I've been finalizing the Blu-Ray for the past few weeks, so I'm hoping to open up pre-orders next week. Until then, enjoy this look at the D-Pad! I tried something new in this video by filming the entire thing on-camera. I'd like to do more of these types of quick videos that are short, but informative. Let me know what you think!
Gaming Historian While your big projects are definitely the draw of the channel, these short one are very welcome too! Topics that don't warrant a full time episode, but are still worth talking about are perfect. Like you said: short, but informative.
These shorter episodes are great for fans waiting on your next, larger-scale video. I say keep it up. Btw, this was a great topic; I had never really thought much about where the D-Pad came from.
He would've supported it, it fits his design philosophy, which is that power isn't everything, but it is what you do with what limited power that you have that counts.
Merrick Egber Very true. He insisted on using common, cheap, off the shelf parts that were a few years old and not top of the line powerful anymore for the hardware of the GBA and that system was hella popular.
"He insisted on using common, cheap, off the shelf parts that were a few years old and not top of the line powerful anymore for the hardware of the GBA " he did? He died four years before it was released
This channel is one of the most underrated channels on UA-cam! The quality of the videos and how many work he puts in to collect information/details for each topic is just stunning!
Without the D-Pad, I wouldn't enjoy gaming as much. Sure the control stick is great for something like 3D adventures, shooters and most genres. The D-Pad is my go-to controls for well, fighting games and side scrollers.
Did you just say the analog stick is good for shooters? Because if you mean shmups then no. If you mean first and third-person shooters, it's better than a d-pad but noooo.
And you can map certain functions to a d-pad since some games don't use it at all, like minecraft. Some functions aren't on by default, and need to be mapped. Just use the D-Pad!
"Next, Yokoi experimented with 4 directional buttons. It worked but it wasn't very intuitive" Someone REALLY should've reminded Nintendo when they were designing the Switch JoyCons.
For the joycon, it was because it was two smaller controller in mind. Well, nintendo should have offerred the choice of a dpad or 4 buttons for multiplayer.
It ok it's not good by any means the dpad on the lite is sharp and hurts after awhile of fighting games. sony wins that hands down xbox controllers have the best buttons but their pad sucks too.
And the original D-pad design is still the best in my opinion, Nintendo's D-Pad always felt natural and has the perfect balance between straight and diagonal movements, your character always move in the direction you intended it to move
I still refer to it as the control cross, as Nintendo used to call it in some NES manuals. "D-pad" was Sega terminology, later popularized from Genesis controllers having A, B, and C buttons, with D being the next letter, logically.
Even if the D-pad is being phased out for directional control, its still nice to have that set of buttons there for extra functions, like in a racing game to toggle "Ghost", wind shield wipers, lights, and change camera. In a shooter, it can be used to change equipment and fire up voice commands.
When I read the title I immediately said: "Gunpey Yokoi!" Good to know I'm not misinformed ;3 The D-pad is by far the best invention in the history of gaming! I couldn't imagine my life without them, also, the best D-pad I've ever used was the one on the Avenue Pad 6 for the Turbo Duo~
best d-pad in my book is the "rubber" versions of the genesis 6 button...the following are so CLOSE to that controller i would pretty much slot them in the top spot as well... 1.) Saturn bomberman "joycard" controller. Dpad is rubber but slightly softer...another god tier d-pad 2.) Sega saturn model 2's...best "plastic" dpad. i would love it if these had rubber dpads as well....i have heard from some that variation exists, but i have never seen it myself. i have gone thru the trouble of getting the saturn ones to work on pretty much all my consoles thru adapters. My one huge knock on the genesis is that i do not know of converters for it. Its worth mentioning but its not a "d-pad" but the PS2 version of the neo geo thumbstick pads are god tier level controllers as well..... for retro gaming, everything else feels like a notch or two below.
Unfortunately, I haven't used any of the controllers you've mentioned so I can't confirm or deny what you said... That said though, even though some of my favourite D-pads are also rubber, I generally prefer the clicky ones, you know, like the Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo 3DS D-pads, especially when I'm playing fighting games, they feel so responsive! You always know for sure that you've pressed what you wanted to press, without pressing any in-between directions, you have no idea how many times I wanted to switch from holding left to holding right or vice-versa on the NES or the SNES D-pads only to accidentally press up in the process, that really throws me off when I want to do a Kikosho on Street Fighter for example... That NEVER happens on the Game Boy Advance SP, I can always consistently throw as many Kikoshos as I want on SF2 Turbo Revival, and the clicky D-pad also helps A LOT with Shoryukens, which again, I can only consistently pull off on the GBA or on Street Fighter IV on the 3DS... But yeah, even though I find clicky D-pads to be more responsive and reliable, my favourite ones are rubber because they're just so comfortable, and they get the job done on pretty much anything else that isn't a fighting game... What really doesn't help the 3DS's D-pad though is its placement... My overall ranking for D-pads is probably the PC engine ones on the top, mostly the Avenue Pad 6 because that one is just perfect, then GBA SP below that, and then the Wiimote, and then the SNES and NES, then the 3DS (which would be A LOT higher if using it wasn't so uncomfortable) and then the Dualshock controller for the original Playstation, then there's the Wii Classic Controller Pro's D-pad which is just plain awful, but it's not nearly as bad as the Game Cube's D-pad, I played Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom on someone else's Wii using the Game Cube controller, and I can't stress enough how much I HATED the GC D-pad... Everyone says how much they love the Game Cube controller for smash, maybe it's good for that, or maybe they're just so used to playing Melee that they don't realise how much better the Sideways Wiimote is, but let me tell you, it is the absolute WORST controller for a traditional fighting game, the button placement and shapes doesn't help either... Honestly what were they thinking when they designed that controller? It certainly wasn't about Fighting games, that much is for sure... A good controller should be good for _all_ types of games, not just one single game... Any other controllers I might have used I either didn't use the D-pad (PS2) or don't remember using it...
