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Classic Games (Games) Entertainment Games

Left-Buttoned Arcade Joystick for PS2? 40

Posted by simoniker from the upped-right-and-left dept.
GusherJizmac writes "I just got the Midway Arcade Treasures game for my PS2, and, as I found with Activision Anthology, the games are very difficult to play with my left thumb on the gamepad or "analog" stick. What I want is a proper arcade style joystick with big fat buttons. Even a souped-up 2600 joystick would work. The catch is that a number of those games in the arcade (and on the Atari 2600 as well) had a right-handed person holding the joystick with their right hand and using your left thumb/fingers to hit buttons. All of the arcade/retro controllers I've seen for modern systems have the stick on the left side. I guess there was some cultural shift to using your left hand, but I missed it, and I really want to play these games properly, and without building a MAME cabinet and joystick myself. Anyone have any leads on classic style controllers for PS2?"
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Left-Buttoned Arcade Joystick for PS2? More

Left-Buttoned Arcade Joystick for PS2?

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  • OT, but... (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by bskin ( 35954 )
    If we're gonna have these ask slashdot style articles in the games section, couldn't they get their own category? I don't like the regular ask slashdot, and I'd really rather not have it filtering into my games section stuff.
  • Mad Catz Joystick [amazon.com]

    It does'nt look very classicly but does have a controller layout how you wanted, and pretty big buttons, just maybe too many for your needs.

  • I myself have... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Worminater ( 600129 )
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 00JDFT/103-4105171-0097428?v=glance

    A sidewinder precision pro blahblahblah. Its done well for me for years now, more so for flght sims though. Im not sure if it would specifically fit your request,butit is a solid piece of hardware.

  • I personally (Score:5, Informative)

    by Vertice123 ( 720553 ) on Thursday January 08, 2004 @04:47AM (#7913015)
    I personally use a X-Arcade [x-arcade.com] joystick.

    I couldn't be happier with it. It is incredibly sturdy , and just feels right (especially for my capcom fighting games or bizarre japanese puzzle games ie. puyo puyo)

    If the left buttoned nature is so important to you (and you are using mame.. ) , you could just rebind the movement to the right joystick and use the left's buttons.

    I personally find left joysticked better to use.
  • haven't most Arcade cabinets always had the stick on the left? I usually play cross-handed in the arcades as I too have difficulty using my left hand with a traditional joystick (although I am left thumbed when it comes to console d-pads / analogue sticks) I guess if you buy a sturdy enough joystick playing cross-handed would be the answer

  • Play Tennis (Score:2, Informative)

    by vasqzr ( 619165 )
    Real life tennis, that is.

    Left handed people actually have an advantage in that sport.

    Back to the topic at hand [pardon the pun]

    The Left Hand [thelefthand.com] doesn't carry video game controllers.

    But, Lik-Sang carrys a left-handed PS2 controller [lik-sang.com]

    Imagine what 2 minutes of Googling for 'left handed playstation' could do for you
    • Same with fencing, something like 40% of world class fencers are left handed, while only 10% or 15% of beginners are. If you take up tennis, practice a spin serve, it doesn't need to be fast or hard, just go in and zing (oddly to a righty who must correct to their backhand side). Plus it's a pretty fun sport.
    • Has anyone had any luck finding a left handed X-Box controller? A bunch of guys I know get together and play Halo for hours and I always get my ass beat because in the "Southpaw" configuration for the controls you can't move forward and melee at the same time. So I'm firing into their faces at point-blank range with a semi-automatic rifle and they walk up and bonk me on the head and *I* die instantly. Seriously fucking pisses me off. So basically I'd run out of excuses for getting my ass kicked if I could

  • Obligatory Simpsons reference... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Leftorium, the store Ned Flanders dreamed about that only sold lefty stuff
  • I tried playing a Gameboy recently but didn't do very well trying to use the left-handed directional controller. Why don't they have the controller in the middle and buttons on BOTH sides so that people can do it either way? The Atari way of left hand button, right hand directional controller makes so much more sense - why IS it the other way on systems these days? I e-mailed Nintendo asking them this but got no reply. Does anyone have any insight into this?

