left or right handed gaming?

[christianscott27]

it occured to me as i was wiring up my mame control yesterday that i could go left hand stick, right hand buttons or vice versa. i tried a little "air arcade" to see which i prefered and could not decide. so i went to my gameroom and noted that all my arcade sticks were oriented left hand stick, right hand button, so i went with that. of course i ended up wiring it so it is reversible, 3 buttons on either side of stick with mirrored functions.

best image i have of it, yes thats an electric yo-yo control panel with buttons added for god knows what mounted on a jungle king cab....
http://www.gis.net/~bertulli/june8.jpg

so i've been playing it today on a lot of games and still cant decide, left or right stick. being right handed i figured my right would be the more nimble hand, but since most of the world is right also there must be a reason they make controls left hand stick...

anyways it sounds confusing but you catch the drift, which hand do you use on arcade controls? lefties, do you feel slighted?

[Flack]

Recently I hooked up my old Atari and noticed that the Atari Joystick is made to be controlled with the right hand, and the button to be pressed with the left. I couldn't figure out why it felt so odd until I looked around and realized that everything from NES forward is control with the left, buttons on the right. I'm not sure what caused that change in video game trends -- anybody?

I always hold my stick with my left hand. Wait, that didn't come out right ...

[maxlords]

I'm left-handed, and I have ZERO dexterity for joysticks in my right hand. I HAVE to use the left hand for an arcade stick, and if it's set for right handed, I actually cross wrists! lol

[punkoffgirl]

Always grasp the stick with the left hand ;)

My right hand is better at pushing buttons than the left.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I think it´s the same for me, but it´s a little easy for me left hand with the stick...

[Lady Jaye]

I'm left-handed, so I've never had any problems adjusting to the post-crash controller design (control pad/stick on the left, buttons on the right).

However, I cannot play the Atari 2600 with the original square-based joystick, as it gives me bad cramps in my right hand (from cuddling the base to reach for the fire button). This is why I'd rather use another joystick, like the Coleco Gemini joystick or its semi-clone, Atari's Pro Joystick (aka the Atari 7800 joystick). I also have a Quickshot stick, which is a clone of the square-based Atari joystick, plus a quick-fire switch and a second button on top of the stick (for us lefties). :D And of course there's always the Sega Master System controller or the much more comfy 3-button Genesis controller!

As a kid, I never had that whole problem regarding the 2600 as a leftie because I had a Coleco Gemini and used the Gemini's sticks and, later, the 7800 Pro Joysticks.

[scooterb23]

I'm right-handed...

The stick HAS to be in my right hand...buttons HAVE to be on the left side...it's the only way I am successful at games...I used to play Street Fighter II cross handed (try it...it's fun!!!) I eventually taught myself to playt the "wrong" ;) way, but just today, I plopped down in front of Ms. Pac-Man, and the joystick naturally went into my right hand again :) (And I set a personal best of 89,100!!)

[Mayhem]

Thankfully I'm ambidextrous. I have no problem playing a traditional stick held in the left hand with the thumb on fire and the movement with my right; and then switching either to an arcade like setup or more modern technology where control is on the left and buttons on the right. Even when a game allows movement on the right (some FPS such as Turok and Timesplitters), I still keep it on the left.

[dreamcaster]

Don't ask me why, but when I first got my N64, I used the controller in the 'left' position (right hand on joystick, left hand on control pad).

Since my first and only game at the time was Cruis'n USA, it was possible to play like that (accelerate = Z, brake = L) and I used the joystick for subtle movements. But when it came sharp turns, I was able to quicky jab the control pad.

However, I came to realise that most games were incapable of controlling like this, and for my second game (Lylat Wars) and I was forced into using the 'right' position.

This is the only occurance where this sort of thing has come up.

[Hep038]

I never noticed this either until a friend of mine asked me why I switched hands on the joystick when I played Galaga/Ms.Pac-man machine. I looked at her like she was crazy until I noticed that I had switiched hands when going from one game to the next. Ms.Pac-man Right/ Galaga left.

