Earlier this afternoon, Dexter345 tipped us on the strange fact that this horrid-looking Wiimote from Nyko took home the CES award for Best of Show. In true Dtoid fashion, this led to an email thread a mile long, throughout the course of which we discussed videogame controllers in general.
Which ones do we love? Which ones do we hate? How does Dexter like having a torrent of nonsense destroy his inbox for the day? How would YOU like it? Hit the jump to find out.
The above Nyko Wiimote is awarded CES 2009's Best of Show. Discuss!
Nick Chester
Two things on this. One, the remote is actually pretty nice. Looks a bit off, but it feels good and is responsive. But two, I agree that it's sad, and I was talking to Dale about this. If the best piece of videogaming tech to come out of the show was THAT, that's an indication of how weak the show was in terms of gaming. Imagine how we felt having to cover it!
Dale North
Yeah, there's nothing awful about it. It's a controller.
Awful is the Xbox 360 controller we use daily.
TopherCantler
This man speaks the truth.
Nick Chester
Outside of the d-pad, there's nothing wrong with the Xbox 360 controller. The analog stick placement is more comfortable (and feels tighter) than the Dual Shock, and I'm not a huge fan of the R2/L2 triggers on Sony's new controller. Don't hate on the entire controller because you can't play a 10-year-old game on it that was designed for the D-pad, son.
Dale North
Motherfucker... I've had enough of you!
d-pad? more like d-bag!
Topher Cantler
The face buttons fail, too. And no, the analog stick placement is not as good as the PS3 controller.
Dexter345
Just because the analog stick is where you would want the D-pad doesn't mean it's placed poorly. It just means you prefer your 2D fighters and shooters over first-person shooters. I'm with Nick, the only complaint I have about the standard 360 controller is the D-pad. Perhaps I should have worded the original title better like, "That awful looking Nyko Wiimote..."
Topher Cantler
Could be. I just think it's designed with nothing but FPSs in mind and sacrifices every other kind of game in the process, whereas the PS3's stick setup is suitable for a wider variety of gameplay. It doesn't suck to play an FPS with a PS3 controller, but it does suck to play a lot of other stuff with a 360 controller. Not just because of the shitty Dpad either. Beautiful Katamari, for example. I'm sure I'd enjoy Geometry Wars a lot more with a PS3 controller, too.
Anyway, it's all personal preference. Myself, I've never played a game with a PS2 or PS3 controller and said "Man, this would be so much better with a 360 controller." But I say the opposite quite often.
Chad Concelmo
I have talked about this with Topher, but I am not a fan of rounded face buttons. I love flat ones (i.e the Super NES controller). They are SO much more comfortable and easy to press. :)
Topher Cantler
The 360 controller seems a bit too preoccupied with looking cool, which it admittedly does, but it gives up some usability because of it. I don't spend a lot of time admiring my controllers for their appearance, I just need it to work.
It's definitely the most comfortable controller out there to hold in your hands, I'll give it that. And I do prefer the triggers way over the stupid L2 and R2 whatchacallums that Sony's using now.
Adam Dork
I hate 360 controllers cause they are the only ones that don't last. I just wrote a blog about how I have been through SIX 360 controllers (okay four, two were stolen by Halo3 kids) but no other system I had troubles with and I even used my SuperNES controller as a nunchuck against the wooden part of the couch. It broke and still works to this day...
Jonathan Ross
That is true, I had a 360 controller completely die on me out of nowhere, and I hadn't even used it that much.
This shit with controllers costing as much or more than actual games needs to stop.
Nick Chester
I like how the analog sticks are off-set; it makes more sense in terms of how my hands work. I'm not uncomfortable with the PS3 controller, but the analog sticks are placed down and in the center of the controller, which doesn't make much sense. I do love the Dual Shock controller, so don't get me wrong. I just don't think there's too much wrong with the 360 one, outside of the d-pad. I don't mind the round buttons, and if I'm not mistaken, the SNES controller had two concave buttons (Y and X) and rounded buttons (B and A) ... never flat ones. Granted, they're not as pronounced as the 360 controller, but flat is not a word to describe them.
