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Games Entertainment Hardware

Why Should It Take Two Hands To Play Videogames? 125

Posted by simoniker from the stand-by-for-hilarity dept.
Thanks to StatePaper.com for their article discussing a Nebraska radio talk show host's plans to create a one-handed game controller. The host, Mike Reed, "has learned to play many of the games using a controller with only one hand", following an accident which happened when "an acquaintance at a party pointed a loaded .410-caliber shotgun at Reed [and fired]", leaving him with very limited use of his right arm. He says that "many games are impossible to play one-handed", and has "designed a dual-motion game controller that consolidates all movement, button response and directional function into a one-handed video game controller", although he and his partners "haven't built a prototype yet." In the meantime, are there any existing console controllers that might work for those only using one hand?
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Why Should It Take Two Hands To Play Videogames? More

Why Should It Take Two Hands To Play Videogames?

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  • oh dear lord (Score:5, Funny)

    by Frac ( 27516 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:37AM (#7844176)
    There's a brain overload from the amount of jokes you can make from this...

  • Flight Simulators (Score:5, Insightful)

    by beders ( 245558 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:39AM (#7844181) Homepage
    Sticks designed for flight sims seems to have most if not all of the buttons accessable to one hand, though this tends to be the right hand (I am left handed and notice).

    Remapping the keys and clamping it to a flat surface should help too.

    I would have thought a gameboy would work, with the pad and buttons close together, I'm sure someone else with a better knowledge of them could suggest a few
    • Check out the saitek [saitek.com] joysticks if you're upset about the right-hand-centric world. My experience with their stuff has been great, I had one of their earlier "cyborg" sticks and really appreciated that I could switch around the pieces to fit my hand more comfortably.

      Just a thought, since I've no experience with being limited in such a way, but would a keyboard be a decent "controller?" I would think having the keys custom mappable would solve the controller issue. Then again, my console experience is se

      • ...would a keyboard be a decent "controller?"

        Depends on the game. For things like Final Fantasy it wouldn't be too bad, but Super Metroid would be nigh impossible. I've been playing these on keyboard, albeit 2-handed, through ZSNES, and it's very difficult to use the grappling beam in Metroid even with both hands. Even things like Descent which were designed with a keyboard in mind took two hands to operate.

  • Arcade Games (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TheRedHorse ( 559375 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:51AM (#7844217)
    Many Arcade games could be easily modified to be used with one hand since they only featured a control stick and an action button. Simply put the button on top of the control stick, voila, a one handed controller.

    But with modern day games, the closest you'd come to a one hand remote would be something like a remote control, because there are so many buttons on your Xbox/PS2/Gamecube controller.

    • Re:Arcade Games (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Quarters ( 18322 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:26AM (#7844389)
      The button was made separate to allow for the player to have a very fast rate of fire. You can't move a joystick and repeatedly press your thumb on a top button as efficiently as you can move the stick with one hand and slap the button with your other hand.

      Your thumb would get very tired very quickly, too. Zaxxon did it that way, yes, but it did not require the frenetic firing rate of most arcade games.

      • I didn't realize quite the rate of fire that some of those old games required, until I picked up a bundle for the GBA. On the Space invader clone I flat sucked, could barely beat the first level mostly because I could only fire a few shots rather than the usual barrage.
      • You can't move a joystick and repeatedly press your thumb on a top button as efficiently as you can move the stick with one hand and slap the button with your other hand.

        Yeah, and from the sound of things, he shouldn't have much trouble slapping the button with his stump.

  • One Handed PSOne Controller (Score:4, Interesting)

    by YomikoReadman ( 678084 ) <`jasonathelen' `at' `gmail.com'> on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:54AM (#7844236) Journal
    A few years back Sony released a one handed controller for the PSOne. There is a catch with it, however. It does not feature one of the analog controllers, and would most likely not work for any game that required it. The other problem is that it is really designed for use with RPGs and is probably not suited to any other genre. I'd think that would be the case with most games out there, IMO.