Ur channel is one of the most naturally relaxing channels I’ve found on UA-cam (let alone enjoyable). There’s almost a therapeutic quality to ur vids. I’m not even a gamer per se (though I’m a Zelda geek and I do focus on some franchises), but I really enjoy watching these vids. I’m general, very well-researched, expertly content-produced and quality-assured. Keep the quality work up.
Another great video, Norman! I used the Game and Watch as a kid and was immediately blown away by how easy it made controlling a game. A lot of people don't understand how revolutionary that interface was when the dominant controller at the time was an Atari 2600 joystick.. The Intellivision was SO close to getting it...I always felt that they would have done better as a console if the controllers were rotated 90 degrees with the d-pad "disk" on the left. Thanks for covering this topic.
I really like how you answer the question you asked in the title of the video right off the bat, which lets people who want to know the answer to leave if they want or people who get interested in what you say stay
The Joycon uses a four-button alignment in order to make it possible to use both Joycons as individual controllers. If they had used a D-pad, someone would have been left with a D-pad instead of a button group. (I mean, duh, but still.)
Yep! I just thought it was funny that both Sony & Microsoft still use it but Nintendo, the creator, does not. Not out of the box anyway. Those pro controllers are pretty sweet though!
The problem with the D Pad on the Official Switch Pro Controller is that there is no Pivot underneath, meaning the entire thing clicks in if you aren't careful, meaning it can do some unintended movements in games. Also my least favorite D Pad is the one on the Steam Controller, as it is located in an inconvenient spot, and that it is just a large button that clicks in multiple ways with a little + engraved in. It sucks because it is uncomfortable and the fact that it doesn't feel right. At least I can feel something under my hands on the Switch Joy Cons
Set "requires click" to off in the steam controller settings. It makes it a lot better. Still weird, though. I would prefer a DSi XL d-pad over it any day
That's not true. Some patents are incredibly broad and accordingly strong. It's much harder to secure a broad patent which is why most patents are specific. For a patent to be broad and enforceable, you really have to be at the forefront of innovation in a field, but it happens.
Your videos are so educational and put together so nicely. Great editing and narration. I don't know why you aren't at half a million subs by now. Keep it up!
A couple extra notes: Nintendo has a completely different style d-pad in many of its handhelds (most of the clamshell ones, with the exception of the DS Lite, maybe others I haven't used) and the GameCube almost shipped without any d-pad at all. Nintendo once (accidentally?) showcased an early version of the GameCube controller with a big red Start button where the d-pad usually lives.
"...player would be constantly looking down to ensure they were pressing the right button." If you don't have a bluetooth gamepad for a smartphone or tablet, this kind of pain is real.
Keep searching, I found a video by a guy who rigged his to simulate the channel with each reset (100% of the channel's content on a MicroSD instead of being plugged to a cable service).
The 3DS also has a weird D-Pad setup. At first it looks like your standard D-Pad, but if you look inside the console, you'll find that it's actually 4 individual buttons as opposed to the standard ball-pivot setup. It's really cheap feeling imo. :/
The god awful circle pad is also a host of problems for a lot of people. One of my friend's circle pad completely broke with just a dozen hours of Smash 4. I think the LR buttons are the only well designed buttons on the 3DS
Valanway I can vouch on behalf of this exact thing happening to me. Though I don't blame the 3DS so much as I do the game being made on the console. That Circle Pad was not made to play such intense games like Smash Bros.
Unless you were around when the Nintendo first hit the market you can't understand how game changing the D pad was. Up until the NES, almost every type of gaming involved some type of joystick. Picking up an NES controller for the first time you thought "how am I gonna use this thing?" It really did change everything.
It was intentionally to make games more difficult for right-handed players so that they would spend more coins ... I'm sorry I forgot where I heard that. Some (old) arcade games have it on the right.