The 360 controller has more bulk, and feels better in my hand than the PS3 controller. That shit is way too light.
This reminds me, Dale and I were talking that we want to do a "hammer smash" test on every gaming controller for Destructoid.
Dexter345
I remember X-Play doing something similar with the actual consoles during the last generation. PS2 broke almost immediately, GameCube took a thrashing before it stopped working. I think it'd be a neat feature.
Samit Sarkar
I was always worried about PS3 controllers dying, since they don't have a user-replaceable battery, but mine have never given me any issues, and the battery life is great (especially now that they have an option to automatically turn them off after a period of inactivity).
As for the PS3/360 controller argument, I personally like the DualShock's analog stick placement better, and I highly prefer its face buttons to the 360's rounded ones. (The PS3's buttons are only slightly concave.)
Adam Dork
Not to pull the fanboy card but isn't there a website that smashes all sorts of stuff and I believe Nintendo's garbage lasts and takes the most beating.
Chad Concelmo
Yeah, Nick, two were concave and two were convex. I guess I didn't mean perfectly flat. I just don't like them too round (like the Xbox 360 controller). To me, the DualShock and SNES face buttons are perfect. :)
Dexter345
Oh snap, do I get to correct Samit? Don't you mean that the PS3's face buttons are slightly convex?
Samit Sarkar
Yeah, that's what I meant. Nice catch!
Topher Cantler
Nintendo's hardware is always good for a beating. Go to the Nintendo World headquarters in New York and check out the Gameboy that took a mortar shell in Iraq and is still running Tetris. I have an NES that was manufatured in 1987 that still works like a fuckin' champ, controllers and zapper included. More than I can say for my 4th Genesis.
Also, Genesis controllers are the worst in terms of lifespan. I don't know anybody who still has the originals in working condition.
Samit Sarkar
Yeah, my brother and I always took good care of our stuff, and we still went through a number of them. Unfortunately, since we were so poor, we could only get third-party stuff like Mad Catz... :(
Brad Rice
*raises hand*
Adam Dork
I believe my Genesis (3 and 6 button) still work. Just my Genesis system doesn't work cause I REALLY want to play General Chaos!
Topher Cantler
Yeah, it's not a matter of taking care of them or not, they just die. I take super good care of all my stuff (31 year-old Atari 2600 still works like new) and Genesis controllers are just one of those things.
Dyson
i have an original genesis controller, but it isn't the one i had as a teen. those broke.
Topher Cantler
I'm not sure why it is, exactly. Something they used was shitty. I have 5 Genesis controllers and none of them are the ones that came with any of the systems.
Nick Chester
Genesis controllers were clunky and rattling bullshit. I also hated the Dreamcast controller with a passion, but I have a feeling that's going to get me some heat...
Topher Cantler
Nah. Love-hate. Best components ever, wrapped in a weird, uncomfortable ... shapey thing. It's like the opposite of a 360 controller.
Dyson
I didn't like the face buttons or the analog on that one, and the shape was werid, but my all time least fave is the n64 controller. worst one ever made.
Topher Cantler
I think I'd have to agree with that.
Nick Chester
The N64 controller was great for Super Mario 64. And Mario Kart 64. And Mario Party. And other games with "Mario" in the title.
Chad Concelmo
I think the worst controller of all time is the original Xbox's. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
Topher Cantler
True, that one was pretty fucking bad. I still think Atari's Jaguar controller takes the taco.
Dyson
at least they replaced the shitty first one with a new one. n64 was still bad, even for games that had mario in the title. jaguar was so fail. mutherfucker was an coleco controller with an analog on it, which as i'm writing this i realize theere were exactly the same.
