
There was a lot of chatter around the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack yesterday, plenty of it quite heated on social media. Well, it's social media, so that's no surprise. Another topic that had less air but is potentially quite interesting is related to the NSO Nintendo 64 controller, which started to drop through lucky gamers' mailboxes; this scribe's didn't, resulting in long despairing stares out of the window.
Of course, enthusiasts that are knee-deep in emulation technology were immediately trying to use the controller on everything but a Switch, and have discovered it's trickier than with Nintendo's past controllers. While the Switch Pro Controller and indeed the previous wireless NES and SNES pads are pretty easy to connect to other devices, the N64 controller is putting up a bit of a fight.
The initial reaction popping up was that the controller just wouldn't connect to PC, for example.
Some others have been digging around emulators and have discovered that it works with some, but not others.
Our own Jon Cartwright could get the controller recognised by his PC, but then had trouble getting button inputs to register. This Reddit thread also shares varied experiences, as some players have had limited success while others struggle to get much usable input out of the controller.
It does seem evident that this N64 controller's connectivity isn't standardised; whether this is because Nintendo had to do some bespoke setup to connect to its Switch emulator or if it was an effort to lock out those connecting it to other devices, that's only known within Nintendo's walls.
Ultimately, though, our money would be on enthusiast coders and modders getting it working on various systems and emulators down the line. The crux for most of us, though, is that right now it's not a simple connect and play proposition outside of the Switch Online N64 games.
If you have an N64 pad and have been trying it on other hardware, by all means share your results in the comments!
Comments 109
I do like my controller actually. First time using an N64 controller and it really does feel a lot better in Super Mario 64. Shame you can’t use it in the All-Stars version because of Nintendo making B and A both jump.
Not convinced the pad not working with emulators is a bad thing. But my friend has 2 and says they work fine with Windows. (But no rumble so maybe folk can whine about that?)
As for not being able to reach all the buttons, talk about having a lack of appreciation for what you are buying.
Jeez, stop finding stuff to moan about.
I am happy it doesn't work on piracy machines/software.
Just use betterjoy lol. It basically emulates Xbox controller inputs from switch controller inputs. Works like a charm PLUS you can map gyro on joycons
Anyone know if it works with N64 games that have been ported to Switch outside of NSO? Turok and Doom 64 for example.
I prefer PlayStation style controller over than N64 controller in term of design and button mapping.
@nocdaes Anything that doesn’t use X or Y or heavily uses ZR can be played. Z maps to ZL and there’s a tiny ZR on top of the controller.
@GrailUK What is the point in being able to comment if you are not going to moan?
Anyways, I just wish the stock would be replaced so i could get one, as Ioved the feel of the N64 controller
How does it work with other switch games? I want to use it with smash.
I picked up mine primarily for PC usage (I'm only playing Assassin's Creed and Dark Souls with it! Honest!) so I guess I can wait the one week or two it'll take someone to produce a working driver for it
@Bunkerneath Fair point, well made. Moan away!
I guess holding that controller is what nostalgia feels like.
Cue people moaning for the sake of moaning in 3, 2, 1....
Hi, Dave from Digital Floundering here to put the N64 controller through it's paces.
I tried to butter my toast with one this morning (to try to get my moneysworth) and it was rubbish. No real purchase on the butter and I found it unwieldy, no matter which prong I used.
I can't recommend this controller.
@sanderev For the millionth time, emulation is not inherently piracy. I rip everything I own up to Wii. Without emulation, I couldn’t play the OoT Randomiser which is great fun.
@GrailUK what about with Marmalade?
@GrailUK …. Or Marmite ?
Heaven forbid something doesn’t work on something it wasn’t designed for…..🙄
@Gerald Hi (it's Dave.) You can spread marmalade with just about any controller (NES pads work really well.) We are having to build a $2000 rig to emulate the spreading of marmite. It's rather intensive.
My controller is "Out for delivery" so hopefully it will arrive today. I'm almost certain I'm going to take it apart and see what the situation is with the analogue stick.