As a violinist it makes perfect sense to have the less intensive and more commonly used interface on the left and the more nuanced and more powerful interface on the right.
Love these videos, we take simple stuff like the d-pad for granted, and its very interesting to see how it was created. Oh and for the record, my favorite controller is the PS controllers, I love having the d-pad on the far left (classic style like SNES) and having the dual analogs close together, it allows for greater control imo
It's a reference to a movie actually. The 1989 Nintendo produced movie/commercial entitled "The Wizard". The line was "I love the power glove, it's so bad". AVGN is referencing that movie when he uses the line. It's also a meme.
5:46 Well yeah , in local multiplayer you can use just one controller sideways. it would be weird if one person had normal XYBA buttons and the other person a d-pad.
Yeah everyone knows that. He created the Virtual Boy too. It's common knowledge. This still was an interesting video. I didn't know Nintendo actually patented the D-pad (not like it mattered).
I think you mean to ask: "Are there any modern console controllers that still have a 'select' button?" And I believe the last popular (and I use that term loosely) console that had a 'select' button was the Wii U. Modern Consoles still have a button opposite of the 'Start' button, but they aren't called 'select' anymore. Hell some controllers don't even have a button labeled "start' anymore.
Ummm, probably it'll be better with separated microtransactions. Pay 10$ and you can use the UP button. But only 30$, for all UP\DOWN\LEFT\RIGHT to be able to do the Konami code.
Was anyone else a user of the NES Max controller? Not the big ol' Advantage... which seemed to be more popular among kids near me when I grew up if someone was in the market for a more advanced controller. But I had a max and I loved it very much. In addition to offering tiny turbo buttons, I remember it's distinct circular swirling disc in place of a D-pad. Think we will ever get a NES Max video on this channel? 👍😁
This episode kind of explains how copyrights are bullshit. Two people could easily come up with the same solution to a problem like the dpad solved in very much the same way. Because we are smart human beings. After all, the wheel was the obvious solution to the problem of how to move things from one place to another. If someone had copyrighted the wheel design then... you see where I'm going here. You don't own your idea, a thought. It's an idea and anyone could have the very same idea without ever knowing you had it and it would be impossible to know who really had it first. Ideas and thoughts are immaterial and should be unable to actually be owned by anyone.
Maximillian Lylat me too but you understand what I was saying. Patents actually deter such competition. But competition is where innovation truly happens.
EVERY video game innovation was created by Nintendo. The d-pad The shoulder buttons The 4 facing diamond shaped button layout The analog stick The rumble feature Even the first functioning wireless controllers (wavebird) The list goes on and on.
great video! absolutely love your channel and all of your content! It made me buy a lot of video game systems/games i hadn't heard of before lol (like the sega nomad, even though a sega was my very first system) i just wanted to say you should totally make a video on the nintendo e-reader! I've always wanted to know more about it. i used to walk by it all the time at the store and never gave it a chance.
VaughnJogVlog Vaughn isn't technically wrong. while Mattel made this input first, and then Nintendo, Sega actually was the first and only for awhile to call it a D-Pad. Nintendo has never called it a D-Pad. Nintendo has always called it a control pad. look it up in any Nintendo instruction manual.
Because I had the PS Robotron:2084 and I was used to the arcade version, I wanted a double d-pad controller. So when I was in toolmaker vo-tech school (1995) as a project I made a mold that recreated the parts of the d-pad so I could replace the buttons on the right with a second d-pad. I also had hardwired in two joysticks into a PS controller and mounted them on the end of my waterbed frame to recreate the 2 joystick input for Robotron:2084.
I've been finalizing the Blu-Ray for the past few weeks, so I'm hoping to open up pre-orders next week. Until then, enjoy this look at the D-Pad! I tried something new in this video by filming the entire thing on-camera. I'd like to do more of these types of quick videos that are short, but informative. Let me know what you think!
Gaming Historian This is (so far what ive watched) ok (I'll tell more opinions when I finish watching)
Gaming Historian Ok, so in my opinion, this was a solid episode. I think that you should do more of these. It had everything you really need to know.
Gaming Historian While your big projects are definitely the draw of the channel, these short one are very welcome too! Topics that don't warrant a full time episode, but are still worth talking about are perfect. Like you said: short, but informative.
These shorter episodes are great for fans waiting on your next, larger-scale video. I say keep it up. Btw, this was a great topic; I had never really thought much about where the D-Pad came from.
This was cool, do more.
Gunpei Yokoi is such an underrated legend in the gaming industry. Created the D pad, the Game Boy, and co created Metroid. R.I.P.
HoopsandHipHop another guy who doesn’t come up as much as I think he should is the father of the PlayStation ken kutaragi.
And sadly the Virtual Boy.
@@Akrenix and the wonder swan
Wasn't he involved in the creation of the Game & Watch handheld too?
@@Akrenix for every success, creative geniuses have 100 failures. Their tenacity and drive is what finally benefits the industry
I find this video compelling, on a personal level.
