Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Difference between revisions

** In ''Super Metroid'', L aims downward diagonally, and R aims upwards diagonally. In ''Metroid Fusion'', L aims diagonally (both up and down, controlled by the D-pad) and R selects missiles. Get ready to waste a few missiles by mistake early on.

* Go from ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' to any other [[First-Person Shooter]] on the [[Game Cube]]. Not only for buttons or (most of the times) lack of auto-aim, but also because you have to use both analogs to walk properly.

* ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] [[Compilation Rerelease|Trilogy]]'', a compilation of all three NES games in the series released for the SNES, had the attack and jump buttons assigned to B and A, just like on the 8-bit NES. However, the button layout of the SNES controller is a bit different from the NES, and since the X and Y are used as alternate buttons to perform the same functions, this results in a counter-intuitive control scheme since most SNES action games used Y for attacks and B for jumping.

* Go from playing ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'' to ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee''. Attack goes to Jump, Jump goes to Attack.

*** Which isn't a completely huge problem, since the Z button does not require much force to press down compared to the other Nintendo controller shoulder buttons. The huge pain comes when they forced it on Ocarina of Time 3D as well, a game that was originally designed with a switch targeting system, and is now on a clunky portable system. Even worse is that often, you have to hold both the L and R shoulder buttons on the 3DS because holding up your shield is a common technique against enemies.

* ''[[Assassin's Creed (video game)|Assassin's Creed I]]'' has the exact same problem with its camera stick, being the opposite of what is expected on the X-axis. Adding insult to injury, you can only invert the axises in the "look" mode. They too fixed the problem in the [[Assassin's Creed II|sequel]], though it means that once you've started playing the sequel, you can never go back to the first game, not just for the controls, but also for all the fixes that you'll be missing.

* ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' presents a doubly-frustrating example: on foot, if you've grown acclimated to typical FPS/TPS controls a la Call of Duty, your instincts will get you killed. (Jump! Nope, that's a melee attack. Reload! Oh, hang on, that's jump. Fire, goddamn it, fire! Oops, that's ''take cover.'') Then, to compound the aggravation, the driving controls place the handbrake in a very counterintuitive spot for anyone who's grown used to ''[[Burnout]]''-or-''[[Need for Speed]]''-style controls; get ready to fail a lot of car chase missions and police escapes. And there are a whopping ''two'' controller layout options, both equally unimpressive. What the hell happened to letting players assign button layouts?

*** On PC, this is even worse as ''GTA IV'' no long allows to customize the controls like you could in <s>GTA III, VC and SA</s> [[Porting Disaster|every PC game of the post-DOS era and many before it]].

** ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' has closer controls to the PS2 ''GTA'' games, except moving around the controls for attacking, weapon switching, running, looking behind, handbrake, and entering missions is the same button as entering/leaving vehicles. It's not so bad, but it does make for confusion, and frustration for the final placement.

*** ''[[Just Cause (video game)|Just Cause 2]]'' is an equal offender. The driving controls are pretty much identical to Grand Theft Auto IV, with one difference. The button or key for the handbrake in ''GTA IV'' is the same as the command to deploy the player's parachute in ''Just Cause 2'', which can be problematic when you are driving someone somewhere and instead of stylishy doing a handbrake turn you jump out of the car and watch it spiral into a wall.

* Variation in ''[[Bionic Commando]] Rearmed'' after just about any other 2D platform game. You ''will'' instinctively try to jump, despite the complete lack of a jump button.

** Same for the original ''Bionic Commando''. Much of the challenge of the game is derived from that very inability to jump, which ''Rearmed 2'' finally does away with.

* Play ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' a lot using the sniper rifle. Notice how you zoom in using the c-stick and use the y-button to open up your inventory. Now play ''[[Killer7]]'' and use the sniper pistol. The y-button is used to zoom in a pre-set distance, but that's no problem. Unfortunately the c-stick is used to ''reload'', which is a fairly lengthy process. Not fun when you're in a tough fight.

* The original ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has the circle button to confirm decisions and the X button to cancel. This remained true for the sequels until ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', where X became the confirm button and circle was now cancel. This is made worse in the HD versions of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. Players of the original PS2 versions are likely going to have a hard time for a few minutes adjusting to that, even if they've played ''MGS4''.

** ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'' is a remake of the first game built on the engine of the second. However, since ''MGS2'' was originally on the PS2 and ''Twin Snakes'' is a GameCube game, the controls were changed to compensate for the GameCube controller's lack of analog buttons. For example, the player has to press the Y button while holding the A button in order to let go of their character's aim in ''Twin Snakes'', whereas in ''MGS2'' this was done by gently releasing the square button.

