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Forward on the controller = Faster ?


YoshiBlade
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No but...now I'm wondering if somewhere, there is a gamer who bounces up in their seat every time they jump in a game in the hopes that they will time their jumps better.

Okay, not wondering. Hoping.

There are. Kids mostly, but I see adults do it on occasion.

Also lots of people who lean their whole bodies when playing racing games.

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Are you talking about games that use buttons to accelerate (like A in Mario Kart or triggers in Burnout)?

If so, then no, the analog stick does not assist you in speeding up. They use the X-axis only, and that's for steering.

No, not the acceleration button, but rather if you didn't touch the control stick on, lets say Mario Kart, you would head in a forward direction irrespective, but rather when you are playing if you press forward on the joystick and you garner a small bit of top speed as opposed to not pressing forward on the joy stick at all.

Last I recall, you push forward on the joystick to maintain speed? Haven't played arcade games in a while.
This might be closer to the truth, if one were to let back the controller stick you would lose some momentum, giving the illusion of a sort of boost by pressing forward.

I'm sure every game has its own set of rules governing handling and speed, but just a thought...hmmm now that I think of it perhaps there is some psychological benefit, I'm not accounting for...like if pressing forward keeps the joystick in a locked position, there by allowing for more control over minute movements left and right..hmmm

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Like I said, it would make no sense to give you speed simply for holding the stick forward. The reason to push it forward is, yes, to get the stick to hang on the rim of the circle so that you can roll on the outside (creating sinusoidal steering) instead of leaving it dead center and making it go straight left and right (creating linear steering).

We steer cars sinusoidally, the steering wheel literally spins, creating an angular shift in the wheel direction. It's just natural for us to turn that way since we've been doing it for so many years. It's just a psychological inclination toward the familiar, especially since in these games you usually are driving a car.

I don't think forward actually boosts your top speed in any games (perhaps with the exception of tailgate mechanics), but to definitively prove this requires source code examination, a developer interview, or someone analyzing game footage. At the very least, I can say that Mario Kart does not, because in Wii Mario Kart, it would give an unfair advantage to people playing on joystick equipped controllers instead of the Wii remote (which only registers gyroscopic x-axis input, or rather, tilting it left and right for steering, but not forward and back for speed).

Edited by Neblix
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Ok now I remember what set me on this...Start Wars Episode 1: Pod racers for the N64. I am almost certain pressing forward would give a small boost to your top speed ( granted the mechanics of a pod racer are unknown so why would pressing forward increase top speed?) but, yes the psychological aspect is probably what accounts for most of the feeling of an increase in speed and for sure no one is going to dig around in the source code to solve this mystery. now I want to run some tests...I might just do that.

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My parents came over to play the original SNES Mario Kart one day and were disappointed when they figured out that leaning left and right doesn't improve their steering. Luckily they were able to figure out that the mushroom means go faster rather than the up arrow. Imagine having them play MK8. That may cause all sorts of WTF moments in their minds.

Edited by A-RoN
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Way back when I played the original NES with friends (in like, 1st or 2nd grade), there were always those kids that lifted the controller when they wanted Mario to jump. I think there's just some tactile connection between the character on the screen and what the mind perceives as its own body. Probably the same thing with pushing forward on the controller (i.e. you intuitively would think that doing that would make your character in the game go forward, regardless of any actual effects).

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Ok now I remember what set me on this...Start Wars Episode 1: Pod racers for the N64. I am almost certain pressing forward would give a small boost to your top speed ( granted the mechanics of a pod racer are unknown so why would pressing forward increase top speed?) but, yes the psychological aspect is probably what accounts for most of the feeling of an increase in speed and for sure no one is going to dig around in the source code to solve this mystery. now I want to run some tests...I might just do that.

Yes, in podracer you had to get to your top speed, then hold forward on the control stick which would start you on a new speed bracket, and then if you could keep going in a straight enough line you for long enough you got access to boost which could send you flying into a wall.

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