30th May 2007, 8:22 AM
The N64 controller put an analog stick next to a lot of buttons, and was a move that changed the industry and was something pretty much required for 3D games to get as fun as their 2D counterparts. That said, it was hardly perfect. To me, the 3 stick setup was just silly. It had a Z button and it had an L button, but with that setup, they were not really 2 buttons in the sense that a programmer could really make use of them for two functions. The Z button was a great design, but the rest could have used improvement. The analog stick of the N64 was fragile, as would be found out. Also, it was hard plastic and personally I always got blisters using the thing. Other companies improved on it by using, for example, two control sticks. They also made them more durable and covered the stick in soft rubber. Nintendo copied these improvements themselves and now with the Wii the control sticks are pretty much perfect. The 3 grip thing died with the N64 and I'm glad to see it go. It is a lot more convenient, and I can make use of ALL the controller's buttons, when it's all put on two grips. The only hard thing is setting up where the left stick and direction pad are. The Gamecube didn't really get it right at all, but the XBox 360 did it perfect. Now really the only thing to be upset about is that the 360's direction pad sucks.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)