Jonathan Ross
This should be a Dtoid Discusses Guest Starring Dexter
Topher Cantler
I think this should be a Dtoid discusses starring Dexter, and that we should do this regularly, rotating a random community member into the discussion every time. That would be fun.
Conrad Zimmerman
We were just talking about this, actually. I'm about to reboot Dtoid Discusses this next week, actually so it's excellent timing. Expect an e-mail about this shortly.
Adam Dork
At the time I really enjoyed Turok on the N64!
Hamza Aziz
Wow, I was just about to suggest this whole convo for front page. Sweet.
And to add to this whole convo, I'm exactly with Nick here. The PS3 controller is annoying and the Xbox 360 is just fine how it is, minus the D-pad.
Samit Sarkar
The N64 controller was especially awful for sports games. Trying to play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on that damn thing was a nightmare.
Chad Concelmo
DualShock 4 life!
Also, I agree with you, Topher: the Jaguar is BY FAR the worst of all time. Eek! It scares me just thinking about it!
Jonathan Ross
All this talk of controllers and no one has talked about this yet?? Has anyone even used it before?
Hamza Aziz
Fuck you, Ross. Steel Battalion is awesome. I played the shit out of that game.
Jonathan Ross
See, I didn't know if it was bad or good because you're the first person I've known who has ever actually played it. I thought it looked cool, but I think I would have gotten too confused.
Hamza Aziz
It takes a bit to get the hang of. Hell, I wouldn't be able to play it straight away if I played it now. You seriously gotta read the instruction manual.
Topher Cantler
Since we're posting this, I'll ask a question we tackled on RFGO last year that was fun.
What's your perfect controller? If you could take the parts from anything out there and put them together to make your ultimate fap-pad, what would it be?
Mine would be some bastard frankenstein that could never be made. A Saturn controller, with the Dpad from a Dreamcast controller, the analog sticks from a Dualshock 3, and the triggers from a 360 controller. With a VMU in it. Bring back the magic, baby.
Dale North
Saturn pad, baby. At CES, talking with capcom, the saturn pad was the inspiration for the Street Fighter IV pads. Why? Because they're the best. Its like an upgrade of the 6-button Saturn, the second finest controller ever.
Chad Concelmo
Perfect controller:
D-pad from SNES controller. Face buttons from SNES controller. Shoulder buttons from SNES controller. <3
Samit Sarkar
The SNES shoulder buttons sucked.
Topher Cantler
BLASPHEMY!
Chad Concelmo
Yeah. Serious blasphemy. :O
Grim
I agree, the SNES controller is the best. I do love the 360 controller, but their sides split too easily; I have already gone through two from raging about DoA4 or something.
Dexter345
While the N64 controller is stupidly designed in hindsight, I never had any complaints about it at the time. People say, "What if you want to hit the L-button or the D-pad," all the time, but come on, it's not like (most) developers are that stupid. Nobody ever mapped anything important to those two things, specifically because they were unreachable. Aside from the baffling three-prong idea, I remember holding the N64 for the first time and thinking, "This fits in my hand perfectly." I had never felt such ergonomics before.
On that topic, I had a friend in high school who held the thing in what looked like the most awkward way possible. He held the middle prong with his right hand, using the analog stick with his right thumb. He then held his left hand over the top of it so his thumb could hit the D-pad, his palm could hit the L button, and his index and middle fingers could hit A, B, and the C buttons.
Regarding my perfect controller, I really think it would just be a 360 controller with an SNES D-pad. I suppose I wouldn't mind slightly longer handles, a la the N64 controller. While I'm imagining this Frankencontroller, I really liked how the analog triggers on the GameCube controller had a final, digital click to 'em. Let's stick that in there too.
Samit Sarkar
Yeah, but triggers need to be analog -- otherwise, they might as well just be buttons -- which is why the GameCube's controller was dumb. They felt nice, but from what I understand, the triggers on it were digital.
