The best controller?

[EWS]

After a discussion me and Ghosthunter had over MSN, I felt it might have been rather appropiate to open it up to the larger community.  It started after I was looking for a SEGA Dreamcast over ebay, and he stated that he hated it.  Here is a quick summary of our discussion.

I felt that the Dreamcast was a good console, it was just never bought and was outgunned by the Sony Playstation (much like the other consoles).  I listed a few games (Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue, ChuChu Rocket etc...) for reasons as to why the Dreamcast is not really as bad as people say it was.  Then it moved onto controllers, personally I feel that the GC is the best, but the PS is the most natural feeling controller.  GH apparently hates analogue sticks, preferring the SNES controller (I must say I like the Mega Drive [Genesis] controller) and it ended up on a dsicussion about the N64 controller.  I feel that this is the worst controller EVER as it is completly un-natural and I have had difficulty in wondering where my hands go.  It also has a stupid d-pad THAT IS NEVER USED (apparently there for retro gamers who loved the SNES) and so why on earth did Nintendo have it?  GH feels that it was to bump up costs so they could make more money.

Anyway, as we still argue, I was wondering.  What are your views on controllers?    The best?  The worst?  THe most intuative?  The most natural?  The good, the bad and the ugly?

[Khan]

This is a pretty wierd discussion but what they hey.

In order my favourite controllers are:

Snes (Simple and efficient)

GameCube (The most comfortable I've tried)

Dreamcast (Very comfortable)

N64 (Very good, and I did use the D-Pad)

X-Box (Chunky but good)

The others I didn't like much.

[ExSPlug]

Worst:

DC controller. Too fragile(espically the L/R buttons)

Best:

1)N64 controller, it's shape just provide confortable gripping.

2)SNES controller, light and simple.

[Andrew]

NES - A friend disliked it as it had sharp corners that would dig into hands.

It is very easy to use. Super/turbo controllers are sweet!

SNES - An improvement over NES with more buttons. (notably the top l1 l2 type buttons)

Genesis - I bit bigger than SNES, less buttons, but more rounded.

PS - Great controller. Lots of buttons for combos. (Twisted Metal 1 and 2 (the rest went to crap), tekken, extreme games, were awsome games)

N64 - Crap. I could never use it. Too confusing, goes away from all traditional controllers.

Keyboard/Mouse - Lots of buttons, but hard to move around, configurable buttons.

---

Old school winner --> NES. original and simple to use. (teh gun is fun to use for duckhunt. :-X

New school - PS They kept the same controller for PS and PS2 so you didnt have to relearn to use it. fells nice in hands.

[HasimirFenring]

I used to love the N64 controllers, but after having played xbox for so long I find them unusable.  I need the second analogue stick to aim!  That's why the xbox ones are my favorites now.

[TMA_1]

The worst controllers:

Jaguar... good grief. Have any of you ever used this piece of shit? sorry for swearing, but that is exactly what it is, a hard piece of shit.lol The thing had a d pad with two side buttons, I think it has been awhile. The worst part of it is it had 20 small grey buttons below, all the same looking and all ordered according to small numbers you could barly see. The thing was huge and uncomfortable, and trying to figure out how to use twenty small grey buttons that all look the same with horrible games just made it horrible! bleck, has anybody ever used this?

The old Xbox controller. The thing was huge and horribly uncomfortable. You had to be a giant or have long fingers to use it comfortably. Thankfully they made it smaller, good gravy I hated it.

Playstation controller sucked too. I dont see how people like it. It is awkward feeling, and the two 3d controllers was a silly choice in many ways. The one good thing about it was the two r and two L buttons on the front of it, that was a cool feature, cant deny that.

Good controllers:

N64. It was just so neat! you had many ways of handling it. If you were using the D pad (which there are many games where you can use it!lol) you used it like a standard controller. If you were using the 3d controller you held it with one hand on the middle and one on the right part of the controller. It was really comfortable and I like that it only had one 3d controller pad. You could use the C buttons with straifing movements so much easier than the playstation could do, and the Z button was just a perfect thing for 1st person shooters as it gave you a good reference point for all other ubttons, and a lot of free room for your other fingers. It was just a really ingenius controller, and many gamer magazines have said that it is the best. One gaming magazine said something like this "it is the only redeeming quality of the n64."lol and in some ways they are right, but I still like the n64.

The Atari (forget which version) controller. With a huge stick and one button, how could you go wrong? lol Not only that but it could be plugged into the sega genesis! and with certain games that one button would unload all the weapons at once! neato.lol

Snes controller. Probably the most comfortable controller. Good grief my thumbs grew red playing that system so much.lol It is small and fits wonderfully in the hand, and it was really well organized. It also broke new ground with the awesome L and R buttons.

[Andrew]

Anyone have the chance to play on a 3DO platform? (the same guys who made army men) it came out about same time as PS i think. but went out of business. Pics?

