There are two theories as to the origination of the inverted Y default. First, the standard in aeronautics has always been inverted Y controls, this carried ove

There are two theories as to the origination of the inverted Y default. First, the standard in aeronautics has always been inverted Y controls, this carried over into flight simulators and games like Wing Commander. For FPS specifically, I have always supported the theory that with the massive popularity of N64 007 Goldeneye amongst a large segment of the game playing and development community during the later half of the ‘90s is responsible. Goldeneye was inverted Y by default and a large group of gamers and devs got there first exposure to FPS via N64 multiplayer Goldeneye.