Dexter345
I'm almost positive the triggers on the GameCube controller were analog. I can't think of any particular examples right now, but I have a feeling that they were. Do I have to go home and go through my 'Cube collection until I find an instance of analog triggers now?
Hamza Aziz
I forget the diff, but in something like Melee, the harder your pressed the triggers, the bigger your shield would be. Isn't that analog?
Topher Cantler
The Gamecube controller's triggers were analog, until you got to the end of a press, and they were digital. That is to say, they were analog triggers unless you pushed them all the way down. Nice idea, but it never worked for me. I fucking hated those things.
Samit Sarkar
Yeah, that's analog...and if that's true, then I'm mistaken. But the SNES shoulder buttons were still not good. I dislike the Xbox 360 bumpers more, but I just didn't like the SNES ones for some reason.
Topher Cantler
They were analog and digital together in one button. It was stupid. And you didn't like the SNES shoulder buttons because you are crazy. And wrong.
Samit Sarkar
I also haven't held an SNES controller in nearly 15 years, so it could just be anti-retro goggles.
Jonathan Ross
I love the SNES controller, but I had trouble with the L shoulder button on it, although to be fair I have trouble with it on pretty much every controller. On the SNES one I would reach over with my right hand because I would lose in Street Fighter otherwise.
Dexter345
The only thing that was inherently stupid about putting analog and digital together in one button was that it provided lazy developers one of the worst controller setups when trying to make multiplatform games that had functions for all four PS2 shoulder buttons. They then would map one function to the analog part and one to the digital, which you can't hit without first hitting the analog part!
I guess another complaint I could make about them is that they pressed downward linearly, rather than the hinged motion of the 360's triggers.
Topher Cantler
You know, come to think of it Dexter, that's probably what I hated most about them. Not only did they have that concave shape to them, (which was supposed to make them comfortable and form-fitting but ended up lowering response time), they went INTO the controller like toast into a toaster. There was nothing fast or responsive about them at all.
Dyson
I like the GC controllers, except for the wee d-pad. The issue Topher mention never really stuck out to me because I think only played non-ports. Could be wrong, but I don't recall even noticing that issue.
"Yeah, that's analog...and if that's true, then I'm mistaken. But the SNES shoulder buttons were still not good. I dislike the Xbox 360 bumpers more, but I just didn't like the SNES ones for some reason."
You are a weird guy, Samit. By process of elimination, I only see love for Sony controllers? Dualshock2 has my vote for awesome, but the SIXAXIS/DS3 is bad, bad, bad. Those L-R triggers are crap and the analogs are way loose. SNES can go both ways, but the 360 bumpers are pretty rad, I must say.
Samit Sarkar
The SIXAXIS/DS3 L2 and R2 triggers are, indeed, fail...but otherwise, I love the DualShock design. Still, the Xbox 360 controller is probably the most comfortable/ergonomic controller ever made -- I just prefer both my analog sticks at the same height, my D-pad to be functional, and my face buttons to not be ridiculously convex.
Also, the SNES D-pad >>> all other D-pads, even Sony D-pads.
There, I think I've said enough to erase any suspicions of fanboyism.
Topher Cantler
Too bad the post is already live. :)
Samit Sarkar
Great, now the last message in the front page post is Dyson making me look like a fanboy.
Topher Cantler
No, now the last post is you saying that Dyson made you look like a fanboy.
How about you, Dtoid?
Contest:
7:30 PM on 01.13.2009
| 
Also, the Dreamcast controller is my favorite, hands-down.
I used to HATE the DualShock, but now that I own a PS3, I have grown to love it.
Also, Wii MotionPlus anyone?
Its odd to think about a 'perfect' controller. Tbh, I dont think i could make one thats perfect for everything id use it for. The 360 with a decent dpad would do the job for FPS games and racers, but id rather have a Dualshock of whatever type for something like God of War, or a JRPG, and especially for a 2d fighter. Suddenly i realize Tekken 6 coming to 360 may not be such a great thing for me...
