jbanes

You could store a large chunk of it on a floppy disk. Fixed that for you. Looking at the AtariAge rarity guide, it appears to catalog ~1000 titles. A 1GB card could give each of those 1000 titles over a megabyte of space each. There's more than enough space for everything ever produced for the venerable 2600. You could probably even fit the entire library in something as snug as a 32MB card.

VC-Reviews has stumbled upon an upcoming list of arcade games for the WiiWare service. Note that this is the Japanese list, so the American and European released might differ. http://www.vc-reviews.com/news/2009/03/nam...ng_arcade_games Assault Burning Force Cosmo Gang the Puzzle (Remade into Pac-Attack outside Japan) Cosmo Gang the Video Cyber Sled Dragon Buster Dragon Saber Dragon Spirit Finest Hour Galaga '88 (Ported to the TG16 as Galaga '90) Genpei Toumaden (This is the predecessor of Samurai Ghost) Hopping Mappy Knuckleheads Mappy Marvel Land Numan Athletics Pac-Mania Phelios Rolling Thunder Sky Kid Splatterhouse Starblade The Tower of Druaga Wonder Momo Xevious Youkai Douchuuki Some of those are a bit strange. e.g. Why would we need the arcade version of Sky Kid when the NES version is already a pretty straightforward port? Perhaps Japan doesn't have that release. Edit: Taito is also on board. Anyone think we'll finally get some Darius action on the VC? (I've been waiting for Darius Twin FOREVER.)

Out of curiosity, are the arcade versions of these really so much better than the Colecovision versions? I haven't investigated these thoroughly, but I've generally been under the impression that the Colecovision renditions are amazingly close to the arcade. Granted, the Coleco controls suck unless you get the Action controller, but otherwise I've generally been impressed. Personally, I'd like to see more of the later games. The arcade version of Killer Instinct would be nothing short of AWESOME. But other, lesser known options like Sky Soldiers, S.T.U.N. Runner (with Wii Wheel support, please!), X-Men multiplayer version, Gradius III & IV, Scramble, etc. would also be excellent options for Wii releases. Solvalou is an excellent step in the right direction. I hope we see a release here in the US. Exidy's games were pretty simple. Perhaps no one wants them? Xbox Arcade, for example, is pretty full of glitzier arcade games. In addition, the Exidy games really did have some excellent home console ports back in the day. Maybe no one sees the point in the arcade releases?

I installed the update last night. The new menu system is slick as a salesman's hairdo. Just click on the SD Card icon in the corner and it will bring up a menu showing the list of games on the card. If you click on one, it will show you the save icon rather than the animated menu, but it will give you the option to run it directly. Click on "Start" and the Wii will begin caching the game in internal memory. Once the cache is complete, it will seamlessly launch. I don't think we could have asked for a better solution. 'Yes' is the official word from Nintendo. The blue-light message explicitly claims support for SDHC. However, be careful about how large of a card you get. Someone on WiiWare World did the computations and realized that you couldn't possibly use more than 10GB for games, given the 20 page limitation of the SD Card menu. (Even 10GB is stretching it.) So unless you're planning to cram hundreds of games and pretty much the entire GHIV AND RB2 downloadable song library into a single card, don't bother going over 8GB.

While at the show, you're probably using the hotel wireless. The hotel wireless is going to be routed through the same internet NAT router, giving everyone at the show the appearance of coming from the same IP address.

I was talking about this with some co-workers and came to the conclusion that they couldn't have picked a worse name if they tried. (One person online even joked that once he removes SyFy from his favorites, he'll be "Syfy-less". *groan*) I suggested that they should have gone through the trouble of obtaining rights to CyFi (indicative of cybernetics to geeks, but absolutely nothing to non-geeks) rather than buying out this "SyFy" clap-trap. Actually, SciFi bought the rights to Sliders and began producing new episodes. They started the whole Kromagg story arc and eventually replaced Quinn. Also, the SciFi Channel still shows original movies, but they've been crap ever since the NBC buyout. Rather than producing thoughtful SciFi on a shoe-string budget, they produce monster of the week garbage on a slightly larger budget. And let me tell you, these movies are bad. My wife loves B-movies, but even she can't stand to sit through these abominations. Of course, we're getting horribly off-topic here. I'm happy for their gaming coverage and can't wait to see them there!

