Nightmare for left-handed

[matzieq]

Don't you think these original Atari joysticks are a nightmare for left-handed? They just didn't care and put that red button on the left! I must do acrobatic tricks to play anything with this controller;) Any other left-handed here? What do you think about these joysticks?

[sku_u]

There are a number of third party controllers that had buttons in different locations. Some are more practical for a left handed person. have you tried out any of those?

[Robert M]

There is also a really easy way to convert atari joysticks to left-handed use. You need to open the joystick and rotate the wire connectors so that the correct orientation of the joystick places the fire button in the upper right corner. There is no soldering involved. All you need is a screwdriver.

 

Cheers!

[nester]

I know what you mean. All the new releases of old arcade games took out the left button. I know that Galaga used to have a button on both sides, and now I can't get the okay scores that I used to get.

[jsoper]

Robert M knows what he's talking about:

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine...5&CurrentPage=4

[Robert M]

Robert M knows what he's talking about:

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine...5&CurrentPage=4

 

Ah, that's the link I couldn't find. Thanks!

[Vintagegamefanatic]

I simply learned to play with the old joystick set up until I discoveered the other types of sticks out there especially the one handed versions

[foxglove9]

My mom is left handed so my dad modded a few of our Atari Joysticks for her to use. I never knew how he did that.

[tiggerthehun]

I'm left handed, but since I never had a choice as a kid, I just kinda "go with it". Even when I'm playing with a 2 button controller, I still use my right hand.

Don't know, but playing piano might have helped the situation... Makes me feel a bit ambidextrious.

[ussexplorer]

Well I'm left handed. I have just learned to live with it. Joysticks was never really a problem and some had buttons on both sides. The playstation sticks are pretty cool since they fit in either hand and learning that buttons is just common with any game.

 

Things I noticed:

 

Sissors

water foutain button (If not push bar in front)

Mouse

KeyPad (Caculator)

Certain features in cars.

Joystick -- Yes I never though about a left handed button.

 

laters,

 

ussexplorer

[+Nathan Strum]

I always wondered why they decided to make gamepads left-handed (no offense to left-handed people, of course). Starting with the NES, they put the control pad on the left side, and the fire buttons on the right side. I always found that backwards, and still have trouble with it to this day (the GBA Activision Anthology, for example).

 

Atari got it right with the Lynx, by making the whole thing flippable. Gravis also had a flippable gamepad, which I still use, even though it won't work on newer Macs anymore.

[rasty]

Anyone noticed that in arcade games cabinets the stick is (almost) always placed to the left?

 

Regards!

Rasty.-

[NE146]

Anyone noticed that in arcade games cabinets the stick is (almost) always placed to the left?

 

Regards!

Rasty.-

 

Yeah I was going to say... it's weird, although I have zero problems playing arcade games with the control on the left. And of course I have zero problems playing Game and Watch type control pads (i.e. every console since the NES).. Why couldn't I play a standard 2600 joystick backward.. it's weird but it definitely feels very odd even just holding it like so... I'm not sure I could do it. Strange

[rasty]

Anyone noticed that in arcade games cabinets the stick is (almost) always placed to the left?

 

Regards!

Rasty.-

 

Yeah I was going to say... it's weird, although I have zero problems playing arcade games with the control on the left. And of course I have zero problems playing Game and Watch type control pads (i.e. every console since the NES).. Why couldn't I play a standard 2600 joystick backward.. it's weird but it definitely feels very odd even just holding it like so... I'm not sure I could do it. Strange

Yes same here..! I think it's related to the fact that you keep the 2600 stick in your hand vs the arcade where it's fixed to the cabinet.. still kind of weird

 

Regards!

Rasty.-

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I'm left handed, but since I never had a choice as a kid, I just kinda "go with it". Even when I'm playing with a 2 button controller, I still use my right hand.  

Don't know, but playing piano might have helped the situation... Makes me feel a bit ambidextrious.

Same here. The CX-40 was my first and only joystick for a long time, so I had to adapt back then and never changed later.

 

And I don't play piano at all.

[Nostalgic]

I'm left handed, but since I never had a choice as a kid, I just kinda "go with it". Even when I'm playing with a 2 button controller, I still use my right hand.  

Don't know, but playing piano might have helped the situation... Makes me feel a bit ambidextrious.

 

I'm also left-handed, and tend to take a left-handed approach to things in which there is an option - brushing my teeth, using a fork or spoon, bowling, playing pool, etc. I wear my watch on my right wrist; I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do it. The right-handedness of a joystick never bothered me. Even though I have a Tac-2, which has two buttons, I still play as if it's a right-handed-only stick.

