The controller is one of the most basic parts of the video game experience and often we overlook the importance and value of the controller. We also take for granted the great control schemes that we have today to play our favorite games, but it wasn’t always so great. In this essay I will give a retrospective on the evolution of gaming controllers, from the early 1970’s to today’s generation of gaming consoles. Controllers have come a long way and have become much more effective through a lot of trial and error.
In the early days of video games, each game had its own input device. For example, a hunting game would have a laser gun attached to it and a driving game would have a steering wheel attached to the console. What must be remembered is that at this time in history video game consoles only played one game and that game was programmed into the system itself. So the hunting game would be a completely separate console from the driving game. This is the way it was in arcades and it made sense to apply that to the home video game market. It wasn’t until the development of the Atari 2600 in the mid-1970’s that the idea of interchangeable game cartridges was proposed.
With the advent of the Atari 2600 and the interchangeable game cartridges, came the necessity for a universal controller that could work for all of the games that would come out for the console. It wasn’t practical to sell each game with its own controller; that would make the prices too high and dissuade people from buying a totally new kind of product. Video games were not developed as a market segment yet so people didn’t know if they would really be successful in the home or not. In developing the controller Atari used a very basic joystick concept for movement and a single red button for any kind of action that needed to be performed. While the controller was very rudimentary it was useable for most all of the games. Atari did sell some other controllers, like the “paddle” controllers but the majority of the games used the traditional controlle
r.
When Atari’s competitors (Coleco and Mattel Electronics) decided to get into the game market they took a different approach, they used a numeric keypad system, like a telephone, with some form of joystick or a disk. These control schemes were complicated and the controls changed for every game, so much so that people needed overlays to know what buttons to hit for what action, it was much less intuitive than the Atari controller and this led people to continue to support Atari as opposed to switching to these new systems. The idea of the numeric keypad didn’t die with this however. When the Atari 5200 was released it had controllers with a numeric keypad, not only was this a mistake but the controllers were notorious for not functioning, this was a huge step backwards for the controllers.
In 1985 Nintendo released the NES and that used a controller that utilized a “D-pad” (directional pad) and two buttons on the opposite side of the controller. This set-up was much more intuitive than anything before and it was a big step towards the controllers that we know today. The D-pad was more maneuverable than the joystick and the two buttons allowed for more actions and more complex games. For the rest of the 8-bit and the 16-bit era controllers followed this basic structure with one d-pad (usually on the left) and two or more buttons on the right. Nintendo’s prime competitor, Sega, released the Genesis with a controller that had thee buttons “A” “B” and “C.” But it was Nintendo who introduced the concept of the “shoulder” button. The SNES featured a button on both sides of the top of the controller, these buttons were rarely used but they led the way for the controllers to come that would make better use of the buttons.
Atari made a final attempt to get back into the video game race but their last try was an absolute disaster, the Jaguar was not only a bad system but it also had terrible controllers. The first problem is that they went back to the numeric system; if it didn’t work before why would it work now? Then the two red buttons were spaced out far from one another on the top of the massive controller. The controller was extremely awkward to handle and it didn’t help a system that was bad enough anyway.
If that isn’t enough bad controllers for you, Phillips released a CD based gaming console called the CD-I. This system had several controllers, all of which were bad. The only decent one was the standard looking controller that was similar to the Sega Genesis controller. The controller that came with the system was wireless and had a small joystick at the top and buttons all around it. The designs were not very intuitive and this just made a bad system even worse.
In 1994 Sony released the Playstation and this controller utilized a four button set-up, like the SNES, but in a circle on the right of the controller. Later versions made use of a dual analog style that had two analog joysticks that were more sensitive to motion and controlled view and movement independently, this allowed for more mobility on the part of the player and a better vision range, once you got used to it. There was also a d-pad on this controller which further helped give the player more control. These controllers also had two buttons on each side of the top of the controller, 2 on the left and 2 on the right. This is a style that Sony has used, almost without difference, all the way until today and something that Microsoft also used in their controllers
In 1997 Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 which had controllers with one small analog joystick and a d-pad. They also had the traditional Nintendo “A” and “B” buttons but also 4 yellow buttons aligned in a circle on the right of the controller called the “C” buttons. These buttons were primarily used for secondary actions like control of camera angles in Super Mario 64. There was also the “Z” button on the back that acted as a trigger.
