A games controller is everything. It's the interface between the player and the game, and - arguably - the most iconic hardware element of any console. It's telling that Nintendo has kept that classic d-pad design, and the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 joypads are direct evolutionary descendants of the original Xbox and PlayStation controllers.
And yet... when a controller goes wrong, it can go very wrong. and not even the big boys and girls of the games industry always get it right. Here are 10 big name controllers which really should've been better.
Prepare your sacred cows for a battering!
And yet... when a controller goes wrong, it can go very wrong. and not even the big boys and girls of the games industry always get it right. Here are 10 big name controllers which really should've been better.
Prepare your sacred cows for a battering!
AMIGA CD32
Have you ever noticed that most joypads - most good joypads - sort of arc downwards towards your wrist, so that your palm can get some degree of purchase on them?
Not so the Amiga CD32 pad, which - like most things to do with the CD32 - seemed designed to be as off-putting as possible. Truly, everything about the CD32 was misguided, but the "reverse boomerang" styling, spongy, diagonal movement-scuppering, disc thumbpad and flimsy buttons of its controller simply heaped additional and unnecessary insult upon a great deal of injury.
Ironically, it curved upwards in direct opposition to the corners of the player's mouth.
Not so the Amiga CD32 pad, which - like most things to do with the CD32 - seemed designed to be as off-putting as possible. Truly, everything about the CD32 was misguided, but the "reverse boomerang" styling, spongy, diagonal movement-scuppering, disc thumbpad and flimsy buttons of its controller simply heaped additional and unnecessary insult upon a great deal of injury.
Ironically, it curved upwards in direct opposition to the corners of the player's mouth.
ATARI JAGUAR
In all honesty, in terms of sitting comfortably in your hand, the Jaguar controller isn't quite as bad as its reputation suggests. Nevertheless, the superfluous keypad, and the flushness of the d-pad and buttons to their housing, made it look utterly ridiculous, like Atari's designers were floundering around looking for any fleck of inspiration. They settled for a more is more approach, akin to releasing a new type of stetson which had loads of little stetsons hanging from it like a corks on a bushman's hat.
It wasn't the worst idea in theory; Atari's reasoning was that all the extra buttons would allow for more complex, PC-like games, but the company learned to its regret that people don't buy consoles to play PC-like games.
Yes, controllers were arriving with more and more buttons - but mostly those buttons were arranged in such a way that they were easy to reach with your thumb or forefinger. The Jaguar only had three of those, and required you to briefly relinquish control so that you could press one of the keypad keys.
Still it was great for all those Jaguar telephone 'em ups.
It wasn't the worst idea in theory; Atari's reasoning was that all the extra buttons would allow for more complex, PC-like games, but the company learned to its regret that people don't buy consoles to play PC-like games.
Yes, controllers were arriving with more and more buttons - but mostly those buttons were arranged in such a way that they were easy to reach with your thumb or forefinger. The Jaguar only had three of those, and required you to briefly relinquish control so that you could press one of the keypad keys.
Still it was great for all those Jaguar telephone 'em ups.
SEGA SATURN 3D CONTROLLER
Sega wanted everyone to buy into its 3D worlds, and to encourage them to do so the company released its answer to the N64's analogue stick in the shape of the 3D Controller (technically, actually releasing about a month before the N64). It was, for some inexplicable reason, a massive, circular thing - the gamepad equivalent of a goitre - which made accessing any of the controls something of a chore for anybody with small hands or "wrist malady".
PHILIPS CD-i
Philips' CD-i didn't really know what it was; a multimedia player? A games console? Some sort of proto-DVD player?
Appropriately, its controller didn't know what it was either. Though looking rather similar to many modern smart-TV remotes, the CD-i controller was also the default method of playing games, yet was entirely unsuited to functioning as anything other than a sort of impractical, flimsy, ill-responsive, mouse, pointer thing.
Philips released other, supposedly improved, controllers for its machine - including a more traditional gamepad - but they all tried to fix the issues with the original by adding more issues of their own.
Appropriately, its controller didn't know what it was either. Though looking rather similar to many modern smart-TV remotes, the CD-i controller was also the default method of playing games, yet was entirely unsuited to functioning as anything other than a sort of impractical, flimsy, ill-responsive, mouse, pointer thing.
Philips released other, supposedly improved, controllers for its machine - including a more traditional gamepad - but they all tried to fix the issues with the original by adding more issues of their own.
SEGA MASTER SYSTEM CONTROL STICK
Uh... so Sega's Control Stick, released for the Master System, was supposedly meant to make game control more precise. In reality, the right-handed configuration and monstrously chunky, oversized, joystick, did the exact opposite.
"Do you know what our new car needs so that driving is more precise? A MASSIVE STEERING WHEEL."
"Do you know what our new car needs so that driving is more precise? A MASSIVE STEERING WHEEL."
XBOX "DUKE"
Nicknamed "The Duke" (after the son of Xbox project manager Brett Schnepf, whoever that is - I'd have gone with The Fat Controller), the original Xbox pad wasn't an unmitigated failure, but its bulky dimensions contributed to a general feeling of clunkiness. Also, I always found my hand tended to slip when using it. But then, I am very sweaty.
ATARI 2600 JOYSTICK
Look, I know it's a design classic; simple, stylish, iconic and all that. Nevertheless, have you used an Atari 2600 controller recently? The thing feels like it has rigor mortis, it hurts your hand after any length of time, and how exactly are you meant to hold it anyway? Cradling it in one hand and moving the stick with the other doesn't work. Putting it on a surface just makes it slide around.
The first and only joystick which succeeded in not only giving you arthritis, but also made it feel like you already had arthritis.
The first and only joystick which succeeded in not only giving you arthritis, but also made it feel like you already had arthritis.
SONY DUALSHOCK 2
I didn't like the Dualshock, but had hoped that Sony would've at least learned some lessons by the time it released the PlayStation 2. Not so. The Dualshock 2 was essentially the same as its predecessor - with the same poorly positioned analogue sticks, and grips which never seemed quite long enough to get a hold on. Amazingly, it wasn't really until the PS4 that Sony managed to marry its Dualshock aesthetic with being an actual usuable controller.
Alright, it was usable, but only while harbouring an inescapable feeling that it could've been so much better.
Alright, it was usable, but only while harbouring an inescapable feeling that it could've been so much better.
NINTENDO 64
Yeah, bite me. I despise the N64 controller. Nintendo's design team was instructed to develop a controller which broke the mould, and they certainly succeeded, by designing something which was both uncomfortable to use, and also instilled a nagging sense of wrongness in anybody holding it, like sitting in a room where one of the paintings is slightly askew.
That flimsy analogue stick lacks feedback, most of the buttons were superfluous, you needed a third hand to be able to use it properly, and the only thing in its favour was that the Gamecube controller might've been even worse.
That flimsy analogue stick lacks feedback, most of the buttons were superfluous, you needed a third hand to be able to use it properly, and the only thing in its favour was that the Gamecube controller might've been even worse.
NES GAMEPAD
I know it has been hugely influential, but using the NES gamepad for any extended length of time will prove punishing on all but the most leathery of palms. The sharp corners of the controller housing itself, and the angles of the d-pad, will - after an hour or so - make it feel like you're the cheese-grater player in a sado-masochistic skiffle band.
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