    • Oh my children... you have much to learn... Prior to 1985, lots of arcades had buttons on the left and right side of the joystick.

      Then the NES came out, millions bought it, and the buttons were on the right, because that's what the Japanese in general (and Nintendo in particular) decided was right.

      Combine that with the ever-increasing popularity of 2 player games, limited space on the control panels of most arcade cabinets, and the rise of conversion kits, which caused arcades to take the old dual-side

    • For very simple games where joystick movement is the most important factor, maybe you have a point.

      But if your manipulating 3 or more buttons, and need to be able to do complicated button combinations, then the better dexterity of your primary hand is probably going to be required.

      Think about this:
      PC based FPS shooters have people using mouse and keyboard controls. In those games, aiming is most important. So you end up doing it with your right hand, and moving with your left hand.

      END COMMUNICATION

  • Two good options. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Demon-Xanth ( 100910 ) on Thursday January 08, 2004 @09:11AM (#7914092)
    #1: Get a stick that uses arcade components, and move the switches (that are attached to the controls) around to how you like it.

    #2: Make one. happcontrols.com has a fairly wide selection of sticks and buttons, I'd recommend using the Ultimate or Competition sticks myself (approx $15/ea) and the buttons with the horizontal switches work better than the verticle ones, they run about $1.60/ea. Just run some wires from there to a controller for the console you want, Madcatz controllers work well as donors since they have larger, more durable pads than most. By using some DB37 connectors I managed to make a stick w/ full arcade components that can be swapped from PS2, to DC, to PC (USB) in a couple of seconds. I'm considering adding GC capabilities but haven't settled on a button arrangement.
  • Well, the left-handed bit got a little more emphasized in the article than I want. Basically if you look at an Atari 2600 controller, you hold the control in your left hand, using your left thumb to hit the button, and move with your right hand. I guess I got used to this, and in a lot of arcade games, there was a fire button on either side of the joystick, so I did it Atari style. Even Mortal Combat had this, if IIRC. Now, there is no more fire button on the left side of the stick, and this is reflecte
    • Some of the games up to the mid 80s had buttons on both sides, but they changed this in favor of having two controllers for two players. Once they made that switch, they put the buttons on the right side-- and that's where it's been on every machine I've seen since. Mortal Kombat [klov.com] has the buttons on the right side.

      Good luck on your hacking, though. You might find it easier to just get a PS2 arcade stick like the ones Red Octane is selling that use arcade parts, then move them around.
  • I also recently bought the Midway collection. Fortunately I'm ambidextrous, so I haven't had too many problems. That said, some games aren't as much fun without specialized controls (which I am too cheap to buy).
    Vindicators isn't the same without the real tank controls.
    And the racing game, don't remember the name, is damn near impossible with the stock PS2 controller.
    But I could play Marble Madness, Rampage, and Gauntlet all day.
  • I'm very left handed, but with most computer periferals being made/designed for right-handers I've graduly adapted to it.
    But give me a right handed Golf Club and I won't know how to use it :)
  • you can always buy a 'normal' one, open it up and switch the cables from the 4 stick microswitches up/down, left/right and voila', here you have a left handed version ;)
  • I know it isn't exactly what you're asking for but Gravis [gravis.com] (previously known as Advanced Gravis) use to have a SNES-like gamepad that was unique in that it was symmetrical and with the flick of switch, it could be turned around so the joypad was on the right and the buttons on the left. Better yet, it had a little joystick that could be screwed into the centre of the joypad which made it a lot closer to what you're looking for. The only downside is that it's an older product (circa 1995) so it has a MIDI/gam
  • Maybe you could write a email or a letter to the Playstation company asking to flip their contoller so that the main joystick and gamepad are on the right side and the buttons and second joystick are on the left side.
  • guess there was some cultural shift to using your left hand, but I missed it

    You didn't play fighing games at the beginning of the previous decade or the end of the decade before that one. It is my understanding that this is when the change occurred. I can't think of a single game before Street Fighter that was designed with a "Joystick for the left hand/Buttons for the right hand" setup.

    LK

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