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What is the Best Console Controller of All Time?
Mateo Slovinsky asks: "Is the XBox 360's controller the best controller of all time? CNet seems to think so in its line up of the top five gamepads of all time. If you expected the Wii's controller, you will be dissapointed. It's a brilliant piece of innovation, but there simply aren't enough games to judge it against the best controllers ever." Which controller would you pick? What controllers have not left your hands cramped after a marathon session of gaming?
I'd agree that the 360 is the best controller of all time. it's damn comfortable and has pretty much every function you'd ever want. If they included a Dreamcast like VMU screen it would be "perfect" IMO.
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Everything else has too many buttons.
It's great to see the SNES controller, it provided 6-button, finger-and-thumb controlling in about the most compact design possible. I see it as the bridge to all modern controllers, from the previous controllers like the NES, Atari,etc.
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Adjustable turbo on A and B, large buttons, comfortable stick, fits on your lap or a tabletop nicely, even a slow-motion hack for those games that could support it. Next question....
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Hmm I would definately have to say the most comfortable is the gamecube controller, it just seems to slide into your hand and is great for everything except games that use the D-Pad really. The dreamcast controller is also pretty nice and the dpad is great for fighting games although hardcore gamers will still prefer a joystick. The original analog controller for the playstation was also damn comfortable as it has a longer handle then the dual shock which honestly feels kind of small to me. Overall I would say the gamecube though, since I never remember my hands ever getting tired from that controller (and it certaintly wasn't from lack of playing!).
The wavebird was practically the only redeeming feature of the Gamecube. Sure, if you had ape hands it was kind of small, but for my 12-year old hands, it was a dream come true. The wavbird proved that you could have a decent wireless controller.
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Maybe they should have played some Wii games rather than just dismissing it.
It does not take a lot of games to notice that:
1. I no longer have to play games with my hands together as though I'd been cuffed.
2. Easy to distinguish buttons, not too many of them, with convenient support for things like "thumb+forefinger = grab", making controls easier to remember.
3. Broad selection of simultaneous actions. I can move and turn at the same time without trying to remember button combos.
The wiimote is, hands down, the best console controller ever. It's not even close. Can I invent a game that works better on something else? Sure. I can make games that are better on keyboard than mouse, too. Still, the dominant case is pretty clear.
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I always preferred the Sega Saturn controller to the SNES (and all other digital-only controllers). It's got a smoother directional pad, 6 buttons in 2 rows of 3 with a bump for the bottom center button to find it without looking, and it still had shoulder buttons. The 2 rows of 3 was far superior for games like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. And personally I always thought the Genesis directional pad was a bit soft or I'd also put it above the SNES controller.
For me it will always be the Sega Megadrive - preferably playing Sonic 2.
This is not an objective opinion, I don't think that there can be one where the word 'favourite' is involved, but I spent so many hours with it in my hands that it's the one that feels right for me and all others are, in my mind, compared with it. I'm sure that, had my peer group been Nintendo, rather than Sega, orientated, then I would feel differently, but they weren't, so I don't.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
I always found the PS2 controller really uncomfortable compared to the GC one.
I've found that the Dual Shock starts out comfortable for a while, but develops into causing some noticeable hand pain if I don't take breaks, even playing a relatively slow-paced RPG like Dragon Quest VIII.
Meanwhile I can play SSBM on the Gamecube for hours upon hours, moving fingers at a comparatively frenzied pace, and not feel anything unexpectedly painful.
Atari 2600: One Joystick, one button. What more do you need?
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I would go for the Atari Paddles; intuitive controls with just one "fire" button. Even my granma could play games with that.
;-)).
Just compare the simplicity of that with current joysticks (Like this
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I started reading the article, and got through XBox360, PS2, and then N64 at 3rd place. That's when I stopped reading it. There's a general concensus among my friends that the N64 controller is among the worst ever designed, and possibly is the worst. Whose idea was it to make a controller that you needed 3 hands to properly use?
It's so... bad.
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Why, the Powerglove, of course!
Am I the only one that cannot STAND the Dual Shock controller? In fact, the controller is one of the reasons I never finished many PS2 games...I just couldn't stand using the friggin' thing
For a while, I thought it was the Dreamcast controller...it fits perfectly in my hands, has a good weight to it, and the D-pad felt solid.
Overall, I would have to agree with C-Net...the 360 controller is AWESOME. The buttons and triggers have a nice solid feel, the thing just cradles in your hands, and it has a decent weight to it. My only gripe would be with the D-Pad...other then that though, the 360 controller is at the top of the list.