My understanding is that in 2007 (IIRC) Paypal saw a bunch of transactions all come from the same IP address and flagged them as fraudulent. They wouldn't accept the explanation that the transactions were from an expo, so a lot of vendors were stuck chasing down the purchasers to ask them to resubmit payment.

That's really cool news! It's incredible how much exposure the MGC has been getting over the years. --though don't you mean the SyFy Channel? Whoa. That's quite an incentive! In case anyone is unfamiliar with this place, it's a massive arcade/playplace/restaurant for both kids and adults (they even have no-kid periods) that charges for playing games by the hour rather than by the machine. I've been meaning to get there after seeing their booth at a recent Expo, but I've been somewhat discouraged by the door price. Getting these cards will make the compo almost a two-for-one special! Of course, if anyone doesn't want their card...

Marty, I'm really sorry to hear that. There's nothing worse than getting screwed over by megacorps. (Been there. Done that. Didn't even get a T-Shirt. ) I hope you guys find a resolution that earns you the money you rightfully deserve. I'm also going to see if I can make the presentations! You've given some great presentations in previous MGCs, so I look forward to this year's. Can I get a badge as well? I'll be coming in on Saturday.

Not so much the laser, but the motor. The Wii normally spins discs at a constant velocity. If you use it to read regular DVDs instead of Wii discs, the stepping action of the motor will put more wear and tear on the motor. How much more? Well, arguably the components are repurposed DVD equipment anyway, so you're probably talking about reducing a, say, 12 year motor life to 10 years. (Totally made up numbers here. Just using them for illustration.) In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter. Though I've always wondered what the point of turning a Wii into a substandard DVD player is? Burned games I can understand, but why movies? Don't most people already have DVD players? Ones that work a lot better than their Wiis? Go figure.

There were about 6 scenes as I recall. No, the game didn't do anything to shake it up. Play through once and you're pretty much done. It was kind of neat, but I never really thought of those games as particularly interesting. I'm happy to see there's a fan out there. Hmm... I suppose you and I could whip together a WiiWare game. We'll call it, "Find the Differences in the Bologna Sandwich". Seriously, though. It wouldn't be hard to create a game like what you're talking about. If you've got basic web programming experience, you could probably do it in Javascript and HTML. Flash will work too as long as it's exported as Flash 7. I'd happily add whatever game you came up with to WiiCade.

I'm not arguing against Pinball FX, I'm arguing against the control scheme. Pinball on analog controllers works, but it doesn't have that natural feel I get from the Wii Remote/Nunchuk. (IMHO) For example, one of the biggest problems I've always had with bumping is that I have to think about the bump controls. If I mindlessly slap the button or stick, it's going to tilt. But I'm usually in a tight pickle with my ball so attempting fine bumping maneuvers removes my concentration from the ball itself, often resulting in a lost ball anyway. This isn't a problem with the Wii Remote/Nunchuk where I literally motion the BUMP of the table, requiring no extra thought to execute. And as I said, my opinion is that holding your arms apart is a more natural position. The triggers are a bit different from a cherry-switched flipper, but not so much to where they feel incorrect. Before the Wii, about the closest I've ever come to a natural pinball position in video pinball is with the computer keyboard. The shift keys are far enough apart to give a reasonably good feel. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

It seems you've attracted the attention of WiiWare World: http://www.wiiware-world.com/news/2009/03/..._version_of_lit Say hi to Corbie for me when you get there.

As opposed to the ones where you hold your hands in front of you and use a joystick to bump the machine? The argument cuts both ways. I just happen to think the free-floating controllers held and arms length apart are closer. There was a flash game like that, that floated through WiiCade about a month ago. I think I had to reject it because it wasn't Flash 7 compatible. Now I know you can't be taken seriously... In my defense, I DID say it was subjective! Personally, I never understood the hate for Red Steel. Yeah, the sword is just hack and slash. Yeah, the controls require a lot of precision. But for a first shot out of the gate, I thought it was pretty good. The gameplay was decent fare for a First Person Shooter, the swordplay required some strategy, and the storyline was not half-bad. Granted, we didn't get ALL of the graphical improvements we were promised, but there was some pretty good effects in the game. I always got the feeling that players got way too hung up on the lack of 1:1 sword fighting and gave up on the game too quickly. Of course, that could be just MHO.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. IMHO, I've played a lot of pinball videogames in my days and nothing feels closer to real pinball than the Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo. In fact, I always felt that video pinball and real pinball were two different things. Up until I played Williams' Collection. It's the only video pinball game that has actually made me better at REAL pinball! Now that's saying something.

