The Y-Axis

The Y-axis. No, it’s not a new sister site devoted to giving you the latest news, opinion and reviews on all things to do with the twenty fifth letter of the alphabet and its presence in gaming. It is, however, an option that you can choose to invert, available in the menus of most games that will change the way you play the game. Okay, I lied, it doesn’t do much for the game you are playing, but it does make sense.

People say ‘Up is up and down is down.’, but in these terms, is it really? There’s no disputing the fact that the relative direction of up, is in fact, up or that if you climb down a rope, you are actually going down, but you have to think of it in terms of a controller. You hold the controller flat and you press forward with the stick to look up and pull back on the stick to look down. Does that still make sense? No, it doesn’t. Unless the gun is stuck to your forehead.

I’m going to do something that will make you look like complete fools, but it’s in the nature of science, so just do as I say. Ready? Grab the top of your head and push forward, as you would with a stick on a controller. Where are you looking? Well, it’s certainly not anywhere near this, so how are you still reading? If that went well, you should have been looking down. Do the same again, but pull back. Where are you looking now? That’s right: the ceiling. You seriously must have some awesome kind of monitor (a head projector?) to still be reading this.

Now that’s over, grab a controller. A PS3 or 360 controller, preferably, and move the stick forward. That’s the same as the top of your head in the game. Surely, your character should be looking down right about now, considering he is moving his head, shoulders, arms and gun rather than just his eyes? Well, why does the little guy on your TV screen look up? That’s because you’ve not inverted the Y-axis. It’s a feature that many people ignore, but one that has saved lives – lives of the enemy as you try and get used to pushing the stick in the other direction. Still not got it? How about a visual example?

Here is a stick character, representing the main character in the game you are playing. Let’s call him Nathan; that’s what they are all called, right? Nathan isn’t just any stick character, the top of his head is at the origin of a graph and he’s stuck to the Y-axis, with a stick on his head (with a stick!). Poor Nathan. Nathan is voiced by Nolan North, if that helps make the scene for you.

You may notice that the Y-axis is facing forwards, as it should be when your controller is flat in your hands (if you hold the controller at a different angle, tilt your head accordingly). Now, all that Nathan wants to do is shoot this pesky bird, which also happens to be on the Y-axis. He looks up with his eyes; but, alas his gun does not follow and he is defeated by the bird. Luckily, someone pulls back on the stick on his head, and he is now facing the bird directly, ready to shoot. Godspeed, Nathan.

It’s up to you in the end to choose your controls, but I hope Nathan and my examples have helped demonstrate that inverted Y-axis does make sense and up isn’t always forward which isn’t always up. The mythical inverted X-axis is a whole different story, just grab your right hand and push your head to the left. There, you’re looking left. Sorted. Thankfully, the other stick works normally, push forward and you’ll actually walk forward, pull back and you’ll do something crazy and walk the other way!

I won’t keep you any longer, go and play your favourite game and test out the inverted Y-axis, if you haven’t already. If you have, I made you look like fools for no good reason, hooray!