Sometimes it feels like hardware is being replaced by the software that powers our digital devices in today's digital age. The Button of the month is a monthly column that examines the physical components of our smartphones, tablets, controllers, and other devices that we use every day.
The three-pronged controller that came with the Nintendo 64 is the most well-known in gaming history. It's probably because of a few factors. Its unique design makes it instantly recognisable as the N64s gaming pad. The console's popularity helped to cement Nintendo's position as a leading gaming company.
The N64 controller's most important component is not its design or the box that it came with: the joystick. This joystick introduced millions of people to a new way to control games and helped to make 3D gaming a reality.
Although the joystick was not invented by Nintendo, it was popularized by them.
Although the joystick was not invented by Nintendo, nor did it invent the idea of using it in games, it was a popular control option for mainstream 3D games that Nintendo had never seen before. Joysticks were primarily used by flight simulator enthusiasts who wanted to replicate actual flight. However, earlier consoles such as the Atari 2600 had a joystick input for 2D gaming. The N64 controller provided a joystick for all types of games and put it in the hands of players.
The shift to 3D gaming that Nintendo introduced with the N64 was one reason. Players needed to be able to move around a three-dimensional polygonal world more freely than a traditional Dpad (designed for grid-like pixels in past consoles). This is reflected in the N64 joystick's octagonal well, which subtly signals players to the eight cardinal directions that they can tilt the stick in and then move their character on the screen. It's a feature that Nintendo kept with its other consoles until the Wii U.
The magic of the N64s controller lies in how Nintendo used it to teach players how the joystick works and how to navigate in new planes. While the N64 controller can be held with the two outside grips as a regular controller and the center-mounted stick is used to control the game, the third grip allows the controller to be held in a strange way. The textured rubber grip is easy to tilt in any direction because it rests naturally beneath your thumb.
It was also possible to move the joystick more smoothly than traditional D-pads. Super Mario 64 introduces the concept of the joystick. Players can push the joystick hard for running, but turn it gently to walk. Later in the game they will be able to use it to fly in three dimensions.
Hardware had problems. The hardware was susceptible to loosening and wearing over time. It needed to be maintained properly, lubricated and replaced. It is important to remember that this product was a first-generation product. It was released in a time when Nintendo's main competitors, the original PlayStation, and Sega Saturn, had only shipped with D-pads. Both would release joystick-equipped controllers shortly after the N64 was launched.
Also, the N64 controller is clearly a transition point. The controller's design is almost identical to an SNES controller, with additional appendages. Developers and players can still use the direction pad and face buttons to navigate the new control system. Camera control was a pain in certain games because there was only one analog stick.
The modern double-analog stick design, which is still used on almost every major controller and gamingpad today, was not introduced by Sony until 1997 with the Dual Analog Controller. Nintendo would offer its own version PlayStations face button/D-pad/dual-stick/triggers layout with the GameCube and Wii Classic controllers, the Wii U controller, and the Switch.
The N64's single joystick was only a beginning point. It was a bridge between the old pixelated consoles and the modern, ultra-powerful PlayStations or Xboxes that are teaching players a new way of thinking about gaming and moving in digital spaces.
Updated August 30, 2013, 12:30pm: Added mention that the Atari 2600 predates the Nintendo 64's console joysticks.