 

When I go to the arcade, where many sticks are on the left, I don't have a problem switching to it. D-pads don't bother me in terms of handedness. I guess I just get accustomed to whatever control scheme is available.

 

I don't know if how I play cards is considered left-handed... I hold the cards with my right hand and sort them with low on the left, high on the right...

[Voch]

I vaguely remember back in Atari's heyday a friend of mine converting his CX-40's with a "left-handed joystick kit" that consisted of a new board and a new top plate for the joystick (basically, moving the fire button to the right side). Or am I remembering incorrectly and he was just referring to the beforementioned wiring hack?

 

Voch

[+johnnywc]

I'm right-handed but when I first played Atari way back in 78, I rotated the joystick 90 degrees clockwise and controlled the stick with my left hand and the button with my right hand. Probably the only "righty" that had a hard time using the joystick because it WAS made for a right-handed person!!!

 

Of course, today I still play it that way - it's the only way that feels comfortable. Weird stuff...

[pinball22]

I'm right-handed and was bothered for a long time by the evolution of controllers to left-handed stick control... I'm used to it now, of course,

after all these years of playing newer consoles, but I'm still not very comfortable playing older games that way.

It's OK if it's a game I wasn't ever very good at, but for things that I am, I just can't get the scores with a pad that I can with a joystick.

And I can't play Ms. Pac-Man that way at all... my Pac-skills seem to be wired only to my right hand.

I actually cross my hands on some arcade games so that I can control the stick with my right hand if there aren't

buttons on both sides.

[Tsukasa]

...I wear my watch on my right wrist; I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do it....

 

I knew someone that did, but the part that bothered me was that he was right-handed.

 

Personally, I don't wear a watch anymore with the advent of cell phones.

[Nostalgic]

I actually cross my hands on some arcade games so that I can control the stick with my right hand if there aren't buttons on both sides.

 

You're only the second person I know of who does that.

 

The first one was a girl in my class at college. I saw her play Galaga at the Keller (the student union at the time) with her hands crossed, using the right to move the ship and the left to fire. It worked pretty well, but I could not believe that it would even after seeing it. I still don't.

 

What made you try it?

[Malc74]

I'm right-handed but when I first played Atari way back in 78, I rotated the joystick 90 degrees clockwise and controlled the stick with my left hand and the button with my right hand.  Probably the only "righty" that had a hard time using the joystick because it WAS made for a right-handed person!!!

 

Of course, today I still play it that way - it's the only way that feels comfortable.  Weird stuff...

 

I know how you feel. Even though I'm right handed I could never use those damn original Atari joysticks properly - much preferred moving the stick with my left hand. That's probably why I like the prolines so much, as you can use your left hand to move the stick and right hand to fire.

Funnily though, if I ever use one of those ergonomic sticks with the suction cups on the bottom (Cheetah or Quickshot or the like) I'll always use my right hand to control the stick.

I think I'm just very weird.

[128bytes]

The multitalented and lefthanded Thomas J wrote:

 

tiggerthehun wrote:

I'm left handed, but since I never had a choice as a kid, I just kinda "go with it". Even when I'm playing with a 2 button controller, I still use my right hand.

Don't know, but playing piano might have helped the situation... Makes me feel a bit ambidextrious.

 

Same here. The CX-40 was my first and only joystick for a long time, so I had to adapt back then and never changed later.

 

And I don't play piano at all.

 

Same with me. There seems to be a really big number of lefthanded people on this board...more than the general population, maybe...

 

Back in the Atari 2600's heyday, I lived in the same town as the EraserMate pen factory. Lots of the other kids gave me free EraserMate pens. And they smeared all over my left hand when I wrote on the page. To add insult to injury, my school only used folding chair desks - the ones with the tiny little desks and armrests for righthanded people only! And they didn't care enough to buy any lefthanded model chairs...

 

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[pinball22]

What made you try it?

 

Moving the stick with my left hand just always felt really wrong, especially given how much time I spent playing Atari,

so crossing them seemed the natural solution.

[matzieq]

I made it!!! I re-connected the wires as in the article - great thanks to you all. Just a minute I've beaten my records in Defender and Missile Command. Now I'm a happy gamer! )

 

BTW, it was just in time that I opened the joystick - one of the wires was almost loose and it broke in my hands. Somehow, I managed to connect it and now it works brilliant! Thanks again.

 

One last things - as I said before, I'm one of the few that actually like the original atari Defender. Yes, it does flicker. But which game doesn't? I think, that in most Atari games (especially early, combat-like) is't their inner soul that counts - not graphics and stuff. And that's the reason why modern games suck...