In 2001 Microsoft entered the console race and released the Xbox. The original Xbox controller was an absolute monstrosity, it was huge and many joked that it was meant for a bear. Microsoft released a smaller, and much better, controller that became the standard for the Xbox. When the Xbox 360 was released in 2005 the controller had synthesized the best portions of controllers in the past. The controller has one d-pad on the bottom leftish, two analog joysticks on the top left and the bottom rightish. There are 4 buttons on the right in a circle the X, A, B, and Y buttons. Then there are two triggers one on the right and one on the left of the top of the controller and finally two additional “shoulder” buttons called the “bumper” buttons. These buttons have a variety of uses in games and they are easy to use only if they aren’t used with the trigger on the same side.
Some new features have been added to controllers over the years besides button combination and the two most significant features are wireless controllers and “rumble” technology. Believe it or not the Atari 2600 had a wireless controller and so did the CD-I which I mentioned earlier. But these controllers were primitive and not very effective. The first wireless controller that really “got it right” was the Sega Dreamcast controller but unfortunately that system was doomed to failure. But that wasn’t the end of wireless controllers, the Xbox and the Playstation had their versions of the wireless controller but they were more expensive than the wired controllers and they required a lot of batteries to keep them running. Finally the Xbox 360 has now started to come packaged with one wireless controller. The controller runs on two AA batteries, but if you buy a “play and charge kit” you will get a rechargeable battery and a wire that you can plug into the controller and the Xbox, this way if the controller is low in battery you can plug it in and still play while the battery is charged, and then you can take the wire out when it is charged and play wireless again. This development has brought wireless control to the mainstream along with the naturally wireless “Wii” controller, which works on motion detection.
The second feature is the “rumble” technology which is forced feedback from the system to the controller that makes the controller shake when appropriate in the context of the game. This was first used, in mainstream gaming, with the “Rumble Pack” accessory to the N64 controllers. If you bought the rumble pack and plugged it into the slot where the memory card is he controller would shake when you were either hit in the game or in a variety of other situations. This was ma
de a standard feature of Xbox and Xbox 360 controllers and it required no add on. The Playstation 3 controllers are the first of that line to have rumble technology. This rumbling effect helps immerse the player in the game and make it more realistic to them.
Controllers have come a long way and we have seen many good and bad ideas but I believe that in the end we have found a good style of controller that doesn’t need significant changing unless some massive improvement is made in game control, like the elimination of an input device, but that is a long way off if it is even possible so we will have to see.
In the early days of video games, each game had its own input device. For example, a hunting game would have a laser gun attached to it and a driving game would have a steering wheel attached to the console. What must be remembered is that at this time in history video game consoles only played one game and that game was programmed into the system itself. So the hunting game would be a completely separate console from the driving game. This is the way it was in arcades and it made sense to apply that to the home video game market. It wasn’t until the development of the Atari 2600 in the mid-1970’s that the idea of interchangeable game cartridges was proposed.
With the advent of the Atari 2600 and the interchangeable game cartridges, came the necessity for a universal controller that could work for all of the games that would come out for the console. It wasn’t practical to sell each game with its own controller; that would make the prices too high and dissuade people from buying a totally new kind of product. Video games were not developed as a market segment yet so people didn’t know if they would really be successful in the home or not. In developing the controller Atari used a very basic joystick concept for movement and a single red button for any kind of action that needed to be performed. While the controller was very rudimentary it was useable for most all of the games. Atari did sell some other controllers, like the “paddle” controllers but the majority of the games used the traditional controlle
r.When Atari’s competitors (Coleco and Mattel Electronics) decided to get into the game market they took a different approach, they used a numeric keypad system, like a telephone, with some form of joystick or a disk. These control schemes were complicated and the controls changed for every game, so much so that people needed overlays to know what buttons to hit for what action, it was much less intuitive than the Atari controller and this led people to continue to support Atari as opposed to switching to these new systems. The idea of the numeric keypad didn’t die with this however. When the Atari 5200 was released it had controllers with a numeric keypad, not only was this a mistake but the controllers were notorious for not functioning, this was a huge step backwards for the controllers.
In 1985 Nintendo released the NES and that used a controller that utilized a “D-pad” (directional pad) and two buttons on the opposite side of the controller. This set-up was much more intuitive than anything before and it was a big step towards the controllers that we know today. The D-pad was more maneuverable than the joystick and the two buttons allowed for more actions and more complex games. For the rest of the 8-bit and the 16-bit era controllers followed this basic structure with one d-pad (usually on the left) and two or more buttons on the right. Nintendo’s prime competitor, Sega, released the Genesis with a controller that had thee buttons “A” “B” and “C.” But it was Nintendo who introduced the concept of the “shoulder” button. The SNES featured a button on both sides of the top of the controller, these buttons were rarely used but they led the way for the controllers to come that would make better use of the buttons.