This is the first time I've seen a decent UA-camr leave a comment and no one saying "on my God you're that guy!"
Lol
Wowwwww
I understand why
@@Lexilove2016 wait your right
Dpad will never die, mainly because of menu navigation.
Mainly because it's a cheap piece of shit way to control games actually.
Smartphones would like a word with you.
Noxedwin Tepes
Eh, we wouldn’t be talking about this if our TVs had touchscreens.
Yup, I hate using analog sticks for menus. D-pads are definitely better and more accurate for this.
sweetnumb to control 3D games it’s bad but for 2D it’s so much better than using the analog stick
I had that Game & Watch as a kid! I had no idea it was the first use of a D-Pad.
I'm sure the D-pad will stay around for a while yet, navigating menus or playing side scrollers with a stick is annoying as hell.
when i play minecraft on my ps4, i use the left joystick to navigate menus almost all the time!
Also, fighting games!
But it takes very little long to get there its not that big of a deal
Gunpei Yokoi was responsible for so much of Nintendo's hardware innovation. I wonder what he would have thought of the Switch?
No D-Pad?! Failure! Naw, I'm sure he would've been cool with it.
He would've supported it, it fits his design philosophy, which is that power isn't everything, but it is what you do with what limited power that you have that counts.
Merrick Egber Very true. He insisted on using common, cheap, off the shelf parts that were a few years old and not top of the line powerful anymore for the hardware of the GBA and that system was hella popular.
He would've wanted it to be simehwt different.
"He insisted on using common, cheap, off the shelf parts that were a few years old and not top of the line powerful anymore for the hardware of the GBA " he did? He died four years before it was released
I had a classmate said to me "Why is it called a D-pad because it's not a shape of a D"
You might want to ask your parents to send you to a better school...
should have called it the lower case t pad
Once they said that if it ate faster. I would get pregnant and would die, I am a boy.
This channel is one of the most underrated channels on UA-cam! The quality of the videos and how many work he puts in to collect information/details for each topic is just stunning!
Its amazing how such a simple design can be so monumental
Without the D-Pad, I wouldn't enjoy gaming as much. Sure the control stick is great for something like 3D adventures, shooters and most genres. The D-Pad is my go-to controls for well, fighting games and side scrollers.
Did you just say the analog stick is good for shooters?
Because if you mean shmups then no.
If you mean first and third-person shooters, it's better than a d-pad but noooo.
Not to mention RPGs or any other game that requires extensive use of menus.
Acejinjo The D-Pad is amazing for almost any kind of sprite based game. The Analog Stick is more better for most 3D games
Acejinjo I didn't enjoy games as much before I experienced the NES controller. It just felt so natural.
Yeah arcade sticks are better for shmups and especially fighting games because with a d-pad your thumbs just get murdered.
The d-pad is still useful in current games when it comes to cycling through a menu or playing certain mini-games with in current games
And is required in Megamix.
Plenty of indi-devs as well as some AAA devs (such as Sega and Capcom) still make 2D games which would be unplayable with analog sticks.
I mean 2D games are playable with analog joysticks but it's a really shitty way of playing a 2D game
And you can map certain functions to a d-pad since some games don't use it at all, like minecraft. Some functions aren't on by default, and need to be mapped. Just use the D-Pad!
And Tetris
"Next, Yokoi experimented with 4 directional buttons. It worked but it wasn't very intuitive"
Someone REALLY should've reminded Nintendo when they were designing the Switch JoyCons.
For the joycon, it was because it was two smaller controller in mind. Well, nintendo should have offerred the choice of a dpad or 4 buttons for multiplayer.
How would somebody turn it on its side to play multiplayer
@@ct2651, there is an aftermarket switch mod for a D-pad joycon
"The D-pad was created by Nintendo" Well that was a short Game Historian, see you in 4 months people.
This episode took very little time actually, in fact the insert shots were done this week.
While he continues to collect donations from idiotic Patreon backers.
Why hate the backers??
noo if you're into engineering this was really cool
Uh, why the sudden "hate" for Gaming Historian? Did I miss something? Catching up a lot right now...
Good to see Nintendo bring it back on the Switch Lite
why it is a cross pad,but we call it d pad.
@@strategicfooyouagencyfirst8197 It's short for directional pad
@@johnn6681 thx🤣。i get.
@@strategicfooyouagencyfirst8197 :P
It ok it's not good by any means the dpad on the lite is sharp and hurts after awhile of fighting games. sony wins that hands down xbox controllers have the best buttons but their pad sucks too.
your channel is by far one of my favorite ways to relax. the gaming industry is so vast and rich with stories, and you, sir, are a great storyteller!
Short, but sweet.
That's what she said
Yee
I never realized that a simple mechanic such as the d pad had such a significant role in gaming history.