    • Re:One Handed PSOne Controller (Score:5, Interesting)

      by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @09:37AM (#7844804) Homepage
      It was actually released by ASCII, as a successor to the somewhat more successful SNES single-hand controller. Both were terrible to use.

      The controllers were just overloaded with buttons. You had a D-Pad in the center, 4 buttons surrounding it, 2 on the underside, and a pad for L1R1L2R2SelectStart thrown in below. It was impossible to use the D-pad and any of the buttons at the same time except for the underside two because you were only using one digit, and even then you were busy using those fingers underneath to hold the controller. Anything involving action or timing was impossible to do. Most RPG's were more enjoyable with a traditional controller, but for those without that luxury it must have been nice.

      I actually gave mine to a colleague with one arm. He was happy to get it, but he recognized the limitations. If you really want to make a controller for disabled people, use the feet. It would be rather easy to handle forward / back / left / right with your feet, and two analog sticks could be used concurrently. Mount 4 thumb buttons on the end of a cylinder and L1 R1 L2 R2 on the length, with a hand strap to hold it all together, and you're good to go. The feet are vastly underutilized in gaming, relegated to simple acceleration / deceleration, but they are capable of far more than that.

      Nintendo had a controller at one point where the joystick was moved with the mouth, sucking counted as an A, and blowing as a B. Because today's controllers were built to the full capacity of both hands, it is somewhat futile to attempt to condense that down without looking to other input sources.

      You've got the appendages. Use them.

      • The feet are vastly underutilized in gaming, relegated to simple acceleration / deceleration, but they are capable of far more than that.

        something like, i don't know, dancing [ddrfreak.com]?
      • I actually have a picture of the SNES one sitting back in one of my old issues of Nintendo Power... it never got released here, but it was basically the same thing. There were little switches that I think you could use to turn buttons on and off, and everything appeared to be as jammed in as possible. It wasn't all that great-looking of a controller.
      • The feet are vastly underutilized in gaming, relegated to simple acceleration / deceleration, but they are capable of far more than that.

        Apparently someone hasn't played Dance Dance Revolution. ;-)

      • I used to have one, but wore it out on FF games within a year of getting it. I haven't been able to find one since, and had forgotten the manufacturer. As for it being difficult to use, it was really only intended for RPGs, and with that purpose in mind, it is a wonderful controller to use, as it leaves a hand free for things like keeping the other half off my back or looking through a strategy guide.
    • Seriously...how are you going to pull off a fireball with one hand? A one handed controller is ONLY going to work for RPGs. Anyone who claims that this guy can play MOST games is on crack.
      • First off, RTFA.. he did state that some games are impossible to play with only one hand, and fighting games were probably classed in that. Second, he didn't make any such claim, and stated that the only use he ever got out of it was for RPGs.

        I think you should go troll elsewhere, BTW.

  • Which games? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iainl ( 136759 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:55AM (#7844241)
    As long as you choose to use an automatic, driving wheels with pedals aren't going to be just fine with one hand.

    Super Monkey Ball (and, lets face it, gaming doesn't get much better than the mighty Expert 7) just demands one analogue pad and no buttons during play, so that isn't a problem. Same with its inspiration, Marble Madness.

    Many, perhaps most, things on PC should be reasonably playable with the Microsoft Strategic Commander, as it has three analogue axes and a myriad of buttons. Flight sticks offer much the same.

    There are always going to be some games that require both hands though, and that is probably only right. Basketball would be pretty difficult to play one-handed as well, but we don't get rid of that. Ensuring games are playable by as many as possible is a good thing, but as a designer you shouldn't break the game just to ensure this.
    • Many, perhaps most, things on PC should be reasonably playable with the Microsoft Strategic Commander, as it has three analogue axes and a myriad of buttons. Flight sticks offer much the same.

      However, to people like me, who don't want to spend 20 minutes configuring 20 buttons to the optimum settings... those controllers are just plain scary.
    • I would very much like to see a one-handed controller. I was thinking of setting up a console or something near my treadmill, but needing to use two hands is nigh impossible while running.