[chadtower]

I'm one of the last of the people who had their handedness 'changed' as a kid (they don't really do that anymore... being lefthanded is no longer seen as a sin). I was always left handed but teachers/relatives etc would always make me put something down and pick it up in my right hand until I did most things right handed. This led to a good amount of ambidexterity but also some weird issues with certain sports and things like video games. I usually have to play with a controller for a while in various grips until I find a way that is comfortable. I do know I don't know anyone else who plays NES with the controller upside down.

[ddockery]

Chad, did they make you switch because it was "bad" or just because everything is designed for righties by default? I can't imagine using scissors with the opposite hand for example. I have a friend that's a lefty that does most stuff right-handed, because she was always taught by righties.

Back on topic, if there is only one thing to do (stick in pacman games) I use my right. Most other games I use my left, as I tend to play shotters that need a lot of quick button presses and I can't manage it with my right. One exception are old school Track N Field games that use a stick, or the Summer/Winter/World games where I use the stick in my right most of the time.

[chadtower]

Chad, did they make you switch because it was "bad" or just because everything is designed for righties by default?

It depends who you ask. Some people I would imagine did it because being left handed was considered a sin in some places. Lefties were shunned to a certain degree. I think other relatives did it because the world is designed for righties supposedly. Being a small kid at the time I obviously never asked and 95% of those people are dead now so we'll never know now. I have a couple of older relatives who went through the same thing (my poor aunt is a megatrue lefty but does everything righthanded... she's so uncoordinated).

[Hep038]

Well I am right handed but, when I was young I batted left in pee wee baseball and played golf left handed. In baseball he had me learn to bat right handed so I could switch hit. He would not let me play golf left handed because he said that its too hard to find left handed golf clubs, and most courses are set up for right handed players. To this day I can drive a golf ball father with a left handed driver but still play right handed. And he was right it is a bitch to find a set of left handed golf clubs at a reasonable price.

[chadtower]

Well I am right handed but, when I was young I batted left in pee wee baseball and played golf left handed. In baseball he had me learn to bat right handed so I could switch hit. He would not let me play golf left handed because he said that its too hard to find left handed golf clubs, and most courses are set up for right handed players. To this day I can drive a golf ball father with a left handed driver but still play right handed. And he was right it is a bitch to find a set of left handed golf clubs at a reasonable price.

That's exactly why I gave up on golf. I tried it right handed, it didn't feel right. I tried it left handed, didn't feel right. I finally got half comfortable with left handed drivers and right handed irons but then I had two sets of clubs and had spent like $600. Plus every time I went to the club I got bunched with old farts who would yell at me for playing from both sides of the ball until I felt like I'd wasted the $25 for the round. Golf is not friendly to nonrighties.

[IntvGene]

I feel your pain, Chad. I've gone through a similar situation (Golf is tough when you're a leftie).

I was born and still primarily am a left-hander. With the Atari, I always use my right hand to move and left to fire, same with Coleco. But, on the Intellivision, I use my right for the buttons and left to move the hyper-advanced, 16-directional disc. :P

When the joysticks switched, I never really noticed, and just adapted either way.

[ubikuberalles]

I'm left handed too but it was never a factor for me in using the joysticks. I just adapted to the joysticks on the new systems. I grew up on the Atari joystick and am quite used to playing the stick with my right hand and firing with my left. Despite that I prefer to use my left hand on the stick whenever I play MAME stuff on my HotRod controller. A friend of mine has the stick on the right and I'm so used to my HotRod that I find it difficult to play on his MAME box.

[davidbrit2]

For stuff like Monkey Ball and Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, I use both hands on the joystick. With rapid fire games, my right hand usually gets the buttons. For stuff with only a joystick, I tend to find myself playing with my right hand. But for games like Donkey Kong, I often play with my left hand on the button. Weird.