The optical sensors in the original N64 stick are unique, so I'd be amazed if they've brought them back. If they have, then the Switch will be the first system since the N64 to get the analogue control of N64 games right.
@nocdaes Turok and Turok 2 work PERFECTLY once configured (enabling southpaw and mapping buttons within the game options).
Haven’t tried anything else yet.
@nessisonett For the millionth and one time, I never said that. 90% of the emulation is piracy. Only a small 10% of the people actually rip their old games from their cartridges and play those or play homebrew roms. And ONLY then is it legal.
@sanderev You literally called it piracy machines/software. Don’t try and backpedal when you know what you meant.
I love using my Switch online SNES controller on my PC. Not just for emulators, there are plenty of modern games where the ultra precise D-pad and nice clicky shoulder buttons are perfect and far nicer than using a modern PC pad like an Xbox One controller.
I was very much looking forward to buying a few of these N64 Switch pads for use both on PC and bluetooth with my modded N64. Had actually planned on getting 4. I assumed it would just work right away on Windows like the SNES one does. If its not that simple, I'll wait and see if drivers get sorted. If Nintendo have purposefully made it non standard, so it can ONLY be used on the handful of games they deem suitable, thats a real shame and makes the price seem extremely steep.
About that point of not reaching buttons: That was a thing back then and from my recollection and recent experience, it's not a big deal.
I said something similar in another story, but regardless of the way you hold the controller, the unreachable buttons are usually not used or they're for incredibly minor actions that don't affect gameplay at all (except for maybe the Mario Kart 64 music muting) or HUD adjustments.
Off-topic Edit: Is it me or with the Expansion Pack update Nintendo removed the quick boot times that were present in the last system update?
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/09/switch_firmware_update_13_0_0_weirdly_speeds_up_some_game_boot_times
@sanderev "million and first"
@nessisonett Wait, seriously? The official Switch N64 controller doesn't work with 3D All-Stars Mario 64?!?
Oh man thats a huge facepalm from me. I have spent hours getting stars in 3D All Stars, I had no intention of starting again on the (inferior) Switch online version, but was looking forward to playing it with a proper controller. Grr. I understand it not working with PC, emulators etc (even though that annoys me) but not working with Nintendo's own N64 port for Switch? All-Stars needs a patch with button remapping asap, thats unforgivably stupid.
@sanderev "10% of the people actually rip their old games. And ONLY then is it legal."
10% is still a lot of people using emulation in a legal way, and still validates the reason for emulation to exist and act as a means of video game preservation.
@GrailUK ah, that’s too bad, I was hoping Marmite would spread without having to buy the Add-on
@samuelvictor I just hate the fact that Nintendo mapped the controls the way they did with 3D All-Stars. You can remap the N64 controller at least and it’ll work then!
Never mind, attempted to and it said ‘button mapping cannot be changed for this controller’.
@nessisonett
Wait, they’ve done what? Can’t it be remapped?
Regarding not being able to reach all buttons, it was never intended to the user to reach all buttons. The N64 Controller was designed to held 3 different ways, depending on the game being played:
1. LH D Pad, RH Buttons
2. LH Analogue, RH Buttons
3. LH D Pad, RH Analogue (not sure if this was ever used)
(4th could be Dual Analogue with 2 Pads, works for Golden Eye)
At that time, this was a first for Analogue with Console gaming (although I am not sure if Saturn was 1st with Nights)
@electrolite77 Can’t be remapped at all.
Has anyone tried the N64 Controller with Turok on Switch ? (Still waiting for my controller to arrive)
...... or improvise, adapt and overcome? Got mine coming in the post today and looking forward to playing OoT etc. Happy memories even though the exp pak was more than I expected/wanted. Never mind, sh*t happens and happy N64 gaming to all
I wouldn't expect it to work on PC or Mac.
I am not understanding, can’t you just remap buttons in an emulator on PC?
I was hoping to play 3D All Stars with this controller, but guess not. Oh well, I'll just stick with the Tribute64 and an original N64.
