14 DAY TRIAL // I'm sure plenty of you have thought at least once, which are the best console controllers out there. No, actually, not that many of you have thought about this, but it's good to know these things for two reasons: to see how much mankind has evolved from this point of view (not much that is), and to remember the good old Atari, SNES and NEO-GEO days.
CNet's Crave has put up a list of five controllers, each eligible for the title of the best controller ever created. Although you may disagree with some of them, you should keep in mind that the list charts the peaks of the controllers' evolution. The Last Boss carefully selected a few notable details about each one:
1). Atari 2600 joystick: Featuring a simple stick mechanism for moving around and a red button for firing. It's not technically a gamepad, but it's so crucial to gaming history there's no way we couldn't mention it.
2). SNES controller: This exercise in ergonomics is a curvy, multi-colored, multi-buttoned evolution of the angular NES controller. This was the first controller to have shoulder buttons - a revolution that made an arcade staple like Street Fighter II a viable proposition in the home.
3). Nintendo 64 controller: This is one of the most important joypads ever produced. Not only did the N64's controller feature an analogue joystick, which made playing games such as GoldenEye realistic and subtle, but it also featured a pistol-like trigger button underneath.
4). PS2 controller: Nintendo may have started the analogue-stick-on-a-pad idea but Sony really took it to the bank. For many gamers, the DualShock gamepad is the best gamepad ever made... Having two analogue sticks meant you could play games in a completely different way to anything available before.
5). Xbox 360 controller: It was the first wireless pad to come as standard. Its comfy, solid design offers dual analogue joysticks and two analogue trigger buttons underneath. There's also a built-in jack for connecting a headset.
Of course now you're probably saying "What?! No GameCube controller?" Don't despair, I'm sure that if Crave had thought of making up a list of 6 best controllers ever created, the GameCube's would have been the 6th. Oh and as for the SIXAXIS and Wiimote, they're too new to make it in the list.
However, I personally thought the PlayStation2's Dual Shock controller was the best out there. CNet thinks it's the fourth best. What do you think?