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The Nintendo 64 Controller is the standard game controller included with the Nintendo 64. Released by Nintendo in late 1996 (Japan and North America) and 1997 (Europe), it features ten buttons, one analog stick and a directional pad, all laid out in a "M" shape.

Design

The controller for the Nintendo 64 was designed to be held in several different positions. It could be held by the two outer grips, allowing use of the digital D-pad, right-hand face buttons and the "L" and "R" triggers. It could be also held by the center and right-hand grip, allowing the use of the single analog stick, the right hand-buttons and the "R" trigger (but not the "L" trigger or D-pad). Finally, it could be held entirely by the left or right hand by the center grip, allowing it to be held like a pistol for FPS style games. More often than not the analog stick was used in games while in some, both the analog stick and directional pad could be interchangible (ex: Mortal Kombat Trilogy). Very few games used the directional pad exclusively, two examples are the 3D puzzle game, Tetrisphere, and the side-scrolling platformer Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

The controller also included four "C buttons", which were originally intended to control the camera in the N64's three dimensional environments. However, since the pad only contained three other face buttons, the C-buttons often became assigned to alterior functions. An example of this is "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", where the C-buttons can be assigned to secondary items.

The Nintendo 64 Controller's Analog Stick

Main article: analog stick

An analog stick, sometimes called thumbstick, often mistakenly referred to as a joystick, is an input device for a controller (often a game controller) that is used for two-dimensional input. It consists of some sort of protrusion from the controller, and the input is based on the position of this protrusion. While a digital joystick relies on single electrical connections for movement (using internal digital electrical contacts for up, down, left and right), an analog stick uses continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console video games.

For many years, consoles ignored analog technology, instead using the digital D-pad. It wasn't until the emergence of 3D gameplay that the analog stick was brought back for widespread use. Using a D-pad in a 3D game greatly limits the ability to move. For example, in a 3D platformer like Mario 64, using a D-pad would allow Mario to move forward, left, and forward-left, but nothing in between. Some early 3D games like Resident Evil overcame this limitation by assigning the Left and Right directions on the D-pad to spin the character instead of making the character move in that direction.

However with the prevalence of analog sticks, the aforementioned limitation of the D-pad no longer became an issue. Even though it the Nintendo 64 wasn't the first "modern" console to use an analog stick, it did popularize the idea. Its release followed Sony's larger "Dual Analog" flightstick and was subsequently followed in the industry during the fifth generation by the Sega Analog controller (packaged into "NiGHTS Into Dreams"), the Sony "Dual Analog" gamepad and the "Dual Shock".

The Rumble Pak

Main article: Rumble Pak

The original Rumble Pak, designed for the Nintendo 64 controller, was released in April 1997 to coincide with the release of Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars in PAL regions) and required two AAA batteries. It's specific use was to provide haptic feedback during gameply; an effort to make the gaming experience more engaging. It was designed to be inserted into the controller's memory cartridge slot, which prevented the use of the Controller Pak. This usually had little impact, as Nintendo 64 games were cartridge based and had the ability to store saved data in the cartridge itself.

External links

• N64 Joystick Repair Guide Small guide to cleaning and attempted repair of the N64 controller.

• Nintendo hardware
• Nintendo 64
• Game controllers