** Even going from ''Assassin's Creed 1'' to ''Assassin's Creed 2'' can be a bit annoying; despite how similar their controls are. One difference that comes to mind is the legs button(A). Remember how pressing the legs button would make you slow down to a halt, pretend to be a(heavily armed) scholar, and allow you to brush past paranoid guards? In AC2, trying to pull that move off will end up with you pick-pocketing said guard.

** ''Infamous'' has a parkour system based on jumping- press the jump button to jump up and grab, or to push yourself up a wall. You'll automatically grab any handholds and balance on any ledges you come across. This is a jarring contrast with Prototype's wall running.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'', if you wanted to do a Stealth Consume on someone, you needed to hold the right shoulder button and press B (on the 360 controller). In ''[[Prototype 2]]'', they now just have you do the same motion that you would for an in-battle consume, and pressing the right shoulder button results in dropping your disguise and using your shield. If you're used to the first game's stealth consume mechanic too much, be prepared to accidentally cause a few alerts as you demonstrate powers in front of military personnel in the sequel. Also, P2 uses Back/Select for the menu and Start for the map whereas many other games do the opposite.

* ''[[Double Dragon|Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' features directional-based attack buttons where one button causes the player to attack to the left and the other to the right. Thus, one button does a standard punch combo, while the other button does a back-kick, depending on the player's direction. This is a huge contrast from the first game, which featured a more conventional "punch or kick" system. As a result, many players who were used to the controls of the first game and then jumped straight to the sequel had difficulty adjusting to the new control scheme, since the buttons for punching and kicking are switched whenever their character change directions. Technos also used a similar system in their older beat-'em-up ''Renegade''.

 

** Also try playing any of the ''[[Street Fighter III|SF3]]'' series or the P-Groove in ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever|Capcom vs SNK 2]]''. Then try playing ''[[Street Fighter II|SF2]]'', ''[[Street Fighter IV|SF4]]'' or another Groove in ''Capcom vs SNK 2''. With no parry (done by tapping forward in time with enemy attacks) to counter the enemy, the character will actually ''drop their guard and walk forward into attacks''!

* ''[[Guilty Gear]]'': Pressing all the face buttons at once sets up for an Instant Kill attack.

* In ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever]]'' games, the Shinkuu Hadouken is performed with Hadouken motion + two Punch buttons. In ''[[Street Fighter]]'' titles, it's done with two Hadouken motions + one Punch button. Going between the two series can be confusing.

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' games have this between the ''Budokai'' and ''Budokai Tenkaichi'' series on the [[PlayStation 2]]. In ''Budokai'', square is punch, triangle is kick, circle is [[Ki Attack]], X blocks/dodges, and 'double tap in a direction' is for dashes. In ''Budokai Tenkaichi'', which is a fully 3D arena fighter unlike ''Budokai'', keeps square as punch, but also adds kicks and other moves in combos, swaps triangle for [[Ki Attack]], circle for blocking, and X is now dash. Many times, you will find yourself getting punched repeatedly in the face as you forgot how to [[Team Four Star|DOOOOODGE!]]

* In the [[King of Fighters]] series, the LP+LK command has changed a few times. In 94 and 95, it was a standing sidestep. In the rest of the series, it became the more popular rolling mechanic. The trope really comes into play in 99 and [[Capcom vs. Whatever|Capcom Vs SNK]] series. In 99, backwards rolling popped you forward straight afterward, while accidentally press a button during forward roll brings you back into the line of fire. In the [[Cv S]] series, there was no backwards rolling whatsoever, so KOF veterans got messed up by this.

 

 

** ''Yoshi's Island'' is pretty much under this as well, the original (at least the GBA port) used A to jump, B to eat enemies, R to throw eggs, and L to lock the aim. The DS sequel, keeping with SNES controls, uses B to jump, A to throw eggs, Y to eat enemies, and X to lock the aim. Particularly problematic if the player forgets and picks a tough level to randomly play in either of said games. However, the player can change ''Yoshi's Island DS'' controls to the GBA remake's layout.

** The exclusion of the long jump in ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' annoyed many gamers who had to go through the retro stages without the aid of FLUDD.

* Many people, after having played ''[[Cave Story]]'', will frequently press Z to jump in other games. For example, in ''[[Maple Story]]'', Z is the letter for picking up items.

* An infamous example is the [[Game Cube]] release of ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] Anniversary Collection'', a compilation of ten classic games from the ''Mega Man'' series, all of which had the jump and shoot button positions switched from their original release.

** Similarly, ''X'' has the dash button in the same place as ''ZX'''s OIS System.

* Any number of JAMMA platform games, where you have a button for jump and one for fire. Swapping between the two control layouts is frustrating.

* Try swapping between ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' and ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' games without tinkering with the controls. It'll cost you a fair amount of ''Ratchet'' ammo, because you'll be using the ''Jak'' punch button to shoot, and you'll crouch every time you try to fire with R1 if you're up to ''Jak II''.

** Even within the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' games. The later ones had optional, or sometimes default, lock-strafe mode. Then you go back to the first one, and that option no longer exists.

