Honestly the PS1 and PS2 games emulate pretty well on Duckstation and the Nightly builds of PCSX2 (except for AC2, that needs the Stable)
You’ll just need to get used to the clunky tank controls.
You can customize them through the emulator (or Steam) to make the controls a bit more modern. I found a community layout for AC2 when I played in on my Steam Deck that made it feel much more like how AC6 plays.
Oh I played AC2 emulated a while back, but just needed to remap the turning buttons to the shoulders and I was good with the oldgen layout. At least until Silent Line when I needed to dual wield. But hey, I defeated all versions of old Nineball with those, so I’m happy!
Honestly while the aiming and moving controls in the old game were bonkers, imho the jumping and firing controls were better. Only 4 buttons – fire, switch weapon, sword, and jump (which is lateral boost if you do it while walking) fit the game into a standard PS1 pad. Playing ac6 I’m annoyed how much my right thumb has to jump back and forth between the aim stick and the face buttons – if they didn’t have 4 attack actions and 3 boost actions they could’ve fit more on the shoulders and l3/r3 actions.
I didn’t say it in this thread, but since you mentioned it I’ll concur: yeah after a tiny bit of remapping the shoulder buttons and d-pad, I actually got really into the old controls, and other than dual wielding, I actually preferred them over the later 3rd gen style. But both were usable.
yeah I’m playing AC6 right now and I’m twisting my right hand into a knot operating the stick and the face buttons at the same time, but this is a kind of problem that every japanese mech game has… Gundam Battle Operation 2, EDF, the 4th and 5th gen of AC too. At this point I’m just used to it.
I’m playing on PC and switched to KB+M in my 2nd session and it’s night and day. Unless you’re using a PS5 controller with the extra buttons on the back, this game is meant for keyboard and mouse.
My kid thought I was nuts: “it’s a fromsoft game! They don’t even know keyboards exist!” but they provided basic keyboard/mouse support and it works amazingly.
Edit: I feel like dual-wielding takes away a lot from AC. The swordplay is too essential to the game, imho. My dream AC game would play more with melee weapons in the left-hand slot but remove dual-wielding. However, otherwise I prefer weapons in AC6 - more oomph and longer cooldowns means there’s more fun cycling through your gear instead of switching to a weapon and emptying it like was often the strategy on AC1, and the AC1 “heavy shoulder guns mean going immobile” and the stunlocking were dumb ideas.
But I assume I’m weird since I skipped all the middle games in the series and jumped from ac2 (which I barely played) straight to ac6 and was mostly an AC1 die-hard. I’m sure I missed a lot of good reasons why dual-wielding is good.
I also played Daemon x Machina and it was boring as hell, and duallies was a big reason.
I’m not switching to KB+M but I am switching to Type B controls after struggling against Balteus for 6 hours today. My hands actually hurt from how hard I was gripping the controller, lol.
Dual wielding was basically the only way to play in late Gen 3 as the games got harder and harder, and the enemy ACs started coming more and more decked out (or in the case of Last Raven, straight up cheating) and is what I’m most used to. First thing I did in 6 was to put on dual rifles. But now after trying out other builds I put a sword back on, they’re really fun and VERY strong in this game.
Honestly the PS1 and PS2 games emulate pretty well on Duckstation and the Nightly builds of PCSX2 (except for AC2, that needs the Stable)
You’ll just need to get used to the clunky tank controls.
You can customize them through the emulator (or Steam) to make the controls a bit more modern. I found a community layout for AC2 when I played in on my Steam Deck that made it feel much more like how AC6 plays.
Oh I played AC2 emulated a while back, but just needed to remap the turning buttons to the shoulders and I was good with the oldgen layout. At least until Silent Line when I needed to dual wield. But hey, I defeated all versions of old Nineball with those, so I’m happy!
Honestly while the aiming and moving controls in the old game were bonkers, imho the jumping and firing controls were better. Only 4 buttons – fire, switch weapon, sword, and jump (which is lateral boost if you do it while walking) fit the game into a standard PS1 pad. Playing ac6 I’m annoyed how much my right thumb has to jump back and forth between the aim stick and the face buttons – if they didn’t have 4 attack actions and 3 boost actions they could’ve fit more on the shoulders and l3/r3 actions.
I didn’t say it in this thread, but since you mentioned it I’ll concur: yeah after a tiny bit of remapping the shoulder buttons and d-pad, I actually got really into the old controls, and other than dual wielding, I actually preferred them over the later 3rd gen style. But both were usable. yeah I’m playing AC6 right now and I’m twisting my right hand into a knot operating the stick and the face buttons at the same time, but this is a kind of problem that every japanese mech game has… Gundam Battle Operation 2, EDF, the 4th and 5th gen of AC too. At this point I’m just used to it.
I’m playing on PC and switched to KB+M in my 2nd session and it’s night and day. Unless you’re using a PS5 controller with the extra buttons on the back, this game is meant for keyboard and mouse.
My kid thought I was nuts: “it’s a fromsoft game! They don’t even know keyboards exist!” but they provided basic keyboard/mouse support and it works amazingly.
Edit: I feel like dual-wielding takes away a lot from AC. The swordplay is too essential to the game, imho. My dream AC game would play more with melee weapons in the left-hand slot but remove dual-wielding. However, otherwise I prefer weapons in AC6 - more oomph and longer cooldowns means there’s more fun cycling through your gear instead of switching to a weapon and emptying it like was often the strategy on AC1, and the AC1 “heavy shoulder guns mean going immobile” and the stunlocking were dumb ideas.
But I assume I’m weird since I skipped all the middle games in the series and jumped from ac2 (which I barely played) straight to ac6 and was mostly an AC1 die-hard. I’m sure I missed a lot of good reasons why dual-wielding is good.
I also played Daemon x Machina and it was boring as hell, and duallies was a big reason.
I’m not switching to KB+M but I am switching to Type B controls after struggling against Balteus for 6 hours today. My hands actually hurt from how hard I was gripping the controller, lol.
Dual wielding was basically the only way to play in late Gen 3 as the games got harder and harder, and the enemy ACs started coming more and more decked out (or in the case of Last Raven, straight up cheating) and is what I’m most used to. First thing I did in 6 was to put on dual rifles. But now after trying out other builds I put a sword back on, they’re really fun and VERY strong in this game.