• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

So why exactly was the Dreamcast controller so weird?

S

SatoAilDarko

Member
Mr-Joker said:
Because Sega saw into the future and knew that the Dreamcast controller is the perfect shape for a boat which would be the bases for AGES boat transformation.

latest
Click to expand...

I really hate how hard that is to unlock. Would love to have it available for multiplayer races.
 
S

Shambalakan

Member
Really loved Dreamcast, but it's controller was awful. From few buttons (specially an analog stick and select button) to d-pad quality.
Even it's wire was weird, until I found out you can use it this way!

bn0e_photo-3-4.jpg
 
E

Eusis

Member
Z3M0G said:
Because of this?


World wasn't ready...
Click to expand...
True. We could have the same thing but higher end with smart phones now.

And I feel as if its lack of input features is ultimately what would keep it from staying competitive... or would have hobbled the competition for multiplats akin to DVDs on 360. Two sticks may have seemed superfluous for awhile in the late 90s, but with full 3D would prove to be nigh-essential. Or at least some sort of analog option on the right side.
 
S

supernormal

Member
Blues1990 said:
It's weird how the Xbox Duke Controller feels like a natural evolution of the Dreamcast controller.
Click to expand...


Apparently they made polls where the Dreamcast controller ended winning most comfortable and the DualShock 2 ended winning best looking. So the Duke was made to feel like a Dreamcast controller while using the paint and finish of the PS2 controller.
 
K

KageMaru

Member
jluedtke said:
I think they were considering it a revision of the Saturn analog controller:

saturn_b.jpg


They just dropped two face buttons and hollowed it out for the VMU port.

I didn't hate it, but it sure could've used another analog stick.
Click to expand...

I wish they kept the buttons and just added a second analog stick. That would have made the controller so much better.
 
C

Cymbal Head

Banned
It had the bad luck of being (basically) the last console released before dual-analog became industry standard. Games like MDK2 handled the limitation with as much grace as possible for the time.

On the other hand, it doesn't feel as cheap or hollow when properly kitted with a VMU and a rumble pack, although it's still admittedly a bit flimsy.

Don't see why the cord on the bottom is an issue for anyone.
 
J

jose1

Member
I have always thought the DC controller was awesome. I found it way more comfortable to hold than the dualshock and n64 controllers. The triggers and VMU were really cool in 1999.
 
petran79

petran79

Banned
jwhit28 said:
It was bad for 2D fighting games. Sega released a controller that was bad for 2D fighting games. MvC2 and SF3 on Dreamcast made me start to learn fightstick.
Click to expand...

It wasnt the controllers fault. Rather game controls were badly programmed.

Eg in SF2T it was impossible to do Zangief's Lariat consistently without a shortcut.

Garou's AB cancel moves are better done with trigger shortcuts.

Other fighters like Darkstalkers had a few frames delay, making combos impossible.
 
U

UpUpDownDown

Member
I must be the only person who just picks up a controller and uses it.

Some feel better than others but I can always make it work.

Oh and VUMs were an amazing concept.
 
R

RaffAO

Member
I don't think anybody's mentioned how bad the analog stick was. That was the only real problem I had with the whole controller. Weird.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
KageMaru said:
I wish they kept the buttons and just added a second analog stick. That would have made the controller so much better.
Click to expand...

Microsoft did do that...

Original-Xbox-Controller.jpg


The Saturn 3D pad is practically the grandfather of the Xbox Duke. Microsoft used the Dreamcast pad as a reference point when they were designing the OG Xbox pad.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
The worst part of that controller is how your right thumb lines up perfectly with the face buttons when you grip the right trigger, but your left thumb lines up inbetween the D-Pad and analog stick - you either have to shift your hand down to use the D-Pad or stretch your thumb to reach the analog stick. It's horrible. As much as I love the system it's an awful controller design and I've always wanted a replacement, but not even 3rd parties made something with better positioning.
 