And the original D-pad design is still the best in my opinion, Nintendo's D-Pad always felt natural and has the perfect balance between straight and diagonal movements, your character always move in the direction you intended it to move
This is one of the majar pros of d-pad
I still refer to it as the control cross, as Nintendo used to call it in some NES manuals.
"D-pad" was Sega terminology, later popularized from Genesis controllers having A, B, and C buttons, with D being the next letter, logically.
I always thought it came from it being the "Directional Pad"
@TrueSinister Don't blame me,blame the scriptwriters
In the manga it all ends at Battle City
Even if the D-pad is being phased out for directional control, its still nice to have that set of buttons there for extra functions, like in a racing game to toggle "Ghost", wind shield wipers, lights, and change camera. In a shooter, it can be used to change equipment and fire up voice commands.
Love this channel. Shows u don't need an enormous budget to create quality, well polished content! Keep up the good work.
When I read the title I immediately said: "Gunpey Yokoi!"
Good to know I'm not misinformed ;3
The D-pad is by far the best invention in the history of gaming! I couldn't imagine my life without them, also, the best D-pad I've ever used was the one on the Avenue Pad 6 for the Turbo Duo~
Anything from Big N relating to hardware during the 80s was most likely Yokoi
Or Genyo Takeda. He did the more technical stuff like hardware spec and interfaces. Those two were crushing it back then.
Michirin9801 haha me too! I
feel like such a nerd!
best d-pad in my book is the "rubber" versions of the genesis 6 button...the following are so CLOSE to that controller i would pretty much slot them in the top spot as well...
1.) Saturn bomberman "joycard" controller. Dpad is rubber but slightly softer...another god tier d-pad
2.) Sega saturn model 2's...best "plastic" dpad. i would love it if these had rubber dpads as well....i have heard from some that variation exists, but i have never seen it myself.
i have gone thru the trouble of getting the saturn ones to work on pretty much all my consoles thru adapters. My one huge knock on the genesis is that i do not know of converters for it. Its worth mentioning but its not a "d-pad" but the PS2 version of the neo geo thumbstick pads are god tier level controllers as well.....
for retro gaming, everything else feels like a notch or two below.
Unfortunately, I haven't used any of the controllers you've mentioned so I can't confirm or deny what you said... That said though, even though some of my favourite D-pads are also rubber, I generally prefer the clicky ones, you know, like the Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo 3DS D-pads, especially when I'm playing fighting games, they feel so responsive! You always know for sure that you've pressed what you wanted to press, without pressing any in-between directions, you have no idea how many times I wanted to switch from holding left to holding right or vice-versa on the NES or the SNES D-pads only to accidentally press up in the process, that really throws me off when I want to do a Kikosho on Street Fighter for example... That NEVER happens on the Game Boy Advance SP, I can always consistently throw as many Kikoshos as I want on SF2 Turbo Revival, and the clicky D-pad also helps A LOT with Shoryukens, which again, I can only consistently pull off on the GBA or on Street Fighter IV on the 3DS...
But yeah, even though I find clicky D-pads to be more responsive and reliable, my favourite ones are rubber because they're just so comfortable, and they get the job done on pretty much anything else that isn't a fighting game... What really doesn't help the 3DS's D-pad though is its placement...
My overall ranking for D-pads is probably the PC engine ones on the top, mostly the Avenue Pad 6 because that one is just perfect, then GBA SP below that, and then the Wiimote, and then the SNES and NES, then the 3DS (which would be A LOT higher if using it wasn't so uncomfortable) and then the Dualshock controller for the original Playstation, then there's the Wii Classic Controller Pro's D-pad which is just plain awful, but it's not nearly as bad as the Game Cube's D-pad, I played Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom on someone else's Wii using the Game Cube controller, and I can't stress enough how much I HATED the GC D-pad... Everyone says how much they love the Game Cube controller for smash, maybe it's good for that, or maybe they're just so used to playing Melee that they don't realise how much better the Sideways Wiimote is, but let me tell you, it is the absolute WORST controller for a traditional fighting game, the button placement and shapes doesn't help either...
Honestly what were they thinking when they designed that controller? It certainly wasn't about Fighting games, that much is for sure... A good controller should be good for _all_ types of games, not just one single game...
Any other controllers I might have used I either didn't use the D-pad (PS2) or don't remember using it...
Ur channel is one of the most naturally relaxing channels I’ve found on UA-cam (let alone enjoyable). There’s almost a therapeutic quality to ur vids. I’m not even a gamer per se (though I’m a Zelda geek and I do focus on some franchises), but I really enjoy watching these vids. I’m general, very well-researched, expertly content-produced and quality-assured. Keep the quality work up.
