Best console controller ever: NES Advantage

Ben Kuchera has a write up on the NES Advantage over at Ars Technica. This is by far the best console controller ever created. Nothing today comes close, thanks to the bean counters who look for every opportunity to nickel and dime the customer.

Yes, the standard controllers for today’s consoles are impressive, but even with the Wii, you only get one remote and one nunchuk with a new console. For all the talk of social gaming, it’s terrible to have to spend another $50 or more dollars just to have a second player in the same room with you. Networked gaming is great, but nothing beats talking smack right to your best friend’s face. Nothing.

The solid feel and construction of the NES Advantage, the adjustable, individually selectable turbo buttons, “slow motion” and 2-player selector, have yet to meet their match in today’s controllers. Don’t get me wrong; there are great arcade sticks and after-market controllers out there now. For example, there’s the Street Fighter IV Round 2 Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition. Unfortunately, today’s arcade sticks are purpose-built with fighting games in mind.

The execution of a general-purpose arcade stick is surely made difficult with today’s more complicated controller layouts. For Playstation and Xbox, there are dual analog sticks, a directional pad, four shoulder buttons and/or triggers and the four action buttons. That is a lot to fit on a single controller. So, I don’t know that I will ever will be wowed by a general-purpose arcade stick for a console like I was with the NES Advantage. Also, Ben’s right – the NES Max was crap.

For now, I close my eyes and think back to the days of playing the Mega Man games on NES, with the turbo fire and slow motion activated, ready to take on Dr. Wily’s horde of evil robots.