Opinions wanted for a handicapped gamer
 

Hey all,

For almost seven years, I've had to play games with only one hand because my left hand was paralyzed after an extended illness.

Playing PC games hasn't been too much of a problem, thankfully. I've used a six button mouse, and using that, along with the keyboard, has allowed me to play virtually all games.

But I've been dying to get a PS2, and the current standard of joysticks are a nightmare if you want to not only control, fire, but keep the damn thing still. Honestly - try it.

I've found out about arcade style joysticks, such as the (perhaps defunct) Gamester Reflex Arcade Stick (see article here), but I'm not sure if arcade joysticks will work outside of a fighting game. Meaning, if I want to play Castlevania or Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, will it work?

Does anyone have any opinions or suggestions on arcade stick, or other controllers you may have seen that would help me play a PS2?

Thanks in advance,

Gary

I used to be pretty good at first person shooters using a joystick.

As soon as I saw what your disability, I thought of several products that ASCII makes. You may have to order through an import shop, but you'd be able to help you enjoy most of the games.

Can you play the N64 with one hand? I vaguely remember playing Wave Race back in college using one hand.. Not a new console.. just a thought

Sorry. The N64 controller requires three hands.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback... please keep it coming.

Thank you to those who suggested the Ascii. I'm going to look into the Ascii pad because it seems like a good start in the right direction. Plus, it's cheap, so if I hate it, I can just put it aside without too much guilt.

Actually the N64 was one of the first sticks that gave me a really hard time to use. Super Nintendo was tricky, but managable. N64 became a headache really fast. The amount of buttons, and where they were placed, made it easy to fumble it while trying to perform the more complex moves (especially in fighting games).

I was at a PS2 kiosk at a TRU the other, and was trying the Prince of Persia demo. Beautiful game, and I was happy to find that with a bit of effort, I could pull off some things (walking on walls).

But jumping across a broken bridge? Simple move, right. Nope. Everytime, I managed to plummet to the ground because I couldn't find a comfortable way to manage the buttons.

Sigh. The things I took for granted when my hands were up for the task. LOL!

Thanks again. And please, if you have other suggestions, I'd love to read them.

When I first saw the thread, I was thinking of saying "Dance Dance Revolution" as a joke, but actually that game could be good for you because it doesn't require any of your hands.

Arcade joysticks probably would not work for many games because the arcade stick controls the D-pad input, and many games require using the analog stick for movement. Some games even use both the D-pad and analog stick for different functions.

There was a one-handed controller a while back that was supposed to be good for RPG's, but that was for the Super NES or PlayStation. I don't know of any for the current consoles other than the link that was given to the ASCII product.

Here you go: Time Crisis 2 and 3, Vampire Night, Ninja Assault, Resident Evil; Dead Aim, Dino Stalker, House of the Dead 3 (with blaster) And there's got to be a few flight stick games out there. Hope that helps!

What about driving games where you can use a wheel or shooting games that use the light gun? Of course, that won't help with the normal console games you want to play.

I remember seeing a controller for paralyzed kids for the NES in Nintendo Power that you controlled by breathing.