YES ! the d-pad is horrible ! But everyone here knows that you have to mod it ! You open it up, sand the outer wall that's around the d-pad "disc" and you add a plastic spacer between the d-pad and its input thing on the silicon board.
You end up with the perferct controller, now the d-pad click so hard that it could wake up someone in a coma !
The Dreamcast controller is definitely a love-hate thing. I just tried to play some MvC2 not too long ago and I ended up switching to the dreaded 3rd party Astro Padwhich bears a resemblance to the OXbox Duke controller.
Also, I'm glad that everyone has experienced the weird glitchy x360 controller thing. I think my original white controller is on its way out as the analog likes to tweak out towards the left a lot. I like to think that I take care of my stuff, but man, those x360 controllers are more fragile than I thought.
I love everything about my 360 controller other than the D-pad.
And I've NEVER had one break. If you are smashing your controller, you deserve to pay for another one.
Anyway, I'm with Garison, I really liked the Gamecube controller, and just hated the Dual Shock when I first played it. My favorite controller though, has to be the SNES controller. Now that I've had to play SFIIHDREMIXWTFBBQSAUCE on a 360 controller, I am reminded of how great that controller was.
Anyway, keep this series up!
worst..I would have to say the genesis controller.
I don't like the SNES triggers that much either(they should work like the 360 bumper, they should CLICK), and there is NO ergonomics. Other than that it's wonderful.
Worst I would have to say the playstation series. I just cant get used to the stick placement, just personal prefrence.
I also wanted to add that the SNES controllers were wonderful. I think no matter how hard I would toss that controller, it still was like a tank.
My brain tends to have trouble processing the difference between buttons differentiated only by a colour and letter/shape (I'm not looking at the damn pad when I'm playing). That's never a problem with the GC controller. I mean at least the SNES controller had the convex/concave difference between the two sets of face buttons, which made it a lot easier to hit what you wanted.
I really wish some other controllers would take that kind of design to heart...
and you can never go wrong with a good arcade stick
Jaguar wasn't that bad. As for today's systems, I prefer the Wii Remote with the 360 controller in second even though it's a Dreamcast ripoff. The PS3 controller just feels like a light version of the same controller since the PS1. That's not a bad thing at all but it isn't really anything special.
They actually didn't cramp my hands up and filled up my hands comfortably.
They made me feel less like a giant handed freak.
Mostly just because it weighed like 10 pounds.
but at the moment, my darling-controller is the G25...
steeringwheel heaven!
In fact the overall layout of the 360 pad is nothing more that a ripoff of the GC design. (which is why I also love my 360 controller. Hell even the d-pad is as shit as the one on the GC controller.)
My least favourite of the controllers I've used would be the Dual-shock/Six Axis controller. The placement of the sticks just throws out all precision in everything you want to play.
And I loved the Steel Battalion controller. They had a complete station set up in a electronics store right around the corner from my house and I remember going there daily playing the shit out of it. This was definately my most immersive gaming experience ever.
Thanks to Dtoid I now finally know the name of this game.
Does anybody know if Steel Battalion works on the 360, including the controller? I would really love to play this game again, no matter how expensive it is going to be.
SNES controller
Genesis 6-button controller
Wavebird controller
Dualshock (2, 3 blah blah)
xbox controller-S
Xbox 360 controller
Disliked:
NES controller
DreamCast controller (in terms of comfort only. In terms of functionality/VMU.. holy shit)
Giant-Ass xbox controller
???:
trance vibrator for REZ
Genesis Activator
that is all
I think most controllers have some strong points and some weak points... It's hard to pick one as the best, but I'd say the most "universal" is the Dualshock2. I didn't have a PS1 (was still a Nintendo fanboy back then), and I haven't purchased a PS3 yet (few games other than MGS4 that I'd want that I can't just get for my 360), so I can't say much about its immediate predecessors or descendants, but my time with the Dualshock2 (for PS2, PS1 games on PS2, and many emulated games from different systems on PC) has left much love for it in my heart.
