What is your least favorite controller?

[dashv]

The CD-i spoon controller.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'm one of those odd ones that can find the N64 controller comfortable.
by far to me the worst are the coleco\intellivision controllers. not to mention the 5200 which didn't even re-center itself I've never played with that one, but it seems similar enough. when you need to put an overlay on a controller to tell you what those buttons do that seems like bad design to me

I would've liked the N64 controller had it went with a better analog stick.  That analog stick is trash.  I'm sure everyone that's played the game knows of the death that would come from Mario Party games and having to spin that stick like crazy till it burned a hole in your hand lol The Dualshock is where they nailed analog sticks.  Others might have done it earlier that I don't know of, but like there's a reason the Playstation controller has never changed design lol

[kingrat101]

Dreamcast, I really don't have a problem with the keypad controllers, jaguar, intellivision, etc. I use an adapter on the dreamcast that allows for the use of Saturn controllers on the thing.

[bikingjahuty]

Gamecube. I never liked how small it was, and I'm not a person with giant gorilla hands either. I also don't care for the button placement.

[telly]

Dreamcast for sure. It's not only uncomfortable and ugly, it's outdated! Why they decided to put only 6 buttons on it while EVERY controller in it's generation and practically every controller in the gen BEFORE it had 8+ is beyond me. 

EDIT: I might say N64 too, but I haven't really used it enough.

[burningdoom]

The CD-i spoon controller.

That was more for the interactive media and movies. I don't think it was intended for the actual video games, it had a proper controller for that.

It worked great for the interactive, educational movies they used the CD-i for at our school. You basically just had to make "Choose Your Own Adventure" type choices, or answer a question.

[ignition365]

5200.

[emporerdragon]

The Dualshock is where they nailed analog sticks.

I disagree heavily. With their overall floatiness plus having a convex thumbpad design, they really couldn't give a good feel of precision outside of a twin-stick shooter. When I think of the perfect analog stick, the One wins hands down.

[kamikazekeeg]

The Dualshock is where they nailed analog sticks.

I disagree heavily. With their overall floatiness plus having a convex thumbpad design, they really couldn't give a good feel of precision outside of a twin-stick shooter. When I think of the perfect analog stick, the One wins hands down.

You mean Xbox One? Yeah, sure, of course it's better, but I was talking about when they first came out lol

[Flashback2012]

Here's a top 5 of my least favorite controllers...

5. The Original US Sega Saturn Pad


I am pretty sure I own a couple of these somewhere and while they're not the worst pad I've ever used, I never could go back to them once Saturn released the Japanese pad stateside. I remember being in Toys R Us and spying a boxed grey Saturn pad for sale. I quickly purchased it and my old Saturn pad immediately achieved "Reserved for Player 2" status. 

To be fair, it was a serviceable pad but it felt flimsy and cheaply put together. The D-Pad hurt to use after a while and the shoulder buttons didn't seem to work half the time.

4. The Xbox Duke Controller


I no longer own a Duke Controller because my dog chewed through the wire when she was a puppy (along with one of my Japanese style Saturn Pads  ). I quickly abandoned the Duke once the smaller and more ergonomic S-Controller came out. I might go back and pick up a Duke controller again if only out of a sense of nostalgia. The controller was just too big for my hands and I recall not being able to maintain a good grip if I had even the slightest bit of moisture on my hands. The D-pad was weird and felt tacked on.

3. The Sega Master System Control Stick


I grew up lurking in and about arcades so I much preferred that control scheme as opposed to the control pad dominance of the home game market. We owned both a NES and SMS and while I had the amazing Advantage for my NES, my options were almost non-existent for my SMS. I obtained a Control Stick from a kid who was like the only other SMS owner that I was aware of (the NES was by far the more popular machine about town). I thought I might finally enjoy my SMS games better until I realized the inverted controls. 