      If anybody has actually used a treadmill, its boring as hell. Running outside is interesting, because of the changes in locals, things going on around you, etc. But putting a TV (ugh) near the treadmill is as good as it generally gets.

      There IS a machine at a gym I used to go to (I live far from there now) which had a to

  • Belkin Speedpad (Score:4, Informative)

    by vjmurphy ( 190266 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:57AM (#7844249) Homepage
    The Belkin Speedpad might be an option: it has a dpad built in, a scroll wheel, and several mappable keys. It is for right-handers only, though, at this time.

    Specs and Information on the SpeedPad [belkin.com].

  • It may seem ironic or moronic... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DarkGreenNight ( 647707 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @07:58AM (#7844253)
    but with shooting games, like Time Crisis, you only need one hand (for the pistol) and one feet (for the pedal). Then, for PCs, there are roguelike games.

    The truth is that (most) games are made for the people with two hands, not completely deaf and without any visual disability to discern objects in the screen. When (read if) 3d displays become the norm people with less than two eyes will have also problems with most games. And the same will happen for people with only one good ear when surround sound is important for a game.

    There are games that can be played by almost anyone with some little tweaks, but it would be non-optimum for the sofware companies, unless the game is a complete hit or was designed that way from the beggining.
    • news flash bro sound is already important. i friend of mine is deaf in his left ear and when he "tries" to play quake if you shoot him on his left side he looks right.

      my_kills++
      his_deaths++
    • The one area I definitely agree with in this article is that games designers should consider if the control system could be changed to be more inclusive without damaging a game.

      This comes in many ways, just as there are many possible limitations:

      Does a cue need to be purely auditory, or can visual clues be added as well? Subtitles for speech, muzzle flashes and the damage flash in Goldeneye all spring to mind as examples of this. Whether due to deafness or just playing with the sound down not everyone wil
      • You can't really include everyone, though. It's such a small market for these types of adaptations, admittedly, that spending extra time on them can end up detracting from the overall gaming experience if done wrong, and I'm sure most game companies don't want to risk something such as this for a vast minority of the market.

        I'm not saying that there isn't a good reason for doing this, it's just that most games don't really lend themselves to being adapted for everyone.

        "You can please some of the people
      • IMO any company that doesn't include subtitles is just lazy. That's the first (well maybe second) option I look to enable when I play a game. My hearing is a little poor when it comes to speech (nothing that effects my life though), and I tend to watch lips to fill in the gaps. In video games this just doesn't work since you lose mouth movements. Between all the weird accents and bad acting they put into games, I miss like every fifth word, very frustrating.

        It's very easy to add subtitles and there sho

    • Re:It may seem ironic or moronic... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Then, for PCs, there are roguelike games.

      ??

      Maybe it's possible to play roguelikes with one hand, if you choose the game carefully and play slowly, but I use both hands for Nethack - one for movement, the other for everything else. Nethack maps nearly every flipping key on the keyboard.
    • great...give me something to look forward to...

      I am deaf in one ear and my wife can't use her left hand (she was left handed too.)

      Since we've had these problems for awhile now, we've looked into different controllers. The arcade style seem the obvious choice for one-handers but they do not function with all games. Try playing Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance and you'll find you can't change the perspective.

      The major annoyance is most of the games would be playable with existing controllers if the games woul

  • RSI (Score:2)

    by slittle ( 4150 )

    "And there are 39,000 people who are born one-armed or one-handed or lose the use of a limb every year," Reed said. "It happens through

    repetitive stress injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, fractures, dislocations, strokes, arthritis or birth defects."

    Yeah, like shifting all the work from two hands to one is going to improve that situation.

    This may be an alright solution for a handful of simpler games, but most are too complex for the limitations of a single hand.

    Much better off shifting the load to auxilia


  • And just play DDR.

    Actually...anyone remember the news stories about kids who used to play NES with their toes? They either were born without arms or lost them in accidents/illness.

