Posted by Derrick Renaud on 19, 2001 at 12:46 AM:
In Reply to: An on-topic question ... posted by Andy Warne on 17, 2001 at 6:10 PM:
When playing QIX, you are basically drawing lines on the screen. You can go u/d/l/r. With an 8-way, the line goes all over the place and not where you want.
The problem with this game and some other 4-way games is that the diagonals are accepted as 2 keystrokes outputted 1 after the other. And because of this you tend to pull the stick in the oposite direction passing thru the diagonal again making matters worse. Kinda like oversteering your car. Games like frogger will take 2 steps when you meant 1, so your frog gets hit by a car. RIP little frog.
: This 4-8 way discussion is interesting. I have a question:
: There seems to be a view that, in games that were designed for a 4-way stick, there is a problem with using an 8-way because the game doesnt like having two switches made at the diagonals, which you sooner or later end up moving through.
: Which games are these? I tried a few and can't find any which object. I havent tries Qix though, (what happened to all the ROM sites!, sorry taboo subject..!) Does Qix "stop" when it gets a false diagonal?
: Actually most real 4-way sticks do make both switches in the diagonal anyway, I just had a root through my junk box and checked. The movement is often not restricted enough by the detent plate. This may be deliberate to avoid a dead zone.