What is your favorite controller?

[corn619]

A nicely broken in SNES controller is nearly a perfect piece of engineering. Controller Mario with a real SNES pad has no subsitute. Its just makes playing that more joyful.

[Hatta]

Saturn for digital, PS2 for analog control. Playstation was the first with dual analog, and the sticks are laid out symmetrically unlike the Xbox. The face buttons are laid out pretty much like an SNES controller (which I'd put at #2 for digital), but with nice big grips. I agree though, the split d-pad is really bad.

I dunno what you mean by tacked on. The analog sticks work well. The triggers also work well. They're not analog but neither are the snes/saturn triggers. Plus, there are 4 of them which comes in handy. The clicky stick buttons are pretty useless, but they don't hurt anything so I can't count it against it. And since when does the PS1/PS2 controller have a battery?

Also, keyboard and mouse should be an option.

[bladerunner]

Chose Saturn, SNES and Xbox (360). The curvier Saturn controller is the best non-analog controller, period. The SNES is a close second. The 6-button Genesis is a great controller too, but I figured I'd have a vote for Nintendo. The 360 controller is extremely comfortable, so no complaints there.

I still am not a fan of the PS controllers. The analog sticks are in a weird position and the trigger buttons suck, mostly because they are shaped like buttons, not triggers.

[elvis]

SNES by far.

And IMHO everything went downhill with the advent of analogue thumbsticks.

[lisalover1]

I like the Saturn, Dreamcast, and Virtual Boy Controllers. The Saturn's controller is hands-down the best 2D game controller, the Dreamcast controller is cool because of the VMUs, and the Virtual Boy controller fits the best in your hand.

[wakeup]

Present/last gen: xbox/360>>> ps3/ps2> wii> dreamcast> n64> gamecube

I can't see how anyone can say ps2 or dreamcast controller> xbox's. VMUs with no battery left makes the high pitch noise and the dreamcast controller is just way too big. The gamecube controller is pretty much horrible.

[CRTGAMER]

I can forgive people not knowing any better but people who genuinely think that the Playstation controller is the best controller ever are seriously deluded. The d-pad doesn't work right, they tacked on analogue control, they tacked on crappy triggers that bend the wrong way, the 'analogue buttons' aren't useful at all, don't get me started on the non-changeable battery or the fact that the controller has been broken for nigh on 15 years now...

I don't care for the PS3 controller where you can't change the battery.

The original BEST Playstation DUAL ANALOG not DUAL SHOCK, note longer handgrips and Green Light .........

Crazy Concave Sticks!

[Niode]

Saturn for digital, PS2 for analog control. Playstation was the first with dual analog, and the sticks are laid out symmetrically unlike the Xbox. The face buttons are laid out pretty much like an SNES controller (which I'd put at #2 for digital), but with nice big grips. I agree though, the split d-pad is really bad.

I dunno what you mean by tacked on. The analog sticks work well. The triggers also work well. They're not analog but neither are the snes/saturn triggers. Plus, there are 4 of them which comes in handy. The clicky stick buttons are pretty useless, but they don't hurt anything so I can't count it against it. And since when does the PS1/PS2 controller have a battery?

Also, keyboard and mouse should be an option.

The battery is present in the PS3 pad. It's all the same controller anyway.

The analogue sticks were tacked on after Nintendo brought out the N64 and Sony did a 'Me too' just like they did when they tacked on rumble when Nintendo brought it out, oh yeah, and just like they tacked on motion control when Nintendo did it first. Notice a pattern here? The analogue sticks are in the wrong place. Why are they in the middle? The Xbox controller was the first controller to improve the dual analogue concept, the Gamecube perfected it. All I have to say is if the main input in your games is analogue then put the freaking analogue under your left thumb. Not to the side. The analogue was an afterthought on Sony's part and putting it there was literally the cheapest way they could get a controller out as to not make the PS1 look like 'old technology' IF Sony had done some serious R&D on their controller then they could have the best controller ever. Fact is, Sony got lazy, they simply couldn't be bothered to redesign the controller. Just look at Microsoft, they took their first controller back to the drawing board, fixed it's problems and made something even better. They then took that design and improved on it further for the 360. Nintendo spend years getting their controllers right. Then they concentrate on what hardware fits the system the best as a whole. Sony seem to think if they just brute force their way with these do-it-all systems they'll win. Which is a shame. It's probably the reason they're in last place right now.

[CRTGAMER]

The battery is present in the PS3 pad. It's all the same controller anyway.

The analogue sticks were tacked on after Nintendo brought out the N64 and Sony did a 'Me too' just like they did when they tacked on rumble when Nintendo brought it out, oh yeah, and just like they tacked on motion control when Nintendo did it first. Notice a pattern here? The analogue sticks are in the wrong place. Why are they in the middle? The Xbox controller was the first controller to improve the dual analogue concept, the Gamecube perfected it. All I have to say is if the main input in your games is analogue then put the freaking analogue under your left thumb. Not to the side. The analogue was an afterthought on Sony's part and putting it there was literally the cheapest way they could get a controller out as to not make the PS1 look like 'old technology' IF Sony had done some serious R&D on their controller then they could have the best controller ever. Fact is, Sony got lazy, they simply couldn't be bothered to redesign the controller. Just look at Microsoft, they took their first controller back to the drawing board, fixed it's problems and made something even better. They then took that design and improved on it further for the 360. Nintendo spend years getting their controllers right. Then they concentrate on what hardware fits the system the best as a whole. Sony seem to think if they just brute force their way with these do-it-all systems they'll win. Which is a shame. It's probably the reason they're in last place right now.

Really means something for same controller design to hold for 15 years.
I like the Digital pad. Very clear when you press Direction or Diagonal.

Sony tried to innovate a different controller but all the gamers screamed.

Granted this one is ridiculous but a lot of Gamers loved original design ..........

[Hatta]

The analogue sticks are in the wrong place. Why are they in the middle?

They're in the middle because you just have to rotate your thumbs a tiny bit to reach them. Plus, they're symmetrical, which makes sense since our hands are symmetrical. The placement of the dual analog sticks are why I prefer the ps2 dual shock to any other analog controller.

All I have to say is if the main input in your games is analogue then put the freaking analogue under your left thumb.

When I play a ps2 game the analog stick is directly under my thumb. It's not any harder to reach the analog sticks than it is the dpad/face buttons. Is it really that hard to move your thumbs 15 degrees?

To touch on another topic here, those of you who put the SNES controller over the Saturn pad (model 2), why? I find the dog bone shape to be harder to hold on to than the wing shape of the saturn controller. Plus, you get 6 face buttons.