The all-time 11 most groundbreaking controllers

I would bump DC controller up, if for nothing else but the awesome memory card system. I loved taking my chao around with me..

LongshotX: Regardless of how crappy a controller it is, the N64 controller was the first gamepad to use the analog stick. Imagine trying to play Halo without analog sticks.

Good Lord! What whining!

Nintendo occupies 6/11 slots on that list (which already stated, are NOT ordered; this was a slight error on Mr. Snow's part). And yet, people aren't satisfied that all of Nintendo's stuff is highest ranked (even though they're NOT ranked to begin with).

To the comments of "Why put Wii up there? It isn't out yet!"
What does that have to do with anything? Just because none of us have played with it (unless you've been to E³, etc.) does not mean it isn't. Developers and big-name publishers HAVE played with it. THEY know of it's power firsthand. GamePro has every right to say whether or not it's groundbreaking, because they've used it!

To the comments of "shifting my hands on the N64 controller to use certain buttons"...
I can't think of a single N64 game that REQUIRED all buttons to be used. In most cases, L and +Control Pad were ignored, or used for unnecessary things (like L = taunting in SSB).

As for Xbox controller comments...
I agree the 360 controller should replace the Controller S. It's a far nicer design, although neither are really groundbreaking. And the 360 controller is NOT wireless standard. This is a FACT.
It would seem as though the only console with wireless controllers standard is Wii (and probably PS3 as well... but I'm waiting to see what Sony will do next).

One of my favorites has always been the virtual boy controller.

The way I saw it was that the XBox was the first controller to throw off the symmetric analog sticks. They moved the d-pad down, moved the analog up, and kept the analog triggers fron the Dreamcast.

I can't remember which console hit the market first, or which console was shown first (the XBox or the GameCube). Regardless, though, the GameCube d-pad blows ass.

I love the WaveBird and I believe that it made the list because it's the first high quality FIRST PARTY wireless controller.

Okay. I'm slightly drunk and have neglected to read the vast majority of these comments. But seriously. The "wii-mote" deserves its place - despite the fact it hasn't been officially released. That thing's already been copied. For Christ's sake! But what really got me was the N64's inexcusable shunning. I mean, wtf. Ye olde analog stick? ...major step forward. And one that virtually all of today's controllers (save the DS' rare innovative scheme) are incomplete without. Nintendo fanboy? Yes. But some things just can't be denied. What a _load_ of BS.

All the negative parts of that diatribe are, naturally, directed at GamePro rather than Joystiq. And I know the N64 placed - it just should've been held in higher regard. Still...I'm practically rabid here.

Having 11 controllers on the list seems a bit of an arbitrary number. If they want a list of the most influential controllers of all time, here it is:

Game & Watch: For inventing the modern D-Pad
NES: For pioneering the two handed horizontal configuration and the start and select buttons everyone uses.
NES Zapper: For inspiring every light gun
Genesis: For inventing the 3-button layout that was copied by a million 3D0's
SNES: For inventing the modern Diamond 4 button layout, sholder buttons, and attempting ergonomics that fit hands.
VirtualBoy: For inventing the modern handlebars.
N64: For inventing analogue thumbsticks (sofar as I know, the big innovation was the fact it fit under your thumb which no-one had done - imagine halo if it were still a joystick), trigger buttons, 4 ports as standard, exstensibility on the controller and recognising the importance of asymetry and secondary direction control in 3D. Also introduced Rumble tech
Dualshock (2): for adding second layer shoulder buttons, dual analogue controls, dual rumble, digital buttons on the analogue sticks (also pressure sensitive buttons to a very limited extent).
Dreamcast, for inventing analogue triggers.
Wavebird: For taking wireless 1st party.

All these features have subsequently been adopted by following consoles and competitors pretty much as standard. This is why innovations such as pointer control and Dreamcasts VMU's have not been included. Virtually none of these features has been dropped from the modern day control. Combining all of these we get:

Horizontal two handed ergonoic controller with handlebars, one crosshair d-pad, two clickable analogue thumbsticks, 4 main pressure sensitive face buttons in a diamond layout, assymetric directional layout, double shoulder buttons including analogue triggers, dual rumble, 4 player wirless connctivity, and finally extensibility via a port. This actually describes the Xbox 360 control, making it the most derivative control ever fathomed by man. The Dualshock design is almost identical also.

DualShoick was a more important controller than the N64s for several reasons.

1. It was the first to use a dual analog configuration which is standard today (this is often forgotten - how would we do anything in 3-d without two analog sticks, look at the PSP).

2. The Rumble-Pak sucked, the DualShock was the first to implement a rumble feature that did more than buzz indiscriminately.

3. The N64 controller was uncomfortable and unwieldly, the DualShock was comfortable and aethestically pleasing while the N64's was not.

@Brian It may have been a better controller, but it certainly wasn't more important. Without the N64 controller, the dual-shock would have been the SNES-wannabe with two extra shoulder buttons slapped on. Influential, maybe, but certainly not revolutionary or groundbreaking and DEFINITELY not more important the the N64 controller.

...and I liked how the N64 controller felt in my hands. >=(

What? No love for the FIRST JOYSTICK on a home console... The Odyssey 2 controller? It was first! The Atari 2600 Joystick was basically a copy of the Odyssey 2 controller, yet the 2600 gets the nod?

These guys don't remember their gaming history.

dual shock in front of n64?

dual shock wasn't groundbreaking! sony said "okay, let's copy nintendo's idea, but do it 2x better, so let's add a second one!"

they couldn't even figure out what to do with the second analog stick until the ps2 came around!!!

I can't believe the Xbox S controller is on the list, much less ahead of the Wii remote and the Wavebird. It is a quality controller, but groundbreaking? BS.

You are all complaining, but you are forgetting one thing. It's GamePro. Nobody takes them seriously, they are like the tabloid of the gaming industry. Move along, nothing to see here.

"Nintendo didn't even invent rumble - remember, they're paying royalties to Immersion same as everybody else"

Nintendo owns Immersion.

The Wii controller... ground breaking?

Does it have to be on the ground in order to break it in the first place?

Giving something such a name needs the general consumer reaction first. If the Wii controller opens up the entire game market to similar looking controllers, then I would call it ground breaking.

Until then, it's just a really neat idea that would probably work decently with gamers.

REEEMEMBERRRR THE POWER GLOOOOOOOOVE!!!

Surely the Atari had the first joystick, but was it 'analogue', as many of you are claiming?
I mean did it sense the degree you're pushing in this or that direction? Or was it just a D-pad with a stick on top? (Seriously guys, I don't know this so if you correct me if i'm wrong)

Jeff: Correct me if I'm wrong, but Nintendo did invent the 'analog' stick, as we know it. Prior to the N64, weren't all analog sticks more like -joysticks-, as opposed to a miniature-sized joystick stuck on a classic-style gamepad?

Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

Hahahaha, I always love it when people bash a controller/console/whatever for not being as good as the standards we have today, despite the fact that it was the first at what it did.

That's like bashing the very first automobile for "only having one cylinder OMG! Everybody knows cars these days have more than that, implementing TWO was the revolutionary thing!"

Ugh. Kids.

IMO, the N64 controller wasn't uncomforable unless you hold it from the left prong and use the joystick, as opposed to the middle prong whilst using the joystick (some people actually DID that!).

In anycase, the Dualshock should have been up there for its dual-analog setup (of which I can think of two genres that benefitted from it -- FPSes and Katamari), but it that should be ALL. It's a terrible controller -- if you hold it how it's meant to be held, you hold it too high to reach the joysticks. Maybe if they gave less curve to the handles, it might fix it a bit. Also, the joysticks aren't nearly as sensitive as the N64's, or any other console's for that matter. In fact, the controller has, perhaps, the worst joystick placement of our time.

Lastly, the d-pad sucks. I never noticed how TERRIBLE, and I stress this point, the Sony d-pad was until I tried to play The Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the SNES with it. The d-pad is simply unforgivably terrible. If you don't believe me, go get ZSNES, download something where you move in 8 directions, like Link to the Past, and try using your Sony controller's d-pad. It doesn't work.

^Ack! at 4:20 am, it's clear I 'ought to be going to going to bed, as opposed to trying to type with proper grammar.

My top 10 most influential controllers:

1. NES
2. SNES
3. Nintendo 64
4. Wavebird
5. Dual Shock (PSX)
6. Megadrive/Genesis controller
7. Xbox 360 Controller
8. Mouse and keyboard
9. GCN controller
10 Atari 2600 joystick

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Link below is way more objective then that Gamepro crap.

http://www.axess.com/twilight/console/

hey brian, did we just we just like, asked the same question, at almost the same time (I beat you to it! ^_^)
Freakeah!

Only wannabe 13 year old gangsta gamers read GamePro anyways. Horrible mag.

Number 31 and whoever else stated Atari had the first analog stick, they didn't. Atari's controler is a Joystick or a digital stick. It can sense the directions, but the difference between analog and digital is that analog can sense pressure.

