History Main / StockControlSettings

Naturally, the exact control settings depend on both the genre, and the controller used. To cover the controllers, see UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads. Here, the focus is mainly on the layout of the face buttons. Those come in a few varieties:

* '''On-Screen Buttons''' -- Control schemes relying exclusively on these are awkward for many action games, but they're a practical necessity for UsefulNotes/IOSGames, where no other buttons or keys are available. This kind of control scheme was used as long ago as 1987, in the Creator/{{Psygnosis}} game ''Barbarian''. ''VideoGame/DungeonMaster'', released the same year, made it popular for {{Western RPG}}s.

*** Many freeware platformers also use Z for jump and X for secondary action. This is also popular with users of [[UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}} emulators]]. The reason may be because this effectively gives the left hand a corresponding mirror-image role to the usual role of the right hand on a console controller. (However this may cause problems if the controls are bound to specific letters rather than specific key positions--imagine trying to reach for Z on a QWERTZ or other non-QWERTY keyboard, for example.) When more buttons are needed, players and games often use some combination of the first nine letters on the left of the keyboard (Q W E A S D Z X and C).

** [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Dual Analog]] -- Move and Aim are done with the two analog sticks, respectively the left and right sticks. Primary and and SecondaryFire are done with the shoulder buttons, respectively right and left. Switching weapons is done with the D-Pad if you have more than two main guns, or the upper-most face button if you don't (with the D-Pad left for other odds and ends). Other functions are mapped to the face buttons, but more commonly used ones like throwing grenades are mapped to secondary shoulder buttons, if available.

** [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Dual Analog]] -- Left analog stick steers. The right analog stick is less standardized, but is mostly used either for the camera/looking around or the car's transmission. The four face buttons will be divided up into Brake/Reverse, Accelerate, Handbrake, Rear-View Mirror, and if present, NitroBoost, though mapping any of these to the shoulder buttons is not unheard-of. Secondary automotive functions like horn and headlights (if present) will be relegated to the shoulder buttons; and switching view modes (from cockpit mode to chase cam, etc) are usually mapped to the D-pad or the analog stick buttons.

** Keyboard & Mouse -- Move is with the arrow keys or W/A/S/D keys. Aim is with the mouse. Fire is the left mouse button.[[note]]One of the first games to use WASD movement + mouse aim/fire was not a FirstPersonShooter at all, but ''VideoGame/DarkCastle'' for the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh.[[/note]] SecondaryFire, grenades, looking through a sniper scope and/or zoom focus is the right mouse button, though grenades are often put on middle mouse and/or G. [[RealTimeWeaponChange Switching weapons]] is with the scroll wheel and/or with the numerals at the top of the keyboard. Jump is space bar, like in platformers (which often have similar setups if it's an action third person game), Interact is the E key (or sometimes the F key, such as if the game has lean commands which themselves are almost always Q and E), and the other commands are located around the WASD keys. Pause/Menu is Esc.

You're playing an UsefulNotes/{{NES}} game, a typical sidescroller, and the control is what it usually is. A is jump, and B is run, or attack, or whatever action the developers had in mind. Breaking this conformity just for the sake of being different has the greater risk of frustrating the players, and breaking the immersion the developers otherwise worked so hard for. When these are altered, DamnYouMuscleMemory may occur. When unique new control features are added and not shown to players in [[VideoGameTutorial tutorials]], {{Noob Bridge}}s may occur.

* '''Single Row''' -- Two or more buttons are placed in a (mostly) horizontal row. Systems using this include the NES, the UsefulNotes/GameBoy systems, the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo.
* '''Double Row''' -- Two horizontal rows, one above the other. Systems using this include the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 (in that the top and bottom C buttons each aligned with B and A respectively), and arcade joysticks used to play {{Fighting Game}}s.
* '''Cross''' -- Four buttons arranged like points of a cross. This was popularized with the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} gamepad, and then became the standard for gamepads.