I'm too shocked to say anything. Pinball FX is better than William's Collection? Never. Quite possibly true, but they're not the games that really push the remote in the end.

Apologies if I came across a bit harsh, but it's a bit frustrating to put the time into comprehensive answers only to have every last point ignored. I'm glad you can at least understand my argument in favor of the SNES controller now. I'll leave it at that.

Quite a few good ones have already been mentioned. I'm going to add: - Excite Truck - Mario Kart Wii - Link's Crossbow Training - Ghost Squad - Mercury Meltdown - Geometry Wars: Galaxies (this one is subjective, though) - Super Paper Mario - Onslaught - Defend Your Castle - Red Steel (again, subjective) - World of Goo - LostWinds - Alien Crush Returns - Toki Tori - Wild West Guns

While harsh, Gabriel has pretty much nailed it. Konami didn't even bother to extend the viewing area of this side scrolling shooter for widescreen TVs. Instead, they simply stretch the image making its 16-bit graphics look even worse. I had high hopes for the graphics based on the Youtube videos, but the truth is that Konami didn't put much effort in at all. At 480p, you can make out the individual pixels without much difficulty. In fact, it appears that Konami may have reused some of the artwork from earlier games. (!) If Konami had redone the artwork in a higher resolution and used the Wii's graphical capabilities to smooth it out with proper alpha-blending, this game would look incredible. But they seem to have decided to take the easy way out. The sound is similarly poor. Don't get me wrong, the music is decent. It's bright, it's cheerful, not too grating, but it's obviously intended to evoke the feel of the NES/C64 days. In result, it sounds dated and not particularly impressive. Modern MIDI music sounds better than the FM synthesis shown here. What about the gameplay? Well, it's decent. It's very much a throwback to classic Gradius. Which is both its strength and its weakness. If you've played a shmup any time within the last 20 years, you're going to be frustrated with how slow the Vic Viper is. You can use the speed-up power-up to move faster, but the improvement is not without issues. The control scheme appears to rely on full pixel units for movement with no acceleration/deceleration curves. This makes the ship jerky at higher speeds, thus making it difficult to properly judge your movement. I died quite a few times because the Vic zipped too quickly in the direction of movement, slamming me right into an enemy or wall. The game retains the classic challenge of the Gradius series, which can be summed up like this: If you screw up even once, you lose all your power-ups. If you lose your power-ups, you're going to find it difficult to move forward. Oddly, the game comes configured without autofire on. This is a strange omission that nearly had me tearing my hair out. (Sorry Konami, turbo-fire is not standard on controllers anymore!) Thankfully, there is an option to turn on rapid fire. The configuration screen is a bit convoluted, but it's there. So what's good about this game? Well, the basic gameplay is intact. It gets more enjoyable if you turn on autofire and stick with it for a while. It's still a shmup and gathering power-ups can give you that badass feeling that only Japanese shmups can. You can even show off your general badassery (hey, it's a perfectly cromulent word!) with an online ranking mode. The game isn't worthless, but it is a bit of a letdown. As many other reviewers have noted, it's better thought of as a remix of the older Gradius titles than a completely new title. Edit: I almost forgot to mention. WTF is up with the slowdown? This system can push over a billion texels a second. Don't tell me that it can't handle a steady framerate! Which means that the slowdown must have been intentionally added for nostalgic purposes. Sorry, Konami. The slowdown was annoying back then, and it is annoying now. Please don't think that such misfeatures count as something players actually want.

No, no it wasn't. That's the problem. You didn't hear a single word I said. See this diagram?

Ok, lots of snips here. We'll get down to the meat: 1. I'm arguing that the SNES controller was more ergonomic than the PS controller. 2. I'm also arguing that the PS has some of the worst ergonomics of controllers on the market. Good to see the humor came through. I know. Though 3D fighting games don't play all that different from 2D fighting games. The extra dimension allows you to more easily avoid opponents. Otherwise it isn't used. Ahem. USE A JOYSTICK. We played Street Fighter 2 like no one's business in my house. We had something like this: I don't care if you're playing a 2D or a 3D fighter. Finding the best dpad is counter-productive. Fighters are designed for arcade joysticks. Ergo, they always play better on arcade sticks. Logic fail. I did not say that an arcade stick is infinitely better, full stop. I said that arcade sticks work better for fighters. Please pay attention to what I am saying. Dude. Seriously. I drew you a diagram. Why are you hung up on the stupid concave/convex buttons? Look: Whoops! Maybe you didn't see it. Here it is again: I drew this great diagram. Did you see it? DO NOT REPLY UNLESS YOU LOOK AT THE *BLEEPING* IMAGE. kthxbye. This one: We clear now? To recap: - Solid plastic is used to visually separate button groupings. - Discoloring is used between regions to visually separate button groupings. - A/B vs. X/Y naming further reinforces the differences. - Raised plastic allows you to FEEL the button grouping. - Concave/Convex has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

