Complacent. It''s a word you might think
of when looking at design decisions for gamepads
over the last few generations. As we approach
the release of the PS5 and revised Xbox, the
form factors couldn’t be any closer between
the three industry leaders. Early in the history
of home console gaming, each manufacture made
wild design choices trying to stand apart
from the competition. Nevertheless, as years
pressed on, certain design choices clearly
stood out influencing future innovation.
With the release of the Original Xbox's Duke
controller, each following generation that
has passed appears to start with Microsoft’s
tried and true design tweaking the ergonomics
slightly so to be familiar yet different enough
not to be an outright copycat. Sometimes though,
it’s hard to tell where inspiration stops
(The Stadia and “new” Atari Pro Controller).
Sometimes the placements of the analog control
sticks and buttons may be swapped. D-pad designs
may be different, buttons are often different
shapes and sizes, triggers may be analog or
digital, the list goes on and on.
The Xbox controller has dominated the space,
directly influencing most of the major controllers
offered over the last decade. As has been
preached for some time, the inspiration for
what has become the standard is clearly from
Microsoft’s series of Xbox controllers.
But what inspired Microsoft?
This is retro impressions the Analog Controller. 
What is an analog input, and how does it vary
from a digital one?
If you’ve ever used any D-Pad, the inputs
are up down left right or a combination of
those resulting in diagonal positions. Pressing
the D-pad to the right on a software level
is a yes or no situation. It’s like a light
switch that returns to the off position after
letting go. Press it, and the light turns
on, let go, and it turns off, there's no in-between.
The software simply asks a question. If the
button is pressed, then the associated action
is executed.
The Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Master System,
Mega Drive, Saturn, and original Playstation
gamepads are all built using this technology.
The important note here is the term Gamepad.
While the roots can be traced back to the
Intellivision, the version that stuck was
based on a design Nintendo developed for their
Game and Watch series, eventually perfecting
it for the NES. It’s a design that would
influence the kinds of games developed over
the decade following the Original Nintendo’s
release. Nintendo’s controller design was
so simple and effective you can still see
it's impact to this day. Anyone who positioned
themselves as real competition to Nintendo
tried to imitate what they were doing. Even
Sega revised its Original SG-1000 controller
to mirror what Nintendo had done. Prior to
the invention of the D-pad, more complex controllers
were on the market, giving the user precise
control over what was on-screen. Let's go
all the way back to the beginning and look
at the first-ever home console, The Magnavox
Odyssey. The console's main method of control
centered around two knobs built using potentiometers.
This allowed the user to perform precise on-screen
movements that eclipsed anything the Original
Nintendo would offer even though it was designed
nearly two decades later. Movement along the
X and Y axis was achieved using two dedicated
knobs. This controller, however, is a paddle
and not a gamepad.
To be clear, a gamepad is a type of controller.
However, it's important to point out that
a gamepad is not a trackball, paddle, or joystick,
even if some crossover does occur.
Trackballs and rotary dials are also based
on analog technology giving the user precise
control over the game space. Returning to
the light switch, analog is more like a dimmer
switch. There's an off position, however,
every movement of the switch results in a
noticeable and measurable change. There are
100's of possibilities as the software measures
where the device is positioned, rather than
asking if the switch is on or off. It’s
why games such as centipede, Missile Command,
and Tempest didn’t translate well to home
consoles with digital-only control options.
It’s also the reason another famous 80’s
game didn’t translate well when coming home
to one particular system, the Atari 5200.
While paddles and trackball games gave precise
control, most games used four or eight-way
joystick. Pac-man used a four-way, giving
the player the ability to move up, down, left,
and right. The stick self-centered, so when
no change in direction was desired, the user
could easily move uninterrupted until they
were ready to input a change. For the most
part, nearly every home gaming system’s
main controller was based on this technology.
