With all the shenanigans happening with Nintendo this month, like the announcement for Switch and the Wii U's end of production - or maybe not, I recall some memories of the NES, and then the SNES, then followed by the N64. This is the last console that I dig from Nintendo before the almighty Sony took over with their PlayStation.
First time I saw the N64 was way back 1996. The console wasn't mine but I had a cousin fortunate enough to own video games and consoles the moment they come out. I probably have written about this experience somewhere, when I wrote something about how influential classic games are to today's titles. Anyway, he always comes at our humble home to spend his summer and he'd bring along his consoles. I remember I was still in 6th grade when I would ask to play the latest video games he brought.
What awed me the most is the N64 controller; it's big and has three prongs sticking out. I read the manual, yes I read manuals, and discovered that you can use it three-ways. In some games, you need to hold the center prong with your left hand and your right hand goes to the right prong, other games you need to hold the center prong with your right so your left hand goes to the left prong, and third, you will need to hold the left and right prongs with your respective hands. Along with the N64 controller are a couple of things worth writing about. Some noticed as much as 4 new features for the N64 controller, but these 2 has wowed me the most.
The stick thing
One thing that was weird though was this stick sticking out of the controller's center. Though it was weird, I had caught on with the controls in a split second. I was playing Super Mario 64 and the analog stick was very comfortable even though it was my first time trying it. You could adjust your speed from slow walk to running by just adjusting how you tilt the analog stick. Back then this was totally brand new as the D-Pad only offers an on and off type of control.
A couple of years after the N64's release, I think Sony adapted the analog stick principle and slapped a couple of those on their PlayStation controllers named Dual Analog Controller. And from then on, they ventured into more innovative versions, and that's another story.
With that said, N64 revolutionized the controllers back then by reintroducing the analog stick. Back then, I was aware that it's not the first controller to use such concept as I have also tried the Atari when I was way younger, and it had a stick in it too. One way to appreciate the N64 for the analog stick is how they re-acquired the concept and thought of using a thumb to control it instead of one hand grasping (Atari).
The Z trigger thing
This trigger seems to be hidden, until the game asks you to use it. Old-school gamers would appreciate the Z trigger as it introduced that we can position our hands and 'trigger' something. Today, kids and new comers would think that firing a gun should be mapped via buttons on top of the control or 'triggers'. Back then there were no triggers, well we had the L and R button but the concept of using it as a trigger wasn't a norm until N64 introduced it. Nowadays, it's awkward to shoot someone using say the X button.
So there you go, this is how I experienced the N64 and was glad I was among the first to experience the amazing controller that paved the way for new generation controllers.