    • Feet are quite versatile (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Organists regularly use their feet to control several devices at once. 32 keys, 2 to 5 analog expression pedals, several reversible and combination pistons. Some of the best organ music has very complicated pedal solos requiring one foot to hold one or two notes while the other foot plays a detached melody line. Others have pedal solos in which both feet work together to hit several keys a second. One of the best known examples is Bach's fugue in D minor, of course. Most people don't know that much of
    • Yup, here's the article: Fantastic Feats by Power Playing Feet [seanbaby.com].

  • News (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:19AM (#7844343)
    In related news:
    "TECMO INC. release one handed XBOX controller for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball."
    • A one handed controler for Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball? It makes you wonder what they're using their free hand for.....
  • As I have said before I work in a computer game shop and just last week I had a chap come in who was disabled. We have several customers in wheelchairs but they all have full use of both hands but this chap was a first for me as he had had a stroke and was partially paralysed down his right side in addition to the problem that had put him in the chair in the first place.

    Anyway, he asked exactly this question and I didn't have an answer for him but I did suggest he either ask slashdot or keep an eye out fo
    • I posted elsewhere in this thread, but anyway- I would like a one-handed controller myself. Not that Im disabled: it would let me play console games while running on a treadmill.

      I also read somewhere that dentists are having people play games while they are sitting in 'the chair'; a one-handed controller might be good for that, too, because then your arms can stay on the arm rests (and thus, out of the way).
  • ASCIIWARE made a one handed controller for RPGs for the Super Famicom (SNES). Not sure if it ever made it state side. This is as close as I can find a picture for it. Sure, it's not in modern game system, but someone did make one at one point. Looking for this controller turned up at least another one-handed controller, one for the NES and one for Playstation. All of them appear to be made by ASCIIWARE.

  • Why? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Kethinov ( 636034 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:25AM (#7844381) Homepage Journal
    Why Should It Take Two Hands To Play Videogames?
    Is this a trick question? I'll answer this question with another question: Why does it take two legs to walk?

    A better answer to your question would be because we have two hands. What could you possibly want to do with the other one while you play a vid... wait don't answer that.

  • After all my FurryMuck experience (Score:3, Funny)

    by TerryAtWork ( 598364 ) <research@aceretail.com> on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:31AM (#7844424)
    I can TYPE one-handed! Does that count?

    • Ha! Every real FurryMUCKer (or any MU* user, anyway) knows that tinysex is only the second most popular activity. The most popular activity is Idling, and I can do that with no hands! This should then be the perfect online activity for people with only one hand.

      This "Idling" thing has apparently been extremely successful in IRC as well! And it's spreading to instant messaging as well, but no one calls it that!

  • The Obvious Choice (Score:3)

    by vaguelyamused ( 535377 ) <jsimons@rocketmail.com> on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:35AM (#7844448)
    How about a mouse?

  • Wouldn't there need to be two different versions of this? I can't imagine being able to fit all the buttons and controls on a device that would work for either hand. Unfortunately that would greatly increase the cost of production.

  • Depending on what you need (Score:4, Interesting)

    by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:52AM (#7844554)
    I used to play Cruisin' USA on the N64 one-handed... It wasn't really a game where you needed to brake, so I was content with Go and the Analog pad.

    If there was gonna be a one handed controller, that's how I would design it... The thumb controller is analog (And can be pressed down like the Xbox's and the PS2's), the buttons are on the bottom, so it almost looks like you're holding a fishing rod... Something interesting to think about is that your tactile feedback and ability to touch something in detail decreases as you move out towards the pinky finger. Hold a glass or a small bottle, and use the pinky finger to touch something right next to it. It won't be a smooth controlled motion. On the other hand, the index finger moves very slowly and accurately. So near the bottom of this controller you'd need larger fatter buttons that can be easily pressed and are very textured, near the top you can have an analog trigger for the index finger, and 2-4 buttons for the other fingers. Then again, you can always have some buttons as pedals on the floor if it's convenient. I know someone who didn't like having a lot of important FPS buttons be very far away so he got pedals and used them for forward and backward movement. To get really complex, he could even have an analog "stick-shift" for his right arm for those who lack accute detail but could handle gross motor movement.

