Holding the Controller
Content missing: Original publication date
One thing that all gamers love is the controller. Controllers have gone through many changes throughout the years; they went from one little square plastic block to big plastic curvy fancy shapes; there are some are comfortable, some are big and bulky. Now here the story of Nintendo’s next generation console Gamecube controller.
Shigeru Miyamoto (the gaming guru for Nintendo) has done a lot with the controllers. The N64 one was way too big (It was too big in most Japanese homes), so he needed to modify it to be perfect for Gamecube. First, he made it smaller and skinnier. Once that was done right, he had to fix buttons. One problem with the N64 was those dang C-Buttons. In SM64, they were used as camera controls and stunk. You had to constantly change them while fighting. They quickly changed that making it a C-Stick! It was a joystick instead of buttons.
The hardest part would be arranging the buttons. What would make a user not go through a big change from N64 to Gamecube? Here is a picture of the controller…
Content missing: Photo of controller
You have a D-Pad, C-Stick, Joystick, A button (biggest button on any controller ever), B Button, X and Y button, R and L shoulder buttons, and Z Button (in front of R button). The shape is more like the PS controller and the placing of the buttons is all new.
Another great thing is the rumble pack is built in, just like the PS dual shock so you don’t need all that extra weight. And the memory packs go into the Gamecube if you didn’t already know.
All in all, the Gamecube controller looks user friendly, comfortable, and not too weird. Lets take a look at all the other Next-Gen console controllers!
Content missing: Photo of controllers
- The first one is the Sega Dreamcast one. It’s a very big controller with few buttons. Not a good example of a great one
- The second one is the Microsoft X-Box controller. It also large and looks futuristic but very uncomfortable, like the shark pad. It has a nice design though
- The silver sleek one is the Gamecube one. It looks much like the one next to it, the Playstation one. It has built in rumble and the two hand prongs.
The Nintendo Team did a great job with the controller! Let’s hope it really is all it’s cracked up to be. We will find out this E3!
Restored with the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine [1]