Fantastic look at the of the Evolution of gaming controllers , As a retro gamer I still prefer the D-pad over the analogue stick, My favourite controller is The PlayStation controller , I find the layout of the Buttons And analogue sticks almost perfect It has come so far since the og PlayStation days But still Takes inspiration from its original design, Great job mate
Oh, fun fact: There is no technical reason that the Atari 2600 couldn't have had a 3-button joystick. Since the Atari also had two analog lines, which were used for the paddles, they could have easily been used for reading an additional two buttons. Theoretically, they could have been used to add more than that, but then you get into reading specific values from each button and making sure they don't interfere with each other, but three buttons would have worked perfectly. And since machines like the Commodore 64 also supported two analog lines, they could have inherited three button joysticks in the process. I think the reason no company ever made such a stick is that there weren't any games that would take advantage of it. And no company wanted to write three button games if people didn't have joysticks to use with them. So catch-22.
When the Atari 2600 came out, everyone universally agreed that the joysticks were designed for right-handed players. Left-handed players found them awkward to use because their least coordinated hand was forced to work the stick, while their most coordinated hand was relegated to just pushing a button. Later third party joysticks were designed to be used equally well with either hand, either having the buttons on the stick itself, or having a button on each side. The next generation of consoles, the Atari 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, all featured ambidextrous controllers. Right-handed players still held the controller in their left hand and worked the stick/disc with their right. Lefties held the controller in their right hand and worked the stick/disc with their left. Everyone pretty much universally agreed that this made the most sense. Then arcade machines started to have the joystick on the left. Why? Because this made the game more awkward to play for right-handed players, and therefore they would lose faster and spend more money to continue. When the NES came out, it copied this design, putting the d-pad on the left and the buttons on the right. Rather than complain about this design, everyone fell all over themselves to proclaim that THIS was how right-handed gamers should play games. By using their least coordinated hand to make precise movements in games, while their most coordinated hand is relegated to pressing buttons. And of course, all future consoles copied this design, ALWAYS putting the movement controls on the left. As a right-handed person, I HATE this design. I also HATE d-pads for anything other then selecting from a menu. And here are the two things that really bug me about all this; 1. Take any ambidextrous joystick and hand it to a right-handed gamer, and 99% of them will instinctive hold the stick with their right hand. Even if they have grown up only playing games on consoles with left-handed movement controls, they will instinctively know that their right hand is better suited to hold the stick. 2. D-pads, especially when they have a raised cross on a larger, round pad, very much resemble an Intellivision disc controller, which was quite unpopular when it came out, but now everyone seems to love it. Oh, and also the fact that every console since the PS2 and Xbox have had the ability to plug in and use USB keyboards and mice for playing FPS games, but almost none of the games support it. I've tried playing FPS games with an analog controller and for me, they're unplayable.
@@lurkerrekrul amazing comment !!! I knew the bit about players playing left handed but never knew the context behind it , thank you so much !! Great info !
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Very interesting topic. Great video.
That was fantastic mate, really enjoyed it ❤️
@@garyblackwoodpoker thanks Gaz !!
Fantastic look at the
of the Evolution of gaming controllers , As a retro gamer I still prefer the D-pad over the analogue stick, My favourite controller is The PlayStation controller , I find the layout of the Buttons And analogue sticks almost perfect It has come so far since the og PlayStation days But still Takes inspiration from its original design, Great job mate
@@marcgoesblindgaming2076 thanks so much Marc !
Nicely done, great video
@@LessSkillSmith cheers buddy !
Ah excellent video boyo very well done thanks for sharing, swift and informative.🕹🙌🎮🍀
@@Pjvenom1985 thanks dude !! Was hoping you would enjoy !
🎉🎉
Oh, fun fact: There is no technical reason that the Atari 2600 couldn't have had a 3-button joystick. Since the Atari also had two analog lines, which were used for the paddles, they could have easily been used for reading an additional two buttons. Theoretically, they could have been used to add more than that, but then you get into reading specific values from each button and making sure they don't interfere with each other, but three buttons would have worked perfectly. And since machines like the Commodore 64 also supported two analog lines, they could have inherited three button joysticks in the process.
I think the reason no company ever made such a stick is that there weren't any games that would take advantage of it. And no company wanted to write three button games if people didn't have joysticks to use with them. So catch-22.
When the Atari 2600 came out, everyone universally agreed that the joysticks were designed for right-handed players. Left-handed players found them awkward to use because their least coordinated hand was forced to work the stick, while their most coordinated hand was relegated to just pushing a button.
Later third party joysticks were designed to be used equally well with either hand, either having the buttons on the stick itself, or having a button on each side. The next generation of consoles, the Atari 5200, Colecovision, Intellivision, all featured ambidextrous controllers. Right-handed players still held the controller in their left hand and worked the stick/disc with their right. Lefties held the controller in their right hand and worked the stick/disc with their left. Everyone pretty much universally agreed that this made the most sense.
Then arcade machines started to have the joystick on the left. Why? Because this made the game more awkward to play for right-handed players, and therefore they would lose faster and spend more money to continue. When the NES came out, it copied this design, putting the d-pad on the left and the buttons on the right. Rather than complain about this design, everyone fell all over themselves to proclaim that THIS was how right-handed gamers should play games. By using their least coordinated hand to make precise movements in games, while their most coordinated hand is relegated to pressing buttons. And of course, all future consoles copied this design, ALWAYS putting the movement controls on the left.
As a right-handed person, I HATE this design. I also HATE d-pads for anything other then selecting from a menu.
And here are the two things that really bug me about all this;
1. Take any ambidextrous joystick and hand it to a right-handed gamer, and 99% of them will instinctive hold the stick with their right hand. Even if they have grown up only playing games on consoles with left-handed movement controls, they will instinctively know that their right hand is better suited to hold the stick.
2. D-pads, especially when they have a raised cross on a larger, round pad, very much resemble an Intellivision disc controller, which was quite unpopular when it came out, but now everyone seems to love it.
Oh, and also the fact that every console since the PS2 and Xbox have had the ability to plug in and use USB keyboards and mice for playing FPS games, but almost none of the games support it. I've tried playing FPS games with an analog controller and for me, they're unplayable.
@@lurkerrekrul amazing comment !!! I knew the bit about players playing left handed but never knew the context behind it , thank you so much !! Great info !