    So that in effect gives us 1 analog, 1 trigger, 2-4 buttons + 2-3 buttons + 1 analog (and a button or two?) essentially replacing all the buttons of a controller. While it seems like an elaborate set-up, it could do what he likes.

    Or, he could do what someone on my floor in the university did... He was born with a birth defect which left him with no arms (but hands at the end of his shoulders). He still played videogames, IIRC correctly he used one of those mega-huge Neo-Geo-styled arcade pads. I believe it had a steering wheel, and he may have used his mouth.

  • The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived (Score:3, Interesting)

    by spudwiser ( 124577 ) <`moc.liamtoh' `ta' `resiwdups'> on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @08:55AM (#7844571) Journal
    My old manager at Circuit City had gotten his right arm cut off in a car accident. This was back before Xbox was even out. The PS2 we had on display came with a selection of demo games. Ever gotten your ass handed to you in hockey by a man with one hand? The only thing he had trouble with was in this Nintendo64 basketball game, in order to make a free throw you had to use both triggers and the stick at once. That messed him up, bad.
  • The development of a one handed controller could lead to an explosion of x-rated games.
  • There are actually a number of games I can think of that can be played one-handed. Let's see, House of the Dead comes to mind, with it's gun controller. And while I'm still waiting for it to arrive, I believe from the pictures that Kenshin Dragon Quest [lik-sang.com] with it's sword controller is also something that only requires one hand.

    I also think most traditional RPGs and Strategy games don't really require more than one hand.

  • Here is a pic of a one-handed controller I own for the NES. It was supposely designed for RPGs. The idea was that you could draw a map with one hand and hold the controller in your other hand.
    Picture of One Handed NES controller [brinkster.com]

  • GBA-SP (Score:2)

    by Jerf ( 17166 )
    You can play the GBA-SP entirely one-handed with slower games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

    In fact, this has now become a "killer feature" for me, as it means I can eat or do other tedious things with one hand while playing the game with another. I will never buy a portable platform again that does not have this feature. I didn't realize how cool this was until I actually owned one, but it rocks.

    Either hand can be used, but the left hand is easier. Either way, the thumb takes everything in front, an
    • I bet it rocks your penis too! Mod me up as a troll, I was just saying what we've all been hinting at this entire thread.

      • Re:GBA-SP (Score:3, Funny)

        by Jerf ( 17166 )
        My original message: I can eat or do other tedious things with one hand while playing the game with another.

        Sexy Pant's reply: I bet it rocks your penis too!

        I wouldn't say that qualifies as a "tedious thing".

  • Disability and game controllers: Shoulder buttons (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 2Flower ( 216318 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @09:46AM (#7844872) Homepage
    I'm a disabled gamer, and I face no end of frustration when playing modern games. And that's with use of BOTH my hands.

    The problem is that I brace the controller against a table, rather than hold it in a two handed grip -- therefore those ergonomically placed shoulder buttons and triggers are difficult for me to access quickly. Holding down R1 while manuvering and shooting in Resident Evil? No. Using triggers for gas/brake while flipping gears with buttons and steering? No. Playing Hunter: The Reckoning which requires use of both analogs, all face buttons and both triggers simultaneously? HELL no! How about fighting games which use six buttons? Forget it, unless you can find a controller which sticks L1 and R1 on the face (which thankfully I have, for the PS2 at least).

    What's worse, it seems that game designers have been REMOVING button remap features lately. Often games will give you 'Type A', 'Type B' and 'Type C' controls -- all of which map critical features to hard to reach buttons, none of which you can customize to your liking. A few years back I could at least shuffle the less useful map button somewhere distant and the critical 'aim weapon' button to a face button...

    But the absolute worst offender, and my favorite anecdote, was trying to play Goldeneye on the N64 at a party. The N64 had analogs, face buttons, shoulder buttons, AND the z-trigger on the BOTTOM of the controller. I had no hope in hell of properly playing, particualrly with 'shoot gun' being mapped to the z-trigger, so I asked if they had an ordinary flat control pad.

    They did. And the ordinary flat SNES style control pad... had a z-trigger on the bottom, against all design common sense. That blew my mind, man.