*** So do yourself a favor—either put some time between each of these games, or don't play the 'Cube version of ''BG&E'' if you've been playing ''SFA,'' or else your fingers will hate you.

** Many cross-platform platformers are this. A classic example would be the the movie tie-in game ''[[The Lion King (Video Game)|The Lion King]]''. On the Genesis, Roar is mapped to the A button, which is the leftmost button on the controller. Jump is mapped to C which is the rightmost button. On the SNES, Roar is also mapped to A... which happens to be the rightmost button instead. And there is no C- jump is mapped to B instead. On the Genesis, B performs a paw swipe, which is mapped to Y (which so happens to be the leftmost button on an SNES controller) on an SNES. Switching from one platform to another [[Hilarity Ensues|results in hilarity]], and perhaps copious amounts of the name of this trope being dropped. And you're ''completely'' messed over if you're playing the PC version with a keyboard. Yes, the controls can be reconfigured (and in the PC's case, a Gravis 4-button pad can be added, which makes the control no different from the SNES version instead), but most people jump straight into the game, thinking "I can handle change!", only to have this trope served to them.

* When underwater in ''[[The Legendary Starfy]]'', Y is spin and B is dash, but when out of water, Y is both spin and dash, while B is jump.

* ''[[Maze of Galious]]'' and ''[[Castlevania|Vampire Killer]]'' on the [[MSX]] used up to jump (and climb ladders/stairs), which might surprise players used to consoles like the NES; indeed, the NES counterparts of those two games used A to jump.

 

=== Rhythm ===

* The version of "The Spirit of Radio" in ''Guitar Hero 5'' is in a different key than the album version. Lots of luck singing it right the first time.

* ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' and ''[[Pump It Up]]'' are two [[Rhythm Game]]s which are played by stepping in arrows, but the disposition and quantity of arrows in each one for songs of seemingly similar levels can be very different. And ''[[Pump It Up]]'' introduces mines and hand plays much earlier.

** Making things even worse, sometimes a song is used on multiple games between different game series. These songs can be essentially the same but have drastically different steps. Sometimes this happens even with the same song in a series as the company "tinkers" with the song steps to make things harder or easier. Orion.78, for example, has totally different timing in later ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' games than it did in earlier versions.

* ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' in particular has multiple menu control schemes for different platforms. For examples:

* Auditory example in DS [[Rhythm Game]] ''[[Rhythm Heaven]]''. Some songs feature [[Suspiciously Similar Song]] versions of real life songs - specifically, Shoot 'Em Up is ''[[Hotel California]]'', Frog Hop is ''I Feel Good'' (more noticeable in the sax arrangement from tier 7) - which screws up people who automatically try and follow ''those'' songs, instead of the actual beat.

** Similarly, in ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'', one of the levels is the song "Rock This Town". What can catch a player off-guard is that it's [[Cover Version|based on]] the Brian Setzer Orchestra version of the song, ''not'' the original Stray Cats version. The two have similar rhythms, [[Captain Obvious|being the same song]], but the former is swing and the latter is rock, making them ''just'' different enough to wreck you if you get confused.

 

=== Racing ===

** Try this: Play ''[[Mario Kart]] Wii'' with a [[Game Cube]] controller. Once you're used to it, play ''[[Mario Kart]] Double Dash'' with a [[Game Cube]] controller, or vice versa. "[[Hilarity Ensues|Hey, I wanted to look behind! I'm sure I pulled a stunt off that ramp... What happened to the mini-turbo?]]" are but a few of the questions you'll ask yourself.

*** Somewhat lesser known is that if you press down on the D-Pad on the 3DS version, you switch to "tilt" mode where you turn the 3DS to steer. Simple enough but the Trick command is still mapped to the shoulder Jump button - in ''[[Mario Kart]] Wii'' you jerked the Wii Remote up to do the same thing. Wheel Users in Wii found their 3DS screens flying off if they do this too much with their more fragile handheld.

* An example within a game: ''[[Track Mania]] United Forever'' has 7 environments with 7 cars with ''completely'' different handling. Most ''Trackmania'' servers have a playlist of tracks on all environments in random order. Going from Desert to Stadium or from Snow to Bay ''will'' cause you to overshoot the first turn. Going from Coast (100 kph average speed) to Island (many tracks are pegged at 999 kph all the way) is worse.

** [[It Gets Worse]]: today there exist hex edited tracks that have the cars from one environment in another environment, and even if you get the speed intuitively right, the ''gravity'' is different between car types. Cue repeatedly faceplanting the landing ramp of 'easy' jumps with a Snow car in Stadium because it dropped like a brick - before the server switches over to another Stadium track, this time featuring the Coast car and its moon gravity.

