How do you hold a game pad?

Also: That crimpy-claw grip in the OP is interesting as it enables you to jump/move seamlessly, like in games such as Mirror's edge where Jump is on the triggers and not on a face button - so you can look-move-jump in streamlined, uninterrupted fluidity.

It's how I played Tombraider Anniversary on the PC (compared to controller-play) - with jump on the mouse button meaning I could just swing-and-swirl through the environments with wanton abandon - pointing and positioning and shooting and jumping seamlessly.

BUT - I remember it made the thing feel a little different. More like a first-person experience in the way you interpreted the environment as something you pointed towards and moved through, without the slight detach that comes with re-positioning the camera in between jumps (even if momentarily and near-subconsciously). It made Lara feel less like a marionette I was controlling through the world, and it also meant that everything was experienced head-on with the camera behind me instead of the slight variations of angle and framing that comes with gamepad control (where you often jump slightly into/out-of/side-on-to the screen instead of always positioning the camera behind you).

On the continuum from first-person gaming (where the framing is from environmental design only and not screen-composition) to fixed-camera dramatic effect like OG Resident Evil and the slightly looser ICO-version, I think my PC-play/control remapping shifted the whole experience more towards the former than it would have otherwise been.

It changes the framing and the feeling of the game in a way that I think is quite fundamental and transformative to be honest.

It's an interesting thought that controller grip can change the experience of a game in ways more than just ease of input. I think somewhat related would be the difference between MGS and Twin Snakes, although that's a mechanical change more than a controls change. MGS3 is notably different when played with fixed camera to free camera (I'm honestly not sure which I prefer, but I'm glad I played fixed camera first).

Okami is maybe the obvious choice for different default control schemes changing the game, from stick to motion and touch.

Twilight Princess feels different between GC and Wii too, more than you'd maybe expect from just a control change, but then it also has the whole mirror image thing going.

In kart racing games it always feels wrong to me to have acceleration on a trigger and not on a face button, even though a trigger is definitely more comfortable!

OrangeRKN wrote:

HSH28 wrote:Do people really rest their index finger on the bumper buttons rather than the triggers behind them?

Index on the bumpers, middle finger on the triggers. This is definitely the intended ergonomics.

I'm not sure it is, setting apart the confusion it can cause if you aren't used to it. It then leaves you gripping the controller with just two fingers which feels either cramped or not secure enough, depending on where you put those fingers.

Using only your index fingers for the triggers and bumpers allows you to 'rest' the controller against your middle finger which gives much more stability to the grip you have on the controller as a whole.

PC has spoilt me in that I'm used to being able to assigning anything to anything. More games should allow players to customise mapping to allow people to come up with better solutions.

I hold it like the above, for I am a normal human.

I remember one of my friend used to hold the N64 analogue stick between his thumb and forefinger

What other games do people implement "alternate" holds for?

I remember International Track and Field being a good one - PS1 controller held by the centre in on hand, second hand then free to run the four fingertips rapidly back and forth across the □ and △ buttons. Bolt would be left for dust with my 100m times!

I rarely use the "claw" in some games like shmups and then only temporarily. Some of the time I index fingers on the shoulder buttons or triggers and use my right thumb on the right anlogue stick. But most of the time I have my index fingers on the triggers at rest in less demanding games, and I shift my index fingers between shoudler button/trigger.

For a normal controller (eg PlayStation, GameCube) each hand holding a side of the controller. My index fingers for the L1/R1 buttons. My middle fingers for the L2/R2 buttons. My thumbs for the various face buttons/joysticks.

deathofcows wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:

Drumstick wrote:A friend of mine holds the N64 controller by the left and right prongs and straddles his left thumb all the way over to use the analogue stick, even when playing games that do not require the d-pad.

Like so:

my hands are getting sore just looking at that, still it would have been the ideal way to hold it other wise

That's how I always held my N64 pad.

Interestingly I think it's slightly affected my play since. It took me a while to adjust to the Wii's remote-like position of the stick (akin to the N64 middle prong I suppose) and I remember having to consciously retrain my thumb's directional muscle memory.

Even now to beat Celeste's hardest-hardest levels I needed all the precision I could get, and would often slightly move my left hand-grip into something best resembling the side-on thumb control as opposed to the straight-up vertical control of prong-holding like with Wii and N64 middle grip.

Then again, I tried a lot of things for the Celeste levels.

Wait how do you press the Z button if you hold it like that?

Raydon4 wrote:

deathofcows wrote:

shy guy 64 wrote:

Drumstick wrote:A friend of mine holds the N64 controller by the left and right prongs and straddles his left thumb all the way over to use the analogue stick, even when playing games that do not require the d-pad.

Like so:

my hands are getting sore just looking at that, still it would have been the ideal way to hold it other wise

That's how I always held my N64 pad.

Interestingly I think it's slightly affected my play since. It took me a while to adjust to the Wii's remote-like position of the stick (akin to the N64 middle prong I suppose) and I remember having to consciously retrain my thumb's directional muscle memory.

Even now to beat Celeste's hardest-hardest levels I needed all the precision I could get, and would often slightly move my left hand-grip into something best resembling the side-on thumb control as opposed to the straight-up vertical control of prong-holding like with Wii and N64 middle grip.

Then again, I tried a lot of things for the Celeste levels.

Wait how do you press the Z button if you hold it like that?

Middle finger round the back. Such a sturdy grip