One of the best controllers I have seen in a long time
Written: Apr 30 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: it's a great controller
Cons: the buttons are to small has well has the control pad.
The Bottom Line: hey did I mention the last product I reviewed sucked sucked sucked sucked.
|
|
|
| tommy_lop's Full Review: Nintendo GameCube Controller for GameCube, Game Bo... |
I got this controller when I got my Gamecube a couple of months ago, when I first saw the Nintendo Gamecube controller I was a little freak out. I was wondering what they where on when they made this because it looked so weird in a lot of ways. Well after playing it I have to say this is one of the best controllers on the market.
Shape and weight.
The game cube controller has a shape resembling that of a smaller, more rounder N64 controller. With two ridiculously huge L and R buttons on the top of them. The control stick is located on the top left of the controller, while the control pad is on the bottom left. The right side has the action buttons and the C stick. The game cube controller is also very light so you can also hold it for a very long time without your hands getting tired.
Control Stick
Nintendo for once took something from Sony and improved it then the other way around. The control stick resembles that of a PS2 analog stick, it’s sort and wide like the PS2. But Nintendo kept something I liked about the N64 control stick and put grooves into the stick to make it easier to hold on to. Because of the shape and design there has been so none of the chalky build up that gummed up my N64 controller.
Control Pad.
If there is one con to the entire Game cube controller it’s the dang control pad being two sizes to small. Nintendo must have added this on has an after thought has a decoration. Now while most modern games will be using the control stick rather then the pad, playing classic games like Sonic Mega Collection can be a problem sometimes because of the control pad being to small. While I can handle the small control pad but if you have huge hands this is going to be a pain to handle. Of course this is really going to bite Nintendo in the behind if they ever hope to make the GBA Gamecube player a success. Luckily I hear a 3rd party company is hoping to cash in on the player and make a controller especially for it. I hope it works.
Action buttons.
On the right side of the controller are the action buttons or A, X, Y, and B (ahh the good old SNES controller labels). The big button in the middle is the A button and all the other buttons satellite around it. The small red one is the B button, the kidney looking ones are the X and Y buttons. While Nintendo could have made these buttons a little bit bigger and help there image, I will tell you now there is no problem in hitting these buttons despite there small size. Has most games have A has the most used button then you just have to reach around hit one of the other small buttons.
The Z button.
The one button I haven’t said anything about is the Z button, probably the most poorly placed button on the entire controller. Right about the R button sits the Z button and it’s fairly hard to hit. Luckily this is usually only used to access things like maps and menus in the game and usually has no real function (think of it has the L Button on the N64 controller)
The L and R buttons.
On top of the controller are the L and R buttons the only two buttons on the entire controller that has analog in them. It’s featured big time in Super Mario Sunshine in which if you hold the R button down a little Mario will walk and spray, if all the way down Mario will stop to aim. The buttons are big and easy to rest your fingers on. Also since you actually have to press down on them the analog is used a lot better then the PS2 controllers, and to help you know when it’s all the way press down you hear a snap.
The C stick.
Ok this is either the best thing to come out of the Nintendo controller, or Nintendo’s biggest mistakes depending on how you look at it. Since like the C buttons on the N64 the C stick is mainly used to control the camera angels. And this it does well allowing you freer range of motion with camera angels then you could get with the N64 control stick. Bad because in some games (and in a certain port of a certain Zelda game) the C item is used for actions and items. This makes it a bit of a pain to use, it also doesn’t help that you have to take your hands off the action buttons to use it, but the same was true for the N64 controller.
Color.
The N64 indigo color matches that of the purple gamecube. And while it may look a bit kiddy it’s a lot better to look at then the black PS2 controller (all though not my light blue one though).
Rumble feature.
Nintendo put the rumble pack inside the controller this time so it always shakes when you play. It can be turn off on the option menus in most games, but I like the rumble. It also helps in the Zelda to help you figure where certain treasures are buried so it’s definitely a nice feature.
Final recommendation
This controller is lightweight, easy to hold, and great button placement (despite the buttons being a little small). It’s definitely one of the best controllers for the system.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
tommy_lop
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: tommy
Reviews written: 962
Trusted by: 119 members
About Me:
Ran over a grandma, punched a kid, and still diden't get a PS3. (just kidding.)
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.