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How do you hold your NES controller?

J

Joeholley

Member
OK, long argument with a friend inspired this thread.

I was talking about how for NES ports on PSX-style four-button layout controllers, I prefer the 'O' button to act as NES 'A' and the 'X' button to act as NES 'B' so it feels more natural. I obviously use grip #1. Everyone I knew in elementary and middle school also used this grip.

My friend insists that you put the tip of your thumb on 'B' and the base of your thumb on 'A' on an NES controller (which I can only imagine looks like #3, I've never ever seen anyone hold an NES pad this way). He therefore insists that the more common (from devs) layout of 'X' and 'O' mapping to 'A' and '[]' and '<|' mapping to 'B' is more natural for NES games. I'll admit that I got used to this kind of configuration from the SNES days - Super Mario World, for example - but for original NES ports, I want 'O' for 'A' and 'X' for 'B'.

Grip #2 exists for when you need to jam buttons faster than your thumb can handle. Not all of us are Takahashi-Meijin. This grip can easily work with the "'X' and 'O' mapping to 'A' and '[]' and '<|' mapping to 'B'" layout since you can just use '[]' as 'B' and 'O' as 'A', ignoring '<|' and '[]'.

Which grip do you use? I'm sure this guy is crazy and no one uses #3. That shit would cramp your hands in moments, wouldn't it?

#1
nescorrect.jpg

#2
nesspeedy.jpg

#3
nesjacked.jpg
 
depends what game I was playing... track and feild always got the #2 style.. while Contra and Rush and attack were play in #1...
 
I remember an old TV magazine show back when Super Mario Bros. 2 or 3 first came out and all the hoopla surrounding it, they interviewed IIRC Howard Lincoln, and in the interview he showed the correct way to hold an NES controller.

That way would be #3.

EDIT: After seeing #4 that is the correct way that was demonstrated. I didn't notice the placement of the index fingers at first.
 
It's normally, either #1 or #3, mostly #3 because I put in loads of hours into SMB3 :P

I don't remember ever holding the pad like #2.
 
Fifteen years ago all the great players working in Nintendo Hotline used #2.

Then I joined with my crappy #3 and got beaten up in every game :-(
 
Combination of 1 and 3 (my thumb goes like \ over B); I press A with the base of my thumb by turning/rolling my thumb but definitely don't put my thumb over the buttons horizontally.

#2 when I need to press buttons fast, but more of just my index finger over the button and the middle finger tucked in, sometimes all spread out.

It really seems to depend on the game. If I'm going to be pressing both buttons a lot, or holding B, then the above. If I'm playing like an RPG or something, it's more of thumb on top of A and taking the thumb off and pressing B with my thumb.

And yes, I had to get my NES controller out to see.
 
Yeah, it looks like my left thumb is /.

This topic sucks! :lol

It seems like the game being played matters; I can think of at least 3 different finger positions on my SNES pad for different games.
 
Any platformer with jumping and shooting (most notably Megaman) I'd sorta use a variation of #2 - I put the controller on a table or other flat surface, left index and middle fingers on the dpad (left and right), right index and middle fingers on A and B buttons.
 
i had problems adjusting to new controllers because i love #2... allows quicker, more independant AB usage. i though i was the only one to do this until now
 
I just alternate between 1 and 3 depending on game.

I couldn't hold a NES controller now though, it's painful

Good thing I also have my trusty redesigned model with SNES like controllers then. :)
 
sometimes 3, sometimes 1. the only time I've ever used a grip on a controller like #2 is when playing fighting games on SNES and later consoles.
 
Sorta-kinda 1 and 3. I don't think I ever gripped the NES controller with my index finger on the top edge (where today's shoulder buttons sit), and used my index, middle, and possibly my ring fingers to help brace underneath the control pad. Gripping the top of the controller didn't happen until the 16-bit era when the SNES introduced shoulder buttons to home consoles.

My thumbs were kind of angled at 45 degrees to the d-pad (at about 7:30) and A/B buttons (at about 4:30).
 
Close to #3 I think. Though not perfectly horizontal on the D-pad and A B. Now that I think on it, that's a very similar thumb configuration to the standard PS2 arrangement, allowing that the thumbs aren't perfectly horizontal of course.

