The Evolution of Video Game Controllers

There is not much going on recently and I’m swamped with some boring work. But look at this cool poster I found:

Buy here.

It is a beautiful chart illustrating the evolution of video game controllers. I’m especially fascinated by the upper part of that chart. I have never seen an Odyssey but the weird controllers already caught my attention before. The Odyssey was a far cry from a “real” video game so it’s fascinating how much it resembled a console superficially. The idea of a hand controller was kinda there. But it was just an awkward box. The designers didn’t seem to have any clear idea how people would use it. At least it’s not obvious. A good review of the Odyssey I can recommend is the one by the Angry Video Nerd. The “Nerdy Turd” bit may not be his finest moment but the video gives a very good idea of the Odyssey and especially it’s controller.

Another interesting controller is the one from the Intellivision and ColecoVision. The interesting part is that both controllers are very bizarre, yet very similar. They both feature a numerical keypad which I’m guessing was a standard module that could be bought in large quantities. The Intellivision one features a weird rotating disk. There are some additional buttons but they are all over the place. Again, as with the Odyssey, it seems like the people that came up with them had a clear idea on how players are supposed to hold them. As with the Odyssey, the Nerd has a video on both, the Intellivision and ColecoVision. I recommend both.

Intellivision (left) and ColecoVision (right) controllers.

Technically, the process shown by the poster isn’t evolution. Evolution usually refers to a process without a conscious designer. On the other hand, design was as still is rarely recognized as a vital consideration in the creation of products. In many ways, the process has an unconscious, random quality to it. We’ve come a long way, baby.