Topic: Where would controllers be without Nintendo?

[Gamefreak]

Think about it. Nintendo (and our deceased friend Gunpei Yokoi had a lot to do with this) invented....The D-pad (Game & Watch), now standard in everything; the analog stick (N64), now standard in everything; Shoulder buttons (SNES), now standard in everything; and I believe rumble/force feedback (N64), since all the research I've done indicates that PC force feedback came after the N64 rumble pack, anyway now standard in everything.

So what do you think controllers would look like if Nintendo never existed, assuming the industry would even be alive and kicking?

[OldMan Nintendo]

Let's say that Atari didn't sell out to Time Warner Communications and that, because of that business decision, Atari managed to keep the gaming industry going and, therefore, preventing Nintendo from expanding into America where it became a mind-blowing success.  Maybe Nintendo wouldn't have grown to its mammoth size if Atari didn't fold... (I love "What If" scenarios, don't you??)

Assuming that the industry would be alive and kicking, controller evolution would have probably been very slow... I'd say that we'd be a good seven to ten years behind where we are right now with current controllers.

[Ymeegod]

Actually, the atari 7800 series had directional pads + the mini-thumb analog (though it was screwed into the already existing directional pad).

That was out a year ahead of the NES but just didn't have marketing capital.  If you look at the controllers of the 7800 and Famicom they are very similar expect the famicom a and b buttons were closer together--the 7800's I think had nearly an inch gap between the two making it quite impossible to button mash :0.

It's really hard to say who did what and "what if".

[Gamefreak]

Sigh...Nintendo invented the D-pad, Atari 7800 copied...
It's not hard to say, since Nintendo invented the d-pad years before the NES. It's called the Game & Watch, like I already said.
And the 7800 didn't have analog, it was just digital with a stick I'm pretty sure. You can't screw in a stick onto the D-pad and call it analog.

[ThePerm]

yeah..nintendo hada patent on it till 1999...the same year dreamcast came out.

[Ymeegod]

For some reason 1987 rings in my head when Game & watch is mentioned because that's the year when the actual SMB watch came out (anyone recall those).   Yeah, the first one (DK) was released back in 1982.

The analog it atari though.  If you ever replaced them, you can see they are similar in design.  I've replaced my Directional pad and C-stick on the GC controller (The directional pad was just to freaking  small) :0.  Other than size of the components, it's the same as those 20+ analog controllers from atari.

[Gamefreak]

I thought Game & Watch was before 82...maybe I'm thinking Japanese dates. Dunno the game and watch trophy in smash bros. has the date. I think it says 79 or 81, not sure which...

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ymeegod
For some reason 1987 rings in my head when Game & watch is mentioned because that's the year when the actual SMB watch came out (anyone recall those).

Yep, I've still got the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch, and it still works!  Now, if I can get Miyamoto to sign it, it will be worth $$$.  But I'll never part with it.  Mario was part of my childhood, and with the Game & Watch, I remember me and my dad taking turns playing it in restaurants, while we were waiting for the food to be served!

[Uglydot]

I was under the impression that there were anologue sticks out for PC before the n64 came about...  Anyhow, the Atari stick had to have been a digital stick.

[Sir Kero]

There were analog sticks for the PC long before the N64 came out, but they were flight sticks. I believe Sega beat Nintendo to the punch with the Saturn analog, but I'm not certain. In any case, the best you can really say is that Nintendo standardized analog thumbsticks in gamepads. They were the first to use force feedback in console games at least, but I've been told Space Harrier in the arcades had some kind of rumble feature.

but let's expand a little... Nintendo (Gunpei Yopkoi specifically) invented the light gun, and effectively the entire gallery shooter genre. Nintendo also created the four-button diamond that everyone but Nintendo is still using. Both the diamond and the new GC setup were designed by Miyamoto. I'm sure I must be leaving something out... would we have DDR if there had never been a Power Pad? I'm not sure we'd be able to pause games if Nintendo hadn't created the start button (NOA was even nice enough to put one on the 2P controller).

OldMan Nintendo already touched on this, but basically without Nintendo we wouldn't even have a game industry anymore, much less good controllers.

[Gamefreak]

Actually I said that in the first post,
"assuming the industry would even be alive and kicking"

[Infernal Monkey]

Where would controllers be without Nintendo? Most likely where they are today. In the hands of gamers =P

But I wonder about the Pause function. I mean, Nintendo introduced that in the NES, with the simple press of the Start button, game stopped. Sega's Mark III/Master System Powerbase had a pause function, yes. But it wasn't from the aid of a start button. You had to GET UP and pause it from the actual machine.
Pain in the ass, indeed.

Then Sega introduced the Start/Pause button on the Mega Drive/Genesis controller a few years later (No doubt after witnessing how the NES pauses)

... Maybe we'd still be getting up to pause our games if Nintendo didn't invent it? Or.. Most likely not.

[Hostile Creation]

They would be in HELL!  Bwa ha ha ha ha!

Uh, I dunno.  Three years back (from this gen, not this date), I suppose.  

[Termin8Anakin]

Good thought there Infernal.
I wonder if anyone really invented anything controller-wise at all? Nintendo basically created everything we see today.
I hear people say that Nintendo didn't create the analog stick, cause it was on the Atari, and took a step back in technology with the d-pad. But think about it, you didn't need analog controls then.
Nintendo then brought back teh analog stick and used it in a game that needed it most, Super Mario 64, and it was an instant revolution. You could make Mario tip-toe, walk, then run without having to press any extra buttons. How cool was that!

To me, Nintendo is the king of controllers. No one knows jack without nintendo.

[3_MaSteRPIeCE]

If nintendo hadn't been here i think that controllers would be here still and possibly the same... compare it to this


if many people were having unprotected sex someone would eventually make a condom

If many people were playing video games without using their index finger someone would eventually say "hey why don't i put a button somewhere where i can use my index finger"  

[oohhboy]

But if the condom was not invented when it was invented, would the condom be as good as it is today? Sounds like one of those Star Trek causality questions to me.  

[GoldShadow1]

Definitely, Nintendo was a huge innovator in control.  I think some of the things would be largely similar without Nintendo, as they seem pretty basic concepts, but who knows. I think things like shoulder buttons or rumble might be different, though... (really, what is the rumble function but a tiny vibrate in your controller?)

[Clonester]

I always laugh when other people say that Nintendo isn't a "hardware company". Just goes to show what some fanboy's know. But of course, they suck at making console's and controllers.  

The fact of the matter is that Nintendo spends a great deal of time and resources making hardware and figuring out how hardware can improve the gaming experience. That is more than you can say for any other hardware making company.

[AERO]

Quote
Originally posted by: oohhboy
But if the condom was not invented when it was invented, would the condom be as good as it is today? Sounds like one of those Star Trek causality questions to me.

It could be. Maybe the developement of the controller may have been done by some other company intirely with more talent and cash to go through evolution more quickly. Technically we could be 10-20 years ahead with controllers becuase of nintendo, or 10-20 years behind, becuase of them.

[oohhboy]

Causality. That is the entire idea. That is also why time travel is inhirently dangerous if even possible.

[boggy b]

I dont know where we'd be, but I dont think we'd be too far behind (if at all). People seem to think that if the company that invented something had never invented it then it would never have been invented. Like Nintendo. If they hadn't have put a D-Pad on their controller, SOMEONE along the line would have put a D-pad on the controller. If they hadnt put shoulder buttons on a controller, SOMEONE would have somewhere along the line. The same goes for rumble and analogue -- one company would have somewhere or another.

One things for certain, controllers would not look the same as now.