6 button Genesis controller - The greatest controller of all time?

A few weeks ago my last fully functional 3 button controller lost its ability to press "down" on the d-pad, so I went and picked up two 6 button controllers to give them a try. The d-pad is perfect. It gives much more control and feels comfortable. It has a nice shape that fits well in your hands and the 6 buttons make it suitable for pretty much anything. If you are playing a modern fps you will want an xbox style controller and games that involve moving around a cursor will be best with a mouse, but otherwise I would go genesis 6-button.

People may argue the Saturn controller is better. It fits the hands a bit better but the d-pad doesn't feel quite as good to me.

What do you think my Sega bros?

well, my favourite is the Saturn model 1 controller, but replacing the d-pad with the model 2 (which is possible and fits perfectly)

I find the Gamecube controller fits my hands the best.

Mega Drive six-button controller was nigh on perfect ergonomic engineering. The Sega Saturn's controller was excellent too and, coming in at third place for me, would be Sony's PlayStation controllers over the years, always found them a comfy fit.

Best pads are 6 buttons style like Mega Drive, Saturn and some others like Madcatz's. The second one is Xbox 360 pad, the best one for multiple joysticks games. The other pads ar meh.

Love the Sega 6-button, I've used the Japanese ones for years now, although the cords are stupid short so I use the Sega Tap to give me some more length. Obviously the old 3-button has it's charms - coming from the little rectangular 7800 pads it felt like it meant business, for me Altered Beast is sort of nostalgically intertwined with it.

Still, once the 6-button fighting pad dropped it I don't think I've plugged in it's older sibling since. The mode button takes care of most (all)? compatibility issues so there's not much point.

As far as PlayStation controllers go I never had a problem with the design itself, but the d-pad remains shitty (I assume PS4 is the same old story). Really need to get on finding a decent digital pad for PS stuff.

I roll with arcade sticks for 360 shmups, and the learning curve has been worth it. Sure, I used sticks at the arcade BITD, but I like to have the thing sitting on my lap on the sofa.

The D-pad on the 3 button controller is shit, the D-pad on the 6 button controller is the best thing ever =P

I think it has to do with the controller shell itself. The 6 button controller has a huge space around the D-pad, so much that you can see under it. That seems to also make it much easier to press though - but the D-pad itself isn't loose either, so the end result is that the D-pad is pretty responsive regardless where you press it (without being prone to accidental presses). Also something in common between both controllers (and Saturn controllers) but that I don't see often: the D-pad is circular but with the axes raised, so pressing up/down/left/right is easy but pressing the diagonals isn't a pain either (I can't stand Nintendo D-pads because pressing diagonals on those is a pain in the ass).

Also I imagine the 6 button controller D-pad must be pretty simple because even noname knock-off controllers tend to have a decent D-pad (way better than the 3 button controller one, for sure).

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Originally Posted by Manveru

Best pads are 6 buttons style like Mega Drive, Saturn and some others like Madcatz's. The second one is Xbox 360 pad, the best one for multiple joysticks games. The other pads ar meh.

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This one understands.

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Originally Posted by OverDrone

[B]As far as PlayStation controllers go I never had a problem with the design itself, but the d-pad remains shitty (I assume PS4 is the same old story). Really need to get on finding a decent digital pad for PS stuff.

I roll with arcade sticks for 360 shmups, and the learning curve has been worth it. Sure, I used sticks at the arcade BITD, but I like to have the thing sitting on my lap on the sofa.

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The PS4 D-Pad is worse then PS3 (too stiff - which is not helped by it being too big and sits too low to contacts for it's too large circumference). Though the PS2 D-Pad might still be worse, I forget. And PS1 D-Pad, that was another lifetime so have zero memory of it.

Otherwise, PS3 D-Pad with a D-Pad overlay is really good. Because all it needs is that center to pivot off of.

https://i.imgur.com/JfzIavE.jpg


For good X-Box 360 D-Pad, get he transforming D-Pad controller then buy a battery pak that comes with a charger as this also doubles for hardwiring the controller to remove wireless input lag.

https://cdn.gamerant.com/wp-content/...pg.optimal.jpg

^ Really great D-Pad, pity the battery pak and charger isn't compatible with my CronusMaxPlus.

I too think the 6-button controller is the best among all non-analog controllers. Not only is it comfortable and batman-toy-looking, it is also built way better than anything else at the time. If you compare it to the SNES controller, which "common knowledge" say is better, it is far higher quality. The L and R buttons are completely unnecessary in a 16-bit machine (at least it was when considering the games we had)...

...BUT the main reason I like it is how responsive the buttons and the D-pad are. It is VERY hard to press a button accidentally and you can always feel exactly how much pressure you need for the press to register. From an engineering perspective they completely messed that up with the SMS controller as well as the SNES controller, which had the buttons (basically cylinders) fit almost exactly in their respective holes, which caused a lot of friction to a point where a button could actually get stuck in some units.

One of my 3-button Genesis controller has what it probably my favorite d-pad of all time. I don't know why, but all of my other 3-button controllers have stiff terrible d-pads. This one late model 3 button controller that I own has a golden d-pad of the gods though. It's just perfect. The 6-button controller has an okay d-pad, but it feels a little too floaty for my taste.

Overall, the PS4 controller is my favorite. It's comfortable and functional. I also love it for emulation, since the d-pad and buttons aren't offset like with the xbox controller. For retro controllers, I would vote for either the model 1 saturn or Genesis 6 button.

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Originally Posted by Thief

The PS4 D-Pad is worse then PS3 (too stiff - which is not helped by it being too big and sits too low to contacts for it's too large circumference). Though the PS2 D-Pad might still be worse, I forget. And PS1 D-Pad, that was another lifetime so have zero memory of it.

Otherwise, PS3 D-Pad with a D-Pad overlay is really good. Because all it needs is that center to pivot off of.

https://i.imgur.com/JfzIavE.jpg


For good X-Box 360 D-Pad, get he transforming D-Pad controller then buy a battery pak that comes with a charger as this also doubles for hardwiring the controller to remove wireless input lag.

https://cdn.gamerant.com/wp-content/...pg.optimal.jpg

^ Really great D-Pad, pity the battery pak and charger isn't compatible with my CronusMaxPlus.

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Oh shit, forgot that this generation brought back Sega-style D-pad shapes. I guess they were waiting for Sega's patents to expire.

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Originally Posted by strider1911

If you compare it to the SNES controller, which "common knowledge" say is better, it is far higher quality. The L and R buttons are completely unnecessary in a 16-bit machine (at least it was when considering the games we had)...

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The previous generation had suffered from button starvation, so I guess Nintendo was trying to make sure =P

L and R buttons make more sense in 3D, where you may want to both turn and move horizontally (having only ← and → won't cut the job). Since the SNES had mode-7 and both F-Zero and Pilotwings were 3D-ish (which would have given expectations that 3D would be a big thing on the SNES), I guess Nintendo wasn't exactly that way off the mark with their intentions. That it didn't pan out like that (with 3D mode-7 having been mostly relegated to racing games) is a different matter.

japanese 6 button is way too small, though: my hands touch each other when resting

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Originally Posted by Sik

Oh shit, forgot that this generation brought back Sega-style D-pad shapes. I guess they were waiting for Sega's patents to expire.

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I didn't even know Sega had a patent on those.

I was just guessing, pretty much every piece of hardware out there can be assumed to have patents on them =P (and Sega was also patenting way more than they should have been allowed to, to be fair... remember the arrow marker shit?)

Recall reading about the arrow marker thing on wikipedia awhile back. The Crazy Taxi arrow.