Preferred Controller scheme/layout for platform and action games?

[LatchKeyKid]

So I've been recently playing the new metroidvania 2600 game Xanthiom and I get it now.  I'd seen previously that folks didn't like using up to jump and I wondered why that was the case since I had vague memories of doing that in platformers on the NES as a kid.  With how limited the original controller is/was and with firing occupying the one button, there isn't much of a choice.  I've tried playing other games that use the joystick to fire (the megaman demo from a while back for the 2600 comes to mind) and that felt even worse to me.  Is there another option?  I understand both arcade and especially console gaming were in their infancy when the VCS came out so modern game mechanics and control schemes didn't yet exist or (with the simple games of the time) didn't even need to.  Did any companies come out with a single "deluxe" controller that instead plugged into both controller ports and used the second joystick for added functionality?  Whether just as a second action button or even using the second joystick as dpad/four extra buttons?  I might try setting up Stella input controls with that kind of layout and see if it improves the feel on an xbox style controller.

[+SpiceWare]

For Stay Frosty the controls are LEFT and RIGHT to move, FIRE to jump.  That's all you could do, and using FIRE worked better than using UP for jump because with UP you could accidentally jump when you didn't mean to.

 

For Stay Frosty 2 a carrot powerup was added that gives you the ability to throw snowballs. Since I'd already established that FIRE was jump, I mapped UP for throw.  With this mapping a Starplex controller works great to play Stay Frosty 2:

 

I also added support for multi-button gamepads, if one is detected I relocate throw to the secondary firebutton.  Gamepads that are known to work include those for the Sega Genesis and Amiga CD32 Joypad, both are handled by the program in exactly the same way.

 

For the Genesis controller button B = Atari FIRE and button C = secondary. A and START cannot be read by the Atari, though you could modify the controller to make them readable as described in this post by @RevEng

 

 

For the Amiga CD32 Joypad red = Atari FIRE and blue = secondary.

 

 

Quite a few homebrews now support multibutton gamepads, and a number of original games have been hacked to add support.

 

There's also Joy2b+ controller that has 3 buttons the Atari can read. Check out this post by @Bruce-Robert Pocock for more info.

 

CBS created the Booster Grip which slides over the joystick handle to add 2 additional fire buttons. It was only used for Omega Race back in the day and it was required to play.  @Thomas Jentzsch created a hack that adds support to Omega Race for the standard Joystick as well as Driving Controller.

 

[LatchKeyKid]

Thanks!  That's a gold mine of info and it's good to know that alot of options existed even back in the day.  The Frosty series was one that I checked out when I first got into the 2600 scene but I don't have access to Stella at the moment; can you "fire" the snowball while jumping or just on the ground?  The asteroids style controller looks like a cool option for controlling the slippery snow man as well.   I'm glad that players at least had the option (and coders too) of up to three buttons (following some of the links into the controller rabbit hole) using the unused paddle input pins (?).  I didn't realize that was an option and sounds less expensive than my idea of literally using two ports for one controller instead.

[+SpiceWare]

18 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

can you "fire" the snowball while jumping or just on the ground?

 

You can jump and throw at the same time, a few examples of this are in the AtariAge video:

 

 

[LatchKeyKid]

Thanks again.   I like the arc on those snowballs instead of just a straight shot across!