Topic: Changes to Dpad Designs for New Systems

I have alwalys been curious as to why Nintendo has used several different looking and feeling dpads when new hardware releases. Specifically the game boy and DS, but other systems too. The game boy color dpad varies slightly over the orignal, but it's mostly similar. The original GBA uses the same dpad as the GBC. But when Nintendo released the gb sp, the dpad was changed drastically. The same dpad was used for the orignal ds, but then the ds light went back to a similar design of the original game boys but sleeker looking and smoother feeling (the gb micro had this one too). That type of dpad has pretty much been the standard since. On a side note though, I feel like the 3DS dpads had some slight changes with newer models too, but they all still looked the same (to me, the feel is slightly different on some models, especially the 2DS). In terms of home consoles, they seemed to have used the same one up through the Gamecube, then started using one like the DS light for Wii and Wii U. Just curious why the constant tweaking, I've always personally liked the GBC dpad (which seems to be based of the NES). And one of the reasons I prefered the original gba over the sp was the dpad. The switch lite seems like a return to that similar style.

It's probably just what they have in stock at the time. If they order Wii U dpads for example it makes sense to use the same type on their current handheld.

Hmmm... good question. But if I know one thing about Nintendo, it's that they like to change things. Sometimes just for the sake of change.

PlayStation style D-Pad design is the best in my opinion.
It has some gaps between each direction and it felt really comfortable for my thumb to navigate different direction quickly especially when playing DDR or Street Fighter games.
Also, I prefer the symmetrical D-Pad and command buttons position for PlayStation style controller than the asymmetrical Nintendo style controller like GameCube, Switch Joy Cons, Switch Pro Controller, Wii U Pro Controller.

My suspicion is that D-pad changes arise because, from a product development perspective, its probably one of the lowest priority pieces in the jigsaw. I can imagine they design pretty much every other aspect of the hardware and then go, "Right, what kind of D-pad is going to fit into the space we have left?"

My mind goes to the virtual boy controller, and that I prefer the 8bitdo M30 over the Xbox Series X dpad. Haven't ever used a playstation before.