There is a question that gets brought up a lot, and that is what is the best kind of controller?
For obvious reasons it usually comes down to the type of game and a players preference. For me it has to be the classic Atari 2600 controller, Its simple, easy to hold and only has one button. I know that only having one button can limit game play (I did after all start my gaming experience on an Intellivision) but the simplicity is what stuck with me. Its a controller that anyone can figure out in a matter of seconds, so compare that to an X-box controller and you tell me!
This does not mean I dislike the Intellivision controller… I personally have no problems with it, but there are a lot of people who think the Intellivision had one of the worst controllers ever. Colecovision kind of fell in that same category and it makes sense as they were both very similar. The main difference was that instead of a turning disc, it was more of a joystick feel. The Intellivision in my opinion is far better than Coleco and that just has to do with size… I feel the Intellivision controller fits nicely into my had where the Coleco feels large and awkward (I did notice the hand cramp I got from it after playing for a while). But this is just my opinion so I know every gamer is different and would strongly disagree with me. This is the cool thing about retro games, you have a wide variety of systems with there own unique controllers.
I have decided to leave out the Atari 5200 controller, as there is a lot of history with that one and I have personally never played on a 5200 (maybe one day!). But I did recently pick up an Atari 7800, and those controllers are not that bad. I did get a similar hand cramp to the one I had when I played my Coleco, but that could just be my lack of experience using it. The controller is in some way a great improvement over the classic 2600 controller as it does have 2 buttons, so I have to give it that.
Then we get to Nintendo NES, my first experience with the game pad. I remember the learning curve on that one, although my experience with the Intellivision might have helped. I remember several years ago I tried to get my Step-Father to play Nintendo with me. He just couldn’t get the feel of the controller and was having a hard time trying to press two buttons at once, naturally I was able to always beat him at Super Mario Bros. But then I hooked up the Atari 2600 and plugged in Mouse trap… Boy did he whoop my ass!
Brian Pudden