@nessisonett Euch, not allowing button remapping makes it even less useful. And yes, I agree the mapping on 3D All-Stars is annoying. I'm 60+ stars in and I'm still not used to it - I often press "jump" when I'm trying to punch a Boo from behind or pick up Bowser. Again, just a quick menu allowing you to remap would be super easy to program and add - not doing so is either laziness or arrogance. I love Nintendo but this kind of stuff makes me sad.
@samuelvictor Actually, the N64 Online version looks and plays almost identical to the All-Stars version. The only difference is that the HUD elements haven't been cleaned up and the text isn't ultra sharp but still looks good. I could see some people actually preferring how the text looks here.
I bought 2 Adaptoids 20 years ago. They even support memcards etc. in emulators.
Oh yea thats exactly the controller i wanna use in COD and other competitive games.. because we all know the n64 controller layout is clutch!
Probably just needs a driver or driver update.
I was wondering about how this would be, or if it would connect with things other than switch. I don’t expect it to work with a dongle and OG N64 because.. well.. how would I save without a functioning memory pak slot. But it’s cool to see it may work with emulators, at least at some point.
Emulation or not - this is a $50 controller. Many console controllers* at that price are also officially capable of functioning as PC gamepads. People have paid for the product, they own it now, and it's well within their rights to try to use it as they see fit, regardless of whether the use case is "supported" (although they certainly aren't entitled to customer support for "unsupported" usage).
I, for one, might try to play A Hat In Time on my PC with this controller, if I ever pick one up.
*mostly Xbox and third-party controllers
@Xiovanni I’m dying 😂
Honesty I’d rather the drift prone stick. I remember calling Mario Party the analog stick killer. I felt like you needed a dedicated controller just for Mario party back in the day as it would have you spinning those joysticks like you were a mad person. All that grinding and sliding … ugh… gives me the willies thinking about a loose and wobbly stick.
Nintendo don't play nicely with anyone. ANYONE. Not even the fans. Who make them money.
@thinkhector I agree that the difference between the original HUD and text assets and the AI upscaled ones is a matter of preference. (in fact my true preference would be that they allowed a toggle for absolutely no upscaling whatsoever and have the original resolution, just integer scaled up. The mix of high resolution polygons with low res textures and HUD throws me off!) However, there are 2 things that really bug me so far with the Switch Online:
1) the botched handling of 2D assets in general (leading to really ugly edges where the textures end being perfectly clean and the rest being soft or even distorted - the worst example so far is the character selection screen on Mario Kart, where the portraights have a 4 way crease through them, but its very visible in Mario 64 and OOT HUDs as well.
2) The constant border thats unable to be turned off.
This is a problem for everyone but even mroe of an issue now for OLED users. who don't get to enjoy the "pure black"
of the empty area, plus risk screen burning of those stupid grey dots and prompts, whilst unecessarily draining the battery faster lighting up parts of the screen that should be off.
Combination of these two graphical issues (which are on screen pretty much 100% of the time) means that owning 3D All Stars I can't see myself wanting to use the Switch online version til they are cleaned up, and the 3D All Stars version looks more polished over all.
[edit] And of course the All Stars version has been out for months already, and people playing it will have a save game that for some reason can't be tranfered accross... even though we have confirmation that the Switch Online version is using the same emulator, so could easily use the same save file - just check for the existence of a 3D All Stars save file on the console. But again, easy to implement, QOL feature to show gratitude to your existing customers who paid $60 for 3 roms... nah, too much effort.
I can’t think there’ll ever be a time when playing on original hardware + small CRT won’t be the ultimate way to play N64.
@Anti-Matter I think 99% of people agree with you (including myself), but many times it's not about personal preferences about the layout, the devs made the controls to match that design and a simple"remapping" fells off. Games that use the yellow buttons for camera don't work well with a 4 face buttons controller, for exemple. Zelda we have the layout on screen, it's fell a little odd see something and hit another.
@sanderev Emulators are only piracy if used as such. Why does it hurt anyone to use a controller outside its designated platform?
