Playing horis vertically

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:18 am

Has anyone tried this? I much prefer vertical shooters but do enjoy some horis, and have run into a few that I wish were tate'd. I decided to experiment and have been playing Progear this way lately, thanks to mame. It's hard to get used to (especially the fact that the jewels fall to the right), but it's a fun alternative and works well. Some parts are so much easier, it makes me realize how trained my brain and eyes are with these games.

I suppose if you like horis more, you could try some DDP that way but doing the chains would be a chore.

Lone Deranger · Post by **Lone Deranger** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:36 am

I sometimes do the exact opposite. For instance, playing Star Soldier PSP horizontally works nicer as the PSP can be very akward to hold and play in Tate mode. This way it works a treat.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:01 am

Lone Deranger wrote:I sometimes do the exact opposite. For instance, playing Star Soldier PSP horizontally works nicer as the PSP can be very akward to hold and play in Tate mode. This way it works a treat.

I used to play Layer section horizontally before I had a TATEd screen. I actually do better that way still today.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:18 pm

To date, my best run in Darius Gaiden has been on a vertical screen.

chtimi-CLA · Post by **chtimi-CLA** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:46 pm

it isn't just a matter of being trained for tate, it's also the fact that in a vertical, the action's axis of symmetry is the same as your body's (eyes).

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:00 am

chtimi wrote:it isn't just a matter of being trained for tate, it's also the fact that in a vertical, the action's axis of symmetry is the same as your body's (eyes).

According to some research IIRC, our hunter-gatherer eyes should be most comfortable and naturally attuned to picking up motion and detail in a 16:9 horizontal plane, as that is the most similar to surveying an outdoor landscape's horizon which we are apparently evolved to be good at. (Not sure if those researchers play shmups, though...)

Post by **system11** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:19 am

Thunder Force wrote:According to some research IIRC, our hunter-gatherer eyes should be most comfortable and naturally attuned to picking up motion and detail in a 16:9 horizontal plane, as that is the most similar to surveying an outdoor landscape's horizon which we are apparently evolved to be good at. (Not sure if those researchers play shmups, though...)

Sound about right - I have to really concentrate with vertical games and find myself looking up/down the screen. With horizontal games my eyes barely move.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:04 pm

Yeah, with vert games you end up concentrating on a smaller area of the screen generally, but that can be a good thing -- you can concentrate on the immediate area around your ship a little more, but still have a feeling for the situation on the whole screen. But yeah, I suppose if you were a mutant with two eyes on top of each other you might have awesome vert skills.

ckm · Post by **ckm** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:38 pm

what, you mean you are ok with using the controls the wrong way around, or do you tilt your head or lie down? i don't know if i've understood this thread.

what i mean is - if the hori is tated, then 'up' on the controller is going to go to the left instead, so you have to re-orient how you hold the whole controller and everything? i think that'd do my head in, in fact i might have tried it late some nights and blanked it from memory.

wonder why there aren't any right-to-left scrollers? or any top-down scrollers? ( or are there

) seems strange in some ways because both those writing styles exist in Japan.

its true that 'letterboxed' images are easier on the eyes, but i thought that was more for cinematic experience.......vertically-cropped images are called 'pillarboxed' and tend to only show up in old movies.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:52 pm

I do know this...Verts played like Horis are terribly awkward and disconcerting.

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:08 pm

I don't have my TV tate'd, but have tried playing verts on a horizontal screen (Like on Batsugun for Saturn). It's hilarious - I start with my head upright, but without fail, within a second of pressing start, my head is parallel to the ground.

Neck kills only after like 2 minutes, but I keep tryin'

Gotta find a chepo tv to solve this...

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:04 am

ckm wrote:what, you mean you are ok with using the controls the wrong way around, or do you tilt your head or lie down? i don't know if i've understood this thread.

what i mean is - if the hori is tated, then 'up' on the controller is going to go to the left instead, so you have to re-orient how you hold the whole controller and everything? i think that'd do my head in, in fact i might have tried it late some nights and blanked it from memory.

Well, the glories of emulation allow you to change controls and screen orientation to whatever you like. Makes for good times.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:39 pm

I usually play vert shooters in hori mode, not vice versa- I don't trust my monitor, and I definitely don't trust my decrepit TV. Shikigami no Shiro helped train me to use a rotated gamepad, which saved me a good bit of time when I installed MAME on my machine.

neojma · Post by **neojma** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:14 am

Part of the problem from playing games and not using the standard orientation is that the menus, scores, multiplier bonuses, heads up displays, etc. are all in the original orientation. The gameplay itself isn't that unnerving after you get used to the fact that it's *different* (if you're used to the game). You just know it isn't right because of all those little details that are still in the original orientation.