** In ''ADOM'', all equipment management is done on the [i]nventory screen. In Nethack, you have to [W]ear and [T]ake off armor, [P]ut on and [R]emove jewelry, and [w]ield weapons. But in, ADOM, T changes tactics, P, W, and R display different kinds of statistics, and w turns a subsequent move into a long walk.

** Perhaps the worst: In Nethack, you can to [Q]uiver your missiles to make shooting them easier...but in ADOM, Q is Quit.

* A few RPGs between the late 90's, early 2000, decided to be different and totally screw up the button mapping for no real reason. Examples:

** ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'''s default mapping was as follows: X - Accept, O - Menu, Triangle - Cancel/Run. Funny when it's predecessor used the Japanese default controls and the successor used the US default controls.

** Gaining the ability to (for [[Xbox 360]]) press A to counterattack after training your thumb to press B to block for over two-thirds of the game can be frustrating.

* The original ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' default controls used 1 to select everyone, 2 for infantry, 3 for archers", 4 for cavalry and 5 for "Others", i.e. those who aren't selected at that moment. The expansions added depth and changed the tactical interface, and thus, the controls: 1 is to selct Group 1 (normally, infantry), 2 for Group 2 (archers), 3 for Group 3 (cavalry), etc., with 4-9 being customizable groups, which means that when you would have wanted your archers to hold ground while cavalry and infantry charged, your archers and an empty group are charging, your cavalry is holding ground and your infantry is given no new orders. Of course, it is editable, but still.

* Play any modern first person games, then go back in time to [[Ultima Underworld]]. W is run forward, A is turn left, D is turn right, so far so good. S is ''walk'' forward, X is walk backward, E and Q are fly up and down, and ''J'' is Jump. Conventions hadn't really solidified yet at the point that this was released, and now it can be really difficult to get the hang of.

* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' has a couple, one with a contemporary game, one with a later game on a different system:

=== First-Person Shooters ===

* The vast majority of shooters on the Xbox 360 use either X or the right bumper to reload. While this makes switching between [[Gears of War]]/Halo and [[Call of Duty]] minorly irritating, it doesn't compare with the handful of games ([[Red Dead Redemption]], [[Left 4 Dead]]) that insist on making ''B'' the reload button. Worse yet, the games that use B typically lack a control scheme option that puts reload on X or RB.

* A particularly infuriating example is ''[[BioShock (series)]] 2''; in the first game, when dealing with one of the game's Little Sisters you could choose to either save (for a good ending) or harvest (for a bad ending) her, which was done by hitting one of two buttons. The feature returns in the sequel, but for an inexplicable reason, the buttons are switched...

** The [[BioShock (series)]] series in general uses a completely reversed control scheme compared to 90% of other console shooters. The use button and jump button and swapped, etc.

* The 3rd Person Shooter ''[[Dirge of Cerberus]]'' decided to invert the camera control. When you push the right joystick right, the camera pans left and you get a view of the right, this is the exact opposite of the majority of TPS and is one of the main complaints of the game.

* NES [[Shoot'Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]] ''Sky Shark'' and ''1943''. The former uses B for bomb and A for fire, and the latter flips them around.

* ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield]]'' is rife with this.

** ''Battlefield 1942'', ''Battlefield: Vietnam'', and ''Battlefield 2'' have the parachute on a separate key from jump. ''Battlefield 2142'' onward merge jump and parachute into one bind.

* ''Bodycount'': R1/RB is throw grenade. L1/LB is lay mines. Melee isn't R3 like pretty much every other current FPS, it's O/B. R3 is Crouch.

* ''[[Fur Fighters]]'': the [[PlayStation 2]] version had a control scheme that flew in the face of most if not all other shooters on the platform.

* In ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'', the B / Circle button is the hand-to-hand takedown button. The problem is that it is also the "Back out of a conversation" button in nearly every other game in existence. So, a common occurrence is for a player to totalk to an NPC they didn't intend to, hit B to back out, and wind up accidentally cold-cocking the poor sap.

* ''[[Call of Duty]]: World at War'''s tank controls. In the earlier games, the tank controlled like, well, a tank (strafe keys turned the tank's body, turret would turn with the body). In ''World at War'', the tank controls were overhauled to work more like the on-foot controls (strafe only turns the tank until the body faces the direction you're holding, at which point it moves forward, and the turret stays oriented where you're aiming regardless of what direction you drive).

* Most RTS games have a technique that lets you save a selected group of units with Ctrl-1 (etc.) and then just hit 1 to call them up again. ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' had this, except that you have to hit ''Alt''-1 to call them up again, which is an awkward and scarcely used combination. So many people complained about pressing numbers out of habit and getting nothing that Cavedog changed it in the last patch before the company went bust.

** ''TA'' uses Left Mouse Button= Move, attack, reclaim, what have you. Right Mouse Button= Deselect current unit or group. ''[[Spring]]'', the 3D remake, reverses this.

