Fixing Kid Icarus Uprising controls on Mac/PC
Hello gamers,
Kid Icarus Uprising is a game I used to play all the time 12 years ago on my Nintendo 3DS. Lately, I wanted to start a new playthrough... except I don't have access to my 3DS, which is currently sitting somewhere at my parents' place. A perfect opportunity to learn more about the 3DS emulation scene. Now, imagine my shock when I found out this game is almost IMPOSSIBLE to control on emulators !...
Joystick controls remain atrocious no matter how much I tinker around in the settings. After some testings there and there, I figured out the best way to play this game is through touch controls. What kind of equipment can effectively emulate the N3DS's bottom touch screen? The answer is: a smartphone. People have already thought about this one before, but what I've discovered I haven't seen it anywhere else: Virtual Network Computing (or VNC for short).
What you need :
2) Launch your favourite 3DS emulator, do NOT hide the bottom screen, and run Kid Icarus Uprising.
3) On your smartphone, zoom into the 3DS bottom screen so that it takes up your entire phone screen.
4) You're now ready to play the game.
Essentially, your LEFT HAND will hold the controller: index finger onto the left shoulder button, thumb onto the joystick.
Whereas your RIGHT HAND will control the aiming using your index finger on the touch screen; occasionally jumping onto the gamepad face buttons if needed.
(if left handed: do the opposite maybe?)
Here is a short video tutorial I've made, which covers the specific setup needed for Mac users. (again, also works on PC)
As someone who spent hundreds of hours playing the game on original hardware, this method is as janky, uncomfortable, awkward and faithful as the original.
In any case, I hope this tutorial may be helpful to anyone. That's all I have to say about this.
Kid Icarus Uprising is a game I used to play all the time 12 years ago on my Nintendo 3DS. Lately, I wanted to start a new playthrough... except I don't have access to my 3DS, which is currently sitting somewhere at my parents' place. A perfect opportunity to learn more about the 3DS emulation scene. Now, imagine my shock when I found out this game is almost IMPOSSIBLE to control on emulators !...
Joystick controls remain atrocious no matter how much I tinker around in the settings. After some testings there and there, I figured out the best way to play this game is through touch controls. What kind of equipment can effectively emulate the N3DS's bottom touch screen? The answer is: a smartphone. People have already thought about this one before, but what I've discovered I haven't seen it anywhere else: Virtual Network Computing (or VNC for short).
What you need :
- A computer (both Macs and PCs should work) ;
- A smartphone (iPhone, Android...) ;
- A VNC server, such as TightVNC, on your computer (not necessary for Mac) ;
- A VNC client, such as RealVNC, on your smartphone ;
- A gamepad;
- Any 3DS emulator as well as a Kid Icarus Uprising rom.
2) Launch your favourite 3DS emulator, do NOT hide the bottom screen, and run Kid Icarus Uprising.
3) On your smartphone, zoom into the 3DS bottom screen so that it takes up your entire phone screen.
4) You're now ready to play the game.
Essentially, your LEFT HAND will hold the controller: index finger onto the left shoulder button, thumb onto the joystick.
Whereas your RIGHT HAND will control the aiming using your index finger on the touch screen; occasionally jumping onto the gamepad face buttons if needed.
(if left handed: do the opposite maybe?)
Here is a short video tutorial I've made, which covers the specific setup needed for Mac users. (again, also works on PC)
As someone who spent hundreds of hours playing the game on original hardware, this method is as janky, uncomfortable, awkward and faithful as the original.
In any case, I hope this tutorial may be helpful to anyone. That's all I have to say about this.
