Are you left-handed? Despite the fact that many people are, gaming isn't always friendly to the left-handed among us. If you are, we're curious about your experience on the DS. If you are a long-time gamer, it's probably old hat by now; you're accustomed to a world, in gaming, that is built for the rest of us. But the DS brought forth a lot of people who weren't gamers, and who weren't used to the controls that were built for a right-handed person. We would guess that everything is alright with stylus-based games, but since we're not left-handed, we didn't want to assume. That's why we're asking: is the DS left-hand friendly?
DS Daily: Gaucher
Are you left-handed? Despite the fact that many people are, gaming isn't always friendly to the left-handed among us. If you are, we're curious about your experience on the DS. If you are a long-time gamer, it's probably old hat by now; you're accustomed to a world, in gaming, that is built for the rest of us. But the DS brought forth a lot of people who weren't gamers, and who weren't used to the controls that were built for a right-handed person. We would guess that everything is alright with stylus-based games, but since we're not left-handed, we didn't want to assume. That's why we're asking: is the DS left-hand friendly?


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-26-2007 @ 9:22AM
Karga said...
I've been playing with Nintendo game boy product since forever, so I've never had any trouble with the controls favoring the right or the left.
I *have* however had a tough time of Ouendan because Japanese is right to left and my left hand gets in the way of what I should be tapping.
Still love it, though.
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4-26-2007 @ 10:01AM
Metroider4 said...
na, only time ive had trouble is using the stylus on mph, thats why i switched the mode option to left handed dual, and its is very much an old hat aftrer hours on every system nintendo has to offer... except the virtual boy, who the heck even has one?!
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4-26-2007 @ 10:13AM
jonny_moose said...
It's hard to know what it's like for right handed people.... With the DS, it just means it's a bit busier for my left. I hold the weight of the DS with my right, while the left does stylus and D-pad duties.
I remember playing Goldeneye with two N64 controllers. Double analog. (And I could swing my arms around freely.) Oh baby. THAT was better than the GCN twirp of a controller.
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4-26-2007 @ 10:16AM
ALTuna said...
Boo Hoo - I've got to learn how to be ambidetrous!
Let's have a thought for us poor Colourblind saps...there's no getting round that when you want a shot of puzzle bobble :o(
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4-26-2007 @ 10:18AM
randomguy132 said...
I've had 2 problems:
1. In brain age, I had to change how I wrote some of my numbers.
2. In Bomberman Land Touch! some of the minigames involved making spirals really fast, but not in a way which is very friendly to us lefties.
Other than that, no problems at all.
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4-26-2007 @ 10:21AM
ManicV said...
Being a lefty was a big factor in my not buying a DS initially. That was until I saw the Lite.
The stylus feature was so hyped that I assumed it was a requisite mode of input. I figured developers wouldn't bother making their games ambi-friendly since the majority of the world is right-handed.
It's been nearly a year now since I purchased my Lite and I haven't had any real issues. My only real gripe is that I have to reach around to the other side of the system to grab the stylus when I want it. But this is less than a minor inconvenience in the face of a good gaming experience.
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4-26-2007 @ 10:35AM
bloko said...
Yea i think being color blind as i am really doesnt help whenever i play games since most things are color coded. Though it seems the lefties are doing fine i will never be able to play a majority of games that heavily rely on color. Well i just cant play them very well.
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4-26-2007 @ 11:38AM
uberjoe said...
I just put up with the higher learning curve and learned to play Metroid with my right hand. It was worth it in the end.
Similar problems with the wii. Yes the controller is ambidex, but the sword is still in Link's right hand . The shooter in every FPS is a rightie. So I sucked it up and learned to play right handed.
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4-26-2007 @ 11:54AM
Dan said...
The only real issue I ever had was Metroid Prime Hunters, where I use the stylus in my left hand and use the buttons to move. The buttons seem too far apart, rather the d-pad where you can just rock your thumb. Oh well, doesn't bother me, since I didn't really care for MPH.
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4-26-2007 @ 11:55AM
RWD fan said...
Clubhouse Games is bugging me right now, especially the dominoes, because I can't move my pile of dominoes to the other side of the screen. I have to hold the stylus uncomfortably to move my tiles and see the screen at the same time.
Other than that it's been a similar experience to any other controller. I've gotten accustomed to using everything else right-handed, guns, mice, scissors, etc. In the case of the keyboard/mouse I think it actually works better for me, since I can use the keyboard more naturally with the left hand while simultaneously using the mouse. It's also nice to be able to jot notes with the left hand while highlighting text or navigating a page with the mouse in the right.
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4-26-2007 @ 12:19PM
Kefka said...
I'm a lefty, and have only been reminded of that fact in a bad way maybe once or twice in my history of DS gaming.
It's just not an issue really.