* Compare trying to make units do something in ''Starcraft/Warcraft'' and ''Age of Empires'' to accidentally deselecting them in ''C&C Red Alert 2''—the left mouse button and right mouse button got switched.

* The changes between ''[[Homeworld]]'' and ''Homeworld 2'' can be very irritating. ''Homeworld'' uses the left mouse button for selection and actions. ''Homeworld 2'' uses left for selection and right for commands. It's also frustrating to forget that you can't pan in ''Homeworld'', where you could in ''Homeworld 2''.

** Not to mention starting to play ''Homeworld 1'' after being used to ''2''. In the second game, the "S" key orders your currently selected ships to stop, while Shift+Ctrl+X orders them to scuttle (instantly destroying the selected ships). In the first game, the S key..... issues a scuttle order. Cue my entire combat fleet self-destructing during mission 1. [[Captain Obvious|Not good.]]

* In Japan, the standard for Playstation game menus is O to select or confirm, and X to go back or cancel. In North America, the standard is X for select/confirm and O (or triangle in older games) for back/cancel. Even some games like ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'' got released here with the menu scheme. Makes sense when these symbols have a meaning in Japanese culture. O (maru) means yes and X (batsu) means no.

** Just try to play Japanese version of ''any'' Playstation game, and then switch to English version of exact same game. You'll be screwed.

** A particularly good example is ''[[Free Space]] 2'', specifically the fan-built Source Code Project engine upgrade. One release implemented Newtonian physics as an option, essentially just to prove they could (It's since been used by a couple of mods). Switching this on in the main campaign would result in hilarity, as the AI pilots no longer had any idea how to fly their ships.

* Switching between ''[[Animal Crossing]]: Wild World'' and the DS game ''Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times'' can cause some serious awkwardness in the [[An Interior Designer Is You]] segments. In ''[[Animal Crossing]],'' the A button moves and flips furniture, as well as activates certain items. Others (like chairs and beds) can be used simply by walking into them. The B button picks up furniture. In ''Magician's Quest,'' though, the A button ''picks up'' furniture, while the B button is the one used to move and flip it. To make it more confusing, the Y button is used to activate it (such as opening dressers), ''and'' to sit in chairs or lie down on beds.

** Not to mention the trouble switching from GBA to the DS Phat layout. On the GBA, you can mash the D-Pad's "Up" button with wild abandon (tends to be when walking/running somewhere in a game). Move your finger a little too high on the DS Phat, and congratulations! You've just shut your DS off! (often times, without saving what you just did). At least this is rectified on the DS Lite model, where the Power button is now conveniently moved to the side as a switch instead.

** Note, however, that third-party titles tend to avert this, as their developers are either clearly fans of the old SNES B/Y style, have options to remap your controls, or both; such as the DS [[Castlevania]]s or the ''[[Mega Man ZX]]'' games.

* The Looking Glass Studios sneak-em-up games ''[[Thief]]: The Dark Project'' and its sequel ''The Metal Age'' allowed the player to save their key bindings under a specific name. It also came with several popular sets already pre-installed. These had names such as "[[Quake]]" and "[[Half Life]]", mimicking the controls in those games.

* ''Any'' PC game that assigned particular meanings to CTRL and ALT (such as many FPS including ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]'' and ''[[Doom]]'' using them for "fire" and "strafe") was subject to this when the "Windows" key first appeared between CTRL and ALT on new keyboards. Depending on what OS you were running, accidentally hitting the Windows key instead of CTRL or ALT would at best do nothing, and at worst switch you out of the game entirely (such as when running a DOS-based game under Windows 95).

** ''Tetris: The Grand Master 4'' is slated to replace the third rotation button, used by some players to achieve a quick 180-degree rotation, with an instant autoshift button. [[This Is Gonna Suck]].

* Shooting games, notably [[First-Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]], tend to mush up button assignments for commonly used actions.

** Similarly, grenades and secondary firing.

** As a video game specific example, the ''[[Uncharted]]'' series uses the R2 button to reload. Most [[First-Person Shooter|First Person Shooters]] use Square.

* Bullet-Proof Software's version of ''[[Tetris]]'' for the Famicom used the down button to rotate (counterclockwise rotation only, of course). A dubious choice, even considering that this was the first console version of ''Tetris'' ever.

* ''[[Bomberman]]'' usually isn't too bad with this, but try going from ''Bomberman 64'' or ''The Second Attack!'', where double-tapping A drops a bomb and then Bomb Kicks it from a stationary position, without having to move off of the bomb and back into it, to ''Saturn Bomberman'' or ''Bomberman Generation'''s Battle Mode, where that does Line Bomb instead! (And speaking of ''Saturn Bomberman'', all control configurations use C as the bomb button, not A.)

 

 

 

=== Automobiles ===

* Driving different cars may take some time to get used to. For example, driving a car with a brake pedal where the stopping power isn't as gradual, then driving a car where the stopping power is. Even after driving the first car for an hour or so, you may stop the second car with more push on the brakes than necessary.

