Gadgetory

mobile games on smartphones and tablets are all the rage these days but a touchscreen is no replacement for the bond between a man or woman and a game controller I'm Donald Bell and in this scene at top five we're paying respect to the all-time greatest console game controllers starting off at number five the Atari 2600 joystick this guy's a classic had its limitations and it kind of looked like it was carved from a piece of Darth Vader but because absolutely anybody could use it this controller assured in the first wave of mainstream console gaming in many ways mobile games have brought us back to the Ataris one-button philosophy at number four the Super Nintendo Entertainment System sure the original NES controller was more iconic but it was the SNES that got us used to the four button design used on all major consoles today more importantly and introduced us to the idea of shoulder buttons opening up a whole new vocabulary for button combinations and giving the 90's youth a way to play Street Fighter 2 from the comfort of their home number 3 is a bit controversial the scene that UK piece.i originally based this list on gave the number 3 slot to the Nintendo 64 controller but our scene that gaming expert is Dan Ackerman Scott Stein and Jeff Bakalar threatened to stop talking to me if I didn't give this one over to the Sega Dreamcast this design laid the groundwork for the Xbox 360 controller and it had a unique expansion port that could be used with a tiny screen for extra content it was way ahead of its time and that's why it's on the list at number 2 and this was a hard choice the PlayStation DualShock in all of its forms here was the first controller to include built-in haptic feedback debuted in 1997 and Sony is still essentially using the same design today it ranks right up there with the Walkman in terms of some of these legacy for industrial design now before we get to our number one pick let's take a minute to acknowledge some of the worst game controllers ever made there was the boulder that Atari made for the Jaguar the Intellivision thing that looked like a phone but the most worthless controller and one of the most heartless scams perpetrated onto the children of the 80s was the Nintendo Power glove it looks so cool but it was so so bad and now the number one game controller as confirmed by popular vote on top 5c Netcom it's the Xbox 360 controller now unlike Sony Microsoft had to go through a few revisions before they nailed it but they deliver built-in wireless control a year before the PlayStation and because the Xbox has carried so many blockbuster games this thing just feels like the embodiment of a great gaming experience now if you want to participate in future top 5 polls you can subscribe to my updates on Facebook or just make it a habit to check back at top-5 cnet.com I'm Donnell Bell thanks for watching