'm a little baffled. The control seems tight, the games don't feel slow, or jittery or otherwise unresponsive, but inevitably, I'm shutting the game off and lying on my back with my eyes shut for some time after playing. There are several other games that cause this, but the small handful of titles given previously are the only ones that come immediately to mind. Ecco seems to be the only one that has changed over the years; the others have all bothered me since first playing them as a kid. SMB2 was in fact the first game I ever noticed this in, at the tender age of 9. I remember feeling flushed and hot after about twenty minutes of play, and then feeling so sick I was gulping and burping before realizing it was the game that was causing my discomfort. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I've still played it and completed it several times over the years, despite this setback (and similar to Halo, I've become more inured to the effects, though they still always arrive, eventually).

So for anyone that has hung in this far, have any of you also felt motion sickness in 2D, or otherwise unlikely candidates for this phenomenon?

[goldenband]

I get simulation sickness from some 3D games, especially N64 titles where the blurriness and low framerate seem to set off alarm bells in my brain. Forsaken is a major offender, and I knew within moments that I couldn't play that one; Monster Truck Madness once gave me the worst case I've ever had.

But 2D games have never made me ill as far as I recall, though there are a few games that are uncomfortable on the eyes. A lot of 16-bit platformers have scrolling that whips around unnaturally when you change direction, like Adventures of Kid Kleets, and that's taxing.

The chunky scrolling in games like Zaxxon for ColecoVision can start to feel like it's trying to induce a seizure in the viewer; same for the swirling color patterns in the backgrounds of certain shooters, e.g. late stages of Thunder Force III and Wings of Wor.

The one that shocks me is Bubble Bobble -- I find it harder to imagine how a single-screen platformer would cause you problems.

[Aussie2B]

Once in a great while. On most of the other stuff, I have a very similar experience. I can't read in a vehicle, or even really look at a screen, and plenty of 3D games can make me motion sick, mostly first-person ones, and especially FPSs. Luckily, I don't care for the genre anyway, so it isn't a big loss to me. I have tried maybe 30 minutes apiece of stuff like Forsaken and Descent, though. Oof, those games are awful in that regard. May as well advertise them as Motion Sickness: The Game. I find that free movement makes the difference for me, so the more the camera can swing around freely in all directions, the more I'm screwed. Thankfully, this let's me play the first-person games I'm most interested in, like dungeon crawling RPGs in the style of Wizardry, without a problem, since games in that genre tend to have very rigid, grid-based movement. A game doesn't have to be a FPS to wreck me, though. A couple hours of Minecraft literally left me feeling sick and lying in bed for an entire weekend. And this was AFTER my fiance messed with the settings a ton to turn off head bobbing, increase the field-of-view, etc. He's prone to motion sickness even more than I am, so he basically set it up for me like he had set it up for himself. He's much more stubborn than I am, though, so like you, he'll keep playing games he wants to play that make him sick until he slowly grows more and more tolerant to them. I've yet to encounter a game that I thought was worth that effort.

I'm generally safe with 2D games that aren't first-person. There are a few weird games with unconventional movement that I won't touch with a ten-foot pole, like Mohawk & Headphone Jack. For the usual stuff, I think it's mostly just time that plays a factor. You can give me virtually any game and if I'm playing for more than, say, two hours straight, I'll start to get a headache and feel exhausted. I'm just not one for marathon sessions. But if I really play for an extended length of time, especially if I'm tired to boot, that can lead to motion sickness. I remember one time I was playing Star Ocean: The Second Story for a long session late at night in my late teens, and I suddenly realized I felt awful. Just a big wave of dizziness and motion sickness hit me, and I had to turn it off, crawl in bed, and lay perfectly still until I finally managed to fall asleep and sleep it off. It was the weirdest thing, and this is a game that I put like 250 hours into and didn't have any problems with other than that one time. Granted, this isn't the best example, since the game does has a 3D world map and 3D battle terrains. But beyond those, most of the graphics involve sprites and prerendered backgrounds.

[allyourblood]

I get simulation sickness from some 3D games, especially N64 titles where the blurriness and low framerate seem to set off alarm bells in my brain. Forsaken is a major offender, and I knew within moments that I couldn't play that one; Monster Truck Madness once gave me the worst case I've ever had.

But 2D games have never made me ill as far as I recall, though there are a few games that are uncomfortable on the eyes. A lot of 16-bit platformers have scrolling that whips around unnaturally when you change direction, like Adventures of Kid Kleets, and that's taxing.

I can definitely agree with the whipping motion being a factor, and I think that's why Ecco does it to me.


The chunky scrolling in games like Zaxxon for ColecoVision can start to feel like it's trying to induce a seizure in the viewer; same for the swirling color patterns in the backgrounds of certain shooters, e.g. late stages of Thunder Force III and Wings of Wor.

The one that shocks me is Bubble Bobble -- I find it harder to imagine how a single-screen platformer would cause you problems.