You want to know something scary then? Back in the ZSNES days, someone made instructions how to connect a real SNES controller. By actually cutting and modifying the original cord. To connect it to a PC through a port that hasn't existed since the late '90s (when USB became standard).
Good thing current emulator uses don't have to break their controllers.
Oh man. All these pirates who bought the controller to get the authentic N64 experience while avoiding having to pay Nintendo for it must be really bummed right now.
Does the controller work on the Switch?
@GrailUK for real man, I’m having a great time with sin and punishment. Dnt even have the n64 controller
30 mins into OoT and fond memories of 1998 are coming back, game looks good, new N64 controller working as it did back in the day and finally apart from the expensive pak being about £10 over priced, what's there to moan about??? Use it for the Switch and it works fine, after all that's what it is meant for!! PS once more games start arriving I will accept the price slightly more, but I am loving my time in N64 retro land once again
Can't blame people for wanting to use that controller on anything but the N64 Online.
@samuelvictor I wonder if they will patch it. I remember at first, Sunshine didn't work properly with the GameCube controller but was later patched. Hopefully they do the same here.
I would never expect a Nintendo controller to work on anything but the Nintendo console it's made for. Same deal for any other company's proprietary controllers.
You want more flexibility? Buy third party.
Doh.
@Susurrus I really hope so! I was very much looking forward to playing with a new "proper" controller. I didn't know that Sunshine was patched to work with the Gamecube Controller, so that makes me slightly more hopefull... seems like an obvious thing they should have checked before these controllers were ever sent out to the public though, rather than a possible afterthought.
@nessisonett
Oh good grief. I’m not getting the Expansion Pak because of the price, but I have ordered the N64 Controller to play Mario 64 (and Doom 64) as nature intended. Turns out they haven’t even got that right.
@andykara2003
That will always be the case for any pre-HDTV system. But it’s not always practical so everyone finds their own compromise.
You would hope that official emulation from the platform holder, that they’re charging a decent amount of money for, would provide a very attractive, functional alternative but, yeah….
@marandahir
Thing with that is DualShock 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One/Series controllers work with PC officially, while Wii U Pro Controller/Wiimote/DualShock 3/Dualsense do with a tiny bit of effort. The Switch Pro Controller (and Official SNES Controller) works pretty effortlessly which suggests a conscious effort by Nintendo to stop this one working, oddly.
@electrolite77 Yes, they should be doing a lot better with their retro stuff. It’s disappointing - much too lazy.
Removed - harassment
Nintendo is just failing everything, innit?
@Kevember Who are you talking about?
@dustinprewitt Apart from being possibly the best developer the world has ever seen.
Annoys me that they didn't use a normal usb input on the SNES mini so I can't use those controllers on my switch
@Hank_Scorpio Nice, thanks for confirming! Going to give Turok a go later tonight.
@electrolite77 This isn't odd.
Switch Pro controller is essentially the same thing as any other Pro controller from other consoles, just a slightly different button layout and has an NFC reader in the center.
SNES controller is also an industry standard; the PSX controller was a near direct rip of it, and all modern day Pro controllers thus descent from it by way of SNES -> PSX -> Dual Shock -> everyone's Classic/Pro dual-stick controllers.
N64 controller is very special and very different from everything that came before or after it.
The other thing is that SNES and NES are very old games, and Nintendo doesn't value those games nearly as high as they value N64 titles. Look at how expensive N64 titles were priced on the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles: 10 USD a pop. To even populate the initial offerings of NSO+Expansion Pack's N64 lineup, you'd be paying 3 years of expansion pass subscription fees. SNES games were 8 USD each while NES games were 5 USD each. And NES and SNES are a LOT easier to emulate effectively, and those emulators are a lot more rampant.
So pouring out legal ways to get those really old titles for cheap was a great way to get people initially invested, but N64 and onward are worth more money, and N64 in specific has such a unique control scheme that it's just hard to emulate how the game felt at the time. Playing Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask on GameCube, even, felt weird and wrong because we had this second control stick instead of the C-buttons. To fix those titles and make them work for future consoles, you either need a controller that can reflect the realities of the console they were developed for, or you need to rebuild them from the ground up to incorporate new button layouts and other control features like gyro aiming - like the 3DS remakes did.
