Stylus Pressure?

I recently read Chris Kohler’s review of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl on Game|Life, and one particular part caught my attention.

… the touch-screen implementation … feels half-baked — you can’t control the whole game with the stylus a la Animal Crossing, even though there’s nothing in the game design that should stop you.

My surprise wasn’t purely because I think the huge touchscreen buttons during combat are a great addition. Then today I found this editorial on GoNintendo that expresses concern for the pure stylus-based controls when the essence of 2-D Zelda controls were conceived using the control pad. I got some hands-on time with an early build of The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass at last year’s E3, and while at first a bit put off by the stylus-only gameplay, I quickly got the hang of it for the purpose of the demo.

I’ve owned a Nintendo DS since its launch date, and I’ve seen a number of well-thought-out control schemes as well as a ton of crap ones (especially around launch). Bad controls break the game — everyone knows that — and it’s no secret that Nintendo was putting on the pressure to utilize the touch screen early in the console’s life. But now that there has been a Meteos and a Nintendogs and a Brain Age and an Elite Beat Agents, is the pressure to use the stylus still so great?

Chris Kohler wanted the option of full touchscreen control in Pokémon because it was possible. Raw Meat Cowboy wants D-pad and button control for Zelda because it’s traditional. It’s hard to tell with developers whether the stylus pressure is off or on these days. What’s the right way to do things?

The answer to me seemed to come from an entry in the developer blog for Etrian Odyssey on 1UP.com. Designer Kazuo Niinou begins by saying the following:

I have a strange confession to make: I don’t like using the Nintendo DS’s stylus.

There are a few reasons for this. First off, it’s a portable game system, but because of the stylus you can’t play it while lying down. Second, since holding the system in one hand and a stylus in the other feels unnatural, it’s tiring to play for long periods of time. Third, if the pace of the game is slow, then your hand tends to cover the screen as you play.

However, there are many things that you can do only with the stylus, so you can’t count it out entirely. We think we can solve the problems above by making games designed not to be played that way.

And it just gets better from there. As an aside, I’m looking forward to this game because I like my RPGs like I like my women: smart, complex, long-lasting and with touch action.

Doubtless there is something to be said for innovative control schemes. Likewise, a longstanding franchise can avoid alienating its core audience by not trying to fix what isn’t broken. However, Niinou-san shows us that there is a middle ground — that the new thing, the old thing, and the right thing don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Developers that realize this are worthy of our support.