Topic: Nintendo's frustrating history of being endlessly ripped off: a retrospective

after seeing the classic controller pro many people have remarked that it looks like a ripped-off dual shock. it seems kind of ironic when you consider just how much of the dual shock was based off of nintendo's designs; it got me thinking about the history of stolen ideas between video game companies that brought us where we are today. any self respecting nerd should know it already, but a lot of younger people don't seem to realize how things went down. i've got the time to kill, so let's walk through this-

It started with the SNES controller, unarguably the most influential controller in history. it was the first controller that really seemed to have been carefully designed every step of the way to function well first and foremost, rather than attract people with gimmicky looks and useless features (i'm thinking of sega's three-buttons-in-a-row shark-fin-handled genesis controller). the diamond button layout gave you 4 easily accessible buttons to hit and the shoulder buttons finally gave your index fingers some use.

and it was beautiful: http://awesome-gadgets.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/snes_...

then playstation came on the scene and did this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/PS_Control...
sony's attitude seemed to be "why design a new controller when this one already works?" they added grips for comfort and doubled up the shoulder buttons, but it's plain to see that it's just an SNES pad at it's core. if you altered the plug you could probably use it to play any super nintendo game without the system even knowing the difference.

although the SNES controller was becoming established as the default controller design, nintendo themselves weren't interested in using it again. they instead went to this: http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/4116/potsmokingnyu5.jpg

the bong functionality was dropped before launch, but the controller retained a miniature analog joystick and the ability to connect a vibrating motor called a rumble pack to the back of the controller. it also added 4 'C' buttons that were intended to be used specifically to adjust the camera angle (10% of the time they did). although not nearly as well designed as the SNES pad overall (the digital Dpad side of the controller is mainly used to collect dust) it was still hugely innovative and changed the way games were played. to be fair, nintendo didn't invent the analog stick, but they were the first to successfully put it front and center as the default way to control the games. what was sony up to during all this?

oh yeah, this: http://www.playstationmuseum.com/images/Playstationv3.jpg
before the end of the year, and without even having a new system out, sony revamped their PS one controller to include the newest innovations of the N64 controller, rumble, analog sticks, and all. the concept of the 'C' buttons was included in a way, but rather than using digital buttons sony went with a second analog stick. they may not have been sony's own ideas, but you can at least give the company credit for doing a good job of implementing them; unlike the N64's controller the rumble didn't require batteries and the analog stick actually worked pretty well for camera control and the like. sony used the same controller, virtually unchanged aside from analog buttons, for their next console.

once again, nintendo wanted to keep moving on and dramatically revised their controller for the gamecube: http://continuousfire.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/gamecube_co...
although very different than the N64 controller, it's still the closest nintendo have come to repeating a controller design. it's also the first time nintendo seemed to be taking their competition's innovations themselves. the tumbleweed-ridden left handle is gone, and the D-pad has been placed adjacent to the analog stick, not unlike the dual shock's placement. a right analog stick has also been added for camera control, and the buttons gained the near-useless but very impressive sounding pressure sensitivity introduced by the PS2 dual shock. the diamond button pattern was abandoned for a new layout with A turned into a sort of 'home' button to serve as the default position of your thumb, with the other 3 buttons positioned within equally easy reach around it. overall, a very good design, but very dependent on what game is being played.

then there's this guy: http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/mi/microsoft-offic...
microsoft seem to have a lot in common with sony. they too seemed to ask "why design a new controller when this one already works?" the difference between the two companies is that Microsoft then asked the follow up "how can we make it look any shittier?" i don't think i need to go into detail.

that brings us to the current gen controllers; nintendo once again decided to do something completely different to make games feel new again: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5QUqsNN5wMo/SNtEgTCHR4I/AAAAAAAAACI...

meanwhile, microsoft and sony decided that they were still quite happy with the SNES pad and that the wii was for kids and old people. i guess that means they'll stick with their own designs this ti-wait, what's that?
http://www.ps3informer.com/ps3_wand%5B1%5D.jpg
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01414/natal1_1414888c.jpg

aw, crap.

there you have it. i personally feel like nintendo is totally entitled to make the classic controller look as much like a dual shock as they please, since it's 90% their design anyway. maybe next time the other companies will realize how valuable innovation can be and try a little bit of it themselves; with the tables turned do you think nintendo would struggle to catch up with them, or go in a different direction entirely as they always have tried to do? let me know if i missed anything/ got the facts wrong.

Wow.... Thats a lot of reading.....Guess its good I did not read it.

you made the right decision

isnt it ironic, the more content you put in something, the less people want to read it

Interesting choice of photo for the N64. That alone bowled me over.

I read it, and found it entertaining, and pretty much as accurate as I could write it.

Yeah I read the whole thing. If somebody takes the time to write out something that extensive, I'm more likely to read it. Because I think, "Wow that person put a lot of work into that". Sometimes that actually turns out to be true.

That was a very well written and funny post, romulux. Well done

I read it. Thanks for the history lesson.

A Brief History of How Nintendo Has Ripped Off Everyone

Exhibit A: Removable Cartridges

Just shy of 1980, the Milton Bradley Company released the first ever handheld to feature removable cartridges: the Microvision. Nintendo was still just making Game & Watch handhelds. It wasn't until 1989 that Nintendo finally managed to rip off Microvision with their Game Boy system featuring the innovative removable cartridge!

