Dual Analog Controllers
The other day I had a brief debate with a co-worker when he said the original PlayStation Dual Shock controller was the best game controller of all time. His reasoning was that it introduced the (now standard) right analog stick, as well as extra shoulder buttons (aka trigger buttons). He also added that the controller was very sturdily constructed. He is right on all those counts, but I took a somewhat different stance: that the original PS Dual Shock Controller is, in fact, the worst controller ever.
First of all, it has the absolute word d-pad ever seen by a first-party controller on any system. The whole concept of replacing the full cross on a d-pad with weird disconnected buttons is just crazy. You might be "used to it" by now, but it's a fundamentally flawed idea. Some games (like fighting games) really need either a full cross or a full circular pad like the Xbox's. There are no games, though, that benefit from the terrible PS d-pad design. The NES, SNES, Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, Xbox, and even the GameCube all have better d-pads. While the PS version is now "the standard" in some sense, it doesn't make it less terrible.
Next, the PS controller added 2 extra shoulder buttons. Shoulder buttons are those annoying hard-to-reach buttons on the top of the controller, for those who don't know. The Saturn used those two buttons on the face of the controller, where I can actually reach them, but the PS's "innovation" was to move perfectly reachable buttons to an annoying place.
The right analog stick is great for games that I like to call "1.5 analog," meaning that character movement is on the left analog stick, and camera adjustment is on the right, but the game is designed so that you mostly use the face buttons on the controller and only occasionally move the camera around. Mario Sunshine, Prince of Persia, Ratchet and Clank, and Grand Theft Auto 3 are some examples. N64 did fine with the little yellow c-buttons in Mario64, Banjo Kazooie, and Donkey Kong 64, but hey, the right analog stick does a little better, I guess.
But the right analog stick also has given rise to most vile of all control schemes: the true dual analog game. This includes first person shooters like Counter-strike, and other such games that are suited to being played on mouse/keyboard, rather than a game controller. Sometime when I wasn't looking, true dual analog fps games on game controllers went from "obviously a terrible idea" to "ok" to "pretty popular." That original PlayStation Dual Shock controller planted the vile seed.
So now I give you the actual greatest controller of all time. Great d-pad. Those extra two buttons aren't obnoxious trigger buttons, but instead are right there on the face. Also, the 6 face buttons are all the same size, and not laid out very "ergonomically." ("Ergonomic" is just a code word for "totally wacky and terrible," I've noticed.) Also, the controller doesn't even have that pesky right analog stick that started the unfortunate trend of dual analog fps games on console. I give you...the Super Pad 8.
Now that's a sexy game pad!
--Sirlin
First of all, it has the absolute word d-pad ever seen by a first-party controller on any system. The whole concept of replacing the full cross on a d-pad with weird disconnected buttons is just crazy. You might be "used to it" by now, but it's a fundamentally flawed idea. Some games (like fighting games) really need either a full cross or a full circular pad like the Xbox's. There are no games, though, that benefit from the terrible PS d-pad design. The NES, SNES, Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, Xbox, and even the GameCube all have better d-pads. While the PS version is now "the standard" in some sense, it doesn't make it less terrible.
Next, the PS controller added 2 extra shoulder buttons. Shoulder buttons are those annoying hard-to-reach buttons on the top of the controller, for those who don't know. The Saturn used those two buttons on the face of the controller, where I can actually reach them, but the PS's "innovation" was to move perfectly reachable buttons to an annoying place.
The right analog stick is great for games that I like to call "1.5 analog," meaning that character movement is on the left analog stick, and camera adjustment is on the right, but the game is designed so that you mostly use the face buttons on the controller and only occasionally move the camera around. Mario Sunshine, Prince of Persia, Ratchet and Clank, and Grand Theft Auto 3 are some examples. N64 did fine with the little yellow c-buttons in Mario64, Banjo Kazooie, and Donkey Kong 64, but hey, the right analog stick does a little better, I guess.
But the right analog stick also has given rise to most vile of all control schemes: the true dual analog game. This includes first person shooters like Counter-strike, and other such games that are suited to being played on mouse/keyboard, rather than a game controller. Sometime when I wasn't looking, true dual analog fps games on game controllers went from "obviously a terrible idea" to "ok" to "pretty popular." That original PlayStation Dual Shock controller planted the vile seed.
So now I give you the actual greatest controller of all time. Great d-pad. Those extra two buttons aren't obnoxious trigger buttons, but instead are right there on the face. Also, the 6 face buttons are all the same size, and not laid out very "ergonomically." ("Ergonomic" is just a code word for "totally wacky and terrible," I've noticed.) Also, the controller doesn't even have that pesky right analog stick that started the unfortunate trend of dual analog fps games on console. I give you...the Super Pad 8.
Now that's a sexy game pad!
--Sirlin
