Xbox falsely claims it "pioneered" the dual analogue controller. - Push Square

[Yrassinad]

Not really surprised since she got into this position with zero background in gaming both personally and professionally, so she wouldn't have been able to clock this but I wonder who on the inside fed her this bullshit talking point lol. Probably Greenberg.

Still the best!

That controller was simply not logically designed, no one has three hands. The idea is you can use either the d-pad or the analog stick depending on whether you're playing something 3d or 2d. But the dual grip - dual stick layout is just vastly superior because you don't have to change your grip depending on what type of game you're playing. And it seems Nintendo agrees because they've since copied the Xbox layout (who mostly copied the PS layout).

The only good thing about it was having a button on the back and it should've been standardized in controllers from that point onwards.

Playstation started with literally an SNES controller with double the shoulder buttons. Then they doubled the N64's analogue sticks. Then they did nothing. Well, lol, shitty touch pad.

So basically they took Nintendo's design as baseline and then expanded it to create the design of the modern controller setup as we know it? It would've been one thing if they had doubled the shoulder buttons or analog sticks just so they can beat Nintendo on a bullet point list while it made no sense in practical use. But it actually did make sense in practical use and that's why everyone has copied it. Nintendo included.

I don’t remember the original dual shock having the second analog stick actually be useful, or the primary stick either. I don’t remember right stick was accepted for free roam camera until Mario sunshine… and that’s something everyone shit on sunshine about. Weird time… things that people hated at first became UI foundations. Including timepsplitters twin stick setup…

Always thought it was weird how they implemented it after n64 pioneered it and didn’t really have any games that utilized it. Nearly all psx games were perfectly playable and designed around d-pad inputs. Maybe GT? I didn’t start playing GT until PS2 gen.

Of course sega fans will say knights did it first … knights can suck my balls… game sucks and Mario 64 is still peak 3d gaming

Claiming who pioneered what is whatever… the arcades did it first.

Then Sony went too heavy with sensitivity inputs. I absolutely HATED when face buttons were pressure sensitive.

For the PS1 most games were designed around not having any analog sticks because the base controller didn't have them, the dual analog model was optional and games had to be designed to support them (and naturally couldn't be patched after release to support it). Later on some games like Ape Escape actually required it and couldn't be played with the standard PS1 controller.

The dual analog model (especially the Japanese version with vibration) was obviously a response to Nintendo's controller but after that I guess they figured they were onto something and game developers started designing around having this layout. Even before the PS2 there were already some games that used the right stick for camera controls like Ace Combat 3 and Alien Resurrection (this game ironically got shit on because of it using the control scheme we now all expect in shooters).

 

[Vertigo]

They may not have “pioneered” analog sticks, but they did pioneer asymmetrical analog sticks, which are waaaay better than the DualShock imo.

Still not sure that’s even correct for most games these days either. Even third person action games use triggers as default combat setup.

I would love a pad for ps5 something like this. Would be the most comfy for thumb neutral position. And if your main inputs are trigggers

 

[heroeskillrats]

And it seems Nintendo agrees because they've since copied the Xbox layout (who mostly copied the PS layout).

Bullshit. Nintendo iterated on the N64 controller. You can see the dpad and left joystick have the same position, d-pad was brought down further down instead. Playstation controller was always the worst because they didn't have joysticks and then the joysticks are at the same position which isn't comfortable.

 

[Batzy]

Bullshit. Nintendo iterated on the N64 controller. You can see the dpad and left joystick have the same position, d-pad was brought down further down instead. Playstation controller was always the worst because they didn't have joysticks and then the joysticks are at the same position which isn't comfortable.

All i see is nintendo copying the 6 button layout from the genesis, and until the switch, they never did dual analog. That yellow nipple is a c stick, and it was on the fucking wii as well. Nintendo really are behind 10 years with sony.

 

[Yrassinad]

Bullshit. Nintendo iterated on the N64 controller. You can see the dpad and left joystick have the same position, d-pad was brought down further down instead. Playstation controller was always the worst because they didn't have joysticks and then the joysticks are at the same position which isn't comfortable.

Bullshit my ass lol, acting like they just naturally arrived at the Switch Pro controller/Joycon layout by iterating on the N64 design is cope.