"But Yokoi & Nintendo didn't know it at the time"
- The entire history of Nintendo in 1 sentence
Another great video, Norman! I used the Game and Watch as a kid and was immediately blown away by how easy it made controlling a game. A lot of people don't understand how revolutionary that interface was when the dominant controller at the time was an Atari 2600 joystick.. The Intellivision was SO close to getting it...I always felt that they would have done better as a console if the controllers were rotated 90 degrees with the d-pad "disk" on the left. Thanks for covering this topic.
it feels like i got 10 mins. worth of info in half the time. awesome vid
I really like how you answer the question you asked in the title of the video right off the bat, which lets people who want to know the answer to leave if they want or people who get interested in what you say stay
You got to try the D-Pad on a Neo Geo CD controller dude, it feels amazing!
Except that it's not technically a d-pad, nor is it technically a joystick... BUT IT'S SO. DAMN. CLICKY! :D
Ah Gaming Historian, hitting us up with that quality content once again.
The Joycon uses a four-button alignment in order to make it possible to use both Joycons as individual controllers. If they had used a D-pad, someone would have been left with a D-pad instead of a button group. (I mean, duh, but still.)
puellanivis yes I'm pretty he knows that
Yep! I just thought it was funny that both Sony & Microsoft still use it but Nintendo, the creator, does not. Not out of the box anyway. Those pro controllers are pretty sweet though!
That hefty price tag on the pro controller though... Sheesh.
we all know this. I would honestly rather hath a dpad in the box than that feature tbh
I always believed that the D-Pad was an evolution of the arcade sticks and the intellivision round pad. Nintendo got it right.
This entire show feels like a series of PBS documentaries and I love it
The problem with the D Pad on the Official Switch Pro Controller is that there is no Pivot underneath, meaning the entire thing clicks in if you aren't careful, meaning it can do some unintended movements in games.
Also my least favorite D Pad is the one on the Steam Controller, as it is located in an inconvenient spot, and that it is just a large button that clicks in multiple ways with a little + engraved in. It sucks because it is uncomfortable and the fact that it doesn't feel right. At least I can feel something under my hands on the Switch Joy Cons
Set "requires click" to off in the steam controller settings. It makes it a lot better. Still weird, though. I would prefer a DSi XL d-pad over it any day
this is by far one of if not the most awesome video you've done since the Sega nomad review.
1:47 so Nintendo Switch confirmed to have the worst D-Pad Nintendo has ever made?
It's more like the N64's camera buttons to me.
It's too bad the Joy-Cons don't use a true D-Pad. But at least the Switch Pro Controller has one.
Pierre Begley they made it like that, because they wanted the joycons to be similar to one another for multiplayer games.
Chuy Renteria Yeah that's right. :D
whining this bad, you don't deserve a d-pad
Gaming Historian is such a boss.
To patent something, you have to patent the EXACT thing. You can get around copyrights by changing tiny, minor things.
That's not true. Some patents are incredibly broad and accordingly strong.
It's much harder to secure a broad patent which is why most patents are specific. For a patent to be broad and enforceable, you really have to be at the forefront of innovation in a field, but it happens.
My first Gaming Historian video... I’m glad I found this
"Nintendo starts trends, they don't follow them."
Imagine if nintendo creates a whole new type of analog stick or controler.
Don't tempt them lol
@@15r52 and then they followed the trend of using two analog sticks and discs
@@ultimaweaponxiii what are you a sony fanboy looking for attention? Go away weirdo.
@@ultimaweaponxiii and moved away from discs asap because optical media isn't the best for gaming
Your videos are so educational and put together so nicely. Great editing and narration. I don't know why you aren't at half a million subs by now. Keep it up!
New episode!
Been one of my favorite content creators. Love everything you do. GH,From plastic to pixels,and your cameos in TGC.
#LoveYourWork
now this is some good content mmmhmmmnm
I read this in the voice of Carl from Sling Blade.
A couple extra notes: Nintendo has a completely different style d-pad in many of its handhelds (most of the clamshell ones, with the exception of the DS Lite, maybe others I haven't used) and the GameCube almost shipped without any d-pad at all. Nintendo once (accidentally?) showcased an early version of the GameCube controller with a big red Start button where the d-pad usually lives.
"...player would be constantly looking down to ensure they were pressing the right button."
If you don't have a bluetooth gamepad for a smartphone or tablet, this kind of pain is real.
For Some Reason Simple stuff like D-Pad and Stuf sounds really informative when you talk about it, Good Job
how about an episode on the sega Channel?
Is it me or is the sega channel forgotten by most? I loved it
Keep searching, I found a video by a guy who rigged his to simulate the channel with each reset (100% of the channel's content on a MicroSD instead of being plugged to a cable service).
I'm late to all these but just wanted to say I'm loving this series. It's great so far.
Good video, as always, Norman.
I have no idea how you "only" have 300 000 subscribers. You deserve so much more! Keep it up, buddy!
The 3DS also has a weird D-Pad setup. At first it looks like your standard D-Pad, but if you look inside the console, you'll find that it's actually 4 individual buttons as opposed to the standard ball-pivot setup.
It's really cheap feeling imo. :/
Most of the 3DS is cheap feeling, to be honest. It was obsolete when it was launched .