I wonder if that's why Nintendo started changing so much of their controllers after the SNES? Follow this Sony! It's a remote with a stick attached by a cord! Oh well, at least it's still innovation. :D
 
yeah I never said it was perfectly horizontal, just that you need to keep the tip of your thumb on B so you can rock and hit A with the lower joint (for things like running jumps in Mario).

your thumb NATURALLY angles between 9 and 12 o'clock for the B and A buttons. Personally I tend to hit about 10 o'clock angle. You are asking your PS2 buttons to be arranged so your thumb is pointing at, like, 7:30 and involves some kinda crazy fucking upside-down kung fu monkey grip. What the hell, man.

please draw a fucking picture of how you would hold a PS2 controller so that X as B and O as A makes any sense because the only way I can think of doing that turns your right hand into some kind of atrophied inverse claw (and sticks your elbow in the face of the person sitting to your right).
 
#2 for teh w1n!

I used the Sega Genesis controller the same way. I consistently trashed people who used their thumbs.

I still hold the controller that way for fighting games if I'm using a gamepad or for any game that doesn't use the triggers on modern consoles.
 
I've held that controller in just about every way imaginable, from the plain-old dual-thumb method to banging away at the buttons with both hands and using my left pinky to move the D-pad (mostly "Winter Games" ice-skating mini-game.)

I've also used numerous accessories, including a pen cap for "Caveman Games" (you need a lot of momentum to clear that tyrannosaur).

In "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," I used to kill the AT-ST by setting up camp behind a box and setting a book on top of the buttons. Then, I'd go to the bathroom, make a sandwich, maybe read a book. It took a awhile.

In "Final Fantasy," I rigged a little automatic button pushing system using a piston-like, battery-operated toy engine I used to own. I mean, who wants to sit there buying heal potions for 20 minutes, right?
 
ironichaos said:
I had a friend who would hold that thing vertical.

I bet he's in jail these days.
Click to expand...

For track and Field I would hold the pad vertical...left thumb on B and right thumb on A.

Then you could simply rock the the controller back and forth with the right hand...hitting B on the upswing and hitting A on the downswing. Very effective.

The only downside is that it looks like you are masturbating.
 
I hold my controller a lot more like #1 than #3...it's somewhere in the middle. I dunno wtf Joe got the idea that that's what #3 is. The basic idea is that you have to be able to hit both buttons at once so your thumb hovers over both buttons simultaneously. It's simple logic.

I still want him to come in here and explain his DualShock button mapping, though.
 
jiji said:
I'm not seeing a huge difference between #1 and #3. I mean, it's just the angle your thumb rests at naturally that determines it, right?
Click to expand...


big difference. its all about the roll of your thumb.
 
Yeah... #3s are winning by a landslide for the reasons mentioned. Games from NES to even today require holding down one button while hitting another. There is no other option.
 
I use #3 - this is why I hated the GB, GBA, and GBA SP button layouts. If I'm running by holding one button, why do I have to let go of it to hit the jump button??

~Cris
 
I would just like to point out that #1 does not work unless you use the side of your thumb..... Otherwise it's imposible to hold the top of the pad and have your thumb verticle.......

But yeah I use a mix of #1 and #3 as in my thumb sits at it's natural 10 o'clock angle and I use the base of my thumb for B and tip of my thumb for A....... Oh and I don't put my fingers round the top of the pad..... They go at the back........ And my left thumb doesn't sit vertically on the D-Pad either.... It's sits at 2 o'clock.... :-/


#2 whenever I see people holding the pad like that I shudder....... Unless it's a fighting game....... Any games like track and field you use the back of your thumb. ;)
 
Gotta go with midway between 1 & 3 since:
JackFrost2012 said:
your thumb NATURALLY angles between 9 and 12 o'clock for the B and A buttons.
Click to expand...
Either one by itself seems harsh, but together? Juuust right.

I can see the advantage of 2 but definitely not for normal gameplay. Whenever I had to hit both a & b as fast as possible I just used both thumbs.
 
I'd like to bring to the court my surprise witness and proper way of holding an NES controller:

#4
nes.jpg


The index fingers go behind the controller. Putting them on top (Snes-style) will hurn your fingers on an NES pad. Also, the left hand is positioned horizontally in #4 not vertically which makes more sense since you run left/right more often then you do up/down (you tilt your thumb a bit up/down to press up/down).
 
I'm a #4 man myself :P. I hold B to run in Mario and just rock my thumb over when I need to jump, easy enough for me...

Here's a better question: who calls their controllers paddles? Come on Hito, I know you're one of them...
 
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