There's a reason this is like the first time EVER that Nintendo has released the 64 controller for another console. Even the GameCube controller is rarely resold, and usually only in special Smash promotions because Nintendo recognises the devotion to Melee and its control scheme over all other Smash entries.
Yes, there are N64-style controllers from 3rd parties on the market out there. And yes, they may even control better using them. But Nintendo has a business interest in driving you to play your N64 games on N64 consoles. So the official N64 controller they put out - that you should only be able to buy if you are already an NSO subscriber - is not going to work with your emulated N64 games on your PC. Too bad, so sad!
Honestly, hackers are going to figure out how to rework their emulator software to accept the N64 NSO controller within a year or less. This is a temporary "issue" for pirates only, and one that Nintendo has an active reason NOT to assist with.
And if you want to play non-Nintendo games with an N64 controller because it's somehow the controller you like the most? It wasn't made for those, and you should never assume that it would be compatible. But someone will likely hack it to make it so, if you're willing to wait. Otherwise, go buy a 3rd party clone of the controller. I see about a dozen different versions on Amazon just from a quick google search.
@Xiovanni that does make sense… mine arrives in the mail today so I’ll see what it’s like. I guess I was assuming the whole joystick body was made differently along with the sensor or updated or improved in that regard.
Excited to give it a go later!
@Susurrus nice profile pic lol. I really hope they add in the ability to change button mappings and allow this controller to be used with 3D All Stars. Come on Nintendo 🤞🏼
@GrailUK it's a bit finicky but I've got it working just fine with Project 64, the pad feels great too
I've had no luck using mine wired on pc :/
@Spoods when I plugged it in nothing happened but I was able to easily connect it through Bluetooth
@carlos82 are you using an adapter or just built in bluetooth
@Raylax it tool me 5 minutes to get it working in Project 64, it connects through Bluetooth and is recognised as an N64 controller. On the emulator it recognised all the inputs as I set them up but in game wouldn't respond to the analogue stick but after a few goes on each in the configuration it worked and now runs well
@Spoods it's a PCIe card which supports both Bluetooth and Wifi, it connected straight away in Windows and is even called an N64 controller
@carlos82 I was looking at getting a usb bluetooth device not sure if i should get one specifically made for switch like the 8bitdo or just a standard universal one
@Spoods I'd imagine those Bluetooth adapters for 8bitdo should be universal anyway
@sanderev illegal ≠ immoral
Some investment company bought the rights to Atari and changed their name to Atari as a cash ploy.
Why should I pay them for centipede?
@BulkSlash read above ur comment, they didn't. Potentiometer.
@nessisonett I called it that because that's the majority. I don't tend to explain every single word in a post. I thought the average IQ here is high enough. But guess what, I was wrong.
@GannonBanned "some company bought the rights" so yeah it's theirs now. You might not like it, but you have always the option to say no and not buy it.
@marandahir
I’m aware of all that. It doesn’t make their reasoning any less odd.
@sanderev I gotta ask, why do you CARE? Sure, piracy is illegal. But piracy in emulation is literally a hypothetical. Nobody knows (or cares) how many people actually do it legally. How does it impact you in any way how people get a 25 year old game?
@mereel Emulation is totally legitimate.
@twztid13 I already took mine apart to see for myself. It is impressively accurate in most ways, but the pots are disappointing. In fact in one way it’s too authentic- the bowl is still plastic like the N64 so too much Mario Party, swinging Bowser or boosting in Mario Kart will wear it down! 😅
@sanderev what if instead of all that nonsense the workers seized the means of production
So the controller specifically designed to work on a Nintendo Switch DOESN'T work properly on systems it WASN'T designed for
..........shocker
@FullbringIchigo @electrolite77 @marandahir it works perfectly fine on my PC, Windows even calls it an N64 controller
https://twitter.com/AVGN82/status/1453456943884931072?t=qo-ezy9f8d1dEy8NQsDh8Q&s=19
@nessisonett you can re-map button layouts for any game on switch, so you can make it use the proper buttons
@AnorakJimi Not true, I tried there and you cannot. You get a message saying that you cannot remap the buttons.
