top 10 controller innovations: IGN

[Crash]

10. The VMU - Sega Dreamcast
9. The Turbo Button - NES Advantage
8. Triggers - Z button on N 64
7. Breakaway Cord - Xbox?
6. Multiple Face Buttons - ?
5. Shoulder Buttons - SNES
4. Rumble/Force Feedback - N64
3. Wireless - not first but first to make mainstream
2. The D-Pad - NES
1. Analog Control - N64




wow, nintendo does innovate... is there something missing from the list?

[Teuthida]

And people are doubting Revolution's controller.

[Dyne]

What the hell. Where's the standard multiple-turbo controller innovation for the Turbo-Grafx-16.

[Typhoid]

Didnt Sega have the first wireless controller?


Not the "Wavebird".

[Swan]

Didnt Sega have the first wireless controller?


Not the "Wavebird".
But the Wavebird really invented it.

[Typhoid]

What the hell does "The Wavebird really invented it."


Did Sega travel through time, steal the idea from the Wavebird, go back in time, and then use it on their own machine?

[Swan]

What the hell does "The Wavebird really invented it."


Did Sega travel through time, steal the idea from the Wavebird, go back in time, and then use it on their own machine?
I believe "invent" as in the first to really get it done right.

[Typhoid]

I believe "invent" as in the first to really get it done right.


Did Sega's controller not work or something?


because my wireless Sega controller worked perfectly fine.

And last time I checked something doesnt have to be marketed correctly to be "invented".

[Swan]

Did Sega's controller not work or something?


because my wireless Sega controller worked perfectly fine.

And last time I checked something doesnt have to be marketed correctly to be "invented".
Oh yeah...I'll invent you!

[Stonecutter]

9. The Turbo Button - NES Max



I could have sworn the NES Advantage (which definatly had turbo, and was also the greatest controller EVER) was older than the NES Max.


In fact, I'd bet money on it.

[DeathsHand]

I don't think it's fair to credit the Wavebird with the 'invention' of wireless controllers...

Also just for kicks, I checked up on some other things with wikipedia...

"In 1982 Atari released the first controller with an analog stick for their Atari 5200 home console. However, the non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable, alienating many consumers at the time.

Also in 1982, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex, a vector graphics based system which used a self-centering analog stick, obviously a precursor to the modern design."

aaaand the D-pad

"A precursor to the standard D-pad was used by the Intellivision console, released by Mattel Electronics in 1980. The Intellivision's unique controller featured the first alternative to a joystick on a home console, a circular pad that allowed for 16 directions of movement by pressing with your thumb."

Though I've never played Intellivision so I dunno exactly how it compares to the D-pads we know today (other than having twice as many directions to move in)... But I guess because each of those examples are "Precursors" they don't count...

[Typhoid]

DH, shhhh, you're blowing the cover of this weighted Nintendo list.

[Swan]

http://www.wumpus2000.de/Homecomputer%20neu/Computers/Intellivision/Intellivision-4.jpg
There you go. I think.

[GameMaster]

This is a respectable list with a respectable innovative champion. Nintendo, I applaud thee.

[Dyne]

Did Sega's controller not work or something?


because my wireless Sega controller worked perfectly fine.

And last time I checked something doesnt have to be marketed correctly to be "invented".


How long did it last though?

[Typhoid]

Until the day I sold it.

[Dyne]

I meant as in battery life.

[Typhoid]

Oh, it wasnt too bad. From what I remember it was actually alot better than I would predict it to be.

[Jonbo298]

I trhink the list should be more read as "Companies that took these ideas and were accepted more publicly".

Intellivision may have had a D Pad first but it didn't become as popular until Nintendo utilized it.

"Analog" stick may have been on the Atari but Nintendo was the one that made it gain wide popularity/acceptance.

Same for Sega. First to implement some of these things but didn't get as widely accepted until another company used it.

[gekko]

Whoa whoa whoa, analog sticks and joysticks are completely different. Analog has many different levels of feedback that can be programmed differently. Analog sticks have 360 degrees of feedback and however many levels to the sides. Analog shoulder buttons on the cube have 256 levels of input, that you could theoretically program independently.

[DeathsHand]

Whoa whoa whoa, analog sticks and joysticks are completely different.

I'm pretty sure the wikipedia article was talking about analog sticks... If they were talking about joysticks, the nod would have gone to an earlier system... But who knows? I don't... Do you? Does anybody? WHO!?!?

[Crash]

I could have sworn the NES Advantage (which definatly had turbo, and was also the greatest controller EVER) was older than the NES Max.


In fact, I'd bet money on it.


that's what I mean, updated

[bobcat]

I had an intellivision, and the controller :D

[Bube]

The analog controllers for the Atari weren't analog sticks. I'm sure the games didn't have analog control back then. I remember reading that somewhere.

Gekko's right, and Nintendo were the first to get an analog stick on a controller.

And about the Wavebird, the older wireless controllers all had infrared recievers. I think the Wavebird was the first on a console to use RF. That's probably the innovation.

[DimHalo]

i knowpeople have addressed the wireless controller issue but I wanted to throw in my two cents.

I had the wireless controller for the sega and for the super nintendo (actually I should say HAVE). They both have great battery life and although the range from side to side sucks, I like them well enough. So I would have to say that the companies that made them should be attributed for the wireless controller.

[DarrenMcLeod]

NES had somewhat wireless control, with the NES Satellite, which acted as a four-player adapter. But I suppose that wasn't the controller itself, so it doesn't count.

[DeathsHand]

The analog controllers for the Atari weren't analog sticks. I'm sure the games didn't have analog control back then. I remember reading that somewhere.

From the Atari 5200 console description at allgame.com:

"The Intellivision system had raised the stakes in the gaming industry with its 16-position controller. Atari's own 2600 offered only 8 positions. In hopes of obliterating the competition, Atari designer, Craig Asher helped engineer the "analog" controller. It gives players full, 360 control of the action on-screen.

The 5200 controller contains two other features which made Atari's unique to any other system built by 1982: First, It offers speed variability. When a joystick is held in a single direction long enough, a player can increase his or her rate of on-screen movement."

From the Vectrex console description at allgame.com:

"The Vector joysticks are analog and allow players full control over direction and speed of motion. Rival companies, Intellivision and Atari (with their 2600) only offered digital controllers with their systems. These had a limited number of directions and a fixed on-screen speed."

Here's something I did find out from this site (http://www.classicgaming.com/vectrex/po_digital-analog.htm)...

"Most Vectrex games do not take advantage of the analog capability of the Vectrex Controller.

Most Vectrex games are programmed to give an all-or-nothing joystick response during gameplay...This means that you have to push the analog joystick knob so far to get a response...a digital response to your action..."

[Bube]

The Atari one does not have what I was talking about. The Vectrex does though.

Your speed varies depending on the angle the stick is tilted in SM64. That's not what the Atari has, you posted it yourself. The Vectrex seems to have that, but I've never heard of the Vectrex :D.