Controllers that substantially changed during system lifetime.

[FAST6191]

Controllers these days are often fairly fixed throughout the system lifetime but I wanted a discussion on things out there, and to make a list of sorts. We can get very into the weeds with semantics and I am OK wiht that. Your favourites, things that annoyed you and more are all welcome for discussion here as well.

Unambiguous.

Megadrive/Genesis. 6 button controllers appearing later in console lifetime and some games taking advantage of it in many ways, for me later Streets of Rage games having all manner of otherwise combos mapped to them is the more notable thing.

PS1. Analogue sticks becoming a thing during its lifetime where before it was a dpad and buttons affair.

3ds circle pad. The 3ds shipped in 2011 with an analogue stick some 14 years after the PS1 got its dual ones, possibly 15 after Nintendo gave us the N64 with one. Dual being the point of contention as the world had otherwise long settled on two sticks with one being used for the camera and the other for movement. Later the same year I believe we saw this addon made. The PSP for reference had one in 2005

More ambiguous.
Xbox original (sometimes called Duke) to controller S. No button changes but a rather different layout.

Xbox 360. The dpad was not generally held as the finest example of the concept, later in life a dpad that rotated to reveal or hide ridges somewhat was made.

Looking at https://xbox.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Xbox_Wireless_Controller_variants then the xbone and its successors have something here, though mostly dpad shape and bluetooth being added if you count that (would bring in a whole list of other things if so)

PS3 rumble controller. Originally billed as not being able to work with motion controls but history probably will record it as patent and such concerns then rumble was added in later controllers (probably the main type out there now). Is rumble a thing worth noting in true controller differences or a mere frivolity?
https://www.cnet.com/culture/ps3-rumble-controller-now-official/

Wii motion plus. Addon or integrated controller?

Technical quirks.
What do we consider the NES turbo controller in this? An official controller with turbo. That is also ignoring the famicom microphone.

Was the DSi with its camera an extra control or new system line?


If you want to go into the world of whacky addons then feel free but I am less focused on that for this.

 

[hippy dave]

Sega Saturn. I think maybe the older bigger anglier (having more angles) version might have just been for us western chumps, and we were later allowed to have the nice rounded ones that they were already using in Japan. Then even later there was the Nights pad with the analogue, but I guess that was more of an extra thing which a few games ended up supporting than the main controller.

 

[Maeson]

I'd argue that the controller that came with the NES 101 (also known as New-Style NES or Top Loader) could count. It's the more rounded one inspired by the SNES controller, commonly named "dogbone". It is quite a bit more comfortable for most people, even if it's less "nostalgic".

And yes, Wiimote being redesigned to have the Plus accessory inside and phasing out the non-Plus models too. Doesn't make any difference for the majority of its potential use as only selected games used the Plus, but not needing an accessory hanging from the bottom of it is good.

Wii Classic Controller having the Pro version, which changed the design of the four trigger buttons, and making L and R digital and not analog, which is better for the vast majority of games that supported them (like VC) as very few things used the analog triggers in the first place. It also changed the distance between the analog sticks, so they're a bit more apart from eachother, as in the original they were a bit too close and could be a bit uncomfortable for people with big thumbs. The new triggers are also better for homebrew emulation.

The PS4 also got a revision. Besides a light added on the touchpad, newer ones have grey buttons instead of black. Another change is having less terrible rubber and battery life which was notoriously poor, although the newer ones aren't much better, and apparently people blame the light they added. It also gives you the possibility to plug it in and act as a wired controller. Older models still acted as wireless and just went into charging mode.

The PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 had a couple redesigns for different models too, but from what I see they're just aesthetic changes, except for the PC-Engine Duo RX console model, which has an entirely different controller and seems overkill for the system's library, I'd bet is mostly for the couple fighting games it got.