So I’m curious as to the communities preferred layout for panels. When I place a box on my lap and rest my hand on it naturally, if I were to put dots under my fingertips natural resting position, it would draw the exact layout of the SEGA Player-2 layout. I have a stick right now that’s the SEGA Player-1 and I have to kind of hold the stick at an angle which makes my directions miss from time to time…
I’ve never physically tried a Vewlix and the only other layout I’m familiar with is the CAPCOM straight-six.
I really dislike the vewlix layout which seems to be the standard for fightsticks these days. I prefer the astro city layout. The stick is closer to my wrist making motions much easier to make and the button placement feels natural to the alignment of my fingers when I’m tapping away.
Astro Player 1 or 2? I see your icon is the Player 1 layout. I have a stick that uses that, and I still feel like I have to tweak my hand a bit. That’s why I’m going Player 2 this time around.
The only difference is really the angle of the buttons… when I rest my hands naturally in front of me with my fingers in a “Resting” position, my thumb and index finger line up vertically and my ring and middle finger line up horizontally, the two pairs make a 90-degree axis… that’s the Player 2 layout.
EDIT: thought I can’t speak to it because I’ve never tried it, this is why the Vewlix layout doesn’t make sense to me… I feel like I’d have to keep my hand elevated to use that layout effectively, which increases time between thought and action.
I madea post like this several years ago. Unfortunately, there’s still no commercially made stick that uses the Sega 2P layout. You have your choice of Sega 1P, Vewlix, HRAP 1, or American 6 button. I still don’t get why people like the 1P layout so much. The first button on the second row and buttons on the top row are ergonomic, and match the arch of the fingers. The last 3 buttons on the bottom row don’t.
I used to have an HRAP-1 layout stick(last six buttons), didn’t like it. I know that was used as the player-2 on a Sega Astro city cab and maybe its fine for that purpose so both players don’t have to sit that close to each other(player 2 can sit more at an angle and still be comfortable), but why put that on a single player stick??
Since then i’ve ordered a panel from BLK lightning, and changed the layout to a player-1/HRAP3.
The first two of 2P Astro City doesn’t match with the first two of the last six of original HORI.
That is what I’m saying, they are not the same.
Laugh.
I’m more partial to the Vewlix button layout. I feel more comfortable when I place my index, middle. and ring finger one the top 3 buttons, and curl them slightly so I can have my thumb on the first bottom button.
But, I do think that the Astro City does have a more ergonomic layout than that of the Vewlix do to the fact that players can pretty much lay their fingers out straight on the top buttons without much trouble. Haven’t really played on the Astro City Layout too much to have a definite saying on what I prefer more, but as of right now, I’m still sticking with Vewlix.
Omg, so I’m not the only one. I also dont play 6 buttons games with my thumb (in genereal, I dont ever see a japanese pro use his thumb. I would never have considered, to use my thumb or that the standard layouts are designed for it). I always wondered, why the bottom row is twisted to the left (vewlix and astro city p1 layout), which is the absolutely opposite compared to known ergonomic keyboards.
You made the comment, that the horizontal mirrored Sega P1 layout suits you well. I tried it out, printed it, and I must agree, it suits my playstyle very well. I think I might build my actual custom stick with this layout, I planed to use the standard P2 layout, but if I’m making a custom stick, why not a custom layout, thx.
Actually, since that old post, I have learned to use my thumb. But other than that, the 1P layout still bothers me. The top three and the first one on the bottom row when used with the thumb is OK, but then switching to the other two buttons on the bottom is awkward.
The bottom row tilts down to the left because of the fact that your pinky is lower when you curl up your fingers.
With ergo kb’s, your hands tend to tilt inwards, hence there’s no need for the slant downwards. With joysticks, your index tends to be perpendicular to the stick, hence the pinky goes down
To use the thumb isn’t actually better. Look some japanese playing, there are plenty of videos, they dont use theyr thumbs. Its easier to press two buttons the same time with the surface of the lay downed finger
I tend to hate threads like this because it’s all about your personal comfort — it’s subjective and personal opinion.
What’s comfortable may not be comfortable for a lot of other people.
That said, I think the most ergonomic/comfortable button layout for many people – including me – is the Astro City layout that Hori used for the HRAP 3’s. It fits the natural curvature of your fingers and there isn’t a button that I feel was uncomfortable to push. The latest released joysticks from both Hori and Mad Catz revived this. They say they’re mimicking the arcade machines – and yeah, they are – but there was a pent-up demand for Astro City layouts after the HRAP 3 stopped regular production. Hori still “sort of” makes HRAP 3’s but irregularly now and only for limited edition joysticks like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Prologue.
Viewlix layout isn’t bad either but a tad less comfortable and that last two buttons on the right don’t always work comfortably.
On HRAP 1, it’s the exact opposite… I generally don’t use the first two left buttons and just assume a six-button layout that’s similar to the Agetec. Note that Agetec/HRAP 1 are NOT the same as Viewlix. The Viewlix buttons lie at a diagonal whereas HRAP 1 buttons are stacked row-by-row directly on each other… Just look at a picture of the Viewlix layout and HRAP 1 and you’ll see what I mean.