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4-26-2007 @ 12:20PM
atsui said...
Lucky the wii isn't like the 360 where it matters how you do in a fps or else you piss off your team and are called a newb, then go online and say you have trouble and people yell "BOO HOO! SUCK IT UP!" when I know you'd all be doing the same thing if it were the other way around.. getting mad. Like every shooter out for the 360 has left handed options, but I grew up using it in the right handed way and I kick a lot of ass so I don't even use those options. Maybe they have all these left handed options because Bill Gates is right handed. If it came to using a controller like pointing a gun I'd loose my supremacy probably. So yeah, for my competitive friends, I'd be thrown off the map because you f'ers doing care.
With the DS, I've had no problems since they have options for left handers in like every game I've played, and even the ones with no left handed options, it seems to work fine because it works because you can get away with still using your left hand on the screen and the buttons with your right by holding it a certain way..
I thought you all were cool with lefties but a month ago after hearing talk about zelda for the wii, I find out there is still a lot of biased towards lefties. So much, that I just smack them in the face with things like, babe ruth is a lefty, bill gates, bill clinton, Ronald Reagan, benjamin franklin, Raphael, michelangelo, bruce willis, oprah winfrey, jay leno, alexander the great, henry ford, Jimi Hendrix.. so maybe we are the best.. I say that only because of the damn biased towards us.
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4-26-2007 @ 12:22PM
atsui said...
"Bill Gates is left handed."
*Fixed
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4-26-2007 @ 12:35PM
Saphion said...
It's sort of annoying, but only for games like the first Castlevania and Resident Evil DS where you have to whip out the stylus, because I have to take it out with my right hand and then pass it to my left. Nothing major, just irritating, although it's soon forgotten (until the next time).
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4-26-2007 @ 12:55PM
Adam S said...
Being left handed hardly ever has one huge problem. It is usually a bunch of small discomforts that slowly add up like having the stylus on the right side and such. MP:H works just fine for me in left handed mode and that's essentially the only DS game I own that needs a left hand mode. I tried switching the analog controls in Halo so I look with the left and move with the right, but having to stop moving to jump because the buttons are on the right side made that impossible.
Most lefties become ambidextrous enough to occasionally deal with right handed objects so there are hardly ever major problems.
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4-26-2007 @ 1:31PM
atsui said...
"14. It's sort of annoying, but only for games like the first Castlevania and Resident Evil DS where you have to whip out the stylus, because I have to take it out with my right hand and then pass it to my left. Nothing major, just irritating, although it's soon forgotten (until the next time)."
I have never had a problem having to whip it out in the first Castlevania. Not annoying in the slightest.. that's just me though, and I'm slightly ambidextrous.. since some of tasks I do I use my right hand without problems.
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4-26-2007 @ 1:32PM
WexusNexus said...
Other than on Dawn of Sorrow, where I just took the stylus out and held it between my teeth until I needed it, haven't had a problem. Of course, even if I did, I wouldn't know that because I've never tried it right-handed as a comparison.
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4-26-2007 @ 1:49PM
Mario Panighetti said...
I was very worried about a potential right-handed bias on the DS, but so far everything's gone mostly well for me and my southpaw ways. I tend to hold the stylus between a few fingers on the left hand and switch to it from the D-pad when necessary. There are a few games I wish were more stylus-driven, such as Pokémon, so I wouldn't have to keep switching, but it's a minor concern in that case since the game isn't in real-time. In real-time games that use D-pad, ABXY as well as the stylus, I'll generally use the thumb pad on my right hand, and I'll be in good shape.
http://www.dotmatrixwithstereosound.com
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4-26-2007 @ 2:42PM
Covarr said...
While not a lefty myself, I have noticed that a good number of games are lefty-friendly. Puzzle games such as Meteos and Panel de Pon DS allow you to play in a lefty-mode, which is just the right-handed mode but reversed, and my sister (who is left-handed) has not complained about it at all. The only real hassle seems to be having to switch back and forth between left-handed mode and right-handed mode for games that we both play. This is particularly annoying for lefties in Brain Age because the game starts in right-handed mode regardless of the last person to play, and you have to choose a profile as a righty and then flip the DS once in the game itself, every single time.
Wario Ware Touched can also be a bit unfriendly to lefties, particularly in the final boss, as the game plays from left to right and so it can take longer to react to obstacles that appear on the far right side of the screen.
When working with a touchscreen (or a Wii remote), it's impossible to make a game that's PERFECTLY accessible to both lefties and righties, but most developers seem to be getting as close as possible, with a very slight slant in favor of the right-handed majority.
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4-26-2007 @ 4:31PM
Alex said...
It is, yes. There are games that even give the option of switching between right or left hand like Metroid hunters, I wish Zelda Wii had that but I'm used to playing games with my right hand so either way is fine for me.
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