There have been many different ways to play video games on a console (and sometimes on a PC) over the years. Some have been better than others.
How do you find out that? For starters, I think you need to distance them from the console they were a part of. The original PlayStation controller wasn’t as sexy as the console marketing. And just because the NES is the starting point for many people with a lifetime of Nintendo fans doesn’t mean their controller is as well-designed as Mario’s jump.
So when evaluating these controllers on their own merits, I have taken a number of things into account. Comfort and durability are at the top of the list, but I have also examined how innovative they were. Not in deceptive terms (the Wii’s motion controls seemed pioneering at the time, but how did that come about?), But in more substantial ways, such as general design patterns that would be copied for future console generations.
I also weighed those innovations against the rest of the controller’s qualities. The N64, for example, will be remembered forever for the introduction of a suitable joystick, but there is little else about the design of that pad that made a lasting impression.
Finally, I have considered the place of the controller in time. No pad from the ’80s or’ 90s will compare to a DualShock 4 or Xbox controller in terms of comfort or features, nor will it be suitable for the games we’re playing today, but that’s not the point – the point will be how well it did. Does a controller reflect the games and needs of a gamer at the time?
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Basically I think the best controllers are the ones that did a bit of everything I just mentioned and did it really well. Able to innovate, endure years of punishment, feel comfortable for the gamer, and do everything the gamer needed to do in the best moment of the console.
Here, then, are the best of them (note that they are not ranked in order):
SNES / SUPER FAMICOM
Its bumpers helped introduce the idea that not all buttons had to do something important, and they opened up new options for how we interact with games that traditionally only allowed us to press “A” or “B”. Its colored buttons looked great (especially on the JP / PAL version, pictured, which copies the colors of the Super Famicom logo). And its smooth, rounded corners created a timeless look that was much easier on gamers’ wrists and fingers than the NES controller.
SEGA DREAMCAST
If the modern console controller had a family tree, its roots would be firmly planted beneath Sega’s latest home console. From its bulky design to its left-hand joystick, the Dreamcast controller set, as it did so many other things, the foundation for Microsoft’s entry into the console space, and though its VMU gimmick never took off anywhere else. It was fun and a widely used novelty for the Dreamcast.
Not only was the GameCube controller unbreakable, it had two very cool features that were well used by many games on the platform. The first was a “guide” around the control levers that allowed you to lock them in certain directions. The second was a quirky button design that actually made sense the more you used it, creating a GIANT GREEN BUTTON from the one you used the most and relegating other buttons to smaller sizes (and less flashy colors) less often required.
XBOX 360
There’s little new to the Xbox 360 controller. Continuing from the Dreamcast lineage to the S controller on the original Xbox, its stick and button layout was already very familiar to gamers.
But he just… perfected it. He perfected almost everything related to the design of video game controllers. The Xbox 360 controller was so good that it not only worked flawlessly for Xbox 360 games, but its PC compatibility did something no other peripheral manufacturer had been able to do on the platform: usher in an era. controller universality. This consistency allowed console games to be ported (and played correctly) to the PC with a minimum of fuss, a small but vital contributor to the success of Steam (and action games in general) on PC today.
Even the Xbox One controller, which debuts nearly a decade later, is basically the same loungers, rearranged just a bit (and some will argue, like with the bumpers, not so well), and the Xbox Series X controller is nearly identical again. , which means that the unique design will have lasted more than 20 years when the new generation of consoles is finished.
Neo Geo brought the arcade games into the living room. And Neo Geo’s arcade stick brought with it arcade controls. While other companies have made a living catering to hardcore arcade gamers with third-party clubs, no top-notch device has come close to matching the sleek design, feel, and durability of SNK’s official offering.
DUALSHOCK 4
The DualShock 4 is here in part because it solved a decades-long design flaw with the line’s design, eventually creating a PlayStation platform that is really comfortable in the hands, but mainly because of the “SHARE” button, that we don’t need the gift. From hindsight to realize it is a game changer.
Sharing our screenshots and clips is not a passing fad, it is a cornerstone of the gaming culture and communities, and Sony’s smart move here has led rivals to quickly adopt the same feature.
A few shouts here at the end for the controllers who didn’t make it: the Wavebird (maybe my personal favorite, though its lack of rumble for fishing in Animal Crossing was a disaster), the Xbox Elite (my “daily driver” on PC ), the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and… the Wii Remote. Not as a motion detection device, but as a standard controller (those buttons and the d-pad were awesome).
This post originally appeared in August 2016. It was updated for December 2020.
PADS DE CONTROL!
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