@nessisonett @AnorakJimi only way to solve this is you both fight
@KitMinus7 I care because people don't stop with emulating older systems. They also emulate Switch games. And that directly impacts the sales of Switch games. Which also impacts the amount of games that is released on the platform.
I make a stand against piracy, no matter where or when.
@yuwarite
I'm not on board with the OP's sentiments anyway. I'll pirate if something isn't made available for me to buy. When it is, I'll buy it. As I'm intending to do later with the Tiger Heli port, even though I already have it on my dodgy box.
@GrailUK
as jokey as it is this level of hyperbole comes up quite a lot when criticism is raised, where a somewhat reasonable question or request is likened to something outlandish, such as complaints regarding sub 30fps performance in a game is interpreted as people wanting 60/120fps and 4k resolution (or other more exaggerated responses)
its fine for people to enjoy things for what they are, more power to them but i feel like criticism is fair as long as it doesn't result in personal attacks, or that one small vocal group who takes things too far to the point of harassment and doxing.
@Mgalens Yes, no personal attacks, please. I hope no one cares enough for that! The buttons not being mapped properly, to me, is the biggest criticism.
@GrailUK with any luck they will add button remapping to the NSO thing.
it was one of my favourite aspects of the wiiu VC.
@thinkhector 2D elements in-game have also been cleaned up. The trees outside Peach's castle for instance look much better on 3D All-Stars.
@sanderev No one cares, old software is fair game to use as you please.
@Jokerwolf Yeah, neither of those claims are true.
@sanderev No one who lives a normal healthy life cares. 20 years is more than enough time to make your money on software. If a company doesn't make money on their software in that time frame it is on them for poorly advertising. Videogames are art and meant to be exprienced price tag be damned.
@Jokerwolf Not all art is available to be experienced for free.
There are museums where you can go and play Ocarina of Time etc if you really want to go. But you need to pay the cost of travel to get there.
You don't have a right to steal the artist's creation because "it's art, and besides, it's worth nothing now." If it wasn't worth anything, people wouldn't buy the game over and over again in various formats. You don't get to decide when it's been enough time that the creator has made all the profits they "should" make off a game before you steal it. You don't hold the license to that work of art.
Look at Jack Kirby's Estate, and how they had to fight for decades to get recognition from Marvel for his co-creator contributions to many of its most famous properties. Look at the billions those properties make now. If the Estate had given up and said, "well, it's been 20 years since he made this comic, nobody's going to pay to read it anymore" they'd be out a lot of money that Disney would be gobbling up.
This is the cost of your train of logic. It HURTS creators. Stop doing that.
@marandahir People don't need to be filthy rich, Didn't make your money on your game in 20 years like I said that's on you.
@Jokerwolf Who's filthy rich?
Nintendo is a wealthy company yes. But remember that you're stealing from the hardworking, middle-class employees who made these games. You are just as much a problem as late stage capitalism here.
@marandahir No you're not stealing from anybody because I can 100% guarantee you the people who worked on those games the vast majority of them do not work for those companies anymore. People who work for a paycheck don't give 2 ***** about piracy and all this crap they work they make a product they get paid to do it and they get no cut afterwards. I'm a developer and when something's been developed and launched you move on to the next thing. Unless you've been hired to maintain and update a live product that's on the Internet that's completely different.
@Jokerwolf I use to disagree with the Roger Ebert that games were not art, now I kinda agree with him. I mean it's right in the title want these things are--these are games. Would you call Chess an art? How about Monopoly or Candy Land? Battleship or Connect Four? They are just games.
I'll go a little further in why games can't be art. For example, it takes no effort to finish viewing a film or to look at sculptures or paintings Most people will get the full experience that the art provides . But what about games? How often do we really finish them? A triple AAA developer once said that their statistics showed that only 20% of gamers experienced the entire amount of content they put into it. You can't say that about any other art.