D

Daingurse

Member
Azure Phoenix said:
The worst part of that controller is how your right thumb lines up perfectly with the face buttons when you grip the right trigger, but your left thumb lines up inbetween the D-Pad and analog stick - you either have to shift your hand down to use the D-Pad or stretch your thumb to reach the analog stick. It's horrible. As much as I love the system it's an awful controller design and I've always wanted a replacement, but not even 3rd parties made something with better positioning.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Every 3rd party controller I've used felt worst, in-fact. I had a few Mad Catz pads as a kid, and they were all abominations.
 
InfiniteCombo

InfiniteCombo

Banned
mattwhite924 said:
The lack of six face buttons is even weirder when you compare it to its predecessor.
Click to expand...

This drives me insane. I mean, for heaven's sake, the Dreamcast is an absolute heaven of Capcom arcade ports. You would think with the reputation of Capcom ports on Sega consoles, the Dreamcast controller would've had:

(1) a much better D-pad. It's terrible! And
(2) six face buttons
 
Jubenhimer

Jubenhimer

Member
The Albatross said:
How is the Xbox One X controller weird? Pretty standard, practical layout it seems.
Click to expand...

As weird as the Dreamcast controller is, it's weird design actually influenced the original Xbox Controller, thus, all future Xbox controllers were built off that same template, including the current Xbox One controller.
 
ajim

ajim

Member
I found it super comfy. And loved the vmu support with it too.

Yeah it looked like something out Star Trek but damn it was cool.

Bottom cord placement never bothered me either, didn't even know that was a thing until gaf!
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
I never owned a Dreamcast but I borrowed a friend's for quite a while and the game I played most was SF3 3rd Strike. As you can imagine, I fucking hate the Dreamcast controller.

UpUpDownDown said:
I must be the only person who just picks up a controller and uses it.

Some feel better than others but I can always make it work.

Oh and VUMs were an amazing concept.
Click to expand...
I'm not one to complain about minor variations in controllers or control schemes but like I said, I fucking hate the DC controller.
 
hououinkyouma00

hououinkyouma00

Member
It really is a weird controller.

I love the Dreamcast, but the controller hurts my hands. I think it’s because I feel like I’m pushing my wrists together.
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
Sapiens said:
It was death for 2d fighters.

I was so happy to finally import this back in the day:

used-sega-dreamcast-ascii-pad-ft-japan-dc-controller-grey-white-2a339847d67cffe050f0b82c28fa4a41.jpg


...but the d pad eventually wore out.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, the DC has the most amazing libarary of 2D Fighters and the fucking WORST controller for them. Awful D-Pad and those analog triggers were hell for 6 button games.

I've never seen that pad, it's prettt awesome.

I think most fighting fans just used these:

post-3183-0-99972200-1326139722.jpg
 
K

kubev

Member
I love the Dreamcast controller.

I honestly find myself wishing that more controllers had cords that came out of the bottom of the controller, especially since my PC case is on the floor, and it just makes sense for me that the cord would already be going downward toward the floor.

As far as the "hollow" feel of the controller goes, I don't think it's so much an issue of the controller feeling hollow as it is that the controller just feels a bit too light to me. That could be because I'm not used to playing with a VMU and a Jump Pack in the controller, though.

The d-pad is fine for me, but I will say that the Dreamcast controller's d-pad does tend to have a higher failure rate than that of d-pads on other official Sega controllers.

I'm a bit torn on the issue with there only being a single analog stick. The Dreamcast controller is one of my all-time favorite controllers, but the 3-button Genesis controller is my all-time favorite. A lot of people feel that the 3-button Genesis controller had too few buttons, but I don't think that's true when you consider that the overwhelming majority of Genesis games didn't need or make use of six face buttons. The problem with the Dreamcast controller is that even Sega itself released plenty of games that really would've benefited from a second analog stick, which makes the choice to have only one stick flat-out bizarre. There are certain games that some people would consider to be "better" with a second analog stick, but I'll disagree in some cases. MDK 2, for example, is best played on a Dreamcast controller, in my opinion. Moving with the face buttons just feels right.
 
