Retro: Controllers in the Past

Retro: Controllers in the Past

When Fil and I set out to do this podcast oh so many years ago we didn't really know what to expect. Honestly I think either of us would have been shocked if it took off and became huge. The more we got going though the more we thought it could be good. This episode was probably the first that really made us sit up and think.


We knew that an episode about controllers would take a bit, but I don't think we knew it was going to be as popular, or game changing, as this one was. The first in what became a three-part episode (we planned for two parts, but that failed miserably.) was also the first in our "Evolution of..." episodes. I still to this day love that phrase that became such a part of what ITC is, was, and will be. As expected we started from the beginnings of controllers and went through to the 3-Pronged Controller from Hell. This episode had maybe some of our best discussion at any point in the podcast and inspired some of our first good fan feedback. It was also the first episode where we started to lean just a little too much on Wikipedia. I'm not sure you could really blame us since for a good portion of this we were talking out or ass. Neither one of us had a system prior to an NES. But when you throw in the little knowledge we did have and the benefits of The Internet's Encyclopedia, we put together the start of a great series.

Looking back to this episode I couldn't find much new to add these years later. One of the funny parts about informative episodes is that the information doesn't change. I still marvel to this day at how much controllers evolved in that first generation of consoles. In this small time frame we went from the twisty knobs that were so central to the Ataris and Colecovisions of the world and the joysticks of the arcades to the D-pads and buttons that Nintendo used to change the world. (Just as a side note, Ataris won't pass spell check, but d-pad will? Seriously?) It amazes me that the knob didn't fight at all to stay in vogue. It's also surprising to me that joysticks didn't become the default. The limitations of knobs is fairly obvious yes, but the d-pad was completely new. The joystick was around and translated so easily. Looking at it from our perspective today it is the prominent control method for home consoles yet again, but was discarded form an entire set of generations. Yes you could buy "premium" controllers for most of these systems that used joysticks, and most people would argue provided superior control despite being bulky, but you would pay an arm and a leg.

I hope you all go back and actually listen to this classic. Many of you still tell us that this was one of our best ever series of episodes. It's hard to disagree.


-John