You walk up to a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet. Which hand grabs the joystick?

[roadrunner]

I debated whether or not to even click on this thread, hahah...

 

 

 

LOL, yeah i expected to see at least one crazy off the wall answer.

 

 

[jaybird3rd]

Modern?! That layout has been standard since the 80's. Especially for any machine that had multiple buttons. Rampage, Playchoice 10, 1943 etc...

Well, yes, but the games I played the most back in the day tended to have the joystick in the center, so you could choose which hand you wanted to use. I wish more arcade controllers offered the option (although I suppose I could just build my own).

[Atariboy]

I'd likely use my left thanks to most arcade sticks and modern arcade games being laid out that way.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with console style controllers or if you're left or right-handed. I'm right handed and started with the Atari 2600 for example, yet it didn't feel foreign as a teenager to get a Super Nintendo with the d-pad on the left, despite 8-9 years of just playing pre-crash game systems and the Atari 7800 beforehand. They're such different styles of controller that I just don't think being used to one translates anything of significance to a completely different style of controller. So I never bought into that.

 

Now had they decided after growing accustomed to the Super Nintendo's gamepad that the face buttons suddenly were going to be on the left side and the analog stick that largely supplanted the d-pad for modern gaming was going to be located on the right side, I'd of been in serious trouble.

 

I've never even been able to learn Microsoft's button layout thanks to the Super Nintendo, making something like Boom Boom Rocket and quick time events nearly unplayable for me. So had they flipped the general layout of the gamepad out of some misguided notion that the primary analog stick should be located on the right since most people are right-handed, it would've been hopeless.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Atariboy

[+atari2600land]

I don't know which hand I would use if I ever played an arcade game. I'm so used to D-pads on the left and buttons on the right on consoles. Still, I bet I would probably use my right hand since I'm right handed and there's no buttons in Ms. Pac-Man (that I know of)

[Tanooki]

Same here about the stupid alignment of the reverse buttons on the MS controllers and wannabe imitators and it drives me nuts. I have one because you almost have to using steam+console conversions and it is infuriating. It's right up there with the garbage release of Mega Man Collection on the Cube that reversed jump and shoot buttons and left no controller config choice which inexplicably the PS2 did have making it the non-suck version by default. It's why in controller threads I asked if i could use a USB Switch controller on Windows 8.X or later without issue in Steam, etc games and never quite got a clean answer which bugged me as I know where to get a few new cheap.

[Agamon]

Arcade? I'm right-handed, so of course I use my left hand.

 

(if you're right handed and use right, don't google-image-search "arcade stick"... unless you want to get triggered)

[+Black_Tiger]

Right hand. I use my right hand to control movement on all pre-8-bit console controllers. It's just a hold over from playing those consoles while they were current.

 

Just imagining playing a Pac-Man game using my left hand feels so unnatural... but I'm sure I'd play just as well using my left hand on an arcade or now traditional game pad.

[Eltigro]

Right hand... didn't really think about it until I was play Jr Pac Man the other day on the 2600. I use a Sega Genesis arcade stick for a lot of the 2600 games, and I kinda scoot it over on my right leg and use my right hand on the joystick. I think someone above said something about how when the game uses buttons, they use their left hand and when it doesn't, they use their right hand. I think I'm in that same camp.

[BydoEmpire]

Right hand. In most of those games the dominant activity is movement, which is ideally controlled by your dominant hand. Playing those types of games w/ a joystick on the left is unnatural to me as a right handed person. IMHO the dominant activity in most later games is timing/button-related, so it makes sense for those to be on the right. In most platformers, for example, you typically wind up holding the dpad one direction or another for a while, but it's the buttons that require split-second timing. Just my 2c, and of course if you grew up using the "other" hand I'm sure you could get accustomed to it.

Edited April 19, 2018 by BydoEmpire

[Video]

Right. But then, unless the game featured four of more action buttons I typically always used right for the stick.

[digdugnate]

im one of the left-handed weirdos for games like ms. pacman.

[JBerel]

You walk up to a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet. Which hand grabs the joystick?