Sometimes it was 8 way or in one case, 16
(Intellivision). Atari had different plans
though for the 5200. The controller contained
what appeared to be a traditional joystick,
but this was something special. The control
stick was analog, giving a full 360-degree
movement range with varying speed capability
to the player. One oddity was Atari's decision
not to launch the 5200 with a self-centering
stick, though it's now known that plans were
in place to release an updated model with
this feature. For games designed around the
5200 controllers such as Countermeasure, Gyruss,
and the more recently released Last Starfighter,
the controller was magic. The tradeoff was
games designed around digital inputs are not
ideal. Without a self-centering stick, it’s
hard to find the neutral position in games
like Pac-man, making it hard to execute the
desired movements all the time. The 5200 wasn’t
alone in 1982 though, the Vertex also launched
with its own Analogue Joystick, which also
self-centered. Like I said, the 5200 was special
though, as it introduced dual analog support
to the home market, which was used in games
such as Robotron. The feature utilized a special
cradle that combined the two pack-in controllers
into one, making it the first home console
to come with and support dual analog stick
controls. For home video game systems, this
is without a doubt an industry first and something
that would later be replicated on the Mega
Drive and in Digital form on the Saturn with
Sega's Twin Stick. While early dual-stick
analog and digital controllers saw very limited
game support, they paved the way for a feature
that would become mainstream after Sony reintroduced
the idea in their Dual Shock gamepad.
Atari's system never caught on, and the 5200
was often maligned over its controller, which
primality stemmed from reliability issues
and misplaced expectations, which were largely
the result of Digital input experiences not
translating well to a full analog controller.
A simple switch to change between analog along
with a self-centering stick may have been
enough to cement the 5200 as one of the greatest
consoles of that era.
The Vectrex and 5200 were far ahead of their
time, so much so that another console wouldn’t
be build around this technology shipping from
launch with an analog gamepad until Nintendo’s
64 released fourteen years later in 1996.
So what about more traditional controllers?
While Nintendo didn’t offer Analogue controls
with their home systems until 1996, Sega was
dabbling with the idea in the late 80’s.
Dempa Micomsoft has become very well known
in recent years for their Framemeister, but
when they were first founded in the early
80’s their main focus was porting arcade
games home, handling publication, and designing
sophisticated controllers for home use. They
proved from the get go to be very good at
what they did and entered into an agreement
with Sega to port some of their most technical
games to different home systems. The most
impressive of which was their work on Space
Harrier and After Burner. Dempa was allowed
to port these games and developed a full twin-stick
analog controller that would give the player
the closest arcade experience possible.
At the time, Dempa was already known for making
some of the highest quality controllers on
the market. A joint venture with Sharp resulted
in the Dempa XE-1AJ also released as the Sharp
CZ-8NJ2 or CyberStick, which was a full analog
flight panel designed with Sega’s After
Burner in mind. Dempa would continue to develop
Sega's arcade ports and join teams such as
NEC Technologies to create Space Harrier for
the PC Engine ensuring these games also received
full analog support. When it was time to release
these on Sega’s flagship system, the idea
of the full analog flight panel was reconsidered,
resulting in a consented gamepad known as
the XE-1AP.
Technically, this controller was designed
for racing and flight simulation, so the left
stick had full 360-degree movement with variable
speed capabilities while the right stick was
dubbed a throttle giving it two way control
with variable speed capabilities as well.
Unique to this and most Dempa controllers,
the right thumbstick can be rotated a full
270 degrees giving the user access to the
best setup for each game played. The controller
also had an analog to Digital switch, making
it compatible and enjoyable for use with all
games.
There’s a number of things that remain a
mystery regarding Dempa and Sega’s relationship,
but it’s clear the partnership was very
close. As far as I’m aware, this is the
only full third party controller Sega actively
advertised on their game boxes, in their first-party
game advertisements, and in their first-party
game manuals as a selling point for compatible
Sega games.
The controller was incredibly influential,
considering it was the first to have shoulder
buttons and twin analog sticks should you
discount the 5200, something that wouldn’t
be seen again together on a controller for
nearly another decade.
Dempa would exit the game development business
near the mid-nineties resulting in the staff
from that department starting their own company
called Rutubo Games. They would go on to port
both Space Harrier and After Burner to the
32X, keeping support for the XE-1AP in the
process. Because the XE-1AP was designed by
Dempa with Sega in mind and Dempa was tasked
with porting these games to Sega and non Sega
hardware, the controller is also compatible
with a number of other systems including the
FM Towns, X68000 and PC Engine by using the
XHE-3 adaptor.
With the launch of the Saturn, digital was
still seen as the logical controller input
method, but Sega had seen promise in Analog
and went to work designing a controller that
would truly capture the arcade experience
at home. A year and a half after the Saturns
release, Sega released their Analog controller
dubbed the 3D Control Pad a couple of weeks
removed from the N64’s debut. The controller
looked like an update to Dempa’s XE-1AP,
but refined to better accommodate digital
inputs. The right thumb stick was gone, but
in turn we received a digital d-pad on the
left side and the first-ever full analog shoulder-mounted
trigger buttons. The most interesting thing
about the Saturn 3D controller was the detachable
cable. The manual even discussed it, but no
one really knew why Sega went that route.
