I've been having an interesting run lately of games that shake things up, even if it's just a little bit, in the controls department.
Back in the good old days — or at least my nostalgia blinkers have made it seem this way to me — the idea of being bored rigid by a game's control systems wasn't something that ever entered my mind. Was it because I was less of a pro gamer in the 1980s and '90s than I am now? Well, yes, obviously, nobody can be this pro for that long, but that's not the actual reason. Not this time.
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No, for all the pot shots you can take at old games for being a bit naff and aged and wrinkly and incontinent and what-have-you, you cannot so easily disrespect them when it comes to their controls. There just seemed to be more variety back in the crazy, lawless days of early video games. Or maybe I just feel that way because I wore a Nintendo Power Glove and a cheap rumble backpack for most of my childhood. A rumble backpack!
Whatever the case, I think it's fair to say things are more homogenised now; players expect, and developers deliver, on a certain style of controls for a certain type of game, for the most part. When the latest shooter shows up, we expect to know exactly how to chuck a grenade, crouch, or run without having to refer to a guide.
And I don't like it. I mean, I like games that control nicely...so I guess I do like it, technically. They've got me there. But sometimes you get your hands on something that really does things differently — whilst still controlling nicely — and remember, 'Hey, unique control schemes can really tie this whole thing together!'
In this way, Kirby Air Riders has been a genuine surprise to me in how deep and addictive its chaotic racing is, whilst still managing to be radically different to the norm at its core. It's been the main culprit in bringing all of this stuff to my mind. I got a bit fed up with Mario Kart World, you see, as it feels overwhelmingly like more of the same once you're on the track and racing (which is fine, but I've had enough after a decade of 8), and so I've left it all behind and feel a little deflated with the series now as a result.
The thing with Mario Kart, though, is that it's so refined you know they're never changing it. Well, not massively. Why would they? And so, with Air Riders, there's real excitement in digging in, because it's so unique in its slightly mad take on careening around courses and knocking the stuffing out of opponents.
Rather than your usual racing experience — one button for accelerate, another for brake (and a handbrake button for crashing) — Air Riders is kinda like...well, it's like slingshotting around a course rather than driving the route. It's akin to strategically pulling back an elastic band at just the right moment on corners and then letting rip down straights at its core, with a bunch of other stuff then added on top.
I'm immediately way more invested thanks to this, and mostly just because it's a switch-up, a refresh of the things I'm normally doing with my hands and brain whilst controlling a game. It's something to sink my teeth into. Something new to learn. And it gives Kirby's racer a real unique flavour and strength all of its own.
In a similar way, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road takes football and turns it into something a little more unexpected and unique in its segmented, RPG-esque control scheme. It's really nothing like what you may be expecting if you're a newcomer.
Now, this isn't quite the same sort of comparison (this isn't a pure footie sports game after all), but even then, when approached differently in this way, when a match is started and completed in such a mechanically and narratively different manner, with limited controls and time on the ball interlaced with super skills, boosts and boons — whilst still remaining every bit as compelling as a game of FC 26 in my mind — it makes me wish there were way more examples of certain types of games being approached differently, just to spice things up a little. Y'know.
Nintendo, to its credit, has been better than many when it comes to control experimentation; you only have to look at the recently released (and very good, thanks) Drag x Drive, to see how they've taken something rather, well, it's not the most mind-blowing concept, but it's made way more appealing by the introduction of a unique control scheme. You've got me learning stuff; how to turn on a dime and speed up, how best to take a shot or pull off a trick. It instantly raises what could have been a totally forgettable thing into something that had us all talking when we caught sight of it for the first time.
Indeed, the Switch 2, as much as some have had a go at its screen quality and a few other things in the early months, has already been delivering the goods big time in giving us mouse mode to add to our options for shooters, RPGs and so on. Granted, you're just giving us what PC players already have in some cases, so it's not the same brand of 'unique'. However, the option being there, just having the ability to do things differently on the screen, can make a no-buy into something I'll go ahead and purchase.
Of course, a premium- — or even nuclear- — grade example of Nintendo trying new things in the controls department (and one that actually paid off, I won't hear otherwise) is Sakurai's 3DS belter Kid Icarus: Uprising.
I've heard so many people bemoan this one; I've heard lots of "This should have been a twin-stick shooter!" because of how heinous they found its control scheme. But I loved it. And it's a game that will forever sit with me because of those controls. Doing things differently is good! I mean, I did still buy a Circle Pad Pro because this one gave me sore wrists at points, but don't tell anyone.
Oh, and whilst we're on the subject of unique controls on Nintendo consoles specifically, and I know there are lots of examples, but this one stick out personally; did you know you could hold two NES controllers like Switch Joy-Con to play Smash TV back in the day with a double D-pad setup? Yes, you could, and it was great.
So, yes, these are all games that would've still sold well, no doubt, without the unique elements they bring to the table with their controls, but they just wouldn't have the same flavour at all in my mind. They'd never be so memorable, regardless of how divisive or even frustrating they can be at times (yes, Kid Icarus, yes, you were).
Whilst new horizons on the old mechanical front can sometimes come a cropper, let's hear it for games that are out here taking risks and making players do stuff a little differently than usual, and let's hope we see plenty more in the near future. I'm well tired of holding the same buttons to do the same things ad nauseam.
Feel like games could do with getting back to experimenting a bit more with controls? Hate/love any of the games I've mentioned due to their unique control schemes? Let us know!