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What game popularized using the second analog stick as the camera control?

Warxard

Banned
A PS1 Game was one of the first recorded instances of using the right stick to aim. Some Alien game. Ironically that game was critically panned because the controls were awful!

Otherwise Halo popularized it.
 

SFenton

Member
I would bet Halo, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a PS1 game.

IIRC Ape Escape was bundled with twin-stick dualshocks? But I wouldn't say Ape Escape really "popularized" the stick.
 

Eolz

Member
Mario 64, despite having no second analog stick.
Basically worked like that, influencing the first games that could use a second analog stick.
 

213372bu

Banned
If we're talking popularized, it'd be Halo.

Some N64 game had a thing where you'd use the analog of a second controller, and other games tried using two-analogs but it didn't stick.
 
Can't answer your question, but I'll never forget the first game I played which used the second anolog stick as the camera, Medal of Honor: Frontline for the PS2. I was aiming like a blind man with Parkinson's disease. I got used to it after more practice, of course. It just felt so unnatural at first.
 
Didn't Turok 1 uses the yellow buttons to move and the stick to look around? But I think the first game to really take off using twin sticks was halo 1?

Colony Wars was the first game I played that used dual sticks but I can't remember what the controls were like.
 

LewieP

Member
I think Goldeneye was one of the first games to offer this kind of dual analogue control, although you needed to use a controller in each hand. Unless you are referring to 3rd person camera control.

Although it wasn't the primary control scheme. Hard to argue it popularised it.

Edit: it's not Halo, Timesplitters at least predates it
 
Was it a PS1 game?
Some questions:

1) Does it have to be an analog stick specifically for camera control?

2) Does it has to be a second analog?

1. Because the VB controller had two Dpads, the second one was deviced to acomodate camera controls and 3D movement in spcace.

2. Because there are tons of N64 games that used the stick for camera control. And like someone pointed out there was an entire section of the controller (the C button area) dedicated for separated camera control. Basically it was the precursor to what became the right stick, they even share the same position in the controller.
 
I would bet Halo, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a PS1 game.

IIRC Ape Escape was bundled with twin-stick dualshocks? But I wouldn't say Ape Escape really "popularized" the stick.

That wasn't camera control though. There were some ps1 fps games that worked with dualshock.
 
tumblr_o0cq2wRM0k1r54ixco1_1280.jpg
 
I remember Croc was one of the first games that supported dual analog control. I don't remember if the right stick moved the camera, though.
 

PSqueak

Banned
That's not the same thing at all.

Think about it, the c buttons (C stands for camera by the way) where like a second d-pad, this planted the idea and the next logical step was a second stick rather than a second d-pad.

Like someone mentioned, that one Alien game did it, i recall someone posting a scan of a game review blasting the game for that innovative idea recently in tumblr.

So funny in hindsight, but i recall struggling with Turok's controls which, as pointed out already, are the predecesot to the modern fps control.


Edit:

yeah that's the thing i was thinking about.
 

10k

Banned
Mario 64, despite having no second analog stick.
Basically worked like that, influencing the first games that could use a second analog stick.

Way to miss the entire point of the thread.

It was some PS1 game but the one that made it mainstream was Halo imo.
 
I didn't really like 3rd person games that used the right stick for camera until last gen, no matter how good the game was on the PS2/Xbox gen there was always a percentage of jank that I couldn't bear.
 
I used to play Golden Eye where the analog stick was used for aiming and the C-buttons moved me. My brothers thought I was cheating because of it.
 

tengiants

Member
Didn't Turok 1 uses the yellow buttons to move and the stick to look around? But I think the first game to really take off using twin sticks was halo 1?

Colony Wars was the first game I played that used dual sticks but I can't remember what the controls were like.

Turok 1 is the earliest example of this control scheme that I can think of, but it's southpaw compared to what eventually became popular.
 
Is this a real quote?
Yes, yes it is

Third paragraph

The game's control setup is its most terrifying element. The left analog stick moves you forward, back, and strafes right and left, while the right analog stick turns you and can be used to look up and down. Too often, you'll turn to face a foe and find that your weapon is aimed at the floor or ceiling while the alien gleefully hacks away at your midsection. Add to the mix a few other head scratchers - such as how the triangle button controls item and health use - and you'll be wondering how Sony let this get by without requesting a few different control configuration options.

Beyond the control issues, Alien Resurrection is gruelingly hard. That is, it's hard to the point where you'll spend as much time reloading your save file as you will spend playing the game. The near-mythical PlayStation mouse peripheral is supposed to solve many of the game's control problems, but the 99.9 percent of PlayStation owners who've never even seen the device will find the game almost unplayably difficult to control and unreasonably hard to enjoy. It's a dramatic answer to a problem far more easily solved by adopting the control scheme from EA's Medal of Honor.
 
If we're talking popularized, it'd be Halo.

Some N64 game had a thing where you'd use the analog of a second controller, and other games tried using two-analogs but it didn't stick.
Golden Eye, the "Honey" setup used 2 N64 controllers. One for movement and one for camera.

Turok 1, used the C camera buttons for "WASD" type controls and the Thumbstick for aim. It works really well.