@marandahir Yeah, that N64 controller was pretty innovative for its time, and the GameCube controller was really different too. These controllers were also very flawed, even during their times. The N64 had an almost useless D-Pad that you needed a third hand to use. The GameCube controller only has 3 should buttons and also an almost useless D-Pad. But I will get as too why they still might be better to use even today.
It comes down to in-game button prompts. And the N64 and GameCube had a lot of them. I often come back to a game and forget what buttons do what. Those GameCube buttons are so easy to remember because they are all shaped differently. In let's say NFL Street I know easily which button to push to hit the right reciever. When I go to the PlayStation version, I'm !Ike "which button is triangle, which button is square." I mean come on now all the buttons are circles. That's kinds why touch screens opened up video games to more people. Wanna throw the ball to to the guy? Ummm...just touch the guy you want to throw it to, easy.
@thinkhector I think the N64 pad has a bit of a different design philosophy than you give it credit for. It's sort of a predecessor to the Wii and Switch control schemata in terms of giving you various different control schemes. A bit more like the Wiimote though than the Switch - the point of the Switch's controls are to put the power of choosing how you play in your hands, while the Wiimote and N64-pad are both designed to allow the developers of various games to choose from a handful of different control schemes.
So the N64 has 3 different basic control modes: Middle & Right, Left & Right, and Left & Middle. You're never supposed to have a third hand; anything designated to the stick you're not generally holding in a given game will be something you can safely press when not in a hectic moment.
For example, Ocarina of Time's minimap is turned on and off by hitting the left shoulder button, which you can safely ignore while in a tight spot in combat etc. The game ignores the D-Pad. But DRx Mario and the various PSX ports don't care for the middle prong, so you can play it with your hands on the left and right and pretend you're holding a SNES controller (as the lack of Z & Joystick essentially turn the N64-pad into).
And Yoshi Story and a few other games let you choose between Classic grip and the "standard" grip there, letting you control either with D or Stick.
Now, left grip is by far the least common control scheme, but it's still used. It's offered as one of many options in GoldenEye, and is a secondary control scheme in most other shooters. The A & B buttons are located where they are so that other games could still access them while you were using Left & Middle controls. Ekans' Hoop Hurl from Pokémon Stadium actually enforces this grip style.
GoldenEye also makes use of dual controller single player, so that you can get dual sticks. This also requires you to reach your thumb to the A&B buttons from the joystick, but it's a predecessor choice to the Dual Shock and GameCube controllers.
I'm not saying that the GameCube controller isn't objectively better than the N64 controller - this is definitely a transitional pad. But one thing the N64 controller did was make sure you never had to worry about too many buttons at any given time. GameCube controller gives you handy access to everything and thus requires you to worry about them. There's a reason the Wiimote stripped things back down to ABCDZ+-HomeStick (with Stick and C on a separate dongle nunchuck and +-Home serving the functionality of Start & Select). Simple is usually better, especially once you start incorporating new ideas. The Joystick built into a gamepad was a new idea, and this required a controller that could accomodate simplicity as well as adapt control schemes that didn't have to rely on it.
Regarding GameCube's button shapes - that was quite innovative. N64 does this thing about button placement - it's hard to forget that Up-C is different from Down-C when they show the triangle in the circle on the screen and the Cs are arranged as such. But B & A are totally confusable, especially since different modern gamepads flip them around.
GameCube had this great idea where A was the biggest button on the control pad, so you knew that was the most important button in the game, the Action button. And then launched with Luigi's Mansion, where the A-button only makes Luigi cry for Mario's name (frankly, a stroke of genius for that game, since it implies that Luigi's go-to action is to ask for Mario's help or at least hoping by calling out his name Mario will hear him and this haunted adventure will all be over. It drives in the themes of the game). Other titles use the A-button more standardly as the most important action you can take, though Zelda as usual mapped the sword to B.
@thinkhector Video games are very much an art form. In fact they are many forms of art merging into a greater experience that otherwise would be impossible.
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