P

pswii60

Member
Playing first person shooters was a bitch, trying to use the buttons on the right as a pseudo analogue stick.

But whatever, Dreamast was amazing. Especially for someone who loves arcade games. And it introduced me to online gaming.
 
G

GamerJM

Banned
I think it makes a lot of sense when you compare it to what was on the market at the time (N64 had one stick and when the DC controller was designed the dual analog PS1 controller probably existed but not the dualshock). Only weird thing was the VMU (and cord placement as a result) which was just an experimental forward thinking thing.

The only controller that I ask this about is the Xbox Duke controller. Wtf were they thinking there?
 
Soapbox Killer

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
I thought it was great. Playing NBA2K with analog triggers to shot free throws felt like some next level shit back 18years ago. 3rd Strike was hard but I grew up with only four face buttons and I was fine!
 
J

Joey Jo-Jo Jr

Member
I like the size and shape of the controller, but it has the second worst analogue stick ever.
The hard plastic stick is very uncomfortable to use for longer periods of time.

I really like the saturn analogue pad/nub for sega arcade racers etc. Would have liked an update or that for the dreamcast pad.
 
H

Hockeymac18

Member
TheMisterManGuy said:
As weird as the Dreamcast controller is, it's weird design actually influenced the original Xbox Controller, thus, all future Xbox controllers were built off that same template, including the current Xbox One controller.
Click to expand...

And there is nothing wrong with that, to me. The XBOX controllers have been my favorite since the OG Xbox. But I came from the DC, so maybe it just felt natural to me for that reason.

I have had a number of PS consoles, and I could never get used to the Dualshocks. I didn't mind the original PS1 controller, but once they threw two awkwardly-placed sticks on it, it was just an ergonomic nightmare for me.
 
Freshmaker

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
mattwhite924 said:
The lack of six face buttons is even weirder when you compare it to its predecessor.

Sega-Saturn-3D-Controller.jpg


Though honestly, I can't stand either of those controllers. The shape causes me crazy hand cramps.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, they knocked off the buttons as a result of focus testing when the participants thought that many buttons were too complicated and confusing.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
It felt great with a VMU or two in it, nice and hefty. But yeah it does feel kind of cheap in retrospect, the buttons feel overly small and flat and the stick feels a little too far out for comfort. The Xbox Duke and 360 controllers were straight upgrades.

That said I still love the way it looks. So futuristic, especially for the time.
 
S

Strike

Member
Triggers felt great, but the d-pad sucked and it really needed a second analog stick. VMU thing was kinda neat despite its limited applications. Dreamcast was an experiment in a lot of ways for Sega and I miss that.
 
SoulUnison

SoulUnison

Banned
Camera control on the DC is grim.

Every time I've hooked the Dreamcast up since its heyday I'm constantly struck by the feeling that a single analog is unacceptable, and it's missing a couple buttons, too.

Seriously: only 2 triggers? No "Select" button?
 
N

nded

Member
My issue with it is that there's only 4 face buttons. Normally I'm fine with mapping things to the shoulders buttons, but the DC controller only had analog triggers and those were terrible for fighting games.
 
C

capylikesgames

Banned
If they had gone for a more compact design, this would've been the perfect controller for use with the dozen of couch co-op games floating around on PC. It's ridiculously cheap to acquire a pair of four, most of these titles only require a stick and six buttons to play, and it would take no more than a USB converter to plug into a PC.

Though as it stands, its size and ergonomics are downright comical, and not really something you'd want to pull out and hand to friends. It hurts me just a bit, especially considering the only retro controller that fits the bill is the Hori Mini Pad 64, which is absurdly expensive. I have similar feelings towards the Saturn 3D pad, to be honest.

Was the VMU even used much by the DC library, anyways? I'm sure there were a couple of games that used it well, but does a reasonable portion of must-play Dreamcast titles ride on their use of the VMU? It probably impacted their design choices with the controller more than anything, which in hindsight, didn't seem worth it.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
SomedayTheFire said:
I've never even seen a dreamcast in real life, it never really penetrated our market so I was ignorant on its features and just kept what I had assumed in my head
Click to expand...

