http://bigredcoat.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/bad-controllers-the-nes/

Personally, I think he's a whiner; I never suffered anything like the pain he describes. (He even bashed the SNES controller as being nearly as painful. I remember that thing handling like a dream!)

But it's an amusing read.

Hahaha the best bit is when he speaks about the d-pad.

" It’s something that, if you were to see it in a videogame, you would instinctively run into the next screen to get away from."

That made me laugh outloud. Pure gold.

Well I still like the NES controller even today, never liked the d-pad on any Nintendo system though, other than that I thought they where all good controllers.

I never did care for the shape of the NES controller. Never felt that good in my hands.

My only real problems were the wire getting detached internally (that is to say, the cord was still physically attached to the controller, but without putting pressure on it it wouldn't hit its contacts inside the controller) and the buttons dying. I probably went through a dozen NES controllers, without exaggerating.

Didn't have either of those problems with the SNES...pretty sure I was able to keep the original controllers for the life of the unit.

I never suffered with the NES controller. It did fit in the hands perfectly. I think that the only "bad" controller from Nintendo was the N64 one and it was better than the horrible pad of the PSOne.
Hardcore gamers journalists are just a bunch of crybabies.

I was just about to point out that this guy doesn't seem to remember the competing controllers at the time. But it seems he figures it out himself:

At this point I must ask myself if I am being fair to the NES controller, and to be honest I’m not entirely. As I mentioned above it’s not like anyone was doing a better job at the time, we’re talking about an era where the previous Best Controller Of All Time was quite literally a stick and a button atop a slab of black plastic.

And what was the only thing worse than the 2600 controller? The Colecovision controller, of course! The joystick on that thing was so short and stubby that it was nearly impossible to use:

Another really bad stick was the CX-78. i.e. The standard joystick for the Atari 7800:

The designers seemed to have no sense of "torque". The shaft was so long on that stick that you would literally fight yourself to keep it stable. The "video game champions" that Atari used to promote the system thus developed a very weird way of interacting with the system's controller:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A46SSY9q3n8

Freaked out yet? As you should be. The Atari gamepad he shows in the article was produced for Europe only, and was a piss-poor attempt to narrow Nintendo's lead. As you can see from the notches, Atari fundamentally misunderstood how consumers interacted with NES pads:

The NES controller may be bad by modern standards, but back then it was a God-send. The SNES controller fixed most of the issues with the NES controller. I find it bizarre that he then refers to the Genesis controller as superior. The round control pad on that thing was extremely hard to use properly and the three buttons were spaced so far that it was difficult to have coverage on all three. The SNES pad, for comparison, gave coverage over all four face buttons and two shoulder buttons at all times. In result, the SNES controller was far superior at many-button action games.

My analysis? This guy just wanted to whine.

On the contrary, I initially found the N64's analog stick confusing. I was like "why isn't the D-pad working?"

Thewiirocks said everything I wanted too, its like complaining that you had to watch a Black and White 15" TV in the 1950's and blaming it on poor design when infact for the time it was cutting edge technology, yes we have come a long way since then but it doesn't mean you can start complaining about how poor something was in a time when there wasn't another product like it and no mistakes to learn from.

SNES controller > Genesis controller, period. This guy is an idiot. The only D-pad that's ever really hurt my thumb is the actually the GAMECUBE D-pad, not the NES one. That thing was TOO FREAKING TINY! Good thing most games didn't really use it...I'm glad to have no more need of the Zelda Collector's Disc for that very reason, though (go VC!).

The NES controller doesn't hurt the hands a TENTH as much as this guy says, and the SNES one not at all. I have only a minor complaint with the way buttons are often used on Nintendo games, but it's really easy to get in the swing of things again. I find it harder to play Playstation games that use the same control scheme, because that's just WRONG for a PS controller!

And complaining about the select/back button...seriously? It's usually mapped for something you wouldn't want to press in the middle of an intense action sequence anyway, so there's really no problem with it whatsoever! In fact, I'd rather it WASN'T too close to the action buttons!

As much as I love the Genesis, I have to agree. The SNES design was topnotch.

The Nintendo controller was a very good one.

You be trollin' in disguise, I knows it.

Not as bad as this piece of crap:

Gotta agree with the Wiirocks on this one.For the time it was one of the best controllers out there.The Sega Master System and PC engine had very similar controllers as well. I still love those little things.....ahhhhhhhh those were the days .......just 2 Buttons and a D-pad.........................oh wait thats the Wiimote!!.........

EDIT @Cheetahman Ha ,I've got two of those in the loft along with the console and 20 games. Got it for a fiver in a car boot.They are a bit werid but kinda innovative as well. Each game comes with a liitle overlay that goes over the numbers and shows which button does what.I think it's pretty cool actually ,especially the coiled phone wire that attached them to the console

Hey now! Don't be hatin' on my Inty controller! It was lousy for action games, but it was quite a good controller for the more introspective types of games the Intellivision supported. I'd like to see you play Space Spartans on a 2600 controller!

Besides. The buttons actually worked on the Intellivision. Unlike a certain "Super System" with an analog stick that shall remain nameless.... (cough*fiftytwohundred*cough)

NES controller is a great standard control by today's standard it fell weird but it's still great.

I really don't see the problem with the NES controller other than the squared edges making it feel a little awkward in your hand. The buttons are well placed for easy access however.

One of the arguements here that I don't under stand is how Buffalobob says he hates the original PSX controller but likes the SNES controller. Looking at a PSX controller you will notice on the face it has the same button lay out scheme, plus it has two shoulder buttons on each side. Add in the ergonomic grips and you have a controller that not only feels good in you hands, but still provides good access to the buttons. There is a reason Sony hasn't changed their base controller design since they added the Analog sticks. So really explain to me how the PSOne pad was so horrible while the SNES pad was topnotch when they had the same basic layout of buttons and the PSOne pad had some added functionality with the second pair of shoulder buttons and increased the ergonomics of the design by adding grips.

Sharp corners rule. They let you know you're alive!

@Odnetnen: He didn't say anything negative (Superman). I'd rather give him positive re-enforcement for for giving an answer which purpose wasn't to cause trouble. He actually said something good about a nintendo system too (passes out from disbelief).