”That’s not how you hold an N64 controller!” say commenters, but maybe they need a history lesson.

Cosplay is usually about dressing up as a specific fictional character, often the hero of a magical or science fiction adventure. Recently, though, Japanese cosplay model Aya Kirima (@Ank54Ayamelo on Twitter) wanted to provide a more realistic, down-to-earth fantasy: hanging out at home with a cute girl who’s super into video games.

So Kirima grabbed a controller and hopped atop a comfy bed while wearing a cozy, baggy T-shirt…and not much of anything else.

https://twitter.com/Ank54Ayamelo/status/1214531378353594369

In this case, it’s pretty safe to say Kirima didn’t expect her outfit to be what was going to get most of the attention, and yes, the majority of commenters have had their eyes pulled to her uncovered flesh. However, it’s not her legs that they’re talking about, but her hands, with most people chiming in to talk about the way she’s holding the video game controller and their reactions including:

“My eyes skipped right past your thighs, and went straight to how you’re holding the 64 controller.”
“The way you’re holding the controller is wrong. You get -64646464 points.”
“That’s not how you’re supposed to hold the 64 controller.”
“<big sigh> You don’t know how to hold the 64 controller.”

If you’re a young person whose parents and teachers have been derelict in their duty of providing you with a proper understanding of modern history, and all the numeric hints didn’t tip you off, that’s a Nintendo 64 controller Kirima has in her hands. The controller has a three-pronged design, and Kirima has her left hand wrapped around the left prong, and her right one around the right. However, the vast majority of Nintendo 64 games were instead meant to be played with the user’s left hand on the center prong, and the left prong ungripped.

▼ This allows the left thumb to manipulate the center-mounted analog stick instead of the cross-shaped digital directional pad, since analog control was much more useful for polygonal 3-D games, which had become the industry standard by the time of the system’s release.

In Kirima’s defense, she says she didn’t grow up with the Nintendo 64, and the system, which launched in 1996, was the first major, modern video game console to come bundled with an analog controller. Even a lot of then-gamers couldn’t tell how to hold it at first glance, and there were multiple possibilities, which Nintendo went so far as to provide illustrated examples of at the time.

But looking at Nintendo’s explanation, Kirima’s grip is actually accounted for too, referred to as the “Famicom [NES] position,” since it allows for use of the digital pad and face buttons, the same class of inputs as Nintendo’s original 8-bit controllers. A handful of commenters also popped into the thread to mention that some Nintendo 64 games, such as entries in the Pokémon, Kirby, and Powerful Pro Baseball franchises, were indeed best played using the Famicom grip.

▼ Kirima, engaging in a little Santacos Christmas cosplay.

It’s also worth noting that Nintendo immediately dropped the three-prong style when designing the controller for the Nintendo 64’s successor, the Gamecube, and no other major console ever adopted it either, due to its awkward, unintuitive operation.

Source: Twitter/@Ank54Ayamelo, Hachima Kiko
Top image: Wikipedia/Evan-Amos
Insert image: Wikipedia/Evan-Amos
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Casey has neither a Nintendo 64 controller nor particularly shapely thighs, but you can follow him on Twitter anyway.