Weird control schemes...

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Look, I don't ask for much from my controls for any game — I basically just want them to work right and to do what's asked of them without turning the whole thing into a battle of the wills between my in-game character and myself.

But some default control schemes I will never, EVER understand.

I mean, sure, some old games were the fucking Wild West in terms of the design and spread the inputs as much as possible because, well, who even knew what worked and what didn't at that point in time? The frame of reference was as wide as possible and covered such extremes as Atari's single-button wonder and the C64's full-keyboard scheme.

That, I can understand.

But I have seen horrible, backwards and completely counterintuitive controls well into the PS2 era and beyond. And that? That I'm less forgiving of — we really should have known better by then.

What's the most modern game whose control scheme was so unnatural, it made your head spin?

And do you usually tamper with / redefine your controls while gaming?

 

[Schwindt]

Without getting into X/Y inversion (That seems to be based on whatever your first 3D game was), I think that the worst controlling game from the PS2 era for me was The Getaway/The Getaway: Black Monday. Those games were exclusive to the PS2, but the right stick did absolutely nothing. An open world game with no camera control seems crazy, it's still very playable but just odd to go back to.
Something more recent that I hate are games like Crimson Desert which have so many systems and controls that you constantly forget how to do basic things, like the energy punch- but not the healing punch or the punch the guy on the ground punch or the super X ray punch, just the regular punch.
If I can jump into a 20+ year old game and remember the controls, there's no excuse for a game to be so confusing that I can't remember basic functions if I haven't played it in a week.

 

[Rocket2049]

any 2d game where i can't use the D-pad to move
playing Adventures of Elliot, it's basically a classic zelda-like top down game
i can't use the D-pad to move (on consoles, idk on PC)
the D-pad commands the Fairy Faie to hide, appear, stop, and move ahead
BUT i'd absolutely swap left stick with d-pad if i could.
you can change every single button mapping just not the stick/pad config.
also fun when you play 2 player co-op (P2 controlling Faie) you basically don't use the d-pad for anything at that point lol.

i absolutely remap controls when i can, i like having my most used buttons in easy reach,
on PC i try to basically "one hand" everything, and avoid using the mouse if i can.

 

[RageBurner]

I can't think of any offhand, but I can think of a few general examples of things I dislike controls wise:

1. Racing games that map acceleration and braking to face buttons if the controller has triggers.
2. Games that use bumpers to move the camera.
3. Games that don't allow for any sort of remapping.

 

[Kaze01]

I've always found it quite funny how in the early 2000s many developers, even AAA ones or those about to become AAA, had no idea what to do with the PS2's right analog stick.

I'm thinking of GTA 3 and Vice City, where for some obscure reason moving the camera with the right analog stick forces the view into first-person; or Kingdom Hearts and SMT Nocturne, where despite being in 3D, the right analog stick does virtually nothing (or does useless things, like in KH it navigates the command menu, ugh) and the camera movements depend on the L2 and R2 buttons.

Oh well, that's better than forced inverted camera control anyway.

 

[Schwindt]

I can't think of any offhand, but I can think of a few general examples of things I dislike controls wise:

1. Racing games that map acceleration and braking to face buttons if the controller has triggers.
2. Games that use bumpers to move the camera.
3. Games that don't allow for any sort of remapping.

A quick note on racing games is that on PS2, the face buttons were analog so you could control your acceleration and braking better than with the L2/R2 buttons but often times, they allowed you to accelerate and brake with the analog sticks which I always thought was super weird but probably worked for some people.

 

[Lemons]

Tail Concerto.

 

[Schwindt]

One other thing I just remembered is, having created an aerial combat game, there is no good way to control planes using a controller- I know games have done it in a million different ways but the fact that there's no consensus should let you know that there's no correct answer.
The biggest issue is that analog sticks are only 4DoF(X+, X-, Y+, Y-) and planes are controlled using 6Dof(X+, X-, Y+, Y-, Z+, Z-) flight sticks. Converting this 6Dof control to 2x 4DoF sticks or 1 stick and 2 buttons will never feel right so it always just comes down to personal preference.

 

[sijaab]

killzone
WHY IS TRIANGLE RELOAD THE GOD DAMN SQUARE BUTTON IS RIGHT THERE AND IT DOES BASCIALLY NOTHING

at least the ps3 remaster changed it to the killzone 2 control scheme

(also a lot of 3d games on the psp,3ds and vita have weird controls due to a lack of buttons)

 

[ShinnAsukaYESTaylorSwiftNO]

Super Mario 64 DS and practically any Wii game that doesn't support the Gamecube Controller nor the Classic Controller so you're forced to use motion controls

 

[Sanarchy]

I personally adore strange control schemes that take a while to get accustomed too. Things like Ghost in the Shell and Armored Core on the Playstation 1, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo on the PS2.

I think something weird about control schemes that never sat right with me however though is inverted camera schemes. Especially when they're enabled by default and you have to go on for a certain amount of time when things begin to play out.

 

[G.L.a.D.O.S.]

Steel Battalion on the original Xbox. This thing was an absolute learning experience. Saying It was hard to use or weird, was an understatement. You had to keep shifting your attention between the game and the controls because sometimes the buttons would flash, and you had to hit them. It even had a windshield wiper button. You basically had an almost legit tank control layout right on your desk

And everything you see on the controller had a function in the game, and I mean every button, knob, and the like.

 

[CheesyExplosive]

8bitdo has magnets

 

[G.L.a.D.O.S.]

8bitdo has magnets

How do those work?

 

[Serotonin]

any 2d game where i can't use the D-pad to move
playing Adventures of Elliot, it's basically a classic zelda-like top down game
i can't use the D-pad to move (on consoles, idk on PC)
the D-pad commands the Fairy Faie to hide, appear, stop, and move ahead
BUT i'd absolutely swap left stick with d-pad if i could.
you can change every single button mapping just not the stick/pad config.
also fun when you play 2 player co-op (P2 controlling Faie) you basically don't use the d-pad for anything at that point lol.

This is annoying in Metroid Dread and Samus Returns, but I can understand it since those games have analog aiming (you can shoot in all 360 degrees).

Maybe game controllers need two d-pads again like the Virtual Boy...

 

[CheesyExplosive]

How do those work?
View attachment 214508

 

[Aldia]

Just Cause 2 on pc has the weirdest default button mapping I've ever used.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Did setup on the options of Halo games, genuine challenge to anyone using it

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

All the platform games that use B to jump and A to do some action like shooting instead of A to jump and B to action.

 

[Burzuru Burzuru]

i always disliked it when pre-analog games use L1/R1 to strafe and left and right on the dpad to turn. i always want it to be the other way. always have to get used to it if the game doesn't let me change the control scheme.

 

[High Voltage]

Anything that forces touch or motion controls when the physical keys are right there.

 

[Generic Edgelord]

I'm sure I'm the minority here but I actually like the challenge of adapting to weird controls. The only exception I can think of is, sometimes I invert the X axis camera controls if they rotate the camera in the opposite direction of what I expect. Other than that I usually just leave the controls at the default settings and change my brain rather than changing the mappings.

 

[Frickinfrik]

Spyro A Hero’s Tail had Flame on Square and Charge on Circle.

Various Wii games had you flick the Wii Remote/Nunchuk up to jump.

Watch Dogs had the cover button on X.

Any PS1 game with tank controls

 

[random0nonsense]

The controls for GoldenEye 007. They made sense at the time but going back to them is so strange.

 

[Vexicrypt]

Nah, with modern games its pretty boring. Everyone uses the standart homogenized schemes for each genre so there's no need to change anything yourself (other than maybe swap couple buttons here and there). As for weird controls in general, nobody mentioned Steambot Chronicles which has a very interesting mech controlling scheme that takes quite some time to get used to.

Tail Concerto.

That's crazy, I actually thought Tail Concerto had pretty satisfying, intuitive controls.

Any PS1 game with tank controls

Now that's just rude. Tank controls are the superior way to play certain games.