* Buy a little sportscar after years of older, larger sedans and get ready for a month of close calls as the freakin' car changes lanes by itself every time you reach for the radio or look in the side mirror. Then, once you get used to the near-telepathic steering, rent a large U-Haul truck... more close calls as the behemoth stolidly insists on boring straight ahead into walls, fences, and the less-attentive children.

 

=== Computers ===

** If Enter is in an upside down (inverted) L shape, [| \] is a square key to the right of the [" '] key and under [{ [] and [[} ]].

** If Enter is in a backwards L shape, [| \] is a square key to the left of Backspace, shrinking it.

** Some IBM compatible keyboards from the late 80's had ''vertical'' ENTER keys.

* Speaking of the [| \] key, some keyboards have an extra [| \] key just to the left of the Z key, which unfortunately takes up half of where the left Shift key should be. As if one [| \] key wasn't enough. \try hitting the left \shift key on those keyboards and not accidentally typing like that.

* And of course there is the original QWERTY design itself. It was designed by Christopher Sholes for the explicit reason of keeping people from typing too fast. Keys next to one another, if pressed together in succession, would jam together. This was solved by placing common letter pairs (such as "SH" or "TH" and separating them on the keyboard. This also had the side effect of slowing typists who were unfamiliar with the keyboard layout, also helping to hide the problem until better mechanisms were introduced.

* Some smart phones rearrange buttons slightly on different iterations. While the QWERTY layout was the same on both the Samsung Blackjack II and the later iteration, the Jack, which ones did which symbols when the Function key is hit changed. Most annoying when you're trying to unlock your phone (which requires hitting S on the Blackjack II, but Z on the Jack).

* Some keyboard layouts group the F keys in sets of three instead of the usual four. This is usually an issue with those that use the F keys constantly and go by feel of the grouping. For example, accidentally pressing the F3 key when meaning F4 (because it's at the end of the first grouping), or F4 when meaning F5 (at the beginning of the second grouping).

* Perhaps the most horrendous problems is going from mechanical typewriter to electronic or, worse, straight to PC. It is entirely possible to hurt you finger by both thinking that keys on the upper lines should be substantially higher than those on the bottom lines combined with the force you would automatically hit the mechanical key with.

* On versions of Windows with different languages for default the keyboard shortcuts are different. It's not uncommon to press Ctrl+A repeatedly trying to select all with no results, only to realize that in Portuguese "All" is "Tudo" and the shortcut is Ctrl+T.

* On Linux, and other Unix-like operating systems, Ctrl-D at a shell prompt will generally cause the shell to log out (generally closing the window if you're using a terminal emulator, or returning to a login prompt on a virtual console or serial line). On Windows, Ctrl-D at a command prompt just prints ^D.

* Also, if you've gotten addicted to mouse gestures in Opera, using other browsers can invoke this trope.

* This troper is right-handed, but runs a mouse left-handed to free the more-dextrous hand for writing and numeric entry. After seven years of this, using a co-worker's computer is maddening! One can't rearrange others' workstations for a ten-minute operation, but it's like trying to throw a baseball left-handed while aiming in a mirror.

 

=== Internet, software, and related ===

* The MediaWiki software used on [[Wikipedia]] and Wikia inherited much of [[wikipedia:Help:Wiki markup|its markup]] from [http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?TextFormattingRules the markup] used on the UseMod wiki software, which is used on MeatballWiki and was used in the early years of Wikipedia. MediaWiki eventually became so all-pervasive that many editors automatically start using its formatting tags on Wikis using non-standard software... like [[TV Tropes]]. And we have [[Wikipedia Syntaxer|a trope for that]].

** And of course it works the other way around, if you've spent enough time on here.

** Then go the forums: Most forums use [[BB Code]], while the TV Tropes forum uses wiki markup.

* An ancient example: in the 80s, the prominent word processor was WordStar, which defined several standard controls that the present Windows editing controls are based on, such as WASD. Their scheme was based on control+ letter for functions, and interestingly was written before cursor arrows became prominent on keyboards. Then in the late 80s / early 90s, the up-and-coming text editor was WordPerfect. WP took advantage of the rapidly expanding computer market to push their own standard instead of supporting existing ones. The result is that anyone familiar with WS is completely incapable of handling WP, and vice versa. F1 for help? Nope, that's F3. ^Q for quit? No, better try F7. And so on and so forth. The scheme relies on control/alt/shift+ F1-F10 for literally everything. About a decade later, Microsoft pulled the same trick with expanding markets to push the Word standard, but at least that one is comprehensible to a novice.

** Moreover, the default output for the commands is different. "ls" generally gives a list of just filenames in as many same-width columns as will fit onscreen, while "dir" puts one file on each line with detailed information like last-modified date and file size. You need to add an extra option--"dir /w" or "ls -l"—to get the version for the other system.

