If there’s anything gamers usually judge about a video game console, even before its games most of the time, one can take a wild guess that it’ll be the controller. Controllers are the peripheral that we either love or hate with all our hearts, but at the end of the day has proven to be the most necessary over the past three decades. Without a controller, the character would just sit there lazily waiting for us to do something while we contemplated what we would do if we actually had a controller. And how many times have you felt the panic of watching your controller disconnect in the middle of a campaign or even worse, a multiplayer match. As so much hinges on what a controller can do and how comfortable it is, this once simple accessory has over time become a cornerstone of what we expect from our consoles and if the controller is a nightmare to hold, then odds are we won’t be playing any games that were meant to use it.
10. Wii Remote: It isn’t the prettiest thing Nintendo ever delivered into the hands of waiting gamers, but it still can get the job done provided you have all the necessary attachments. Taking a cue from Apple seemed to be the order of the day when it came to the Wii Remote or “Wiimote” as it’s been relabeled in popular culture. While the controller could have been satisfactory in itself for a great many of the titles that were initially released on the Wii, it would’ve been especially lacking when it came to games like Legend of Zelda and Metroid, which one could understand an expectation for expanded controls. Sure, using the Wiimote and Nunchuck allowed us to wield a sword and shield seamlessly along with play a good round of boxing in Wii Sports, but as time went on, many of the Wii owners who had grown up with the Wii found themselves clamoring to use the controller in the same old way as the NES had become known and loved for. Even better was when we discovered just how many games allowed for us to use the Gamecube controller, which amazingly enough removed the fear of flinging our Wiimotes into our televisions. Overall though, it allowed for basic movement to be recognized and while you may need a small fortune in accessories, that’s the price I suppose you have to pay for immersion.
9. Super Nintendo Controller: Coming off the heels of the wildly successful Nintendo Entertainment System (then known to the world simply as the NES), you can see the missing link between the two consoles controllers evolving in the packed in accessory of the top-loading NES. Suffice to say, for all the games Nintendo released on the console, the SNES controller let gamers handle them all quite well. Super Metroid, Earthbound, Star fox and each Super Mario game snapped too quickly thanks to a strong, responsive controller that felt comfortable in just about anyone’s hands. While admittedly, you can feel the for-children design if you ever picked one up as an adult; there isn’t anything flimsy about them. Despite being small, they can survive being hurled into a wall, against the floor or even chewed on by bawdy pets years after the fact and will still keep chugging along. Raising the button capacity from two to four at first seemed genuinely daunting, but as time went on, everyone found something to love about the controller and the system as a whole making it one of the few lovingly nostalgic systems still in existence.
8. Sega Genesis Controller: Sega does what Nintendon’t was always the slogan than rabid fanboys would throw around. Being a Sega kid after owning an NES was difficult for me, but the slick graphics for the era kept me from ever looking back. To top it all off, the controller felt awesome in my hands. And oh did those controllers take a beating. Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II saw those things flying across my room on more than one occasion along with withstanding a death grip that would’ve destroyed lesser controllers. And despite having only 3 buttons instead of the SNES controller’s 4, you didn’t really mind because you were too busy focusing on how to make Sub-Zero tear that guy’s head off. For every combo I couldn’t pull off on a Super Nintendo, I flawlessly did the same thing in the Genesis version. Could just be nostalgia speaking, but without a doubt, I definitely find myself playing my Sega on a slow day a lot more than I do my other, older consoles.
This feature top 10 list continues on the next page, please click below to reveal our next 4 choices for Top Video Game Controller of All-Time.
Share
Follow our official PlanetXbox360.com Twitter account, by clicking here for updates hourly, 24/7 - 365 days a year. We also started an YouTube page where all the new trailers/gameplay videos will be posted within minutes of release, check it out and subscribe by clicking here.
