16th July 2008, 8:38 PM
This is a short, simple rant:
Nintendo was the first major home console to feature shoulder buttons on their controllers.
Nintendo's shoulder buttons are the worst, consistently, ever made.
Cases:
Two of my SNES controllers have either partially- or completely non-functional shoulder buttons (one also has a faulty D-Pad)
N64: They work. But they're never used, so that's to be expected.
GBA SP: R-button worked only if about 500 pounds of pressure is exerted upon it. Eventually replaced unit.
Nintendo DS Lite: BOTH shoulder buttons completely stopped functioning, after less than 12 months! Replaced unit with second DS Lite... and this one has a bad L-Button!
GameCube: Just today, while replaying MP, my R-Button crapped out. It senses partial pressure only when I press fully on it. Full pressure is not sensed at all.
By comparison, I have 8 total controllers between my Playstations and Dreamcast. Not ONE of them has EVER seen a shoulder button failure, and I use them all pretty well equally.
This just frustrates the hell out of me, especially with the handhelds. I can stomach paying $20 for a new controller, but replacing a DS or SP is not cheap at all.
Nintendo was the first major home console to feature shoulder buttons on their controllers.
Nintendo's shoulder buttons are the worst, consistently, ever made.
Cases:
Two of my SNES controllers have either partially- or completely non-functional shoulder buttons (one also has a faulty D-Pad)
N64: They work. But they're never used, so that's to be expected.
GBA SP: R-button worked only if about 500 pounds of pressure is exerted upon it. Eventually replaced unit.
Nintendo DS Lite: BOTH shoulder buttons completely stopped functioning, after less than 12 months! Replaced unit with second DS Lite... and this one has a bad L-Button!
GameCube: Just today, while replaying MP, my R-Button crapped out. It senses partial pressure only when I press fully on it. Full pressure is not sensed at all.
By comparison, I have 8 total controllers between my Playstations and Dreamcast. Not ONE of them has EVER seen a shoulder button failure, and I use them all pretty well equally.
This just frustrates the hell out of me, especially with the handhelds. I can stomach paying $20 for a new controller, but replacing a DS or SP is not cheap at all.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR