Are you a fan of the N64 controller?

Not even nostalgia can make me say that controller was a great design and N64 has some of my favorite games of all time. Can't hardly remember if I ever truly used the directional pad for anything outside taunting in smash bros...

Gamecube controller though will always be my all time favorite. Just melts into your hand and everything is within perfect reach. It also can take quite a beating and still be up for more play...

@eoten:

This is what I wished the N64 controller was. I love the Tribute 64 wireless controller, it's perfect.

@HalcyonScarlet: @eoten:

The GameCube controller being small definitely was a problem. Having big hands it felt like I was crushing the controller. I also hated the C stick how it was position and the L and R shoulder buttons felt springy.

@pmanden:

I bought a Retrobit SNES controller and it's small compared to when I was a kid in the 90's.

@kadin_kai: @pmanden:

Nintendo was clearly on to something with the c buttons. Glad Sony saw that decided to create analog sticks.

It was flawed. Had the joystick been more durable I would praise the controller more.

I didn't have a lot of problems with the N64 controller. The only time I had a problem with it was playing Mario Party and on that 1 v 3 minigame with the Pattle Battle which gave me a palm blister.

Nah, Goldeneye used the same control scheme as Perfect Dark which was the same control scheme as Turok. C buttons were forward, back, and strafe left, strafe right. Mirror that and it's the same control scheme used to day. The only problem with this setup though is I haven't used my left thumb for aiming in 20 years. The muscle memory just isn't there anymore.

Something cool about Perfect Dark and Goldeneye though is they were capable of dual analog. They had a control scheme where you used a second N64 controller in port 2 and used one for movement, the other for aiming. Given how the analog stick was on the middle grip of the N64 controller, it was balanced enough holding it by the middle one that you could hold one in each hand comfortable. In an emulator though, I mapped one N64 controller to one half of a modern controller, the other controller to the other half and was playing Perfect Dark with a PS4 controller getting both analog functions where you'd expect them to be on a modern title.

Yeah, but that was more due to the poor design of the minigame than the controller though. Mario Party destroyed a lot of analog sticks.

When that design is actually not bad then yes, its the player's fault (or maybe arrogance, who knows).

But anyway ... my biggest issue with the N64 controller is that it feels you are wasting the entire left side of the controller, is not like other controllers where you can still use the pad without losing too much track of the left stick, here if you need to use the pad for whatever reason, you need to lose grip from either the right side or the bottom side ... also the Z button was basically there to just fill in for the unreachable L button.

So it was a nice looking controller, or at least very unique, but there is a reason nobody ever tried to do something similar.

@eoten: Hmmm...that would actually make N64 first person shooters playable again. I can't go back to the original controls for theae games anymore, it's just to brutally painful.

Not only I liked the controller then, I still like the controller now.

In the late 90s and early 2000s I didn't have a problem using it for FPS. I played a LOT of Perfect Dark, but yeah, I can't do it anymore. In fact, in the time I've switched to PC gaming, I've lost a lot of the muscle memory in my right thumb as well.

I didn't hate it back when I used it. I remember liking the Z button especially, just felt good to press it. The controller felt nice in my child hands as well. A bit big, but wasn't heavy. Also thought it looked cool.

Would I use it today? Nope. Same goes for NES, SNES, Genesis, whatever old controller. There's so much better shit now.

SNES one is still excellent for 2D games though.

Most modern controllers are great for 3D games, but not great for 2D games. As they have the d-pad in an awkward position.

You could say: use the Playstation or Wii U controller for 2D games. But that doesn't feel great either.

Last 2D games I played (Ori), I played them with the Switch pro controller, as it comes with a really nice D-pad :)

It's ok, but why use a SNES controller when there's 8bitdo, you know?

@eoten: true, many of the Mario Party Minigames, especially the 1v3 were not controller and hand friendly. Leading to damage to the hand, controller, and friendship (lol)

Yeah if you're looking for a modern controller for 2d games, 8bitdo is a great option. Good d-pads.

Also, I personally dislike the Switch Pro controller d-pad. I find it easy to make accidental inputs when moving my thumb around the d-pad rapidly, which is an issue I don't have with the SN30 from 8bitdo. I couldn't use the Switch Pro to play Tetris99 without accidental inputs. YMMV.