[AeonGrey]

Well, up until I was about 12 I had an NES.  I never minded the controller.  Sure it was blocky, but....it never seemed to bug me.

Then I got an SNES and I liked the controller a lot.  Nice and round....good number of buttons (not too many, not too few).  Buttons were in easy to get to places.

After SNES I moved on to Playstation.  This wasn't hard to get used to as the PSX/PS2 controllers are pretty similar to an SNES controller if you think about it, only they have thos extensions out the bottom of the sides.  Same basic button configuration with an extra L and R button basically.  I also liked the later addition of the analog sticks.

I personally hated the N64 controller.  I never owned the system, but I had friends who did, and I just didnt like the feel of it...never got used to it.  I've played a gamecube and I didn't mind the controller there (don't own one tho).

I've never played a Xbox.

Someone mentioned PC earlier.  I think about the only games the PC Mouse/Keyboard setup has an advantage in are FPS's.  I can't stand playing FPSes on console.  I like the mouse and keyboard combo.  I play a lot of halo.

[thomas]

Best: PS2 controller (great feel, easy access to buttons)

worst GC: god awefull, small and button placement is awefull.

[ForgottenShadow]

I think the PS2/Ps1 controller is the best. Its fairly simple and fits around the hand well. The dreamcast controller's were quite good too but I was always afraid of dropping it as it had the memory card like thing inside it ;D

Its hard to compare older controllers (SNES, Megadrive) as they didnt use as many buttons as the newer consoles controllers do, therefore making the controller bigger.

I agree that the N64 controller was terrible. It was one of two things which forced me to turn my back on Nintendo (that and Mario).

[Seal89999]

Best: PS/PS2 controler , very comfortable and easy to use.

Worst: XBOX controler, that thing is massave and is very unnatural. The buttons are far apart to where you have to take one hand off the controler to hit a few of them. The thing had some goofey postitions for some of the buttons.

[GhostHunter]

Best: N64/Small (The smallest) version of the Xbox controller with side-grip, thing is amazing.

[Digital Guerrilla]

The Good

PC- Microsoft "Sidewinder" is one of the best very durable

PC- Saitek P2500 Rumble Force Pad

PC- Logic 3

Console- Playstation

The Bad

Gamecube- dislike the small size of the controller

Dreamcast- fraglie buttons as someone mentioned gotta hate that when you are in the heat of the moment of "Soul Calibar", also a big controller

And the Ugly

X-box- I agree this game controller is way too big but damn this system is still good besides the brick controller

Jaguar- even thought this is now old school it was a terrible controller, too big

Atari- I hated these controller for every game system every last one of them.

Neo-Geo- loved this system but once again the controller was HUGE

[bryorama]

2 words. Keyboard - Mouse.

Or I could say 3 sylablles. Keyboard mouse.

Or I could say 1 sentence. Keyboard & mouse.

You get the point?  :D

[Cyborg]

I have little experience on controllers, but Microsoft Sidewinder(the joystick) is extremely good. I don't like the ps controller much, because I tend to get some pains in my thumb from all the button pressing :P I think the buttons are too hard.

[Acriku]

With my experience in console controllers, I can safely say that the N64 controller is the best, it's the most confortable and a lot of combos can easily be done. I got the rumble pak and it rocked :) The only bad thing about it is that I hardly ever used the D-pad on the left.

The second best is the original Xbox controller, if it fits. I don't have giant hands, but I also don't have girl hands ( :P). It's comfortable, has many easily reachable buttons, and its rumble function is great. It's durability is outstanding as well, with over 2 years of dropping it and throwing it on the floor it still works like I just bought it.

I didn't mention the NES controller because it simply isn't the best. It was good in its time, kind of nostalgic, but is not the best.

[nemafakei]

Standard keyboard is easiest.

The greatest criticism of the Commodore 64 I have is its two (yes, two) inoperable cursor keys. To move left, you had to press Shift+Right, and the same for up and down.

That said, I have a rather nice 'joystick' on it called "The Bug".

[Emperor Harkonnen]

I think snes is the best

then comes Game Cube and third N64.

PS and Xbox controllers suck. Xbox is worst though.

Nintendo does know one thing, and that is to make good controllers :)

[DukeLeto]

Anybody remember the old IntelliVision controllers?  With the discs and 12-button overlays?  Those were the best console controllers, IMO.  Small and compact, but comfortable (hard on the thumbs after a while though) and with plenty of keys.  Next would be SNES or X-Box.

But nothing beats a goodold fashioned keyboard-and-mouse setup. :)

[bryorama]

My "real" vote goes to the Playstation 1 & 2 controllers.

I have had Ps2 for like 3 years now. I guess I go for it because I have the information stored in my memory so well, I know which buttons to go to immediatly as soon as someone puts the Game Disk in.  :)