For classic gaming, the Dualshock2 is great because, ignoring the sticks and second shoulder buttons, it's got the general layout of an SNES pad. Ignore the shoulders and one face buttons and it's a (slightly awkward) Genesis controller (the three button one, anyway). Ignore one more button and it's a NES controller. Heck, I've yet to even find an N64 game who's controls couldn't be reasonably mapped to the Dualshock2 with more than a minimal level of awkwardness (no worse than you'd get mapping them to a Gamecube controller, anyway). Admittedly, it misses points for layouts that would take six face buttons, but the only games I can think of that really need that are fighting games, and if you're into those and weren't in the Sega camp back in the day you either got used to using shoulder buttons for strong punch/kick or became an arcade stick purist. Also admittedly, the sectioned off d-pad isn't quite the SNES's d-pad, but it's relatively close, and certainly much closer than the tiny d-pads most Nintendo controllers have nowadays (Classic Controller excluded) and way better than the 360's d-circle.
Outside of classic gaming, though, what are the Dualshock2's strong points? Well, for one, it has analog face buttons. That may not sound very important, but it can be extremely useful. Let's take the Metal Gear Solid series for example. In MGS2 if you want to pull out your gun you press the button down slightly, and to fire you press it down all the way. This sounds awkward if you've never played it, but in practice it's extremely intuitive. In MGS: The Twin Snakes, the Gamecube remake of the original using the MGS2 engine, to pull out your gun you press the button and to fire your gun you... let go of the button. Not the best set up for a stealth action game where you will probably at times want to aim your gun at somebody and then decide not to fire if they don't spot you. They could have mapped the gun to R (maybe even used the click thing well for once), and moved the weapon changing menu, but then it wouldn't match the original layout and people would probably complain about that. Even if a lot of games don't use the analog face buttons, they're a good thing to have around for if they do want to use them (and to be fair, most of the games that did use them used them in more subtle ways). The original XBox controller also had analog face buttons, but Microsoft decided to toss them for the 360.
What about the analog stick issue? Do I prefer my left stick even with the right or higher up? Well, honestly, it depends on the game. In games where you use both sticks almost exclusively (Katamari, Geometry Wars, ) it certainly feels more natural to have them even. In games where you use the face buttons almost exclusively (3rd person games where the right stick is usually just camera adjustment or menu stuff like Kingdom Hearts) I'd say it makes more sense for the left stick to be even with the buttons. In games where you use both the right stick AND buttons a lot (like FPSs where you use the right stick to aim and the face buttons to swap guns, melee, open doors, etc.) it sort of goes either way. In general it feels better to have it higher up on the controller; that's where your thumb naturally wants to be. ... But the controllers that put it there have almost always had some sacrifices in d-pad quality (Dreamcast being the only exception off the top of my head), and the d-pad never really feels natural further down.
As for Nintendo's notches for the eight primary/secondary directions... They're certainly handy a lot of the time, but they can feel a bit too much when you're trying to make a sweeping motion. Perhaps slightly more subtle ones would be better. Nintendo's analog sticks also lose out on not having acting as buttons by being pressed downward on, something which both Sony and Microsoft have put to great use.
Now, I haven't really mentioned the 360 pad other than bringing up its lack of analog face buttons and failure of a d-pad, which is doing it a bit of an injustice, but it's certainly very comfortable to hold, more so than the Dualshock2... Except for its humpback battery compartment, which is a little in the way with my long fingers. Not too badly, though. Its triggers are much nicer for analog purposes than the Dualshock2's second shoulder buttons. I remember the first time I played a racing game on the 360 and was annoyed at RT being gas (having expected it to be A), but I've since come to love it. When you have an action where the amount of pressure really matters, nothing beats the 360 controller's triggers. I haven't had any trouble with its shoulder buttons, but I never had any problem with the Gamecube's Z button either. The face buttons are a little too convex, but not enough that it really becomes an issue for me. More annoying for me are the buttons' labels, which like the Dreamcast before it are flipped from the SNES button labels. Admittedly, it's only a problem because I grew up with Nintendo and I think of the SNES names first when trying to explain to a friend in the middle of a game which button to press. Sony escaped that issue entirely by just using different symbols altogether. The "back" button also feels oddly named, because while it does tend to act as a "back" action, I'm simply more used to the counterpart of "start" being "select", even though the "select" button has almost never "selected" anything since the early days of the NES, before they realized up and down on the d-pad was more natural for selecting menu options.
