How did we ever get by playing 3D games without dual analogs?

Two sticks feels SO natural on a controller. Look up, down, left, right... strafe. I can't believe we were already neck deep in 3D games for console before the tech emerged. And even when analog was dawning, some platforms were only using one stick, all the way until Dreamcast.

I remember the days of playing games like Mega Man Legends with the original PS1 controller, and none of the control options they offered were quite right. He still controlled like a tank. Great game, but it was like trying to steer a car using your feet.

You really notice it once you play a remastered game using a modern control scheme like Jet Set/Grind Radio. A classic game, but felt half functional with the one stick. Maybe the one thing about retro 3D gaming I don't miss.

64 games generally allow the same thing. C buttons act as the directional keys on a keyboard amd the analog stick acts as the mouse. It reverses what people are most used to or im lucky being somewhat ambidextrous.

I remember quake 2. I didn't like mouse and keyboard, I only used the keyboard. I would use page up/down for looking up or down. I was like 4 at the time though. I did end up using the mouse a few years later. I didn't get use to dual analogue sticks till COD the big red one and there is a learning curve for them. I see it with my kids today.

I liked how some games let you turn the character around from left to right with the shoulder pads, but yeah nothing has really compared to dual analog for looking around in games.

I discovered the beauty of that in 2008 with the XBox 360. I remember how difficult it was to get used to at first, but it became the norm pretty quick.

We just didn't know any better at the time.

Ape Escape did it better then Duel Analog sticks were introduce and felt more fluid during the reign of 3D games. Mario 64 & Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time were done well and it all depends on how the developers work with the cameras. But then again, using one stick also meant using the "C" panels to it's advantage.

Man, it is very hard to go back and play 3D games cause yeah, we didn't know better and just easy to adapt what was given to us.

Fun Fact: Alien Resurrection was the first game to utilise the dual stick control scheme that has become standard today and Gamespot criticised it for it.

@vagrantsnow:

Didnt Goldeneye have that option?

N64 only had one thumb stick.

@vagrantsnow:

There was an option to use 2 controllers.

Thankfully that did not become the standard.

@vagrantsnow:

Two analog sticks? Id say that it did.

Two controllers.

Painfully.

@vagrantsnow:

And...the concept of two analog sticks remains.

Pedantic contrarianism.

@vagrantsnow:

Your words not mine.

I know... I was there when I typed them...

@vagrantsnow:

And they dont apply. Lol.

I disagree.

@vagrantsnow:

All i did was mention a fact.

Your words seem more fitting for you, now, that your trying to dispute that. Lol

I haven't disputed anything. Everyone knows about the dual controller set ups that some N64 games had. It's just not relevant to the discussion as dual controllers never became standard and wasn't even standard for Goldeneye.

Tank controls didn't bother me as much on the Dreamcast as on the Playstation, because the camera showed things from behind the back, due to the graphics that allowed things to be rendered at a distance, and they became part of even Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4, among others such as Gunvalkyrie and Mechwarrior 4, but they were also helped by strafing and torso rotation.

Take Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm on the Dreamcast, for example, which allows you to strafe with the triggers, as opposed to Megaman Legends turning with the shoulder buttons, because the character needed to change his direction for the attacks to feel like an extension of his movement. Since you didn't need to aim vertically at the same time, pulling both triggers allowed you to stop in place, and to look up or down like the old Tomb Raider games.

There's another game called Red Dog: Superior Firepower that made drifting with the tank a means to circle your opponents as you turned by aiming with the turret, only this time you could target those above or below you at the same time, as the cursor moved freely around the screen to help you look even when idle.

Games like Jet Set Radio and Phantasy Star Online used the camera centering option, because the character moved freely into blind spots, but they wouldn't be a problem had the view been top down like GTA Chinatown Wars.

The weirdest thing I've played going back was Syphon Filter. The aiming was funky.

I play with a nub as my one analog on my PSP. GTA games seem fairly easy to play on it. Left shoulder to look and the game compensates your view a bit when turning.