Nothing beats a good keyboard/mouse combo though;-)
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It's going to be very subjective. For instance, I *despise* the Dual Shock controller; the analog stick position feels completely unnatural for continued use and causes my thumbs to cramp after a while. I haven't had the same problem with the DC/GC-style controllers, where the analog sticks are more in line with the axis of a relaxed grip. I haven't used the XBox controller long enough at a time to know, but it falls into the same vein (the N64 escapes by virtue of the shifted grip when using the analog stick).
Thus, as people have insisted over the years that the PSX/PS2/PS3 have developed "THE GREATEST CONTROLLER KNOWN TO MAN", I cringe and figure that people have just learned how to contort their hands into an unnatural configuration for so long that they can't tell the difference. But then again, some people may find it comfortable, such as you do.
Come on! That list totally sucks. The GC controller is much better than the N64 one, and there's nothing better than the SNES controller. Ever. Why is the Wiimote out of the list? Not too many games? Pff. I call a fanboyism ranking.
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Ok, at the top end of the scale, I've got to agree with assessment the 360 controller is the best ever made. Prior to the 360's launch, I'd have pointed to the Xbox S-controller, which was well ahead of anything else in terms of shape, quality of build and buttons, weight balance and overall ergonomics. The only downside with the S-Controller was that the black and white face buttons were awkward and uncomfortable to use. The 360 controller corrects this flaw, essentially by converting those buttons into bumpers and also improves the weight balance still further. Range, reliability and ability to survive being thrown on the floor after Dead or Alive 4 drives me to my snapping point are all excellent.
The Dualshock 2 was also an excellent controller in its own way, despite being a little too small for comfort. It did a good job of doing absolutely everything a modern controller needs to with a minimum of fuss and bother. However, the pressure-sensitive function of the buttons could be extremely finnicky and was hard to use properly in games that demanded it (such as the Gran Turismo series). The Sixaxis is a big improvement in this respect, but... well... I'll come to the Sixaxis later.
Leaving the consoles aside for one moment, I'm going to get a bit retro for my final pick of "great" controllers and go back to the PC's Thrustmaster F-16. I had one of these eating up half my desk-space for many years and never found anything more fun to play flight-sims with. Sure, the customisation software was all DOS based and didn't work properly under Win 95 or later, but I still have very fond memories of this stick.
Now... the bad.
Top pick here... the Gamecube controller. Not in terms of sheer, outright awfulness - you can certainly find worse examples of that. But rather because this controller managed to be the only controller to "get it wrong" so badly in a generation where everybody else (including PC accessory manufacturers) seemed more or less able to agree on roughly how many buttons a controller should have and where they should be. One huge, stand-out flaw was the pathetic cable length, particularly unforgivable on a system so heavily geared towards party games. Shelling out extra for wireless controllers became effectively essential for anybody with a living room larger than a small cupboard. The right analogue stick wasn't even a proper stick - it was a stumped and malformed nub, which was no use whatsoever for gaming and made fpses on the cube a truly nasty proposition. The mis-shaped buttons, with the huge green blob and the tiny little kidney-beans around the edge meant that you were forever hitting A when you didn't mean to. All in all, the official Cube controller felt like a nasty, $5 third party accessory.
Also high on the list... the PSP's analogue stick. Gums up with dust far too easily and is not pleasant to use even after cleaning. The rest of the PSP interface is fine and many games avoid using the little stick, but this is definitely something for Sony to tackle in the next revision.
And now the "why weren't they includeds"
Basically, because while allegedly revolutionary (although the results of this "revolution" remain to be seen), the Wii-mote at best represents a very early and unpolished attempt at a new type of controller. Accuracy is questionable at best, especially during rapid movements. Less understandable, and harder to forgive, is the positioning of the buttons. If you want to use more than 2 buttons, then you are going to get sore fingers. Using the Wii-Mote for anything other than a "wave the wand around manically" game for any protracted period is deeply uncomfortable and cramps up my hand like nothing else I've ever tried. The 360 controller is a massively polished traditional product - as good as it's going to get for regular controllers for the forseeable future. That the Wii-mote fails to measure up is perhaps inevitable given how novel it is, but it still doesn't mean that it's as good as the 360 controller.
And the Sixaxis? Well..
Ever since the PS2 (that seems to be the watershed for me), the damn things have become stupidly unwieldy. I hate the analogue sticks on the PS2 Dual Shock. Not per se, but they just make the whole thing so cramped. As for shoulder buttons... one each side is permissable, but what idiot decided TWO could fit on there comfortably? The damn thing feels more like a chinese finger-trap than a fun controller.