Funny enough, you'd think being a southpaw and having a controller with the stick on the right and buttons on the left would be ideal right? Well, I've always felt that the concept of "the dominant hand should work the buttons while the passive hand works the D-Pad" to be a load of nonsense and the Control Stick is almost unusable to me. 

2. The Broderbund UForce Controller for NES and the Power Glove by Mattel for NES (Tie)



I was hesitant to list these because even when they were released, I knew they were nothing more than shoddy gimmicks. Still, I've tried to use these "controllers" and while the Power Glove performed better than the UForce (which I couldn't even really get working), saying I preferred one over the other is like me saying I want a turd burger instead of a crap sandwich. 

1. The Intellivision Controller


This is the first controller that immediately springs to mind when I think of the worst controllers ever (IMO). I never was a fan of the layout with the phone dial buttons (this goes for the Coleco and Jaguar controllers as well) and the directional disc felt cheap compared to the joystick controllers for Atari and even Coleco. Actually the control felt flimsy overall and I have never cared for the pigtail cord.

We never had an Intellivision growing up and my opinion might have been a little different if we did but I doubt it. 

Honorable mentions...

The N64 Controller


This felt like it was really half a controller because of the way it was held which made the D-Pad largely useless. I want to say it was Hori who made a more streamlined N64 pad that I wanted to pick up but never got around to getting.

The Virtual Boy Controller


I let this one off the hook from being in my "Top 5" because it's not the fault of the controller that I can't see it while playing. It has a nice fit and feel at least though I find the dual D-pads a little wonky.

The Sega Master System Control Pad


I only grief this pad because we got the NES before the SMS and while I wasn't the biggest fan of the NES Control Pad (especially after the Advantage and NES Max), the SMS pad felt like a step backwards with it lacking Start/Select buttons and having an (IMO) inferior D-Pad compared to the NES one.

[dashv]

The Dualshock is where they nailed analog sticks.

I disagree heavily. With their overall floatiness plus having a convex thumbpad design, they really couldn't give a good feel of precision outside of a twin-stick shooter. When I think of the perfect analog stick, the One wins hands down.

I agree. Xbox One analog sticks dimples design makes them the best I've used so far. The clickly d-pad however I do not like.

[thecrypticodor]

The US Atari 7800 Proline controllers are the worst first party controller I’ve personally have ever used. They are incredibly uncomfortable and people will often complain of hand cramping after using them for long sessions.

The early versions of the Master System controller annoy me because their cord comes out the right side of the controller. The only comfortable way for me to hold it is to let the cord run in between my middle and index finger. Early versions also had that stupid screw hole for that optional joystick and the covers for them always seem to be missing.

Many people crap on the Intellivision’s controller I for one don’t mind it. The Intellivision II’s controller one the other hand is much worse. The numeric keypad has no tactile feedback at all. Also the side buttons don’t have much if any travel. So it doesn’t feel like your actually pressing them like a button instead it feels like you're just applying pressure. I hate the Intellivision II controller so much I actually wired a model 1 controller to work on the console.

[badATchaos]

Any PlayStation controller ever. I never liked how far down and close together the sticks are. At work I use them for 6 hours a day and by the end my hands are all cramped up. Can't stand the d-pad either. The battery life isn't great either.

[sworddude]

So much hate for the gamecube controller.

In my opinion one of the better if not the best controller ever made.

D pad wise sure but for all the other stuff I heavily disagree.

[tpugmire]

The CD-i spoon controller.

That was more for the interactive media and movies. I don't think it was intended for the actual video games, it had a proper controller for that.

It worked great for the interactive, educational movies they used the CD-i for at our school. You basically just had to make "Choose Your Own Adventure" type choices, or answer a question.

I'm inclined to agree with you, except one small thing, the CD-i 450.  When it was released, it was intended to be a smaller cheaper unit mainly for playing games. By the time it was released, it was clear that only the game software was selling. Most of the pictures on the system box were advertising games, but it came with the damn spoon controller. To be fair, the actual game controllers are pretty terrible too.