Good game. TERRIBLE controls

[Megatron]

Ever play a game that is actually pretty good, great even, but is crippled by awful, awful controls?  Been playing Rare Replay - great compilation.  Definitely worth a buy. 
But...

Conker's Bad Fur Day.  Jesus Christ.

An amazingly fun game with some great, dark humor.  And some of the WORST controls I have ever played.  I know the N64 was pretty bad with controls overall (it was just that era, it all sucked) but dammit there is no excuse for this.  And there is no customizable option, either.  Fire is LT aim is RT - have fun with that, and the camera is completely inverted.  Not just up/down, but left/right as well.  In 2000 this was passable, and felt better on the N64 given the controller layout, Z for fire made sense.  LT fir fire does not.  But in 2015 not having the ability to invert/not invert aim is ri-god damn-diculous.

Anyway, any other awesome games that have controller throwing bad controls?

[Thom Grayson]

Turok with its analog stick aiming, C-button moving, for instance.

Possible to get used to, but still trips me up. That's really the problem with terrible controls though - play for a while, and it becomes second-nature enough that you forget how weird it was at first.

[TDIRunner]

I loved the original MDK for the PS1, and I think the controls were fantastic for that game.  However, MDK 2 for the Dreamcast had some type of non-standard control setup.  I could never figure it out and it made the game unplayable.  It's really too bad as I was really looking forward to the sequal.  I have MDK2 for the PS2, but I haven't played it yet.  Not sure what the controller setup is like on that onel.

[RecOne]

I remember "Expendable" and "Contra: Legacy of War" for PS1 to be such games.

I recently downloaded Expendable from gog.com to try it again.
But the movement... oh boy... no.
It is this terrible Resident Evil 1 control layout where have to press left or right to rotate the player and then press up or down to move forward/backward.

I think that is the worst you can do to a run and gun game! :-/

[TDIRunner]

It's funny, for those of us who grew up on the original RE games, the tank controls feel second nature.  I couldn't imagine playing any other way.  But I can understand that those controls may not work on a run and gun.

[Umbra]

In my opinion, the original Tomb Raider had some really awkward controls. Not terrible, but awkward enough that I tried it on both platforms (PS1 and PC) and couldn't really navigate the platforming segments to save my life.

Call me a heretic, but I'm sure it was just because of the fact that I got that game just a few months before the reboot happened so I was used to tight controls

Also, pretty much any game that was a flight-sim/space combat sim that used the DPad because analog sticks weren't yet a thing. Looking at you, SNES Wing Commander.

[monjici]

I loved Metroid Prime on the Gamecube, but when I tried it on the Wii (in Metroid Prime Trilogy), I could not stand the point and shoot mecanism. It felt like I didn't had any control. Perhaps I should have tried more than 5 minutes to get used to it, but I didn't

So it's been sitting on a shelf since then.

[Raignis]

In my opinion, the original Tomb Raider had some really awkward controls. Not terrible, but awkward enough that I tried it on both platforms (PS1 and PC) and couldn't really navigate the platforming segments to save my life.

My son wanted to try Tomb Raider 2 the other day and I came away thinking the same thing.

[Rx_79]

Kid Icarus: Uprising controls are completely broken in my opinion.  I think they should have released it on the Wii, so that you could have used the remote.   

[TDIRunner]

In my opinion, the original Tomb Raider had some really awkward controls. Not terrible, but awkward enough that I tried it on both platforms (PS1 and PC) and couldn't really navigate the platforming segments to save my life.

My son wanted to try Tomb Raider 2 the other day and I came away thinking the same thing.

That's kind of strange, because the original TR games on the PS1 have extremely tight controls.  The second gen game engine (Legend and Anniversary) on the PS2 have extremely loose controls. 

On the flipside, the controls for the original games are much more tedious, while the controls for the second gen are smoother.  Maybe that's what you meant.

[Umbra]

Maybe that is what I meant. Like I said, the controls weren't terrible, just made the platforming a lot more cumbersome to deal with since you had to spend extra time positioning yourself for the jumps.

And I agree with the statement on Legend. Not a fan of that game (at least on 360) since from what I remember the camera wasn't as tight which led to some angling issues at times.

[TDIRunner]

Maybe that is what I meant. Like I said, the controls weren't terrible, just made the platforming a lot more cumbersome to deal with since you had to spend extra time positioning yourself for the jumps.

And I agree with the statement on Legend. Not a fan of that game (at least on 360) since from what I remember the camera wasn't as tight which led to some angling issues at times.

For me, all of the tomb raider games are playable, but there are big upsides and downsides to each controle setup.  Personally, I'm a big fan of TM1, TM2, Anniversary, Legend and Underworld.  I haven't been able to get into the others (regardless of controls).

[bender3455]

There was a Transformers game that had the most f-ed up controls I've ever tried to get used to.  I'm going to have to go find it to see which one it was, but I remember thinking WTF???

[Thom Grayson]

There was a Transformers game that had the most f-ed up controls I've ever tried to get used to.  I'm going to have to go find it to see which one it was, but I remember thinking WTF???

Transformers on PS2? Where you used the shoulder buttons for jumping?

[RecOne]

It's funny, for those of us who grew up on the original RE games, the tank controls feel second nature.  I couldn't imagine playing any other way.  But I can understand that those controls may not work on a run and gun.

I also grew up with RE1 etc. but i never liked the controls.
That is the reason why i've only played RE1 and none of the sequels (Except for the "great" Raccoon City coop thing).

The best controls on the other hand has Contra 3 on SNES in my opinion.