(continued...) Why should I? It was a bad design. You seem to think that I'm trying to back up my list of favorites with random thoughts. I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. While no human can ever be truly objective, I am trying to give an honest and objective review of the various controllers. That's why I'm praising the 360 controller despite the fact that I do not have a 360 nor do I want one. From my review of it as a control scheme, however, it has proven to be one of the most comfortable and overall usable analog controllers on the market. It's not without its faults (which I will happily note and point out), but it's actually a pretty good piece of hardware. And I say that as a sworn enemy of Microsoft and their asinine, greedy, corrupt, and contemptuous business practices. (Chris Wilson can take his supposed "embrace" of standards and shove it up his lying ass. I'm sure Microsoft will stamp "by design" on it and close it out as if nothing ever happened.) I didn't say it was the "best" idea. I said it was full of good ideas for its time, and that those ideas became the foundation for today's 3D control schemes. That was confusing when they were used like that. Thankfully, very few games did so. As I said, games were supposed to focus on the A/B buttons with the C buttons being used for something where direction made sense. Star Fox ran into a similar problem as Rouge Squadron, but it a) assigned movements that more or less made sense out of a directional button and b) provided on screen help to ease the player into the use of these functions. Not that it was ideal, but the C buttons were an interesting experiment. (As an aside, I remember being a bit upset when I first started using the N64 controller. I was a big fan of the 4 buttons on the SNES face and was not happy to see that we'd been effectively reduced to 2. In hindsight, it wouldn't have made sense to have a total of 8 buttons on the face (!) so you kind of had to take the good with the bad. The introduction of the camera thumbstick obviously solves this problem.) I will never understand why this happens to so many systems. I come from a family of 5 kids and we abused the living starch out of our systems. Yet we never had a flat NES controller, the NES didn't have the "dirty cartridge" problem until 20 years later (it was the only reason I was able to pry it away from my siblings), and we never had a single thumbstick break on the N64 despite a LOT of Mario Party playing. My own kids are on to beating up my old NES and N64, and they both still work like a charm. What in the world are you people doing to your systems?!?!? So lets recap: - Split Dpad: Stupid idea that lead to the de-emphasis of dpads - Extra shoulder buttons: Heralded the onslaught of button-itis and cramped hands - Poor button layouts: Encouraged the onslaught of button-itis and made console makers think it was "ok" to force controller training. - Clickable Thumbsticks: Hold it steady... steady... now CLICK! Awww, damn. Who came up with this idiotic idea? - Pressure face buttons: That's such a good idea that Nintendo copied it for the shoulder buttons! Weren't those aweso-- oh, wait. - Braced Grips: Ow, ow, ow, ow - Analog/Digital selector button: Wait, what does this do? - Two controls sticks: Well, 1 out of 8 ain't bad. Did I forget anything? You mean, all the things that have made controllers worse and worse over the years. The PS controller is a flawed POS. The N64 controller was a flawed device with a lot of good ideas that became the real innovations of the industry. Copied especially heavily by none other than Sony. The N64 controller is definitely dated. The PS controller is gimped. The dual analog sticks are its primary advantage, an idea copied from (then admittedly improved upon) from the N64 controller. No it didn't. Then pay more attention. Actually, saying it's "all Sony's fault" is a bit of a stretch. But the ideas they pushed onto the market helped fsck up competitor's controllers. The 360 controller has a severe case of button-itis, the GCN controller adopted those truly hideous pressure buttons, and both controllers de-emphasized the dpad after seeing how the market somehow accepted Sony's useless dpad. You're probably right. Which is one of the reasons why I don't own a 360 or PS3. A position that's shared by the vast majority of the market. They're buying Wiis and DSes. Both of which have excellent dpads.