Photo I took of one of my own Dreamcast pad's and a few VMU's.

i1accqS.jpg
Click to expand...

Sega designed the VMU memory cards to ride off the success of digital pets. That was the reasoning behind the Chao garden in Sonic Adventure. Sega wanted the players to collect Chao in the game and then transfer them over to the VMU so they can be raised like Virtual Pets.

Screen-shot-2011-08-05-at-8.55.10-AM.png


Virtual Pets were a really big fad when the Dreamcast was still in development. I guess Sega was keeping their fingers crossed that it could catch on. I dunno... but there are a few mini games that can be played on these.

But the VMU still served as a memory card for the system, and it does have a unique "lock on" function that allows for two to be connected together for save file transfering without the Dreamcast being on. Plus they could also be used as a screen for the controller, to show player stats and pixel art animations.

Sony even released their own knock off called the Pocketstation for the PS1, which was released 6 months after the Japanese Dreamcast launch.
 
Susurrus

Susurrus

Member
Another great benefit of the VMU private screen was making it so you could do things without others seeing.

Such as sports games, when choosing a play on the screen, you didn't have to have the square, you just lined it up w/ the dot on the tic-tac-toe type board on the VMU.

Sonic Shuffle, you could see your deck without showing others.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
It was a great racing game controller for it's time because of the triggers, I spent plenty of time with F355 Challenge using one of those.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Susurrus said:
Another great benefit of the VMU private screen was making it so you could do things without others seeing.

Such as sports games, when choosing a play on the screen, you didn't have to have the square, you just lined it up w/ the dot on the tic-tac-toe type board on the VMU.

Sonic Shuffle, you could see your deck without showing others.
Click to expand...

I've never played Sonic Shuffle, but that is interesting.
 
K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
MrCunningham said:
Basically this combined with this...

0f3028a16d249ce3c19523291294e377.jpg


Yeah, basically Sega was doing what they could to make this console look more appealing world wide. Tamagotchi was a huge fad thing, and they tried to get in on that with the VMU, as it could also be used to play games on as well. One of the features in Sonic Adventure was the Chao garden, and you could transfer those chao's to the VMU and kinda play it like a Tamagotchi game. An interesting feature that you won;t see in any other version of Sonic adventure. Though I think VMU's can be emulated.

The Dreamcast pad was Sega's attempt at trying to streamline the Saturn 3D pad.
Click to expand...
The GameCube version had a similar feature using the GBA instead of a VMU.

STRLTu3.png


CJ1qnHP.png


http://info.sonicretro.org/Tiny_Chao_Garden
 
H

HiResDes

Member
I found it to be more comfortable than both the N64 and GC controllers so it wasn't bad and the vmu and rumble packs were boss while they lasted.
 
P

Papo Swing

Member
Shambalakan said:
Really loved Dreamcast, but it's controller was awful. From few buttons (specially an analog stick and select button) to d-pad quality.
Even it's wire was weird, until I found out you can use it this way!

bn0e_photo-3-4.jpg
Click to expand...

I wasn't the only one!!!! The only controller with its own cable holder. Sure you wouldn't need it if the cable came out on top, but...yeah 'unique'
 
Cynn

Cynn

Member
You guys keep acting like cords from the bottom of a controller is crazy.

As someone who plugs my headset directly into the XB1 and PS4 controllers I have cords coming out of the bottom of mine every day!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Why did we ever stop using octagonal analog notches?
19
2K
poodaddy replied
Replicating controller schemes
3
372
Magic Carpet replied
So why hasn't there been a Half Life 3 yet?
2 3
142
9K
mxbison replied
Xbox has revealed a Barbie Console, Barbie themed controller and Barbie Forza Horizon 5 content
News Cringe 2
76
5K
Hudo replied
Steam Deck convinced me that I‘ll be switching to PC
Opinion 2
85
7K
kurisu_1974 replied
Top Bottom