Atari Joystick- Push right slightly, the kangaroo moves right 2 miles per hour. Push right all the way, the kangaroo moves right 2 miles per hour.
N64 analog- push analog stick right slightly, Mario tiptoes very slowly. Push right all the way, Mario moves so fast he outruns public transportation in Lima, Peru.

The Japanese/second American Sega Saturn controller was the most comfortable 2D controller of all time. It felt solid, the buttons were well-sized, and it really functioned well as a controller.

Alas, the great Saturn and its controller remain overlooked.

Where the heck is the Power Glove??

and the U-Force??

If you are going to put the xbox controller on there put up the duke for making a break away cord standard. I'd be willing to bet everyone on this board has had there NES ripped right off the shelf from a passer by. Prior to a good wireless i bet this has saved console gamers tons of money with the sensitive consoles we play now.

If "groundbreaking" is the standard, Pong's contoller should be number one. This isn't a "best controller" list.

Joytsiq misleaded some of you by adding numbers, the list could start with anyone on the list...

Any competent writer or editor understands that the order in which information is presented is relevant. If this list was not meant to be in best-to-worst order, then it SHOULD have been ordered in some other way, for example chronologically. This being GamePro, however, it doesn't surprise me for the list to be in a meaningless, arbitrary order.

The design [of the N64 pad] made it inconvenient to access every function (ie. go from analog stick to D-pad)

People seem to miss the point that the N64 pad wasn't intended to be used in a way such that every function on the controller was equally available. Put your hands on the outer two handles, and you've got a minor evolution of the SNES layout. Center and right handles give you the control scheme that became the standard for 3D gaming with Super Mario 64. Left and center handles, and you've got the D-pad as your WASD and the analog stick and Z-button as your mouse -- a close cousin of the PC FPS control scheme that sadly was underutilized by N64 developers.

If I remember correctly the old analog joystiqs were not self-correcting (I believe I read this, I couldn't tell you from experience)and thus not very good.

The Atari 5200's analog joystick was not self-centering, which sucked. The Vectrex's mini-stick was, as were most PC joysticks. I had a set of joysticks for my TRS-80 that had a switch on them that engaged or disengaged the springs, so it could be centering or not based on your preferences.

It was stupid. Instead of a dedicated analog for the camera they put 4 dumb directional buttons.

Those 4 buttons could also serve as standard action buttons. You wouldn't want to play Street Fighter with a layout where you had to push the right stick up for a fierce punch and left for a medium kick, would you?

Number 31 and whoever else stated Atari had the first analog stick, they didn't. Atari's controler is a Joystick or a digital stick.

The 2600 joystick (a term which encompasses both analog and digital input devices) was indeed digital -- just four contact switches which registered based on which way the stick was tilted. But the 5200 controller's joystick (and the 2600 paddles, for that matter) were entirely analog.

So i figured it all out and can put an end to this confusion on why the controllers don't match up with the title, i think the title ought to be "top ten most iconic controllers" clearly the title they used is effed up.

Um... I like to argue so I'm just going to point out.

N64 had an Analog stick AND a DPad... which PC Gamepad or Atari console had both?

Also as stated above this is game pro... If they put the XBox controller up there why didn't they put the 6 button Genesis pad up there for the same reason?

Times changed, they had to upgrade... yada yada yada they actually did it. Not. I made a huge controller and shrunk it. Praise me.

What year were you born in 51? I was born in 86' and even though I wasn't around to experience atari, intellivision ,colecovision and all that jazz I know that Nintendo was not the first to introduce an analog stick.

This list just further proves I made the right decision when I decided not to renew my subscription to GamePro over 6 years ago. GamePro is a childish magazine that isn't even worth the paper it's printed on. they are always biased towards whatever system is popular at the time and don't got the balls to say something sucks for fear of losing advertisers (hence the Xbox and PSX controller on the list and 6 Nintendo controllers). They try to keep every software and hardware maker happy, that's why this list makes no sense. I guess writing about WII, PS3, or 360 would have required writing skills so they made up this article to fill some pages. Stick to EGM, or even GameInformer at least.

Who writes this crap?! The Nintendo 64 is not number 2? EXCUSE ME! WITHOUT THE 64 THERE WOULDNT BE RUMBLE OR ANALOG STICKS! Seriously, they probably hire these guys from a trade school

guys, guys, guys. the xbox controller is up there because it features buttons. does anyone else realize how revolutionary that is?