Jet Force Gemini is an interesting case since it works as an hybrid. The Thumbstick works both for locomotion and to aim. It works great.

There are a variety of N64 games that use two analogs. The other one i remember is Star Wars Pod racer. im not quite sure but maybe Robotron 64 does two, since it's an adaptation of an arcade twin stick shooter after all.
 

nkarafo

Member
In the original Turok you could move with either the c-buttons ot D-pad and look around with the analog. By choosing to move with the D-pad you could make it the same thing as a dual analog or keyboard-mouse setup.
 
I remember ape escape doing this but I could be making that up.

Wait, was the second stick for the net controls? I don't know anymore.
 

Tagyhag

Member
Is this a real quote?

Indeed it is.

The game's control setup is its most terrifying element. The left analog stick moves you forward, back, and strafes right and left, while the right analog stick turns you and can be used to look up and down. Too often, you'll turn to face a foe and find that your weapon is aimed at the floor or ceiling while the alien gleefully hacks away at your midsection.

Remember folks, every new "gimmick" that you look down upon when it first comes out could be something that becomes staple in our industry.
 

SFenton

Member
Remember folks, every new "gimmick" that you look down upon when it first comes out could be something that becomes staple in our industry.

To be fair, I could see the reviewer trashing the control scheme if it wasn't playable, or tanklike, or something. It doesn't mean it's a bad scheme, it just means it's terrible to play.
 

jblank83

Member
Indeed it is.

Remember folks, every new "gimmick" that you look down upon when it first comes out could be something that becomes staple in our industry.

Multiple other reviews mention control problems, such as odd strafe buttons and having to press down a button to enable camera movement. It seems it's not a matter of adaptation but a matter of poor controls.
 
To be fair, I could see the reviewer trashing the control scheme if it wasn't playable, or tanklike, or something. It doesn't mean it's a bad scheme, it just means it's terrible to play.
The Dual Stick scheme for moving and aiming is far from intuitive, is a nightmare infact. But it became an standard.

Now let's imagine the game controlled badly and did so with a very inorganic way. Of course it's going to get poor reviews in the control aspect.

And is not like it matters anyway, the Alien game was from 99. Golden Eye had the two stick controls back in 97.
 

majik13

Member
Yeah wasnt it Ape Escape that launched the whole DA thing(well the DA PS controller at least), but the idea kinda came from the N64s "C" (camera buttons). For a FPS, I recall Medal of Honor being my first true DA game on PS1.
 
"Popularized" depends on how popular a game needs to be to qualify for the term. Turok was my first exposure to that scheme, although of course the default controls were southpaw vs. the norm today, and the other "stick" were the C-buttons (C as in "camera", that's literally what they were designed for). Turok was a pretty popular game/series, so that's where I'd give the credit.

I also played Goldeneye that way, which was a more popular game, but the default scheme was half aim, half move on each stick (weird as hell, IMO, thank goodness it had what I called "Turok controls" as an option).
 
The Dual Stick scheme for moving and aiming is far from intuitive, is a nightmare infact. But it became an standard.

Now let's imagine the game controlled badly and did so with a very inorganic way. Of course it's going to get poor reviews in the control aspect.

And is not like it matters anyway, the Alien game was from 99. Golden Eye had the two stick controls back in 97.

It's perfectly intuitive though, it's basically an adaptation of WASD/mouselook controls.
 

Branduil

Member
"Popularized" depends on how popular a game needs to be to qualify for the term. Turok was my first exposure to that scheme, although of course the default controls were southpaw vs. the norm today, and the other "stick" were the C-buttons (C as in "camera", that's literally what they were designed for). Turok was a pretty popular game/series, so that's where I'd give the credit.

I also played Goldeneye that way, which was a more popular game, but the default scheme was half aim, half move on each stick (weird as hell, IMO, thank goodness it had what I called "Turok controls" as an option).

To be fair to Goldeneye, that game had such generous auto-aim(and most levels didn't have much vertical aiming anyway) that you pretty much never needed to touch the up and down C-buttons.
 
It's perfectly intuitive though, it's basically an adaptation of WASD/mouselook controls.
It is not.

You know why i categorically said that? Because i took the time to do research about it.
It takes a lot of time for a person that had never used the scheme to adapt. Hell, you just need to transport yourself to the first time you tried the method.

You know what setup is truly intuitive? The Nunchuck/Wii Remote. The people i tested understood and adapted far quicker to this way of control.

Even the Mouse (keyboard is a POS for most gaming in reality) has a clear advantage since is a more precise and easy to manipulate device. And people undersand it better than manipulating the view with a thumbstick.
 
The Dual Stick scheme for moving and aiming is far from intuitive, is a nightmare infact. But it became an standard.

Now let's imagine the game controlled badly and did so with a very inorganic way. Of course it's going to get poor reviews in the control aspect.

And is not like it matters anyway, the Alien game was from 99. Golden Eye had the two stick controls back in 97.

I think its fine, just takes some getting used to.
 

LCGeek

formerly sane
Digital =/ Analog????????

Doesn't matter considering int he context of this discussion camera control was used by c stick buttons or analog which achieved the same effect. Lets not be too anal for the sake of discussion when devs weren't as much.
 
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