Favorite and least favorite controllers?

[StaceyPowers]

I like the DualShock 3, though not its price or apparent fragility, but it handles smoothly and that is nice.

My least favorite controller I ever remember using was the one with my original NES when I was a kid. Something about the lack of thumsticks I think made it almost unusable for me. I thought I was terribly uncoordinated and just a horrible gamer when I was a kid, but sometimes I think if the NES had come up with a completely different kind of controller, I probably would’ve played significantly better (but still been pretty bad).

@The Blackangel Especially interested in what you have to say on this topic since I know you have used a lot of different systems over the years.

[SaucyPastaTho]

For PlayStation the dualshock 4 is the best in my opinion. It just has that feel and vibration to it. For xbox I've only played the Xbox One so obviously that and there remotes not even that bad.

[The Blackangel]

I'm going to go over a few systems, but I'm not including any handheld systems on this, even though several have separate controllers.

I'll start with a quick one. PlayStation kept an identical controller from PS1-PS3, so I can't pick one of them over the other, but in the PS realm I have to say that the PS4 controller is the most comfortable. Possibly the most comfortable controller in console gaming.

Xbox, I have never been a fan of, but their controllers were always comfortable, and the buttons easy to land the fingers on.

Sega Genesis had an interesting controller. It was my first experience with a 3 button setup. The controller fit rather well into the hand, but the button setup I wasn't a fan of. Also I was coming from the Nintendo world, so I was used to a completely different system, even though they shared several game titles. I never really had any kind of interaction with Dreamcast, so I can't comment on its controller.

Atari was a good one. They didn't screw around with bells and whistles. A joystick and a button. That was all that was needed, that was all that was made. I liked it then, and I like it now.

Colecovision was an odd one. I never fully got what the point of the numerical pad was until I was older and found out that there were cards you could slip onto it that lined up the buttons you could use in your games. Also the rotary dial was entirely unique, and something I personally have never seen on another system. So it gets points for originality.

Now the big one. Nintendo. With the NES, it was simple and basic. 2 buttons, a D-pad, and Start/Select. You didn't need any more at the time, so they didn't offer more. I like that.
Then SNES comes along. Four new buttons that would be the base for every controller design from then on out. Not only did you have A & B, but now you had X & Y, plus the two shoulder buttons L & R. Very innovative design.
N64 changed things up a bit more. They got rid of X & Y, and replaced them with the C buttons and a trigger button (Z button). I was a big fan of the trigger button. I loved how that all worked out. The one thing that never made any real sense to me though was the D-pad on it. There were only a handful of games that had even the slightest bit of need/use for it. So, I'm left wondering why they kept it instead of replacing it with something that there was intent to be used.
Game Cube, I absolutely hated. It was extremely uncomfortable, the C button was now more like the joystick on the N64, and the trigger button was in such a messed up spot that it was useless. It was hands down the worst controller design I have ever seen.
Wii didn't, in my mind, have a controller. The system was set up so wildly different, that I just look at it as having a goofy Power Glove more or less.

 

So taking all that into consideration, I would have to say that my favorite controller would be the SNES controller, mainly because it introduced us to just how much a video game controller could be capable of. Especially since it was only a 16 bit system.

[Shagger]

I hated the Duke (Original Xbox), that controller was too large. I have not got small hands, but even I found myself stretching my claws all over it to reach the buttons. Future Xbox controllers kept the layout, but were much easier to wrap your hands around, thank god.

Obviously more modern controllers are better, but even with that in mind, I think the DS4 is the best controller I've ever used. It's width, it's refined, it's comfortable, the huge rand of control options it offers, and they're built like APC's. The one problem is the perema-battery. I'm sorry, but XBox have the right idea by giving to option to use rechargeable or regular batteries, and that stupid Micro USB charge port only make it worse. The controller can only live as long as the battery. The DS3 was like that to, but this problem only existed in theory because that controller WOULD break long before that became an issue.

Something to consider though is that innovation can be risky. For example, there is a controller that was the first to feature a pause button, a fully analogue control stick, shoulder buttons, a partner console with four control ports instead of two and it is widely regarded to be one of the worst controllers in gaming history. It was so bad, it pretty much killed the console itself. That is the infamous Atari 5200. Atari were always willing to experiment. They made popular interchangeable cartridges, removable controllers, they were the first company to develop a wireless controller as well as the aforementioned attempts to innovate with the 5200, the first company make a handheld in colour and also really moved forward home computers. There experiments didn't always work, but they deserve props foo trying.