    I don't think designers have to to take the disabled into account, but it would be nice if some third party controller manufacturers did. It'd also be nice if the game coders didn't limit how customizable their controls were in-software. Those two things alone would solve all the problems.
    • I remember seeing a one handed SNES controller in a magazine back in the day. Of course, the manufacturer claimed it was for players who wanted one hand free to take notes and such. I guess it works, because there were a lot of RPGs in Japan for the SNES. That or a lot of porno games.

      In reality, I think you could get away with a joystick and maybe one or two buttons. Basically an NES controller. You saw a lot of menu based games back then, now you know why. A) Confirm B) Cancel.
  • 1. Move all game input to one hand
    2. Modify magical one hand controller for use by both hands, giving double the input of previous two hand controllers
    3. Repeat until we go totally insane from trying to learn how to play games using new super-inputy controllers.
  • The problem is that controls aren't two-handed enough! Sure, if you're disabled it's great that you have options, but why force your body into a cramped and unnatural position to play a videogame? I've never seen a controller which actually takes advantage of humans having two arms, rather than seeing it as a burden that we dont just have ten fingers jutting out from the centers of our chests. Controllers suck ass, yes, but is that a reason to make them More limited?

    That said, some controllers I use with o

  • Punishment fitting the crime (Score:4, Funny)

    by frenchgates ( 531731 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @10:35AM (#7845269)
    Shouldn't the moron who shot the guy have to BE his one-handed controller for the rest of his life? He should have to just stand by the guy's videogame console 24/7 in case he wants to play something, and then hold and operate the controller as the victim beats him with an idiot stick on different parts of his body to signal which buttons to push.
  • Most real time strategy games only require use of the mouse. Though the keyboard can be useful occasionally, you can generally get through a game without ever using it.
    • Well, yes for some cases, but if you're a highly competitive online RTS player, then using the keyboard is not just a bonus, it's a requirement.

      The problem in using a mouse only in a serious player vs. player match is that in comparison with a mouse+keyboard is that you are losing valuable seconds moving your cursor from command button to command target. The keyboard user can just hit a hotkey and click on a target without moving the cursor off the battlefield.

  • Accident? (Score:4, Funny)

    by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @10:50AM (#7845409) Homepage Journal
    ...following an accident which happened when "an acquaintance at a party pointed a loaded .410-caliber shotgun at Reed [and fired]"...

    Apparently this is some strange new usage of the word "accident" which I was previously unfamiliar with.

    • Re:Accident? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Guppy06 ( 410832 )
      "Apparently this is some strange new usage of the word "accident" which I was previously unfamiliar with."

      Hey, y'all! Watch this!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Designing is only half the battle. Honestly, how many decent third party controllers have you used? While I wouldn't imagine it to be hard, I've never made one, but the third party controller crowd never seems to get things right, and if this guy's coming out of nowhere making a controller, I wouldn't expect much
  • You are so caught up in your self righteous "if you don't have two good hads to play with, fuck you!"

    Sheesh, what a bunch of bozos!

    This is a disabled guy who wants to kick some pixel butt, and there are a good number more out there.

    And have any of you thought about non-permanently disabled gamers? Like new fathers who want to bounce their infant on their knee (give mom a break), but get some gaming in at the same time.

  • Just use your foot to help. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pocopoco ( 624442 ) on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @12:09PM (#7846089)
    My right hand was out of commission for a few months ("accident" involving a rottweiler...) and I found one hand and one foot is plenty to run a gamepad (PS2 mostly). At first my foot was rather clumsy so I held the controller backwards (direction controls on the right) with my good hand and used the big toe to handle the d-pad and analog stick. With one hand and one foot direction controls are actually very easy because you can move the gamepad around against your foot using the hand that's holding the pad and doing the buttons.

    Later on I actually grew to prefer hitting the buttons with my toes (well big toe mostly) since it required less fine control (and worst case you just lock your toe and move the gamepad against it using your one hand that's holding the pad and handling the other half again). I was even able to hit all the shoulder buttons fine with my big toe using this method (again move the gamepad to help you reach), although multiple buttons at once was tougher. Anyway you hear stories of kids who can write with their feet, running half a gamepad with your hand moving it about the help is nothing.

