Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Dreamcast controller
Power Glove
Atari Jaguar Pro controller
SEGA Activator
Atari 5200 controller
Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw controller
Tony Hawk: RIDE Skateboard controller
The finest online game controllers are those you don’t even take into consideration. They allow you to totally immerse your self within the sport and allow you to overlook you’re even holding them. The finest controllers at the moment all comply with a largely commonplace design, however within the early console generations, every system took a unique strategy. In reality, many consoles would experiment with a number of kinds of controllers of assorted shapes, sizes, and enter strategies. Most of them have been dangerous, and there have been just a few that have been even painful. No matter how wonderful the sport was to play or how nice the graphics have been, a nasty controller would fully tank the expertise. Looking again from the times of the NES as much as the PS5, we’ve recalled the very worst online game controllers of all time.
Dreamcast controller
Sega
We’re beginning off with a tame one right here earlier than working our means up. The Dreamcast controller appears pretty commonplace for the time — it has an analog stick, D-pad, triggers, and 4 face buttons. The downside with it’s all the pieces else. This factor is in some way bulkier and fewer snug to carry than the unique Xbox’s Duke controller however made worse as a result of the cable comes out of the underside relatively than the again or prime. This made it awkward to deal with for any size of time, and even the D-pad and buttons have been exhausting on the thumbs. It wasn’t dangerous sufficient to trigger the console to die the early demise it did, however it certainly not helped.
Power Glove
Matt Mechtley/Wikipedia CC / Digital Trends
The NES controller was wonderful for its time, however Nintendo has by no means been an organization to relaxation on its laurels. There have been loads of peripherals for the NES, however none fairly as dangerous because the Power Glove. In reality, Nintendo was only a few a long time early with the thought of movement controls as we’d see with the smash hit of the Wii. Back within the early ’90s, nevertheless, the know-how was nowhere close to superior sufficient to work. You’d be fortunate if the sport acknowledged even half your inputs shifting this factor round, however it was additionally an enormous ache to even get arrange because it required you to kind in lengthy codes for every sport. Using this was an train in frustration that solely made it tougher to take pleasure in your video games. It did look cool, however that’s about the one optimistic we are able to say about it.
Atari Jaguar Pro controller
Evan Amos / Atari
The Atari Jaguar Pro controller is proof that extra isn’t higher. Games have been getting extra refined and required greater than the standard two to 4 buttons most controllers had include up so far. Somehow this abomination isn’t even Atari’s worst controller because it no less than has a D-pad and three buttons you possibly can press with out shifting your palms. How Atari anticipated us to make use of a complete num pad whereas taking part in is a thriller we could by no means remedy. Even ignoring how impractical the whole backside part is, the “good” half isn’t even made effectively. holding the controller on the prime is awkward and exhausting to get a grip on, plus the buttons and D-pad are mushy and exhausting to really press accurately. Thankfully not many individuals received a Jaguar and needed to be subjected to this monstrosity.
SEGA Activator
Sega
Remember how we stated the Power Glove was forward of its time? Well, Sega in some way thought that it might make full physique monitoring work within the early ’90s. The Activator was an octagon that you simply positioned on the bottom and used to manage a sport, or that was the idea, anyway. In apply, it pressured you to memorize a totally new “control” scheme based mostly on which sensor you moved over. For instance, to pause the sport you would want to maneuver over panels 4 and 6 on the similar time. So, when you knew what button you needed to press you’d then should translate that into what panel that represented on the Activator, bear in mind the place that panel is, after which transfer your physique over it. Oh, and pray that it reads you in any respect. That final half failed extra typically than it labored, making the whole wrestle pointless.
Atari 5200 controller
Atari
Sorry, Atari, however your controllers are horrible. Unlike most different controllers we point out, Atari’s worst ones are the default choices, and the 5200 controller is the worst. This factor appears like a TV distant with an ungainly joystick on the prime. The complete structure feels prefer it wasn’t designed for human palms, not to mention consolation. There was no approach to maintain the system, use the joystick, and press any of the buttons on the similar time. It fails in each side of a controller with out even speaking about how stiff and unreliable the joystick is. The solely notable factor this controller dropped at the desk was a devoted pause button, however that alone isn’t price a lot reward.
Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw controller
Capcom
The GameCube and PS2 had incredible controllers without having for any main adjustments. However, this was the period the place third-party and novelty controllers began flooding the market. Of all of the experimental controllers we’ve seen, none can compete with the chainsaw controller launched alongside Resident Evil 4. Instead of constructing some type of lightgun controller, Capcom thought the very best kind issue for a controller could be a cumbersome chainsaw. The result’s worse than no matter you had in your thoughts. Besides simply being huge and hulking, it’s wildly impracticable. There’s no approach to maintain this factor and have entry to all of the buttons and sticks directly. The solely means you might form of make it work is to apply it to a desk like some type of arcade stick, however even that’s exhausting in your wrists with how the sticks are positioned. Hopefully, anybody who bought this solely needed it for show functions as a result of it’s completely ineffective as a controller.
Tony Hawk: RIDE Skateboard controller
Activision
It’s one factor for a controller to be uncomfortable, and one other for it to not operate, however this “controller” is a lot worse. Designed just for Tony Hawk: RIDE, this skateboard controller takes issues to a brand new degree by being really harmful to make use of. Speeding up requires you to slip your foot alongside the facet, mimicking the movement of pushing a skateboard, however pulling off tips really requires you to elevate and tilt the board round. Leaning again to do a handbook, as one instance, can simply find yourself with you flat in your again. This was in the course of the top of Guitar Hero which popularized gimmick controllers like this, however fortunately RIDE was a bomb, and never that many individuals bought this demise lure.