'Left handed' controller-

[Bratwurst]

Someone else brought this to my attention:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=22&products_id=2613&

It's basically a PS2 pad mirrored, and yet, as a legitimate left hander I couldn't fathom using it. If anything the standard design of the d-pad controller gives southpaws an edge since that hand is the dominant manipulator, and it's assigned to the directionals of the game. This isn't like a baseball bat or catchers mitt!

Interesting to say the least, I know that some arcade cabs out there have button sets on either side of the joystick but this flies in the face of a 20+ year old convention.

[PhoeniX]

I wish I had a 'left handed' controller that switched the thumb sticks for an xbox. Sooo many games don't offer the ability to swap the functionality of the thumb sticks, fortunately some do...
That controller looks pretty cool though. :)

[forcenotmatrix]

that seems like a pretty big waste of time
but then again i am right handed

[fahrvergnugen]

Bizarre. I already thought videogame controllers were left-handed. It's the one thing we won in the battle against righties.

[hu6800]

I have one controller thats both LEFTY RIGHTY made by BEESHU for the Turbografx 16 .
i think that option should be made available for every system.

[scooterb23]

It's a thing of beauty.

And I'm right handed. I've always felt that joypads were backwards...

[rbudrick]

Wasn't the Lynx convetible?

-Rob

[NoahsMyBro]

When I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, I modified a CX-40 to make it left-handed. When I saw an article describing the exact same mod a little while later in an old EGM , I was pretty impressed with myself.

[Flack]

I always thought the Atari Joystick made sense -- movement was done with the right hand, button was pressed with the left. Then the NES came along and blew that idea out of the water.

[maxlords]

I'm left handed and I PREFER the directional controls on the left. Much easier to move with the dominant hand and press buttons with the other.

[kingpong]

I wrote a lengthy article about the handedness of controllers on my old web site many years ago. Though Nintendo wasn't the first to do a left handed control scheme, they were certainly the ones who popularized it. At the time I hated it, but over a few years it became clear that it was a necessity due to the changing nature of the player's interaction with a game. In the pre-crash period, games typically required pretty simple interaction, with the movement of your character/ship/whatever being the most important thing. You would have a jump button or a shoot button or something like that, but whatever the action button did was typically pretty simple as long as you were in the right place to do it.

Post-crash games went to more complex actions, putting less emphasis on movement/positioning. Whether it was wider shots in shmups or the awful floaty jumps in SMB, you were given more leeway in your positioning. Since the emphasis was now on the action buttons, having the action buttons be on the typically dominant right side worked. The action buttons have continued to increase in complexity to the point where I know I couldn't work them properly with my left hand.

I always find it interesting to see how people play classic arcade games with unbiased controls. Walk up to a Pac-Man or Frogger machine and what hand do you use on the joystick? I find that even if I initially use my left hand, as I've been conditioned to do over the last 20 years, eventually it feels wrong and I'll switch to my right hand. Conversely, about 10 years ago I played a SF2 machine that had the 1P action buttons to the left of the joystick (it was a bad conversion). I was so bad at using my left hand on the buttons and my right hand on the stick that I actually crossed my arms and played that way.

Moral of the story - controls seem to work best when your dominant hand does the most complex/most important thing in the game. That said, I hate the left handed controls of the past 20 years not because they don't work well, but because they represent a move to gameplay where button mashing is more important than precise movement. Skill largely went out the window 20 years ago.

[ddockery]

I'm a righty and I really think it depends on the game which way the controller needs to be. For example, when playing pacman, Tron, or somrthing else requiring more quick movement, I prefer the stick on the right hand. In Galaga, I want the stick in the left so I can get off more shots with my right.

[Needle]

I'm going to have to side with Bratwurst on this one. As a lefty, there's no way in hell I'd switch controllers. Despite kingpong's analysis, I still feel that movement and positioning is the dominant play mechanic in most games, and indeed left-handers seem to have a slight advantage thanks to an already optimal control scheme.

Of course natural skill probably has more to do with it all than buton placement and hand preference. I've never felt like my left-handedness gave me any sort of advantage, and I know for sure using this special controller would probably just make things worse due to classic conditioning over the course of twenty years.

That said, what's the point? Most strong gamers have experience and are conditioned to use a normal controller, regardless of hand preference. Why bother switching?

[Mitch_Naz]

Nice idea but I dont think its really necessary - The idea of the left & right hand feature of the Atari Lynx was well done though.

[SS]

http://www.digitpress.com/archives/atariage/v1no5_p04.jpg

[tholly]

hmmmm...i should get one of these for my dad...maybe gaming would be a lot easier for him then....he cant really get the hang of games, so maybe this would help