I agree! I sort of dismissed it with a quick mention, but Bubble Bobble will usually make me dizzy after about 10-12 stages. The only possibilities that come to mind are the "pluck you from wherever you are at the end of the stage and carry you to the next" moment, or the vibrant colors; the latter possibly being why SMB2 gets to me after a while as well.


Once in a great while. On most of the other stuff, I have a very similar experience. I can't read in a vehicle, or even really look at a screen, and plenty of 3D games can make me motion sick, mostly first-person ones, and especially FPSs. Luckily, I don't care for the genre anyway, so it isn't a big loss to me. I have tried maybe 30 minutes apiece of stuff like Forsaken and Descent, though. Oof, those games are awful in that regard. May as well advertise them as Motion Sickness: The Game. I find that free movement makes the difference for me, so the more the camera can swing around freely in all directions, the more I'm screwed. Thankfully, this let's me play the first-person games I'm most interested in, like dungeon crawling RPGs in the style of Wizardry, without a problem, since games in that genre tend to have very rigid, grid-based movement. A game doesn't have to be a FPS to wreck me, though. A couple hours of Minecraft literally left me feeling sick and lying in bed for an entire weekend. And this was AFTER my fiance messed with the settings a ton to turn off head bobbing, increase the field-of-view, etc. He's prone to motion sickness even more than I am, so he basically set it up for me like he had set it up for himself. He's much more stubborn than I am, though, so like you, he'll keep playing games he wants to play that make him sick until he slowly grows more and more tolerant to them. I've yet to encounter a game that I thought was worth that effort.

My current self thanks my past self for putting up with Halo all those years ago since it was specifically that experience that now allows me to play so many great 3D first person adventure games. I don't care one whit for COD, Battlefield, or their contemporaries, but missing out on the modern 3D series I mentioned earlier would really bum me out.


I'm generally safe with 2D games that aren't first-person. There are a few weird games with unconventional movement that I won't touch with a ten-foot pole, like Mohawk & Headphone Jack.

I remembered that title, but had to look it up on YouTube to recall which game it actually was. That was a mistake. About 20 seconds into the video and I was scrambling to close the tab! Ugh.


For the usual stuff, I think it's mostly just time that plays a factor. You can give me virtually any game and if I'm playing for more than, say, two hours straight, I'll start to get a headache and feel exhausted. I'm just not one for marathon sessions. But if I really play for an extended length of time, especially if I'm tired to boot, that can lead to motion sickness. I remember one time I was playing Star Ocean: The Second Story for a long session late at night in my late teens, and I suddenly realized I felt awful. Just a big wave of dizziness and motion sickness hit me, and I had to turn it off, crawl in bed, and lay perfectly still until I finally managed to fall asleep and sleep it off. It was the weirdest thing, and this is a game that I put like 250 hours into and didn't have any problems with other than that one time. Granted, this isn't the best example, since the game does has a 3D world map and 3D battle terrains. But beyond those, most of the graphics involve sprites and prerendered backgrounds.

What you said about time hits home for sure as I am exactly the same way. Of all the older generation games I own, I'm probably fine playing 90-95 percent of them without issue, given I don't play them for "too long", which like yourself, hovers around the two hour mark. Sometimes I'll blow right past that limitation without noticing (Fallout 4 most recently I've been playing off and on for 3 to 4 hours at a time with no issues), but generally speaking, I can't play video games (2D or 3D) all day like some other folks.

It popped into my head now as I type this, that I should mention handheld games. To my recollection, there haven't really been any 2D handheld games to speak of that have a dizzying effect on me. If I had to guess, that can probably be attributed to the small screen and the overall lack of immersion. On the other hand, I tried playing a 3DS a few times and while the 3D effect looks cool, there's no way I could play with that turned on the whole time.

[Aussie2B]

I can't really think of much in the way of handheld games that have bothered me either. Not even ones with movement that kind of whips around like Donkey Kong Land. It's disorienting, but doesn't make me feel sick. Maybe I should experiment sometime with a FPS on a handheld. Like maybe I should pick up a copy of Faceball 2000 on Game Boy or something.

Funny enough, even Virtual Boy I can play without problems. I make sure to set up the display properly of course, and I generally don't play it for more than an hour at a time, but I can play without headache, eyestrain, neck pain, motion sickness, nothing.

[Guntz]

OP, you should add ginger into your daily diet. There are excellent recipies for ginger syrup out there online, it's tough to beat a good ginger drink with club soda.

[Aussie2B]

Oh, on the subject of ginger, I recommend Reed's ginger chew candies. They're a lot more convenient than having to cook something or pack around a beverage, and they're definitely loaded with a lot of real ginger (some ginger ales don't even have real ginger in them). I pack a couple with me whenever I leave the house, and I find eating one does help when a car ride is starting to make me feel motion sick.

I should try one the next time I get motion sick from a game and see if they help there too.

[allyourblood]

OP, you should add ginger into your daily diet. There are excellent recipies for ginger syrup out there online, it's tough to beat a good ginger drink with club soda.


