Goldeneye 007

[Skynet]

N64 > Dual Shock

[DaMadFiddler]

N64 > Dual Shock

Wrong.

As far as pads with analog sticks go:

Saturn 3D pad > GameCube > Xbox > Dreamcast > DualShock (I'm lumping them all together here) > Wiimote/nunchuck > N64

Of course, that might get juggled around a bit depending on the type of game you're playing. For example, the 'Cube pad is incredibly comfortable, but the face buttons suck for fighting games. The Xbox controller is also comfortable and has a good layout for fighters, but the dpad is not so hot. The Wiimote has the worst layout for most genres (due in large part to the overall lack of buttons), but I much prefer it for adventure games and FPS.

The N64 controller has *always* felt clunky and awful in my hands, and even though I know it's more or less responsible for the analog stick in the first place, it has a really horrible one. It's uncomfortable to use, and after a year or two of normal use, the movement is gritty and awful. And despite the focus on party gaming, the N64 had shorter controller cords than its predecessors. Also, having to put batteries in a wired controller for the rumble to work is just stupid.

[waits for everyone to tear into my ranking choices]

[Skynet]

360 pad sits at one of the best controllers I've ever own for a console, NOT counting third party controllers like Logitech, etc. Shitty Dpad aside, the rest of the controller more than makes up for it. It has analogue sticks in the right place, unlike the dualshock with the analogues both down low, it has triggers and it fits my big man hands very nicely. The fact that I can use my wired controllers on both my PC and my 360 without the need for anything to configure it is also great, but that's obviously because MS supports their 360 hardware on the PC.

[DanteJay]

Also: I *still* hate the N64 controller.

Could not agree with you more. I hated it's analogue stick and the yellow c-buttons. But while I also hated it's 3-handedness, it's design always reminded me of a Romulan Warbird. Which I always though was pretty cool.


A PS3 controller versus a 360 controller for me is a bit of a touch choice. But after all these years I would still take a dual-shock over a 360 controller. For me, it's a choice between more comfort (360 control pad) versus more accuracy (Dual-Shock).

When they figure a way to bridge that gap and put an OLED screen in a controller, then I'll be set for life.

[DaMadFiddler]

Sadly, because it was the last post of the page, I don't think anyone saw the big comparison I did between Activision GoldenEye and Rare GoldenEye; all they saw was the offhand comment about controllers I made immediately afterward ;p

[melancholy]

The N64 is still one of my favorite controllers. I have no explanation for it, but I find that having the analog stick lower than anything else on the controller makes it easier for me to navigate characters. When playing Wii, I actually hold the nunchuck and Wiimote N64 style with the nunchuck lower than the Wiimote. I simply play better that way.

Which probably explains why I'm absolutely terrible with a 360 controller. That higher analog stick messes me up. I even do better with a Dualshock, though I'm not a fan of that controller either.

[Jeeba Jabba]

The N64 is still one of my favorite controllers. I have no explanation for it, but I find that having the analog stick lower than anything else on the controller makes it easier for me to navigate characters. When playing Wii, I actually hold the nunchuck and Wiimote N64 style with the nunchuck lower than the Wiimote. I simply play better that way.

Which probably explains why I'm absolutely terrible with a 360 controller. That higher analog stick messes me up. I even do better with a Dualshock, though I'm not a fan of that controller either.

That made less sense than anything I've seen Bilal post in awhile.

[melancholy]

The N64 is still one of my favorite controllers. I have no explanation for it, but I find that having the analog stick lower than anything else on the controller makes it easier for me to navigate characters. When playing Wii, I actually hold the nunchuck and Wiimote N64 style with the nunchuck lower than the Wiimote. I simply play better that way.

Which probably explains why I'm absolutely terrible with a 360 controller. That higher analog stick messes me up. I even do better with a Dualshock, though I'm not a fan of that controller either.

That made less sense than anything I've seen Bilal post in awhile.

Basically, I like the analog lower than the buttons. I play better with the Dualshock, N64, and Wii controllers than I do with the Dreamcast, Saturn, Xbox, and 360 controllers.

[Lartrak]

This is the first time I've played the original in at least six or seven.

I must be the only one that still plays it singleplayer every so often. It hasn't aged perfectly (I hated the outdoor snow levels when the game was new, and they're still really annoying) but it's still a lot of fun. It's also much better to pick up and play for 20 minutes or so than almost any newer FPS. That's part of the reason I almost never go back and replay newer games - the heavily plot driven narrative ironically kills the replay value in many games (at least for me), since it makes it impossible to properly break up play sessions the way I like to (few games have a good enough story for it, I'm coming back for gameplay), and I don't often want to replay an entire game.

And yes, the better N64 titles have aged much much better than almost all 3D PSX titles - though personally, I always thought the best 2D stuff in the SNES era looked better than almost anything from the early 3D era.

[DaMadFiddler]

And yes, the better N64 titles have aged much much better than almost all 3D PSX titles - though personally, I always thought the best 2D stuff in the SNES era looked better than almost anything from the early 3D era.