* Also, in Microsoft Word (or the Office software group), sometimes people may find that the text to the right of their cursor suddenly gets eaten up by whatever they're typing next. This is because the Overtype mode often comes on without them knowing they accidentally hit the Insert key, which is right next to the Backspace key. Good thing at least one keyboard type doesn't have an Insert key (except for zero when Num Lock is off).

* Anyone that has ever got used to vim surely has filled lots of files opened in other editors with "jjjjjjjjjjjjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkk" trying to scroll down.

** Another sign that you're a vim user is typing either ":wq" or "ZZ" at the end of documents opened in other editors. (Both those keystroke sequences are ways to save-and-quit in vim).

** And for those gVim users out there? Don't get too used to using Ctrl+s to save your files, even though gvim gives you the option. Because one day, you'll be working in regular vim in a PuTTY session and you'll hit Ctrl+s to save all those awesome changes you've just made, and...[[Stock Scream|AUUUUUUGH]]! {{spoiler|Fortunately, Ctrl+q can get you out of that jam.}}

* Speaking of scroll bars: Windows has up and down buttons on each end of the scroll bar. Mac has both button at the bottom end of the bar. It's a good thing that in both cases, the bar itself can be dragged, and users can still click past the bar for a page up/down effect.

** Another example of a scrollbar is provided by Google Wave, where the arrows are located on the upper and the lower end of the bar. Clicking these will achieve a a page up/down effect indeed, instead of skipping lines. Moreover, you can't operate this thing carefully, because there is no line on which it would move, so you can't click past the bar. By dragging it, the scrolling delays until the shadow of the bar (?) catches up with the body of the bar, completely disorienting the user. You will end up dragging it randomly and ending up at the right place in the wave with a great deal of luck - the effect is simply ridiculous.

** There are times in which pressing the down arrow on a scroll bar does nothing, and the reader is expected to press up to scroll down and push the content up, and vice versa.

* From Windows 95 to XP, choosing "Shut Down" or "Turn Off" from the Start menu would take you to a confirmation screen where you can choose to shut down, reboot, or cancel. In Windows Vista, the default button was changed to "Hibernate" (which looked like XP's "Shut Down" button but yellow), forcing you to open an extra menu to shut down without hibernating.

** Windows 7 changed the default to Shut Down, this time with a written label instead of the universal power symbol. And, unlike Vista, the action you set for the button ''does not appear in the menu.'' It also removed the separate lock button.

* [[Homestar Runner]] once had a link to the [[The Merch|Store]] to the front page of its website. The "Watch Intro" button was where "Come On In" was for over 5 years.

* When you open or save a file in some programmes, there is a sidebar with a number of default folder options; however, what exactly those options are and where can differ based on the application and operating system. Compare, say, Microsoft Word 2000's to Adobe Photoshop CS3's.

* With an earlier version of the FanFiction.Net website, clicking a button at the bottom-left of a page allowed you, by default, to post a review. A newer version moved the review button to the bottom-centre of the page, while the default setting for the button at the bottom-left adds the currently-being-read story to favourites. You can see how a veteran used to the older version of the website might trip over it.

** Likewise, switching from a MUD to IRC results in lots of sentences starting with the word "say"

** Chat functions in video games. Enter-message-enter is a common one, but you may also find space-message-enter and one particular game had T-message-T.

* Some browsers let you type a Google search string into the address bar, others have their own bar for this and produce an error if you don't put an url into the address bar. Gnarfbl.

* 3d Software is absolutely awful for this. There are at least a few programs which could be considered industry standard so just learning how to operate in ''only'' one is limiting. Given the time projects take and how many shortcut keys are needed this is ''extremely'' confusing. Plus since you probably use the same shortcut 100 times in an hour, enjoy going to other programs. There's been so many times I tried Alt + Click which is the pan camera control in Maya while using Photoshop only to bring up the eyedropper tool.

* The menu bar shared by various branches of Google is inexplicably different on Google Groups, with the link back to the regular Web search jumping from the far left to the middle (and ''vanishing completely'' when viewing Groups search results.) The other links are also randomly jumbled.

* Ever made a forum post only to find a garbled mess of the wrong-shaped brackets staring you in the face? Exacerbated by the fact that HTML and [[BB Code]] use a lot of the same tags, but ''those brackets''...

* As of March 2011, when responding to posts on [[Facebook]], hitting the Enter key will complete your post, rather than line break (in which case you have to hit Shift+Enter).

* In Windows 95 to Vista, the "Show Desktop" button, which minimizes all windows, is an optional part of the Quick Launch toolbar, found on the lower-left corner of the screen next to the Start menu. On Windows 7, this button is fixed to the far lower-right, next to the date and time, and it's not even labeled. Once you start using it on one OS, juts try going to the other.

