Worst Controller Design

[GrungeHead]

I never had a problem with original Xbox, i know a kid who play back when he was nine, and he had no problem, and he was NINE! The controller is light, not heave, it is however larger then the NES controllers aimed at three year olds.

The controller i have the most would have to be N64/Gamecube controllers. The sheer awkwardness of the controllers performance of them really sucked.

 

[GrungeHead]

I never had a problem with original Xbox, i know a kid who play back when he was nine, and he had no problem, and he was NINE! The controller is light, not heave, it is however larger then the NES controllers aimed at three year olds.

The controller i have the most would have to be N64/Gamecube controllers. The sheer awkwardness of the controllers performance of them really sucked.

 

[Aihal]

The DualShock annoys me most, there are a load of good games on the PS2 but I have to use this uncomfortable, poorly designed controller to play them with.

I've not used it, but the 360's controller looks a lot like a Wavebird with an improved C-stick, which would be great.

 

[alla]

arent you all forgeting something

the power glove http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk

 

[MrKeroChan]

xbox.... just to bulky to use without constructive surgery to enlarge my hands

 

[Kaisharga]

I'm glad someone brought up the Colecovision. Awesome.

And we could start an entire thread or three based on the ridiculous NES peripherals that came out during its run. Anyone remember the U-Force? No? Good.

It's hard for me to say which controllers are good or bad, harder than it is to say which controllers are good or bad for certain things. Like, I'm rather into fighters, so the Dreamcast and Gamecube controllers are the biggest, most glaring offenders in this category. Yeesh. (While I'm on the subject of controllers for fighters, let me take a sentence to laud the PS2/3 controller's design, with the directional pad that's actually set into the controller a little ways. A great idea.)

On the other hand, for FPS type games, the Wii controller is not very good. It's great for aiming, mind you; Metroid Prime 3 is a great demonstration of this. But for movement and turning the character? Not so much. Red Steel is a great example of this principle. Metroid Prime 3 is a great way to show that developers can get around that hurdle if they really focus on so doing.

 

[Joe]

Overall, gotta give it to the Jaguar, though honorable mentions are the Dreamcast and Dual Shock. As far as the DShock goes, I have giant man hands (as in I could handle the first Xbox controller), and it hurts to reach the analog sticks where they are.

I can't quite commit to the N64 controller, if only because it was great for fighting games, since it had six buttons lined up in a row. Even if it does give me a shoulder ache now.

 

[Kaisharga]

How the heck did I forget to mention the shoulder button placement on the dualshocks? Cripes.

Anyone who has ever played a game that requires easy access to all of the shoulder buttons quickly (FreQuency is a notable entry in this category) knows that it's actually pretty easy to arrange the controller in your hand so that your index fingers line up with R1 and L1, but in this arrangement it is very difficult to reach the face buttons. Bad Sony! Bad!

They helped the problem somewhat with the Dualshock3, but really, the 360 controller is a much better solution.

 

[niko86]

Whilst the N64 pad is nice to hold, that still doesn't excuse the assumption that I have three hands to hold it with.

And there are quite a lot of games that use the D-Pad as well as both analogue sticks. Most FPS games find a use for it, for example, switching weapons, activating secondary functions, that kind of thing..

There was no assumtion of needing 3 hands. You either were told by the game what way you needed to hold it to play. Or if the option was given you changed the settings to whatever way you wanted to hold the pad. Overall i loved the n64 pad was alot better than the saturn and ps1 pads.
Plus it doesnt matter if games NOW use both analog and d-pad. The n64 didnt, it was either analog or d-pad.

I cant name any one pad, so gonna list worst features on a few pads.
Worst pad for wasted buttons was the jaguar. Plus its copper data pins bent too easily when trying to plug it in.
Dreamcast was terrible for having the wire come out the button of the pad, plus that little dimple on the A button!!! I got sores from that bloody thing!
Dual shock is painful on your thumbs i find when using both analogs, they are set too low and close together.
Gamecube for the wierd positioning and feeling of the z button.
The A B X Y buttons on the original xbox pad where on an angle making it especially useless for beat em ups. Size wasnt too much of problem but the japanese pad was a big improvement.

Overall best pad is 360 hands down.

 

[RPJesus]

I have to go for N64 as well. Granted, it had revolutionary potential, except that there were like 3 games that didn't use the middle-right grip. /of course, I fucking love my 64, soI suppose it all balalnces oue ^_^.

 

[MacCarth]

N64 without a doubt. I especially liked when the joystick would get clogged up with what I can only describe as some uncleanable white chalky-like substance that made moving just...feel awful.

oh god, I nearly forgot about that!

I've ground down so many joysticks playing the rafting game in Mario Party 1 that I could probably condense all that white powder into a solid stick of chalk.

 

[soladrin]

gamecube was the worst controller i had ever laid hands (and eyes) on.

 

[misfit278]

it has to be teh_n64 cont. or the origional xbox it was too chunky, no wonda ma bro was beatin us all the time his hands are massive, n64, lol we dnt have 3 hands lol how as we mena use it properly

 

[qinlain]

I have to disagree with people saying n64's controller was the worst too in fact i would say it was one of the better ones. It actually placed the analogue stick in a position that was aligned vertically with your thumb so when i try to go up it goes straight up, not up and slightly right.

Original xbox and dualshocks are the worst for me.

 

[njsykora]

The N64's pad was excellent I always thought. Mario Party would destroy the analog stick in seconds but I still find it incredibly comfortable to hold.

I will give my award for worst controller to the SIXAXIS. Its horribly light and insubstantial, the motion controls really just don't work and the whole thing seems nastily cheap. Add that to the issues already faced by the Dual Shock (why do I need 4 shoulder buttons?) and its a horrible thing to use.

I never found the original Xbox controller hard to use, but what the hell were those white and black buttons for?

 

[twilight_dweller]

What the hell are you talking about? The Nintendo 64 controller possessed the Z Trigger. The godliest button in the history of all of the video game consoles. I don't want to hear about your R2 button or your R3 button which could only be accessed by pressing the analog stick. The Z Trigger is the best. And which is why GoldenEye 007 is so awesome, because they made use of the godly Z Trigger.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

I hate the dual shock controller. Worst analog stick placement ever. I loved its predecessor, but Sony just slapped those analog sticks on there thoughtlessly, and have yet to improve the design two consoles later.

 

[TheDarkArchon]

N64, without a shadow of doubt. Analogue stick too far away from everything else and the really awkwardly placed Z-button killed it. Then again, I'm of the opinion that the N64 should have been a complete disaster.

 

[Ros Lai]

I actually liked the N64 and Dreamcast controllers, though that may just be due to a thick haze of nostalgia. Dual shock just felt sort of generic for me, but the sixaxis, by far, is just terrible. Without giving my opinion on the motion controls (HINT:THEY'RE A POORLY IMPLEMENTED IDEA THAT SUCKED IN THE FIRST PLACE), the controller just feels too light, like they made it out of the cheapest plastic they could find. The shoulder buttons are sort of...crunchy, for lack of a better word, and turning L2 and R2 into triggers was pretty poorly thought out too.