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^^ And that's why it's easier to specify direction if I have a d-pad because then I can know "now I'm pressing up" and "now I'm pressing up and left".
^ I haven't played Brawl except like, once. And I remember it's double-tap in Smash, and I'm pretty sure it's that in Melee too.
I still hate double-tap-to-run. That's just stupid; most people have no use for walking if running is an option in a videogame.
Still don't get why people prefer analog sticks or d-pads over keyboard for traditional 2D platforming but I guess it's because for some reason I find it possible to use multiple fingers, which then gives me a slight speed/accuracy advantage over a d-pad or stick (I think so at least).
A fair number of platformers and nearly every fighting games and beat'em up released after 1991. "bad design" gets my vote for the most galvaudé expression on this forum, lol.
I posted this over at TVT and I thought it was pretty relevant:
From reading the posts here it seems that a lot of this has to do with path dependence--as in, what people have been accustomed to using, such as what people grew up with (was it PC or console gaming).
Which actually makes me even odder, because I grew up on console gaming but then used keyboard for PC gaming...in which I played console style games nevertheless. So in a way it's like I'm a PC gamer for control style, but I'm a console gamer when it comes to genres.
In retrospect, there was a noticeable jump around the turn of the millennium for me. Up until then I'd been playing console games; while I never got an N64 or PS1, I still regularly played my SNES and Game Boy. However, around 2000, I discovered emulation, which led me to play those same console games...PC instead. So thanks to medium availability I switched to PC, but was able to retain the same content tastes.
Most curious is the role of Japanese (and Japanese-style) indie/doujin PC games. They tend to be much more similar to console games than western games, frequently imitating 8-bit and 16-bit console games. Indie games in general, which we've seen a rise of in the past few years, have also featured more "traditionally" console genres such as platformers (and fewer "traditionally" PC genres such as RTS or FPS) than have PC games in general, in part because of development costs. And games developed on these lower budgets also tend to be less processor- and graphics-intensive, meaning they can be played on computers with less flashy hardware.
My interest in console-style games and lack of interest in the traditionally PC genres also dovetailed with the fact that I tended (and still tend) to have low-end computers, which don't handle top-of-the-line (or anywhere near that) PC gaming well at all, as well as my general sense of frugality (which is well served by the lower cost of older and indie games).
That said, it does help that the keyboard hasn't changed much over the years. Console controllers, however, have.
(Cross-posted from the TV Tropes forums: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13552039410A42620100&page=4#76)
Not really. At least, not in over a decade. Both the PS3 and 360 use controllers that are essentially the same as the Dualshock from the Playstation.
...you mean to tell me that I haven't much used controllers for so long that they've since changed and then plateau'd in my absence?
Depends. The PlayStation controller is pretty much the template for all other standard controllers, and since its release, it hasn't changed except for the addition of analogue sticks. So if you ceased to use controllers before or around the release of the original PlayStation system, then what you said is pretty much spot on -- controllers plateaued in your absence.
Even the hyperglory that was the Gamecube controller was pretty much a Nintendo'd PlayStation controller, and the XBox controller is likewise a superficial alteration to the same template. There are really no standard, first-party controllers that significantly divert from the essential design of the PlayStation controller. I mean, there's the WiiMote, but that's different for obvious reasons and even the WiiU gamepad has the same essential setup as the PlayStation controller, plus touchscreen.
Although you could arguably take it back a step and say that the SNES controller is responsible for the PlayStation controller, so everything is based on the SNES controller. But the PlayStation controller is where everything was essentially standardised.
Well, I said Dualshock because the two analog sticks is really a pretty major feature of modern video game controllers, and the SNES controller (and the original Playstation controllers, even) didn't have them.
Also, less importantly, the Dualshock was one of the first video game controllers (possibly the first) to have two vibration motors of different strengths, and that's also sort of standard now. But obviously not a really big deal.
The Dualshock was definitely a step forward for the reasons you pointed out, but in terms of semantic mapping, it was the original PlayStation controller that really set the standard.
Ah, the Gamecube controller. How I love you.
The Gamecube controller is awful, and not even in a funny N64 way. It's just like... they took a Playstation controller and went out of their way to make every part of it just slightly less good.
The GC controller was very comfortable to hold, but kind of...weird, design-wise.
Hey, the N64 controller is the future, man.Specifically, the future where the bomb drops and we all become three-armed mutants.
Controllers specifically designed for PC use can get pretty weird.
I saw one once that had about a dozen buttons on it. They weren't lettered or shaped or anything practical like that, just numbered. It was really weird to look at.
edit: now that I think about it, it was probably more than a dozen, actually.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826280035
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826249087
What am I even looking at?
I can't believe the first one has "Thrustmaster Cougar Cockpit" in its name. That's glorious.
Come to think of it, if I ever learned to use the mouse with my left hand, I could then play Terraria with direction controls in my right hand...at which point the sheer number of other buttons I would need to press would necessitate I use the numpad...which would make use of my numpad for once.
I should learn to do that because it would be interesting. Would be the first game that I would use the numpad for.
Would be a hell of a time remembering which number went with which menu item. I have 10 slots, and the following keys are open: 0/ins, ./del, 1/end, 3/pgdn, 5, 7/home, 9/pgup, /, *, -, +...and if the 5 key doesn't work when numlock is off, I get exactly ten.
It would make it easier to hit enter to chat, at the very least.
Though I can't remember whether you can redefine controls in that game...
I use the numpad for more or less every game now that I've got my new laptop. Since I'm left-handed and the arrow keys are uncomfortably close to the center.
Play more roguelikes.
Unless you do and you're just one of those silly vi-keys people.
I use vi-keys.
Hey, it's easier for me to look like I'm typing.
Which is a useless skill to have right now because I live alone and I have more trouble focusing on my work than I do escaping the monitoring eyes of my parents.
Roguelikes are one of several genres of video game that I really, really want to like but they're too hard for me.
Play Spelunky. It's less hard and much faster.
Play POWDER or one of the other easy ones.
Or just play Crawl and die a lot. It's fun.
I've played Spelunky and Nethack.
Forever using a Saturn pad and a Seimitsu for a certain game genre
Meanwhile, the Saturn 3D controller continues to be a gross assault on aesthetics.
Have you tried Baroque? It's relatively easy. Well, easy to play. I can't say I've ever completed it because...I'm not entirely sure how I'd even go about that, due to its trippy plot that carries over between runs with only vague hints at how to truly advance. But it's a good time, albeit less deep than most Roguelikes.
For something a little more traditional (but not really traditional) you could try Binding of Isaac. It's a roguelike top-down shooter. Very hard, but very short and thus you can improve pretty fast.
Dungeons of Dredmore, the only one I'm mentioning here that's actually traditional, is also easier than most Roguelikes. Not easy, though. Very fun.
Baroque is awesome... I can't say I've completed it either, but at least I got what I assume is the "true" ending... after that, neuro tower became obnoxiously long... and I guess the training course also extends itself. I also heard there are sort of "bosses" eventually, but I have no idea where or when that is. I should get around to playing it again sometime, maybe my save file still works.
It's also creepy as fuck. The monster design, ambient music and sounds, aesthetic design and voice acting are all fantastic... the only flaw I would note in that department is the lack of expressiveness of the human characters' faces in cutscenes.
Oh yes the Saturn pad. Very funky, though it didn't stop me from having a few decent NiGHTS runs at Fanime.
There's also The Ancient Cave, a 100-level randomly-generated start-at-level-1-with-no-items no-save-reloading dungeon embedded inside the SNES RPG Lufia 2: the Rise of the Sinistrals. (The game otherwise plays like Golden Sun.)