 

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

I'm going to go over a few systems, but I'm not including any handheld systems on this, even though several have separate controllers.

I'll start with a quick one. PlayStation kept an identical controller from PS1-PS3, so I can't pick one of them over the other, but in the PS realm I have to say that the PS4 controller is the most comfortable. Possibly the most comfortable controller in console gaming.

Xbox, I have never been a fan of, but their controllers were always comfortable, and the buttons easy to land the fingers on.

Sega Genesis had an interesting controller. It was my first experience with a 3 button setup. The controller fit rather well into the hand, but the button setup I wasn't a fan of. Also I was coming from the Nintendo world, so I was used to a completely different system, even though they shared several game titles. I never really had any kind of interaction with Dreamcast, so I can't comment on its controller.

Atari was a good one. They didn't screw around with bells and whistles. A joystick and a button. That was all that was needed, that was all that was made. I liked it then, and I like it now.

Colecovision was an odd one. I never fully got what the point of the numerical pad was until I was older and found out that there were cards you could slip onto it that lined up the buttons you could use in your games. Also the rotary dial was entirely unique, and something I personally have never seen on another system. So it gets points for originality.

Now the big one. Nintendo. With the NES, it was simple and basic. 2 buttons, a D-pad, and Start/Select. You didn't need any more at the time, so they didn't offer more. I like that.
Then SNES comes along. Four new buttons that would be the base for every controller design from then on out. Not only did you have A & B, but now you had X & Y, plus the two shoulder buttons L & R. Very innovative design.
N64 changed things up a bit more. They got rid of X & Y, and replaced them with the C buttons and a trigger button (Z button). I was a big fan of the trigger button. I loved how that all worked out. The one thing that never made any real sense to me though was the D-pad on it. There were only a handful of games that had even the slightest bit of need/use for it. So, I'm left wondering why they kept it instead of replacing it with something that there was intent to be used.
Game Cube, I absolutely hated. It was extremely uncomfortable, the C button was now more like the joystick on the N64, and the trigger button was in such a messed up spot that it was useless. It was hands down the worst controller design I have ever seen.
Wii didn't, in my mind, have a controller. The system was set up so wildly different, that I just look at it as having a goofy Power Glove more or less.

 

So taking all that into consideration, I would have to say that my favorite controller would be the SNES controller, mainly because it introduced us to just how much a video game controller could be capable of. Especially since it was only a 16 bit system.

 

Great post. Amongst the systems you mentioned that I've used, I have to agree. The SNES controller was very well-designed, although it's innovations like the wide shoulder buttons and it's compact, curved profile seem more like common sense today, back then it was radical. The N64 controller divides opinion even to this day, but I liked it. It suited the console and it suited the games. Starfox 64 (Or as it was known in the great U-of-K "Lylat Wars",  for some stupid reason) and Zelda: OOT, felt amazing to play on that controller.

[The Blackangel]

It was honestly a bit of a toss up for me between the SNES and N64. I love the N64 controller. It's one of my favorites. But I couldn't ignore the leaps the SNES controller made. But still, N64 will be a close second for me.

Edited January 5, 2020 by The Blackangel

[Crazycrab]

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

It was honestly a bit of a toss up for me between the SNES and N64. I love the N64 controller. It's one of my favorites. But I couldn't ignore the leaps the SNES controller made. But still, N64 will be a close second for me.

 

There is a question about the N64 controller I want to ask you about, and I will address the topic of that particular controller once I get my answer.

 

I think the SNES controler was the main step forward in terms of economics and quality.  I think the next and biggest revolution in terms of design was the original DualShock.  Pretty every controller since then has followed the basic layout.  Future designs followed from and improved ergonomically from that basic idea.

 

As of right now, I think the best overall design is the DualShock 4.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Crazycrab

[kingpotato]

My favorite controller is of course the PS4 dualshock controller, and my least favorite is the N64 controller, its soo weirdly shaped, I always though that the N64 would have benefited more if it had a controller like the sega dreamcast.