Use the [ quote ] and [ /quote ] tags. (Without the spaces.) You can cut up the text by inserting [ /quote] (your text) [ quote ] into the post. You are correct. I'm confusing the fact that the PS was a descendant of the SNES with it being in the same generation. That's a brain fart on my part. It doesn't change the basic argument though. The dpad was being de-emphasized by all consoles by the PS2/GCN/XBox/DC generation. The PS Dpad was aweful, but it didn't change thanks to Sony's "tack on another whizimagig" strategy. So it at least had that going for it. The DPad did work well for fighting games. However, I would argue that true fighting connoisseurs got an arcade joystick. The gamepads were acceptable, but far from ideal. You can with an arcade stick. That's certainly a valid opinion, but I can't say I had that much trouble with Soul Caliber 2 (GCN) and DoA2 (DC). Both worked well enough with a thumbstick. An arcade joystick would probably be better, though. . Don't tell me that doesn't make ANY sense. You know full well I meant that fighting games are easier to play on a sony system (IE: with it's pad) vs a Xbox SYSTEM (IE: with it's pad).No I didn't. Unless I missed where you stated that (in which case I apologize for my density), there was no way I could have known what you were referring to. Which is why it didn't make any sense. Now that I know, I can ask a simple question: What makes you think the 360 pad is worse than the PS pad? I've never been a fan of the Genesis style DPads, but they do function. And they function a heck of a lot better than the separated button scheme of the PS. The DPad on your standard PS controller is murder on the thumbs, has near zero movement without lifting your thumb, and can quite easily get in the way of complex movements when you try and execute a fighting style roll. (e.g. down, right-down, right is far too easy to stop by bumping the edge of the dpad button.) I'm honestly shocked that you like fighting games so much, yet haven't at least invested in a third party controller with a better dpad. It's a deeper version of the SNES pad. It's not bad, but I hardly feel it improves upon the SNES dpad to any great degree. And while I love my DC controller dearly, the thing is a hulking beast. There's far too much reach necessary. I have big hands, but the SNES controller fits much better. One thing the DC controller sort of got right is that the center circle provides tactile orientation for the buttons on the right. Based on the groove of the circle, you can figure out where your thumb is. Which is better than the PS controller, but not quite as nice as the SNES controller. Actually, the SNES did it first. In case you weren't paying attention (which is obvious at this point), the rounded shape of the SNES controller was not accidental. The rounded areas provided a natural grip for the hands that is very comfortable and encourages the fingers to land in the correct location on the pad. If you compare the grip of NES, SNES, and Playstation controllers sometime, you may find it interesting that the SNES grip and the Playstation grip are very similar. The difference is that the PS controller's grips are not really grips at all. They act more like a brace, utilizing the hand's pressure to maintain stability. This is actually a rather painful grip after extended periods of time, but it did work in favor of the controller due to the reach needed to access the analog sticks added to the second generation of the controller. The other reason for the bracing is the need to place two sets of fingers on top to use the extra shoulder buttons. This reduces stability from the back, requiring the extra bracing. In comparison, the SNES controller molds well to the palms. The curve naturally follows the index finger, thus encouraging it to lay on the shoulder buttons. The remaining three fingers are excellent bases for stability, thus preventing the need for brace pressure against the sides of the controller. The NES obviously has a completely different grip. Being flat and square, it completely lacked ergonomics. The stability was good because of the number of fingers the controller rested on, but the need to reach around sharp corners took its toll on players. Sores and tired hands were a common problem. Considering that I was just complaining about that very influence, I have a hard time agreeing with your use of the word "positive". Worst. Idea. Ever. I hate those things. The pressure triggers make a lot more sense. The one thing the SixAxiS got right was to turn two of the shoulder buttons into analog triggers. That and not follow Nintendo's example for analog shoulder buttons. (*shudder*) Yes. They took the C button concept and expanded on it with their "add another whizimagig" philosophy. In this case it worked out well. Bully for Sony! Please don't. Your list reads like a compilation of horrific missteps in controller design. I think you need to pay more attention. Here, I'll blow it up for you, my blind friend: See how both the visual and tactile aspects of the controller convey the information about the groupings of the buttons? The difference in buttons shape is an additional way of visually conveying the alpha nature of the A/B buttons, but it's more subtle and makes a lousy tactile response. (Which was my complaint about the Classic Controller.) Just because you can memorize the orientations by making video gaming a full time job doesn't mean that the control designer shouldn't try to avoid that situation. You may choose to play games 4-8 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, but not everyone is looking for that kind of commitment. For those who just want to pick up and play a game when they feel like it, good controls make a HUGE difference in the superiority of the controller. Even the most hardcore of gamers can derive benefit from the visual and tactile information, as it will take less time to adapt to new controllers. (continued below)