*** Q/A/O/P/Space was a popular keyboard-only setup in the days of the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} and UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC. The Amstrad CPC allowed the "copy" key (the Left Alt key on a modern PC) for secondary actions.

*** Most PC games since the dawn of the 32-bit era have stuck to inverted T-shaped key layouts (W/A/S/D, I/J/K/L, arrows, keypad) for movement. In the 8/16 bit era, as indicated above, there were all sorts of different layouts used. Even the arrow keys were arranged horizontally at the time on many platforms (←, →, ↓, ↑, for Apple), though they were the standard keyboard controls for UsefulNotes/{{MSX}} games. IJKL was used as early as ''VideoGame/LodeRunner'' for the UsefulNotes/AppleII.

** Single Analog -- Two different setups prevailed on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64. ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}''-style used the stick to aim and the C-button quartet and/or D-Pad to move in a WASD-like fashion. ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}}''-style used the analog stick to move and turn, and the C-buttons to look up and down and strafe, though ''[=GoldenEye=]'' also supported ''Turok'' style. Both setups used Z (on the back of the controller) to fire, and the A and B buttons to switch weapons and reload.

*** UsefulNotes/BBCMicro and UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes games tended to use the converse, Z/X/[=@=]/?/Enter, i.e. the left hand for horizontal movement, the right hand for vertical.

*** Slightly less common but no less uniform are Crouch, either C, Shift, or Left Ctrl depending on if it's a toggle or hold crouch; Prone (usually found in more realistic shooters), Z unless Crouch isn't on Left Ctrl; Sprint/Walk, often Left Shift; Flashlight, usually F (even if/''especially'' if the Flashlight is already a numbered weapon slot); Firing Mode (ie Burst, Single Shot, Auto or ammo type switching) is V; and Reload, R. In multiplayer games, the Scoreboard is usually Tab. With the rise of modern 'realistic' shooters, SecondaryFire has been replaced by the new king of the right mouse, the Aim Down Sight button (though no one can agree whether it's toggled [''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''] or held [''Franchise/FarCry''] to aim). In these games most if not all guns have sights and not just specific sniper rifles. As these more modern shooters generally avert HyperspaceArsenal, an Aim Down Sights game with a SecondaryFire will usually relegate that second function to a specific numbered weapon slot, often pushing the main guns number to swap between the secondary and the primary firing modes.

* '''{{Puzzle Game}}s'''--particularly of the FallingBlocks variety--usually have a button for clockwise rotation and a button for anticlockwise rotation. Moving the pad, stick, or arrow keys horizontally slides the current piece sideways, while moving it vertically will drop the piece (sometimes instantaneously, sometimes it will simply make the piece move down faster).

** In turn-based puzzle games on the PC, Z is usually an undo button and R is restart button.

* '''[[MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena MOBAs]]''' use the right mouse button to move your character and attack enemies, the left to select objects, QWER for spells, S to stop moving, A to force attack (used to attack friendly units to deny), [[BillionsOfButtons as well as]] 1-6 to use items, and [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends some games]] add D and F for extra spells while [[VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth others]] feature hotkeys to set and reload unit groups. Ctrl, Space and Alt tend to do something as well depending on the game. The original [[VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients Dota]] did not yet use the standardised and easy to reach QWER button mapping; its spell buttons were all over the place and very hard to reach quickly, prompting players to use a remap tool to fix this; however, if you're a ''DOTA All Stars'' veteran already used to the old school ''VideoGame/WarCraft3'' hotkeys [[DamnYouMuscleMemory and have a hard time graduating to the new school hotkeys]], the game settings have a checkbox to revert to the old school hotkeys.

* '''{{Puzzle Game}}s'''--particularly of the FallingBlocks variety--usually have a button for clockwise rotation and a button for anticlockwise rotation. Moving the pad, stick, or arrow keys horizontally slides the current piece sideways, while moving it vertically will drop the piece (sometimes instantaneously, sometimes it will simply make the piece move down faster). In newer PC puzzle games, Z is usually an undo button and R is restart button.