Very true, and part of the reason I'm here, actually. I loved the NES, SNES, and Genesis, but didn't really like 3D gaming when it first started out. I kind of skipped the whole PS/N64/Saturn generation when it first came out, aside from games occasionally played at friends' houses. Particularly on the Playstation, the 3D just looked bad to the point of being distracting. Everything was made of warped blocks and blobs.

The Dreamcast was the first system that made me think "hey, maybe this 3D thing can actually be done right."

[Specially Cork]

Pffft. I think this marks what different generations we're from. I played Wipeout for the first time - my mind was blown. The 2D gaming world had been crapped on from a great height and I'd just promoted "gaming" to hobby status rather than just being another one of my toys. Yeah those games look ugly now - but back then they amazed me. I could never say a 2D game looked better. I'm a 3D gamer bitches.

[DanteJay]

I didn't mind the blocky models/textures of when games moved into 3D, it's the Nintendo 64's anti-aliasing overload that pissed me off. I remember trying to enjoy a game of Mario Kart 64 on a friend's General Electric TV that only had a hook-up of RF/coaxial, and I couldn't tell where the hell I was going.

Unless we're including the 3D 32X games, which just sucked overall.

[Jeeba Jabba]

The N64 is still one of my favorite controllers. I have no explanation for it, but I find that having the analog stick lower than anything else on the controller makes it easier for me to navigate characters. When playing Wii, I actually hold the nunchuck and Wiimote N64 style with the nunchuck lower than the Wiimote. I simply play better that way.

Which probably explains why I'm absolutely terrible with a 360 controller. That higher analog stick messes me up. I even do better with a Dualshock, though I'm not a fan of that controller either.

That made less sense than anything I've seen Bilal post in awhile.

Basically, I like the analog lower than the buttons. I play better with the Dualshock, N64, and Wii controllers than I do with the Dreamcast, Saturn, Xbox, and 360 controllers.

but... it doesn't matter... because your left hand is not attached to your right hand...

[DanteJay]

but... it doesn't matter... because your left hand is not attached to your right hand...

Maybe he's kinky, and likes to wear cuffs while playing video games. You don't know...

[Nico0020]

Only good (and best) thing about the N64 controller was that the analog stick was for the left hand, the way it should be. I want to kill myself when I try and play a game that does not allow for a "southpaw" option. You controlled ever 2D game with your left hand, so why not play aim with your left?

[Lartrak]

Pffft. I think this marks what different generations we're from. I played Wipeout for the first time - my mind was blown. The 2D gaming world had been crapped on from a great height and I'd just promoted "gaming" to hobby status rather than just being another one of my toys. Yeah those games look ugly now - but back then they amazed me. I could never say a 2D game looked better. I'm a 3D gamer bitches.

Wipeout is actually one of the best looking games on the PSX. I still thought some aspects of it seemed unpolished and fugly (breaking textures, the more obvious nature of how low res stuff is on the older systems - 2D hides that better) but I don't ever recall thinking it was an ugly game overall. What's funny is if you look at stills most PSX games look ok, it's only in the motion they get pretty ugly at times.

In any case, there are a number of PSX games that have some rather incredible 2D work. Like Breath of Fire 3 and 4.

When the PSX came out, for me at least, I was more impressed with what 3D allowed in terms of gameplay than how it looked. Had a lot of fun with games in that generation, but it still feels like the Atari (ok, maybe the Intellivision) of 3D - pretty primitive. It is fascinating going back, though, and seeing how many of the games feel like a bridge between the gameplay styles of SNES era games and the PS2/Cube/Xbox type of gameplay (and games today, seeing as how they're still very much in that mold). A lot of PSX games are pretty difficult, short, only have password saves, have a very limited narrative, and emphasize gameplay pretty heavily. But they'll still have cut scenes, complex controls at times, 3d graphics, etc.

Ok, I'm just rambling.

[melancholy]

The N64 is still one of my favorite controllers. I have no explanation for it, but I find that having the analog stick lower than anything else on the controller makes it easier for me to navigate characters. When playing Wii, I actually hold the nunchuck and Wiimote N64 style with the nunchuck lower than the Wiimote. I simply play better that way.

Which probably explains why I'm absolutely terrible with a 360 controller. That higher analog stick messes me up. I even do better with a Dualshock, though I'm not a fan of that controller either.

That made less sense than anything I've seen Bilal post in awhile.

Basically, I like the analog lower than the buttons. I play better with the Dualshock, N64, and Wii controllers than I do with the Dreamcast, Saturn, Xbox, and 360 controllers.

but... it doesn't matter... because your left hand is not attached to your right hand...

It doesn't make sense, I started the conversation basically saying that. So I decided to sit down and actually watch myself use a controller. And I think its because I push my left hand closer to my body in order to steady my hand to move the analog stick, but I keep my right hand out so my hand isn't restricted when moving around the button pad. With the PS3 controller, I can do that. But with the 360 controller, I can't without tilting the controller.

Either that, or it's all a mental thing. Doesn't really matter either way.

[Jeeba Jabba]

I guess that kind of makes sense. But, initially you had me convinced it was just a weird subconscious fixation.