Xbox pioneered 90% of the layout they use today with the OG Duke controller back in 2001. As you can see the GameCube controller is still a mess with differently-sized analog sticks and different sized and shaped face buttons. And both Xbox and Nintendo were clearly following PlayStation's dual-grip, dual-stick and quadruple shoulder button controller concept, they just offset the sticks because the logic is that ergonomically it makes more sense because your thumbs spend most time controller the left stick and the right face buttons, so having them level should feel more comfortable. Also they probably didn't want to get accused of copying PlayStation 1:1 at the time. The Wii used the PlayStation layout, and then the Wii U went full retard by offsetting your thumbs PlayStation-style but in the opposite direction (having your right thumb down instead of your left one). In the end Nintendo tried to be a contrarian until they finally conceded that Sony and Xbox nailed controllers before they did. As a result playing some of their older games is now annoying because they changed their controller layout every generation while PlayStation stuck with the same timeless design they've had since the 90s. You can play a game from the OG PS1 and the controls and button prompts apply perfectly to a modern controller.

That being said both symmetrical and asymmetrical sticks feel completely normal and natural to me.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Asha is a known liar so.

 

[Petekilla]

All i see is nintendo copying the 6 button layout from the genesis, and until the switch, they never did dual analog. That yellow nipple is a c stick, and it was on the fucking wii as well. Nintendo really are behind 10 years with sony.

The Wii Pro controller had dual analog.

 

[heroeskillrats]

As a result playing some of their older games is now annoying because they changed their controller layout every generation while PlayStation stuck with the same timeless design they've had since the 90s

I don't know how you can possibly read it like that at all. When you look at all of their controllers did everything and they've tried everything and simply went back to classic N64/GC style. Wii U used gyro too in 2015, Xbox controllers still doesn't have that in 2026.
Rumble was another thing that's now standard in controllers.

 

[Ryu]

PlayStation launched the definitive classic controller in 1997 with the first DualShock, which became the industry standard and remains so to this day. Even Nintendo eventually copied it for their controllers.

- 2 analog sticks + R3 and L3 buttons below them.
- 4 buttons on the top of the controller and 4 on the front.
- Built-in vibration.

In fact, you could still use an original PSX controller to play games today.

 

[Yrassinad]

I don't know how you can possibly read it like that at all. When you look at all of their controllers did everything and they've tried everything and simply went back to classic N64/GC style. Wii U used gyro too in 2015, Xbox controllers still doesn't have that in 2026.
Rumble was another thing that's now standard in controllers.

They didn't go "back to N64/GC style", wtf are you smoking man? Their current controllers are clearly a 1:1 copy of the Xbox layout just with A/B and X/Y swapped (to be fair it's Xbox that copied the naming scheme of Nintendo's face buttons and swapped it). They have very little in common with those old controllers. They now have twin sticks of identical size (unlike GC/N64), two grips only (unlike N64), they have 4 face buttons of identical size in a symmetrical layout (unlike N64/GC), no "c pad/c stick" (replaced by a standard d-pad and secondary analog stick like you have on PS/Xbox controllers), they have four shoulder buttons (which PS did first), no built-in back buttons (unlike N64).

Gyro aiming is something that hasn't become standard, like you yourself are saying, so it's not like others copied Nintendo there. And rumble was not built into the N64 controller, it required a separate add-on. Not only that, Sony actually released a PS1 controller with built-in rumble a few days before that N64 add-on was available to the public.

Xbox and PlayStation nailed their controllers from their first generation and have just made some small tweaks over time. It took Nintendo until 2017 to finally settle on a layout that would be used moving forwards across generations and even then it's just generally a replication of the layout Xbox went with in 2001, which in and of itself clearly took the basics laid out by Sony's controller.

PlayStation launched the definitive classic controller in 1997 with the first DualShock, which became the industry standard and remains so to this day. Even Nintendo eventually copied it for their controllers.

- 2 analog sticks + R3 and L3 buttons below them.
- 4 buttons on the top of the controller and 4 on the front.
- Built-in vibration.

In fact, you could still use an original PSX controller to play games today.

Exactly, you can play a PS1 game and all the button prompts will be in the same place on a DualSense controller and there are no references to any sort of gameplay-related buttons that have since been removed (unlike Nintendo), only start/select. And as you said, the original Dual Analog controller is what basically every modern controller is based on. The main difference will be whether it has symmetrical or asymmetrical sticks and if it includes back buttons or not.