  • Super Monkey Ball 1&2 on the GameCube both only require the use of the grey analogue pad. You may need something to brace the pad against, though - I tried playing one-handed once and having the pad flailing about makes detailed movements trickier. Some of the minigames work one-handed too... although you might have to headbutt the A button now and then. Did I also mention that they are fantastically good games?

    On the PC, real-time strategy games like Age Of Empires should work using only the mouse II

  • Though it's probably a little old for what he's looking for......

    The NES Max was designed to be used with 2 small hands, or 1 big hand.

    It was small enough that you could wrap your hand around it to get your thumb on the direction controls, and your fingers could reach the buttons.

  • One handed R/C plane controllers ... (Score:4, Informative)

    by dougmc ( 70836 ) <dougmc+slashdot@frenzied.us> on Wednesday December 31, 2003 @02:25PM (#7847482) Homepage
    One handed pilots have been a problem with R/C planes for a long time. People lose a hand, but don't want to lose their hobby ...

    The standard R/C controller has two sticks, giving you four axis of control (throttle, rudder, elevator, aileron) ... absolutely requiring two hands, unless you limit yourself to one stick and therefore only two channels. (Which is fine for some gliders, but is very limiting.)

    But people have made controllers where there's only one stick -- to access the other two channels, you rotate the stick and turn a small seperate knob on top of it. It's not as easy to use as the two stick version, but if you've only got one hand, it gets you back in the air.

    (You use a tray to hold the transmitter, so you don't have to use your hands to carry it at all.)

    I'd love to give a link to one of these, but can't seem to find one right now ...

    Aha -- found one! here's a picture [jensenjetmodels.com] and here's [jensenjetmodels.com] the page with more info. Looks like this one only has three axis on that one stick, but that's enough for the important controls of a powered airplane, and perfect for most gliders.

    • I hate this crap. Look; we're not having a conversation with you. There's no reason I should be informed of the intimate details of your voyage of discovery; once you found the pictures, just say "Hey, here's the picture of this dumb thing that no one cares about; give me mod points". No "aha", no "can't seem to find a link right now". See that button in the upper right of your keyboard? It says backspace on it? Yah, use it.

  • Saturn analog (Score:2, Informative)

    by sofakingl ( 690140 )
    The analog controller for the Sega Saturn was made for one hand. It came with the game Nights, which required it.
  • For a game that really just requires 2 buttons (yes and no) and a control pad/stick (like most RPGs), a system like Earthbound's works well. You could either operate it two handed like normal, or use only your left hand, which has access to the control pad, the left shoulder button, and a button in the middle of the controller (select). You can map all the functions you need to those, but to date Earthbound is the only game that I've seen work well or at all with that configuration.
  • Earthbound (for the SNES) is completely playable with a normal SNES controller using just your left hand, and it's a great game to boot.
  • Would that work? I read about someone using a controller with thier toes but this might be a bit more ergonomic. Of course you have to hack your own interface...

    Happy New Year
  • The PSX title Chrono Cross let you configure the controller so that you could play it with one hand on a normal PSX controller. Good times, good times...it was actually pretty comfortable.
  • There used to be a one-handed PlayStation controller by ASCII; perhaps if they're bugged enough they'll release a USB model.

    As for PC gaming, I would imagine that the best routine would be to obtain a japanese "keiboard" or cellphone-clone keyboard and use that. Most of them have integrated mice too.
    • For PC gaming I suggest the Belkin Nostromo n50 or n52. I can play a great deal of games one-handed with it. Shooters are a little strange yet though (using an n50, n52 might be friendlier to them). I used it for FFXI and was able to play completely one-handed, as well as for NWN and KOTOR.
  • http://www.psillustrated.com/hr_glove.html

    "fits like a glove (literally) and uses wrist movements for control. USES ONLY ONE HAND.(!)"

    (I should comment here, but I can't think of anything :p)

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