* So many sites have the top level domain ".com" that going to a site with a different one like ".org" or ".net" (including this one) can be annoying (unless you have it bookmarked).

* The Eclipse development environment has quite a few completely non-standard keyboard shortcuts. Want to search for the next occurrence of something you've already found? Nope, not Ctrl+G, the most common shortcut for that function in text editors. It's not F3, either, which is a common alternative in Windows apps. Nope, the shortcut to do that in Eclipse is Ctrl+K!

 

=== Music ===

**** Unless the Blu-ray disk uses Java and has gotten creative with the buttons...

** This is especially when you switch from watching movies on DVD or Blu-ray on your Playstation 3. The menu and control configuration is different on almost all buttons.

* The standard TiVo remote control and the DirectTV-branded version are identical in all respects other than markings—and the placement of two buttons. One of them turns your TV off.

* Not to mention most modern TV's no longer have buttons lined up on the front of the set, but rather a cluster of them on the side of the TV instead. This is supposedly for aesthetic reasons. Apparently the designers forgot the first rule of engineering and design: design for ease of use, not because it looks nice. Which is why you don't let artists design electronics or any home appliance for that matter.

** When the batteries on your remote have expired, you'll still point it at the screen and push buttons for a good ten seconds before realizing that swearing at the set (or [[Percussive Maintenance|smashing the remote against the wall]], for that matter) is not going to work, at which point you remember that you need to change the batteries.

 

* Any RC modellers will experience this at least once. On an RC controller, left stick Y-axis is throttle, while X-axis is yaw. Right stick is roll/pitch on X/Y-axis, respectively. Enter the Playstation. ''Left'' stick is pitch/roll, and throttle/yaw are usually relegated to the shoulder triggers. This is especially detrimental when attempting to hover RC helicopters - which is far more difficult than flying at any speed in any direction, for those that have not tried it.

** The preferred/default stick layout also can vary between regions, with the above example layout (called mode 2) being common in North America, while European modelers will more commonly know mode 1 (left stick is yaw/pitch, right is roll/throttle). Other modes also exist. Add to that wildly inconsistent programming interfaces (even among the same manufacturer) and different styles of auxiliary switch arrangements.

** Or when visiting someone who does not have a DVR-equipped TV set, confusedly mashing the fast-forward and rewind buttons to no avail.

* On a similar note, watching a VHS tape when you're used to DVD controls. DVD players allow changing the speed of rewind and fast-forward by tapping the button again, and you press Play to return to normal speed. Some VCRs have the same feature, especially if a tape is recorded in long play mode. But other VCRs just take you out of rewind or fast forward when you press the button again; you have to ''hold'' the button to make it go faster.

* Any txt-oholics who change phone brands suffer from this. Manufacturers sure like to use completely different keys for commands like "space". This happens especially with dumbphones but can also happen when Apple or Google rearranges the on-screen keys in an operating system update.

* Trained martial artists have gotten seriously hurt against knife-users because of reflexively trying to block the blade, which is [[Barehanded Blade Block|impossible for normal humans]]. It's slightly better if you were taught to parry at the wrist than outright block, but still no guarantee.

* Spend all of your time drawing on a tablet. Switch to pencil and paper. Wonder why Ctrl+Z does nothing.

** Alternatively: Try and move your pencil over your sketchbook (or worse, your tablet!) in order to move the cursor on your computer. Again, wonder why it does nothing.

* One this Troper discovered from her time cosplaying: Going from Chest Binding to Corsets during costume changes. See, the problem is how you breathe: with binding, the top half of your torso is constricted, so you find that the only way you can breathe is through your stomach (i.e. you puff out your belly to breathe) However, anyone who has worn a corset knows that it mostly constricts the lower half of you torso, and so you breath through your chest. Doing a quick swap between can lead to several moments of absolute panic as you stand around unable to understand why you can't breathe before you realise you're doing it wrong...

* Men's bathrooms in countries such as Britain and Germany use timed flush urinals instead of manual flush, where all the (handle-less) urinals are connected to one slowly refilling tank of water that eventually flushes all of them every few minutes. This can be very wasteful, but men in those countries are so used to the timed flush system that attempts to switch have failed since they forget to flush.

* Attempting to use the car radio's volume control to make human passengers louder.

* Completely losing your balance on non-moving escalators. Moving ones are fine. Stairs are fine. Escalators that ought to be moving but aren't are confusing.

 

== In-Universe Examples ==

=== Web Original ===

* [[MediaWiki]], see those buttons at the top of the page and the links down the side? Sometimes, during a site update, they get rearranged. Then you find yourself adding something to your watchlist when you want to see a trope's edit history.

* [http://www.mangafox.com/ Manga Fox] for some reason switched places of Bookmark and Forum. So most of the times when trying to see if the manga you read has updated, you will accidentally send yourself to the forum.