 

[heroeskillrats]

They didn't go "back to N64/GC style"

Of course they did, the pictures are right there. They've tried all the designs out there.

Gyro aiming is something that hasn't become standard, like you yourself are saying

That just shows Nintendo is ahead then.

Xbox and PlayStation nailed their controllers from their first generation and have just made some small tweaks over time.

lol. They copied Nintendo and then never made any changes.

 

[Yrassinad]

Of course they did, the pictures are right there. They've tried all the designs out there.

Yeah, they tried all the designs and then said "fuck it, it works for Microsoft so why not for us". They finally settled on the same design principles Sony and Microsoft already figured out by the late 90s/early 2000s. How anyone can look at a N64 controller and a Switch Pro controller and say the latter is "going back" to the former is beyond me.

That just shows Nintendo is ahead then.

Or that most people simply don't care, from both the development and consumer side.

lol. They copied Nintendo and then never made any changes.

Please show me the Nintendo controller from the 90s that has two grips to hold the thing, 4 shoulder buttons, dual analog sticks and built in vibration.

Oh wait, it doesn't exist. Nintendo went from "almost there" with the SNES controller to whatever abomination the N64 controller is, while Sony took their SNES design and expanded it to perfection, and then spent 20 years flailing around trying to come up with something unique only to finally settle on a 1:1 copy of the Xbox layout which itself was just the PlayStation design with the left analog stick and d-pad switched.

 

[Puff]

 

[heroeskillrats]

Please show me the Nintendo controller from the 90s that has two grips to hold the thing

They did that in the 80s.

 

[Zzero]

Still not sure that’s even correct for most games these days either. Even third person action games use triggers as default combat setup.

I would love a pad for ps5 something like this. Would be the most comfy for thumb neutral position. And if your main inputs are trigggers

Unless you have horror movie fingers that Wii U Classic pad sucked, tbh.

 

[Prometheus]

Still the best!

An absolutely atrocious piece of hardware, and the worst 'analog' stick in any pad.

Sony introducing the Dual Shock was the best thing for gaming.

 

[Zzero]

All i see is nintendo copying the 6 button layout from the genesis, and until the switch, they never did dual analog. That yellow nipple is a c stick, and it was on the fucking wii as well. Nintendo really are behind 10 years with sony.

The 4 yellow buttons were used as camera controls in most games (hence "C buttons", C for camera, they knew this going in too, designing the controller for Mario 64,) and the Wii controllers didn't have a C nub that I can remember.

 

[Zzero]

Bullshit my ass lol, acting like they just naturally arrived at the Switch Pro controller/Joycon layout by iterating on the N64 design is cope.

Xbox pioneered 90% of the layout they use today with the OG Duke controller back in 2001. As you can see the GameCube controller is still a mess with differently-sized analog sticks and different sized and shaped face buttons. And both Xbox and Nintendo were clearly following PlayStation's dual-grip, dual-stick and quadruple shoulder button controller concept, they just offset the sticks because the logic is that ergonomically it makes more sense because your thumbs spend most time controller the left stick and the right face buttons, so having them level should feel more comfortable. Also they probably didn't want to get accused of copying PlayStation 1:1 at the time. The Wii used the PlayStation layout, and then the Wii U went full retard by offsetting your thumbs PlayStation-style but in the opposite direction (having your right thumb down instead of your left one). In the end Nintendo tried to be a contrarian until they finally conceded that Sony and Xbox nailed controllers before they did. As a result playing some of their older games is now annoying because they changed their controller layout every generation while PlayStation stuck with the same timeless design they've had since the 90s. You can play a game from the OG PS1 and the controls and button prompts apply perfectly to a modern controller.

That being said both symmetrical and asymmetrical sticks feel completely normal and natural to me.

GCN actually only had 3 shoulder buttons, a major mistake that continues to haunt it to this day.

 

[voke]

They pioneered paid online, and I guess R2 to fire your weapon lmao

 

[Banana]

Did you even read the thread title before posting your usual Nintendo drivel?

The N64 controller wasn’t dual analogue and the analogue stick it did have has got to be the worst in gaming history.

Absolute shite.

Goldeneye supported two sticks by using a second controller.

The N64 stick is the most precise stick used in a consumer controller. They just needed lubricated.