So, ideal controller? Something with the body shape of a 360 controller, analog face buttons of a Dualshock2, but six of them (either labeled XYZ/ABC ala Sega six buttoners, or combining the sony button labels with the "white/black" of the original XBox for the two rightmost ones... But no "white/black" paired with letters, "white" and "Y" sound too similar in the midst of gameplay), triggers of a 360 controller, shoulders like the L1/R1 of the Dualshock2, analog sticks that can be clicked as buttons, but which have slight notches in their range of motion (more subtle than Nintendo's), select labeled as such, d-pad of the Dualshock2, no hunchback battery compartment, and some magical innovation that lets you swap the left stick and d-pad position at will (or maybe just two versions of the same controller, one with them one way and one the other).
Of course, it still wouldn't be usable for most Wii games, any games that use specialty controllers (rhythm games, lightgun games, etc), and I'd still prefer to use a keyboard and mouse for FPS gaming. :P
My favourite was probably the PS2 controller, so much so I actually managed to write its praises into one of my essays this year. Definitely the genius for me was the pressure sensitive buttons. Annoyingly they weren't used that much, but Kojima loved the crap out of them. Remember playing MGS2 and using the same button to aim and fire AND lower the weapon? Just by releasing either strongly or gently? I thought that was damn genius. And ZOE2 (Best game of its kind easily), where even the function of some weapons would change just how you pressed the fire button, either a strong narrow spread or a weaker but much wider attack pattern.
Arcade controllers too, if you ever get a chance to play Ninja Assault with both guns then DO! If the recoil is working you simply wont ever feel the same way playing a lightgun game as you do there. Also Virtual On, since the two joystick set up there was probably the first time I attained an erection in public. That was painfully fun to play with (controller, not penis), I really want more insane stuff like that. The more ridiculous the better!
My favorite controller? NES. I like how it was simple and light. The d-pad was perfect, and every game managed to keep all the important stuff on 2 buttons instead of using 8 buttons and still needing combinations of buttons to do more things.
SNES would be second, though the shoulder buttons sucked for fighting games (though I don't like any shoulder buttons when it comes to fighting games unless it's for PPP or KKK).
Next best would be the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection controller for PSTwo. 6 fact buttons, and a d-pad I can use well. It's what I use for my SSF2T:HDR playing via an adapter.
Honorable mentions for worst controller: original XBox controller, N64, GC, and Microsoft's Sidewinder.
1. People who haven't tried a Saturn controller.
2. People with really weird hands.
Incidentally, the latter category shows a remarkable correlation with Sony employees.
Dual shock 2 is a great pad for using the D-pad, analogues are rubbish and in an awful position!!
Snes pad was great for its era however 360 pad is the best ive used and ive nearly had every major console around even the Amiga CD32 and Atari Jaguar!!
Give me a 360 pad with the snes d-pad and dual shock L1 + R1 and id be a happy man!
Go and hold it now after being use to the xbox and PS pads, your hands point the wrong way!!
If those got fixed it'd be one of the best controllers iv'e used.
As for layout I cant decide wether i prefere the swapped dpad and stick (as in XBox360) or the symetrical Dualshock. In a perfect world controllers would have interchangable sockets that the sticks, dpad and face buttons could all be positioned where you prefered.
HELLS YEA!!!!!