mneko

Nerding it up online since 1996

Been a gamer since time
immemorial. I'm pretty sure
I have joysticks older than
you.

posts from @mneko tagged #early 80s joysticks sucked

also:

Someone came up with concept art for a Playstation controller, if it had been released forty years ago. Talk about wishful thinking! Game controllers in 1983 came in three flavors... lousy, extra lousy, and almost not painful to use. Joysticks were the norm, not D-pads, and they were universally stiff and unresponsive, needing to be forcibly wrenched into place. Also, instead of a reasonable amount of comfortable to use buttons, players were given a numeric keypad with membrane keys, providing no context for their use unless you slide in an overlay.

Game controllers sucked balls in 1983; don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Even the Famicom controller that inspired our own NES joypad was hardwired into the system, and had a cable coming out of the side, where you might want to put your hand. "Ergonomically hostile" is how I'd describe it.