 

 

And now....the correct answer:

 

The one without the beer in it.

[Swami]

Right. Not a fan of left. I even have thumbstick swapper adapters or the swappable controls for gamepads.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I tend to alternate back and forth between the left and right to prevent blindness....

 

Wait, what are we talking about again?

[HoshiChiri]

I'm a leftie, so left. The only thing I really do with my right hand is use scissors, oddly enough.

[NE146]

Don’t forget the grandaddy of vids, space invaders had the joystick on the left and button on the right (although people in the states had to use directional buttons for some reason)

 

That said when I play ms pac, it’s right hand all the way

[dgdgagdae]

My right hand, of course. I'm not a sinister monster!

So...which hand do you use to play Sinistar?

 

To answer the original question: right. My local arcade's Track & Field has a gimpy button, so when I play that I have some weird way of crossing one hand over the other to hit the buttons right.

[mr_me]

Dont forget the grandaddy of vids, space invaders had the joystick on the left and button on the right (although people in the states had to use directional buttons for some reason)

 

That said when I play ms pac, its right hand all the way

Space Invaders, Defender, Galaga all have 1-dimensional (2-way) joysticks. In most Taito machines like Jungle Hunt and Zookeeper the joystick was centred, buttons on both sides.

[GameGirl420]

Both.

 

Lately with my left when it comes to the arcade cab or mame,and I always use my right whenever I play Atari 5200 stock controllers.

[derFunkenstein]

I always handle Ms. Pac-Man's stick firmly with both hands.

[NE146]

Space Invaders, Defender, Galaga all have 1-dimensional (2-way) joysticks. In most Taito machines like Jungle Hunt and Zookeeper the joystick was centred, buttons on both sides.

Yeah it's kind of a crapshoot.. if we're talking Taito, games like Wild Western, and Qix all had multi-directional joysticks, but on the left as well. However an earlier game like Space Chaser (also with a 4 way joystick) had it in the middle.

 

Overall though I think the joystick on the left is a little 'more' standard than the right when it comes to arcade games. e.g. games like Street Fighter 2 for example. But yeah for me when it comes to Ms. Pac? I use the right hand.

[mr_me]

There are some exceptions and Taito's Qix is one of them. Taito's Wild Western had a rotary control on the right, joystick left. Taito's Western gun had the joystick on the right and a lever on the left. Taito's Lupin III and Space Chaser were joystick right buttons left. Taito might have been more mixed up than other manufacturers but most of their machines had symmetrical controls.

 

Of all the manufactures prior to 1985, I'd say only Universal, Nintendo, and Data-East standardised on left-handed joysticks and more manufacturers favoured right-handed joysticks, others favoured symetrical controls. After 1985 things definitely changed.

Edited April 24, 2018 by mr_me

[NE146]

There are some exceptions and Taito's Qix is one of them. Taito's Wild Western had a rotary control on the right, joystick left.

 

If you're calling them exceptions, then I'd count Wild Western is one also.. In addition to the jump button don't forget that the rotary controller functioned as a shooting "button" as well when pressed. I played that game a ton at the local mom&pop when it came out.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I can play for hours if I swap off hands every now and then. I am right handed but game playing with single button (or zero in the case of Pacman) I am ambidextrous. I don't have the dexterity to operate multiple button layouts with my left hand, so my left hand always operates the joystick in multiple button games.

 

Single joystick preference: right hand operates joystick.

Single joystick, single button preference: either hand.

Single joystick, multiple buttons: left hand operates joystick.

[tripletopper]

In some games it can make a difference. I discovered it when I visited a "lefty vs rightie" Street Fighter Machine somewhere on a trip. I did so much better on the right hand side, especially with Dragon Punches, that I had made a custom fight stick in 1993. ( A little ahead of my time) To read more about the story visit 56ok.org/Ambidextrous/index.htm to read a story on how well not only I did, butt wtoher random firends did. Then read the doubter who lost to everyone there, and see who that doubter is. If you watched video game competitions on basic cable TV in the 00s, you may recognize this person.