But New 3DS (both small and XL) are awesome to me. (Well, 2DS is so cheap-feel like what you said.)
Jesse Krämer It's all bad even on the New 3DS models. I had to get mine repaired 2 months ago simply because it was slightly dirty.
The god awful circle pad is also a host of problems for a lot of people. One of my friend's circle pad completely broke with just a dozen hours of Smash 4. I think the LR buttons are the only well designed buttons on the 3DS
Valanway I can vouch on behalf of this exact thing happening to me. Though I don't blame the 3DS so much as I do the game being made on the console. That Circle Pad was not made to play such intense games like Smash Bros.
Great video and pure videogame history. Keep up with your hard work, wisdom and knowledge. Love your channel. Cheers
Question: What exactly is the name of the smooth jazz song you have on most videos, including this one?
I get excited every time I see a new vid! You're killing it man!
The first thing I noticed when I clicked on this video was that you cut all your hair off! Bring back the mop!
I like how this channel tells me answers to questions I never asked
I still use the d pad to this day
Unless you were around when the Nintendo first hit the market you can't understand how game changing the D pad was. Up until the NES, almost every type of gaming involved some type of joystick. Picking up an NES controller for the first time you thought "how am I gonna use this thing?" It really did change everything.
Best gaming company of all time.
Is sony .
@@lightyagami8645 [...]s competitor Nintendo
@@benjaminbodewig3572 sony > Nintendo
John Martin Sony wouldn’t even exist without Nintendo
Bravo, Norm. Another great production. Thank you.
There's one to follow up with: why are joysticks mounted on the left hand side
It was intentionally to make games more difficult for right-handed players so that they would spend more coins ...
I'm sorry I forgot where I heard that. Some (old) arcade games have it on the right.
Findecanor Total shot in the dark, but was it from Guru Larry’s channel?
As a violinist it makes perfect sense to have the less intensive and more commonly used interface on the left and the more nuanced and more powerful interface on the right.
I saw the title of this video and became very excited. I would never have thought about the big impact of this little thing.
[+..oo]
k
[+..oo]
[°+ : •• ]
🎮
[+..oo]
Love these videos, we take simple stuff like the d-pad for granted, and its very interesting to see how it was created. Oh and for the record, my favorite controller is the PS controllers, I love having the d-pad on the far left (classic style like SNES) and having the dual analogs close together, it allows for greater control imo
I love the D-Pad. It's so bad.
Most d-pads suck, but the Super Nintendo and Wii Remote d-pads are awesome.
AVGN Reference!!
Onion Knight wrong. the wizard reference.
It's a reference to a movie actually. The 1989 Nintendo produced movie/commercial entitled "The Wizard".
The line was "I love the power glove, it's so bad". AVGN is referencing that movie when he uses the line. It's also a meme.
Nintendo 1st party controllers too Wii classic Wii U classic controllers as well have amazing D pads
i love this video no matter how many times i've watched this one of my favorite gaming historian vids
Ooh Wee good video.
i came out of your body
5:46 Well yeah , in local multiplayer you can use just one controller sideways. it would be weird if one person had normal XYBA buttons and the other person a d-pad.
It would be awesome for you to do something over SNK.
Abel Perez This, so much
The small joystick on the switch is like the best of both worlds of the d-pad and analog stick. IMO. Great video!
Before watching: Gunpei Yokoi.
Za Goudou same here. I thought everyone knew that.
Yeah everyone knows that. He created the Virtual Boy too. It's common knowledge. This still was an interesting video. I didn't know Nintendo actually patented the D-pad (not like it mattered).
You've certainly come a long way, and grown quite a bit from when I sued to watch you back in 2011-12
Are there any game now these days that uses the select button
Some RPGs.
Vehicle simulators change view with it.
Shovel Knight, Breath of the Wild...
Bethesda games use the select button as a "wait" button if I remember correctly, where you can wait to skip ahead a few hours in-game
I think you mean to ask:
"Are there any modern console controllers that still have a 'select' button?"
And I believe the last popular (and I use that term loosely) console that had a 'select' button was the Wii U. Modern Consoles still have a button opposite of the 'Start' button, but they aren't called 'select' anymore. Hell some controllers don't even have a button labeled "start' anymore.
My day gets 💯 times better when you usted load a video 🙌🙌🙌
I met this guy, I was that kid with the red hat at classic game fest 2017
God Migikarp your lucky
You're one of the few youtubers that actually pronounces Gunpei's name correctly
*ALL HAIL D-PAD*
Arguably the most significant innovation in gaming.
I'd WAY rather have this on my switch controllers.
Glad to see a new vid buddy!!
Yes, the D-pad is a standard for now... But how long will it be a standard before Microsoft put it in DLC's or a season pass?
Bob Labinne That's such a retro gamer thing to say, kinda biased
Bob Labinne Nah, that's what EA is gonna do on their next game. Pay for the $50 season pass and you can use the D-Pad.