That was two generations after Sony completely borked the D-Pad. At that point Nintendo was trying to de-emphasize its use. The good news is that the GCN DPad is still light-years more comfortable than the Playstation one. The bad news is it's so unnatural to use it in that position that it takes conscious effort. That doesn't make even the slightest bit of sense. If you say so. And it's not like the SNES controllers had rounded edges for easy grip or anything. When they're also bordered by visual cues that group them? Yes. Take another gander: If my memory serves me correct, the groupings of the buttons were slightly raised on the surface of the controller, making it easy to find them by feel. That way you wouldn't get confused by the orientation of the diamond. It was easy to lay one finger on the run button and find the jump button by feel. Something that the Playstation got wrong. (Not to mention the Classic Controller. They changed the feel of the buttons themselves instead. Which wouldn't seem like such a bad idea except that a) the buttons are too high on the controller and b) you can't follow an edge from one button to the next. You have to test them by feel to make sure you have the right button.) As opposed to those useless buttons on the front of the controller? I don't disagree in principle. However, the Playstation controller is directly responsible for the billion-button march. While other console makers attempt to redesign and refine their controllers, Sony pretty much just attaches another wizamagig and calls it a day. It works, but it doesn't work particularly well in comparison to other controllers on the market. To make matters worse, its design philosophy shows up in its biggest competitor: The XBox 360. Great controller, but it's got a severe case of button-itis. I've more than once tried to pick up a game on the 360, only to realize that I'm not coordinated enough to manage the controller in a combat situation. All the extra functionality can be useful for simulation style gaming, but it targets an ever shrinking population of core gamers willing to adapt to the controller. Don't get me started on the myriad of problems with the GCN controller. All the work they did to simplify it with large buttons was undone with oddities like the unbalanced Z trigger, the analog shoulders with too much play, the travel distance between A and B, the difficulty in telling X and Y apart by feel, the positioning and size of the DPad, the non-intuitiveness of the C stick, etc. Sometimes I think I'm the only person who ever liked that controller. The N64 is actually an interesting controller. Primarily because it was the first attempt in earnest at a controller designed for 3D gaming on a console. In that respect, it was a success. The concepts pioneered in the controller went on to become staples of 3D console gaming. (e.g. analog thumbstick, rumble, camera control, etc.) That being said it had a bad case of button-itis of its own. The big difference between something like the Playstation controller and the N64 controller is that Nintendo again used symbols and feel to create intuitive groupings. e.g. The C buttons could have been a horrible explosion of buttons. But they were really there as a secondary D-Pad for the camera. They actually ended up being used for item switching or movement, but the directional nature of the buttons made it relatively easy to understand. No one reached for the raised C buttons when they were trying to make their Arwing fire. However, they did reach for the C buttons when they wanted to move the camera in Mario 64 or to strafe in GoldenEye. Basically, the design of the controller guided you to a few basic controls before even attempting to use anything else. And that's a good thing. It greatly increases the pick-up-and-play aspect of the console.

The SNES controller was not at fault. The shoulder buttons were an awesome way to tuck away functionality or allow a player to "lean" into a turn. The four front buttons were a direct response to the fact that the NES did not have enough buttons to handle many arcade games. (Anyone remember having to use SELECT to lite up the afterburners in Afterburner?) The layout was quite good, easy to reach, and encouraged best practices when only 2 of the four buttons were needed. Specifically, A/B were grouped separately from X/Y and A/B were always intended to be the primary buttons. I imagine Nintendo had a few quality controls on incoming games to ensure that the best practices were followed. (They do the same thing today.) These best practices combined with the controller's visual and tactile layout ensured that the controller was very intuitive in every day use. If you want to know what controller fscked up game controllers, look no further than this bastard: The DPad is utter garbage (which was a big deal prior to the thumbsticks) the buttons have no groupings nor do they indicate their function, there are TWO groups of shoulder buttons (why?) and the general grip is most politely described as "uninspired". In short, the controller is a utilitarian design. Throw everything plus the kitchen sink into the device in order that every conceivable need may possibly be met. Nevermind that there is nothing intuitive about it or that no one has taken the time to actually understand why every button, symbol, and grip should be on the controller. Those concerns are apparently secondary.