Exhibit B: The D-Pad

The very first company to ever put a true four-directional d-pad on their controller was again the pioneering Milton Bradley Company with their Cosmic Hunter Microvision handheld in 1980/81.

Nintendo was quicker about ripping them off with this one, and featured a D-pad on their Game & Watch handhelds by 1982.

Exhibit C: The Modern Stick Control Thingy

Nintendo was already paying close attention to the Microvision, eager to rip off the next new design feature. It should come as no surprise then that when the guy who designed the Microvision went on to design the Vectrex with the first ever modern self-centering analog stick, Ninty was ready with their tracing paper. Well, apparently not quite so ready, because it took them 14 years to get their rip-off out the door, and it had inferior non-analog technology (not to mention poor placement) on their N64 controller.


Nintendo also ripped off the gamepad that the Vectrex had with their NES controller. Oh hey, check that out. Analog stick on the left and buttons on the right. Hmmm... interesting design choice. Where did we see that later on in history?

Exhibit D: 3D Virtual Reality

Another rip-off of the Vectrex. The Vectrex 3D Imager. It beat out the Virtual Boy by over a decade.

Exhibit E: The Light Gun

In 1936, the Seeburg Corporation released the "Ray-o-Lite", which was a light gun game that allowed you to shoot ducks.

In 1984, Nintendo released "Duck Hunt" for the NES, which was a light gun game that allowed you to shoot ducks.

Exhibit F: Rumble

In 1997, CH Products released the Force FX - the first controller with rumble. Later that year, Nintendo released a rumble pak add-on to their N64 controller. Sony shamed them both later that year by releasing the DualShock, which not only had built-in rumble, but had two different types of rumble motors to give a wider range of force feedback. It took Nintendo 4 years after Sony to release a controller with built-in rumble.

Exhibit G: Touch Controls

People were tapping their styluses on PalmPilot touchscreens to play games way back in 1997 - long before they picked up a DS.

Exhibit H: Motion Controls

It makes no sense to talk as if Sony recently copied the Wii's controls after seeing its success. After all, Sony was already giving press interviews about a motion controller that recognises gestures with a camera in 2003, and filed a patent in 2004.

The one who was truly getting ripped off here was Microsoft. That's right. Microsoft.

Back in 1999, Microsoft released the Sidewinder Freestyle Pro, which reviewers received as a highly innovative and first-ever motion-sensitive game contro....

Nintendo: A fountain of other people's innovative ideas.

Ouch. Lets face it, this is an industry of copycats. That's what makes the world go round.

The crooks!

The problem is not copycatting. It's when people try to pass off other people's ideas as their own and hypocritically criticise others for "ripping off" ideas from them that they themselves ripped off of others.

This is what Nintendo does. Like when the Nintendo UK boss said, "We know Sony have had a lot of issues with their rumble feature and they've had to withdraw it - because they didn't innovate, they copied. I don't know what their decision-making process is but I think if you look back, any innovation that has come in gameplay has come from us. With Nintendo, I'm trying to think of anything we've copied... but I can't."

I thought that's what copycatting was.

@clicketyclick
I wont deny Nintendo's taken a lot of ideas from other people, but a few of those are a bit of a stretch to say they stole it. The D-pad? That's like common sense. You could even say they stole it from a computer keyboard for that matter.

Copycatting is that, but with 100x less arrogance and chutzpah.

I think there's a difference between complying with standards that have been established in the industry, and chastising people over ideas you ripped off of them an others while claiming you invented everything in the universe.

Edit: grens - the Game & Watches the year before had no D-pad. None of them had D-pads until the Microvision came out.

(last one is 1982)

@grenworthshero: computer keyboards, though (or all the ones I've ever used, anyway) weren't laid out in a diamond shape -- it's one key centered over the bottom three keys, making the comparison somewhat skewed. in no way are arrow keys going to be confused with an actual d-pad, ever, but that Milton Bradley thing looks like a prototype version of the d-pads we all use now, sure.

Also, considering the messy history regarding the SNES-CD and its basis for the PlayStation anyway, I'm not surprised Sony would have designed the original controller with the SNES one in mind, and also, good for them. Nintendo has a history of kinda screwing around with the wrong people, to be honest -- or, perhaps the right people, as the consumer reaped the benefits of the PlayStation and FFVII after Nintendo kinda screwed over both Sony and Square respectively. :3

I was just thinking about the Playstation thing when this came up. I have a good book about Sony and the Playstation that tells the history of this event between Nintendo, Sony, and later Phillips. Great book.

@clicketyclick
Okay, that may be true, but no one is denying that Nintendo "ripped off" things like the stylus, joystick, and the light gun. Though they were the first to use them to the extent they did, and popularize the idea, and that's why anyone who comes after Nintendo will be accused of copying. Many people have tried to invent the light bulb, but until someone actually makes it work, it really doesn't matter in the end. Once the standard is started, then the copycats begin.

er, i'm pretty sure all that stuff worked just fine before the ideas were re-used :3

Lesson learned from this thread - Nintendo is good at putting everything together into a package people want and marketing it, so it's "innovations" eventually sell better than it's copycats. Yay!