Random Person Kinda biased towards modern gaming.
Ummm, probably it'll be better with separated microtransactions. Pay 10$ and you can use the UP button. But only 30$, for all UP\DOWN\LEFT\RIGHT to be able to do the Konami code.
Nintendo has already done that. Want to use a D-pad on your Nintendo switch? Pay 70 bucks for the pro controller
Was anyone else a user of the NES Max controller? Not the big ol' Advantage... which seemed to be more popular among kids near me when I grew up if someone was in the market for a more advanced controller.
But I had a max and I loved it very much. In addition to offering tiny turbo buttons, I remember it's distinct circular swirling disc in place of a D-pad.
Think we will ever get a NES Max video on this channel? 👍😁
But who invented the D-bag?
ZSTO Anthony E. Magoris in 1892.
I posted this exact comment, letter for letter, until I realized you did it first! Great minds think alike!
Slim shady, of course
DUDE - HAIRCUT IS LOOKING GREAT!!!
Seriously, great cut bro
Sega's D-pad was infinitely better, it was really smooth, and felt nice. The PS's D-pad, was not very good. The 360's makes me gasp in horror.
The DualShock's D-pad was the best.
Personally, *scoffs* these D-Pads aren't nearly as bad as they're made out to be. They're just different, and some people abhor different.
I agree with you. While there ARE examples of terrible D-pads, most are acceptable. It often comes down to individual preference.
WellDoneTurner no fuck you 😂😂 Playstation and Nintendos are best.
JB 44775 why is everyone fighting over which piece of plastic in a plus shape is the best
I remember getting a nes the year they came out and how weird it was to use a d pad for the first time. Couldn't imagine gaming without it now!
This episode kind of explains how copyrights are bullshit. Two people could easily come up with the same solution to a problem like the dpad solved in very much the same way. Because we are smart human beings. After all, the wheel was the obvious solution to the problem of how to move things from one place to another. If someone had copyrighted the wheel design then... you see where I'm going here. You don't own your idea, a thought. It's an idea and anyone could have the very same idea without ever knowing you had it and it would be impossible to know who really had it first. Ideas and thoughts are immaterial and should be unable to actually be owned by anyone.
but the patent allowed for sony and sega's to help improve and change the d-pad, i prefer the sega genesis d-pad over nintendos
Maximillian Lylat me too but you understand what I was saying. Patents actually deter such competition. But competition is where innovation truly happens.
I love you're videos, and missing the long ones... i pretty sure you're a busy fellow. anyhow many thanks for that.
There were earlier dpads you didn't cover
There were earlier instances of directional BUTTONS, but not a Directional Pad.
Answers to questions I never knew I was interested in. Never questioned this before, but then I wanted to know.
EVERY video game innovation was created by Nintendo.
The d-pad
The shoulder buttons
The 4 facing diamond shaped button layout
The analog stick
The rumble feature
Even the first functioning wireless controllers (wavebird)
The list goes on and on.
Mickael Mc Sony was the first company to do the analog stick better though. You didn't lose your hands when spinning the stick.
Nintendo invents the stuff, the others perfect it. It's like an exchange type thing.
Makes sense.
SuperGlued Crown
It's kinda easy to improve upon something that's already invented.
Linksoer I was just making an example.
great video! absolutely love your channel and all of your content! It made me buy a lot of video game systems/games i hadn't heard of before lol (like the sega nomad, even though a sega was my very first system) i just wanted to say you should totally make a video on the nintendo e-reader! I've always wanted to know more about it. i used to walk by it all the time at the store and never gave it a chance.
Spoilers: SEGA
You're welcome.
VaughnJogVlog After watching the video, don't you feel smart now?
VaughnJogVlog Vaughn isn't technically wrong. while Mattel made this input first, and then Nintendo, Sega actually was the first and only for awhile to call it a D-Pad. Nintendo has never called it a D-Pad. Nintendo has always called it a control pad. look it up in any Nintendo instruction manual.
That's not what they mean by Nintendo inventing the D-Pad, smartass.
Another awesome video Norm!!
That ball pivot is the essential piece that many controller designers keep forgetting.
gunpei yokoi is top notch I can't believe the virtual boy debocle caused him to retire.
Because I had the PS Robotron:2084 and I was used to the arcade version, I wanted a double d-pad controller. So when I was in toolmaker vo-tech school (1995) as a project I made a mold that recreated the parts of the d-pad so I could replace the buttons on the right with a second d-pad. I also had hardwired in two joysticks into a PS controller and mounted them on the end of my waterbed frame to recreate the 2 joystick input for Robotron:2084.
A good follow up to this could be the design and motifs of nintendo handhelds from game and watch single/dual screen, clamshell, gb, ds etc
i loved the turbo touch 360 plate
Still got and love mine!
Your videos are always so interesting! It's always a good day when I can come home from work and watch a new episode :).