Oh, on the subject of ginger, I recommend Reed's ginger chew candies. They're a lot more convenient than having to cook something or pack around a beverage, and they're definitely loaded with a lot of real ginger (some ginger ales don't even have real ginger in them). I pack a couple with me whenever I leave the house, and I find eating one does help when a car ride is starting to make me feel motion sick.

I should try one the next time I get motion sick from a game and see if they help there too.


It's so funny to hear mention of ginger (or not, considering its effectiveness for some folks), because I have some Ginger Root on order from Amazon for just that reason! In fact, I also purchased motion sickness wristbands a couple weeks ago and tried using them a handful of times now but have not experienced any improvement whatsoever. I think those are getting sent back. From the small amount of research I've done, it seems there are about 3 or 4 remedies for motion sickness, including the above, but the effectiveness of each varies significantly among sufferers.

I also have tried Dramamine in the past during gaming (and long drives) and find it to be much more effective for the latter. Here's hoping the Ginger Root supplement gives me some relief. On a slightly related note, if any of you enjoy ginger-flavored edibles, please avail yourselves of Haribo's Ginger Lemon Gummi Candies; they're more of the jelly variety of chewy candies, but the flavor is phenomenal (with a relatively hot/spicy real ginger kick) and are perfect for savoring. Come to think of it, I've never tried them while gaming, but maybe that should get added to the list. Aussie2B, I'll definitely be checking the Reed's out; thank you for that!

[Tanooki]

A 2D game while in a car ride I could see doing it. The fact you're focusing on motion on a little panel very intently while your body and mind still feel the effects of forward motion could confuse your insides as you're doing 2 directions at the same time. Alone in front of a screen, seems odd. 3D I get that especially a first person shooter which slides all around really fast in any direction within a space but flat?

[Emperor Megas]

I've never gotten motion sickness from any game, however my stomach feels queasy when I'm scaling a high wall outside on Ico. It's the only game I can think of that made me feel that way. I also have a problem with 2D games with bad frame rates. A few of them hurt me eyes a little. B.O.B. on the Genesis is one of them, and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure on the 32X was completely unplayable for me because of the 'ticky' frame rate.

[Steve W]

Speaking of ginger, you can find candied ginger in little individual packs at some Asian grocery stores. They're basically little bits of ginger root that have been preserved in a sugar glaze. It's good to keep on hand if you get nauseated, and they can last a couple years before expiring.

Motion sickness used to come and go for me. I've never experienced it with 2D games though. When I played a lot of 3D games (the last generation of consoles I really played heavily in was the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era) it wouldn't bother me but I'd go several months without playing anything and then going back I'd get sick. I think the worst instance of getting sick was when I bought and played A Dog's Life for the PS2. There's a mode that simulates a dog's sense of smell that is a sort of a first-person fisheye lens effect, and I got sick incredibly quick from that. I've never touched that game again.

[FoxNtd]

I've never had ill feelings due to playing a game, but I'm curious if this is something that can be overcome by building tolerance or if it's something you're forever susceptible to and requires taking breaks to keep under control. This reminds me of asking some figure skaters who do many rotations on ice, how do you beat the nausea or dizziness, and they say... you don't! You have to learn to keep control of yourself when you're in that state...

[SpaceHarrier]

The most disorienting 2D game I ever played was Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D for SNES, where the background layers scroll the opposite direction from every other game.

Also, not a 2D game but early 3D, I can only play a few minutes of Stunt Race FX on SNES without feeling somewhat queasy, but I've never pushed it beyond that. I think it might be the frame rate combined with camera sway.

[skaar]

Smaller TV/sit further back will help. Makes the eyes strain less.

[allyourblood]

I've never had ill feelings due to playing a game, but I'm curious if this is something that can be overcome by building tolerance or if it's something you're forever susceptible to and requires taking breaks to keep under control. This reminds me of asking some figure skaters who do many rotations on ice, how do you beat the nausea or dizziness, and they say... you don't! You have to learn to keep control of yourself when you're in that state...


I can personally attest to the potential to overcoming motion sickness in certain games. I used Halo to build up a tolerance to the effects in most 3D games. I can happily play most modern 3D first person view games without issue. I say "most" because despite my best efforts, a few games still manage to make me ill.

For me, the process was relatively quick; just several weeks of playing, at times playing through the discomfort, until eventually I sort of "broke through the wall" of sickness and have maintained it ever since.

[allyourblood]

The most disorienting 2D game I ever played was Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D for SNES, where the background layers scroll the opposite direction from every other game.

Yes! I know precisely what you're talking about. Stuff like this is usually simply off-limits for me, from the start.

[allyourblood]

Smaller TV/sit further back will help. Makes the eyes strain less.

Thank you for mentioning these! I think this is exactly why handheld games don't give me many issues. I do remember Kirby's Tilt and Tumble and Yoshi Topsy Turvy both making my eyes tired, but I never felt sick. The small screen just keeps me from being drawn in, to the point of feeling disconnected from the controls.