No other major home console manufacture had
controllers with detachable controllers, so
why did Sega? Quite simply, Sega has a number
of expansion units planned, think the 32X,
but for a controller.
Expansions included a Joystick in two variations.
One top mount, the other side a mount. A Rumble
pack which would have predated the N64 version
by a year had it released. Sega refers to
theirs as the Vibrations Expansion Unit. There
was a Photo Signal Detecting Expansion Unit,
it’s a mouth full, but essentially the bones
for a light gun add on. A track ball which
again had two offerings, a simple top mount,
and a more complex bottom mount. There was
A memory expansion unit. The Handle Expansion
unit which was essentially a full analog steering
wheel. An inclination Detection Expansion
Unit with and without rumble support, which
essentially turned the 3D gamepad into a motion
controller. A clock which I can't imagine
anyone wanting to purchase, and the big one,
a display expansion unit which was intended
to show additional game info to the player.
It’s quite an ambitious list and had the
Saturn been as successful as the Mega Drive,
we almost certainly would have seen these
hit the market.
Before we move on. there are two other controllers
Sega intended to release but never put into
production that I think are worth mentioning.
Sega had already planned the next full controller
to release after the 3D game pad, one referred
to as the Third Embodiment
, more on the other two in a moment. This
was another 3D gamepad minus the Analog-stick.
In its place is a full analog capable directional
pad that can be changed to digital via a switch
located on the back on the controller.
The expansion capabilities have been removed,
and this controller would have shipped with
a fixed cable. The other controller isn’t
as well documented, but would have put two
directional pads on the face of the controller
with all the action buttons on the back. We
don’t know if this was an attempt at twin
analog directional pads as Sega was playing
with the concept around this time, or something
else.
As I said, the Saturn didn’t catch on, so
development quickly shifted to the Dreamcast
with it’s controller being based on the
3d Control pad. The 3D control pad was actually
embodiment
two with the first embodiment being the same
controller with a slightly different shape,
so the Dreamcast could be considered embodiment
5 of this development line.
The on board memory and video monitor planned
for the Saturn was combined into the VMU and
two expansion slots were included this time
with the controller cable now permanently
affixed to the unit.
It’s incredibly difficult to find information
about hardware design and the people involved,
but of what I could track down I think it’s
worth noting that the Saturn, all Saturn GamePads,
the Dreamcast the Dreamcast gamepad, and the
Sega Genesis 3’s look were all directly
influenced by or fully designed by Akitoshi
Oikawa. His name is attached to everything,
yet I've never heard any mention of him before
starting on this video.
I think the influence that resulted in the
original xbox controllers is clear. One of
the Xbox designers, Seamus Blackley, has even
stated that the Dreamcast was his favorite
consoles and that it influence the Xbox design.
In recent years, it’s even been revealed
that the original intention was for a built
in VMU in place of the massive center logo.
It never happened though it's worth noting
that, the anniversary relaunch has a display
showing the boot up video from the original
console which is a nod to the original design
intention. So while Microsoft has influenced
controllers for the last two decades, it was
Sega and Atari who influenced Mircosoft putting
in place the mechanics that would later become
standard equipment.
Special thanks to Steve from Wired Up Retro
for taking time to fact checking this scrips
and for providing additional video footage.
Wired Up Retro is a fantastic channel which
focuses on obscure video game controllers.
He’s also part of the Atari 5200 podcast,
a show dedicated to reviewing every single
game for one of my favorite game systems.
You honestly can’t go wrong checking out
both his Youtube channel and the Podcast,
even if you don't have a 5200.
Rob of Retro Game Living Room for providing
footage. He runs another incredible channel
which focuses on obscure video games and consoles.
Many of which have no other coverage outside
of his. We also occasionally do a podcast
interviewing industry icons which are posted
there.
He has a great video on the Odyssey and XE-1AP,
so be sure to check those out.
Finally, I want to that my friend the SSG.
The man has one of the best channels on Youtube
along with the definitive video on Sega's
Twin Stick for the Saturn.
That’s if for now. Until next time, thank
you for watching Retro Impressions.
