Playing video games is one of the best pastimes someone has invented. How we play them has changed over the years, and it’s usually for the better.

The arcades were wild with how you controlled games. Because the controller was part of one machine, people were free to pick any control scheme they want. You have pretty much everything from joysticks and buttons to wheels to light guns. When the shift to home consoles started happening, companies had to find ways to make it work in a home situation.

The Atari 2600 “solved” this issue by having a controller with one joystick and one button. This was super primitive because that meant you can only do one option on top of movement. The upcoming generations would go a route that should never come back: adding number pads.

(Digital Game Museum / Flickr)

Consoles that had controllers with number pads included the Atari 5200, the Intellivision, and the Colecovision. They all had the same concept where it’s pretty much a brick with a number pad, a control stick, and maybe a few additional buttons on the side. The concept behind this makes sense. No one wanted something with a learning curb so having a number pad where different actions can be assigned to a different button was ideal. However, holding these controllers was pretty awkward since moving the joystick requires a bit of fitness. Some of the controllers had the ability to put overlays on top so you know which button did what without pulling a manual every time. This is an idea that makes a lot of sense but unfortunately can’t be done today due to modern controller design. This kind of design will probably never return. 

When Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (also known as the Family Computer in Japan) in the 80s, it went back to a more simplistic design with a directional pad and two action buttons, along with two more buttons for start and select. The Japanese version of the controller even had a microphone for games that would require it. This was the blueprint for controllers to come. Even modern controllers follow something similar with movement on the left thumb and action buttons on the right thumb. Both Sega and Atari copied this design for their 3rd generation game consoles, although Atari’s version for the Atari 7800 was not available in North America. 

The next generation of consoles saw an increase in action buttons. The Sega Genesis was one of the first notable examples with three action buttons. Despite the increase in action buttons, it still had the same amount as the generation before because of the lack of a select button. When Nintendo released the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990 (which would release the following year as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System everywhere else), it came with a controller with six buttons, four on the front and two shoulder buttons. This allowed games to have multiple actions that the player can perform along with easy access to multiple at a time with its button placement in conjunction with the shoulder buttons. Six-button controllers would soon be released for its competitors as games that required more buttons were released. 

(Dineshraj Goomany / Flickr)

When games with 3D graphics started to become popular, people wanted to find a way to control the 3D space. Controllers with analog sticks were developed to make use of this. This is usually controlled by the left thumb just like the d-pad. Controllers with analog sticks are still in use today.

(Jessica Stokes / Flickr)

Controllers then needed a way to stand out a bit. One of the most notable accessories are light guns. As the name suggests, it is basically a plastic gun that you point at the TV to shoot things on the screen. The ones that were made for retro consoles required the reaction from a CRT TV to work which means that don’t work that well (or at all) on modern displays. There haven’t been too many efforts to make it work due to the decrease in popularity. 

People that wanted the true arcade experience at home first had the option to buy a controller that merely resembled what you would find in an arcade. Because of how cheap some of the parts are, it still didn’t feel like the arcade. With the shift to game consoles, people wanted to make sure the feeling of an arcade machine was at least in their hands. Eventually, controllers that had real arcade parts started to become available. While some of these controllers can sometimes contain copies of what you would find in the real deal, the ones with real deal parts were masterpieces. While early iterations in North America had parts that were found in American machines, people eventually started using parts that were found in Japanese and Korean machines due to their dominance in the fighting game community. You can build these yourself without the need for a soldering iron. All you need is an inclosure, buttons, a joystick, and a board that will connect to your system. It might cost a bit but at least you can get close to the real arcade experience.

With PC gaming becoming dominant these days, people will just use a keyboard and mouse to play games. To be honest, I never got the hang of it outside of using a keyboard to play Tetris or 2D side-scrollers. Something about using a mouse never felt right compared to a joystick. However, people do like using them since they’re readily available. Some game consoles can even use them with the use of adapters or even natively.

(osman gucel / Flickr)

The release of the Wii in 2006 saw the advent of motion gaming. To accommodate this, they packaged the console with a remote that can react to your movements. Eventually, Sony and Microsoft joined in. Sony released Playstation Move controllers which almost replicated the Wii remotes in overall concept while Microsoft released the Xbox Kinect, which contained cameras that can track your movement. Motion controls still remain in modern controllers today, even if they’re not in the weird contraptions they use to come in.

Game controllers have stayed relatively the same over the years. Sure, you have variations of the design such as the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons along with other accessories, but the next real advantageous design to become mainstream has yet to happen.