Atari made a final attempt to get back into the video game race but their last try was an absolute disaster, the Jaguar was not only a bad system but it also had terrible controllers. The first problem is that they went back to the numeric system; if it didn’t work before why would it work now? Then the two red buttons were spaced out far from one another on the top of the massive controller. The controller was extremely awkward to handle and it didn’t help a system that was bad enough anyway.
If that isn’t enough bad controllers for you, Phillips released a CD based gaming console called the CD-I. This system had several controllers, all of which were bad. The only decent one was the standard looking controller that was similar to the Sega Genesis controller. The controller that came with the system was wireless and had a small joystick at the top and buttons all around it. The designs were not very intuitive and this just made a bad system even worse.
In 1994 Sony released the Playstation and this controller utilized a four button set-up, like the SNES, but in a circle on the right of the controller. Later versions made use of a dual analog style that had two analog joysticks that were more sensitive to motion and controlled view and movement independently, this allowed for more mobility on the part of the player and a better vision range, once you got used to it. There was also a d-pad on this controller which further helped give the player more control. These controllers also had two buttons on each side of the top of the controller, 2 on the left and 2 on the right. This is a style that Sony has used, almost without difference, all the way until today and something that Microsoft also used in their controllers
In 1997 Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 which had controllers with one small analog joystick and a d-pad. They also had the traditional Nintendo “A” and “B” buttons but also 4 yellow buttons aligned in a circle on the right of the controller called the “C” buttons. These buttons were primarily used for secondary actions like control of camera angles in Super Mario 64. There was also the “Z” button on the back that acted as a trigger.
In 2001 Microsoft entered the console race and released the Xbox. The original Xbox controller was an absolute monstrosity, it was huge and many joked that it was meant for a bear. Microsoft released a smaller, and much better, controller that became the standard for the Xbox. When the Xbox 360 was released in 2005 the controller had synthesized the best portions of controllers in the past. The controller has one d-pad on the bottom leftish, two analog joysticks on the top left and the bottom rightish. There are 4 buttons on the right in a circle the X, A, B, and Y buttons. Then there are two triggers one on the right and one on the left of the top of the controller and finally two additional “shoulder” buttons called the “bumper” buttons. These buttons have a variety of uses in games and they are easy to use only if they aren’t used with the trigger on the same side.
Some new features have been added to controllers over the years besides button combination and the two most significant features are wireless controllers and “rumble” technology. Believe it or not the Atari 2600 had a wireless controller and so did the CD-I which I mentioned earlier. But these controllers were primitive and not very effective. The first wireless controller that really “got it right” was the Sega Dreamcast controller but unfortunately that system was doomed to failure. But that wasn’t the end of wireless controllers, the Xbox and the Playstation had their versions of the wireless controller but they were more expensive than the wired controllers and they required a lot of batteries to keep them running. Finally the Xbox 360 has now started to come packaged with one wireless controller. The controller runs on two AA batteries, but if you buy a “play and charge kit” you will get a rechargeable battery and a wire that you can plug into the controller and the Xbox, this way if the controller is low in battery you can plug it in and still play while the battery is charged, and then you can take the wire out when it is charged and play wireless again. This development has brought wireless control to the mainstream along with the naturally wireless “Wii” controller, which works on motion detection.
The second feature is the “rumble” technology which is forced feedback from the system to the controller that makes the controller shake when appropriate in the context of the game. This was first used, in mainstream gaming, with the “Rumble Pack” accessory to the N64 controllers. If you bought the rumble pack and plugged it into the slot where the memory card is he controller would shake when you were either hit in the game or in a variety of other situations. This was ma
de a standard feature of Xbox and Xbox 360 controllers and it required no add on. The Playstation 3 controllers are the first of that line to have rumble technology. This rumbling effect helps immerse the player in the game and make it more realistic to them.Controllers have come a long way and we have seen many good and bad ideas but I believe that in the end we have found a good style of controller that doesn’t need significant changing unless some massive improvement is made in game control, like the elimination of an input device, but that is a long way off if it is even possible so we will have to see.
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