I also don't like the 4-button diamond layout that started with the SNES controller and has persisted. The thumb has one comfortable axis to play with and keep uniform button-pressing movement - side to side. Thus the three-buttons-in-a-row structure is far better.
Certainly large amounts of buttons are more easily accessible on arcade games (I've never had a problem with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, etc), but as you're using your fingers, palm-down to access them, that's far better than trying to hit 4 - or even 6! As per the Saturn for instance - with one thumb.
I play PC games more than console games, so I'm familiar with using a good 15-20 buttons to play Counter strike, World of Warcraft, what have you - but the layout of a keyboard is so much better for that than a cramp-inducing controller. It's not the complexity of what's involved, but the fact that your most useful digits are tucked away gripping the controller, and you're expected to hit 12 buttons and 3 directional pads/sticks with your two thumbs that is dumb.
Having said that, I love the Wiimote. Aside from the jumping-about-waving aspect, its design limits you by necessity to not using more than 2-3 buttons, which is great. The Nunchuk could use one mess "shoulder button", but it's forgivable.
There is a cute "family tree" of controllers available here: http://www.axess.com/twilight/console/
Remember the "advanced" controllers for the original Nintendo, the NES Max and NES Advantage? The Advantage was the huge, arcade-style controller. I never had one, but friends did. I didn't like it. What I did like, and own, was the NEX Max.
Now, the thing I hated about it was that "sliding" left thumb control wasn't very precise. But I fixed that by taking it apart and actually inserting the D-pad from a regular NES controller. A real simple hack that gave me the customary precision of the standard NES controller, the more "natural" and comfortable shape of the Max, as well as the all-too-important turbo buttons.
Nowdays, I like the standards Playstation2 controller to be the best. It just feels natural in my hands.
This is one thing the Nintendorks software writers need to fix for the next Wii software update: include a goddamn calibration routine.
I have a 50" screen. I was getting really annoyed at how twitchy Zelda was, how twitchy the general Wii response for visuals were. If I pointed to the edge of my screen, the mouse zoomed WAY off to the side.
Then, inside Zelda, I found this awesome feature. It let you select your screen type (4:3 or 16:9), then it displayed a yellow bar. You lined up your IR bar ("sensor bar" my ass, it's a bar of plastic with a set of IR LEDs in it) with the center of it, sized up the yellow bar so it matched the IR bar, and the Zelda interface adjusted itself. Now, in my Zelda games, if I point to a spot, the little cursor goes right where I'm pointing.
NO other Wii game has implemented this yet. Red Steel, had they had this in, would have actually been playable. Trauma Center: Second Opinion would be playable. Wii Play would make a lot more sense in Duck Hunt mode.
Nor have they done us the simple courtesy of pushing a simple recalibration routine out over the system software, which would stop any other software company from having to do so.
Bad Nintendorks. No Cookie.
The standard NES controller.
Because nostalgia always defeats improved design.
Also Nintendo thumb. I mean, c'mon. How cool is that?
Waiting for Warhammer Online.
When 2D fighting games were all the rage, Sega released a 6-button controller to support Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and their own Eternal Champions game. The buttons were A,B,C,X,Y,Z (and of course, START).
The controller actually had a 7th button, called "Mode", which was used to force the controller to function as a 3-button controller (A=X, B=Y, C=Z) for a few old games that freaked when booted with a 6-button controller plugged in (Ms. PacMan, for example).
The 6-button controller was the new default button sceme, even appearing on the Nomad portable.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
Yeah, the D-Pad sucks. What's more, I found out when I tried out the Windows USB version that the D-pad doesn't work as a D-pad in Windows, but becomes a "view control" or something using the default drivers. I had to use the analog stick to control my platformers, which was annoying and I switched back to the keyboard.
That said, the layout of the 360 is probobly the apex of the "standard" dual-stick type controller. It's the culmination of all that's been learned about controller design from the PS Dual Shock onwards. Except, unfortunately, for the D-Pad. I don't think MS has ever made a good D-pad, from their Sidewinder series to the original xbox. Even the PS1's was better.
I liked the GameCube's odd-shaped buttons, but I can definitely see why it's not good for some types of games.
Also, I think the best non-analog controllers are the ones on Nintendo's portables. Every single one, from the Gameboy to the DS Lite, has decent feel and response, with a layout that's great for small hands and acceptable for big ones. My favorites are the ones with a distinctive click, like the GBA SP and original DS.