![GameCube Analog Stick](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/GameCube_Analog_Stick.jpg)
An analog stick (or analogue stick in British English), sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller (often a
game controller
A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generatio ...
) that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a
joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default "center" position. While digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement (using internal digital electrical contacts for up, down, left and right), analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through
potentiometer
A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat.
The measuring instrum ...
s to measure the exact position of the stick within its full range of motion. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the
D-pad
A D-pad (short for directional pad or digital pad; officially referred to by Nintendo as a +Control Pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, often digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern vid ...
in both prominence and usage in
console video games.
Usage in video games
The initial prevalence of analog sticks was as peripherals for
flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
games, to better reflect the subtleties of control required for such titles. It was during the fifth console generation that
Nintendo announced it would integrate an analog stick into its iconic
Nintendo 64 controller
The Nintendo 64 controller (model number: NUS-005) is the standard game controller for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. Manufactured and released by Nintendo on June 23, 1996, in Japan, in late 1996 in North America, and 1997 in Europe, ...
, a step which would pave the way for subsequent leading console manufacturers to follow suit.
An analog stick is often used to move some game object, usually the
playable character
A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not contr ...
. It may also be used to rotate the
camera
A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
, usually around the character. The analog stick can serve a great variety of other functions, depending on the game. Today many analog sticks can also be pushed in like conventional face buttons of a controller, to allow for more functions. With the prevalence of analog sticks, the aforementioned limitations of the D-pad ceased to be an issue.
Dual analog sticks
![PSX-DualShock-Controller](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/PSX-DualShock-Controller.jpg)
Two analog sticks offer greater functionality than a single stick. On some modern
game controllers
A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generation ...
, the analog sticks are "staggered", such that the left stick is positioned to the upper left of the D-pad while the right stick is positioned to the lower left of the face buttons. The controllers of all of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
's
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
consoles (
Xbox controller
The Xbox controller is the primary game controller for Microsoft's Xbox home video game console and was introduced at the Game Developers Conference in 2000. The first-generation Xbox controller (nicknamed "The Duke") was the first controller b ...
,
Xbox 360 controller
The Xbox 360 controller is the primary game controller for Microsoft's Xbox 360 home video game console that was introduced at E3 2005. The Xbox 360 controller comes in both wired and wireless versions. The Xbox controller is not compatible with ...
and
Xbox Wireless Controller
The Xbox Wireless Controller is the primary game controller for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S home video game consoles, also commercialized for its use in Windows-based PCs, and compatible with other operating systems such as macOS, Linux, ...
), as well as controllers for
Nintendo's
GameCube and
Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
(
GameCube controller
The GameCube controller is the standard game controller for the GameCube home video game console, manufactured by Nintendo and launched in 2001. As the successor to the Nintendo 64 controller, it is the progression of Nintendo's controller des ...
, the dual
Joy-Con
Joy-Con are the primary game controllers for the Nintendo Switch video game console. They consist of two individual units, each containing an analog stick and an array of buttons. They can be used while attached to the main Nintendo Switch con ...
Comfort Grip and the
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is a game controller manufactured and released by Nintendo for use with the Nintendo Switch video game console. It is an alternative controller to the Joy-Con.
Design and features
The Nintendo Switch Pro Controll ...
), utilize a staggered analog stick layout.
Other controllers instead have the two analog sticks in a symmetrical configuration with a D-pad on the left thumb position and face buttons at the right thumb position, with analog sticks below and closer to the center on both sides.
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
's
PlayStation-series analog controllers—the
Dual Analog Controller
The Dual Analog Controller (SCPH-1150 in Japan, SCPH-1180 in the United States, and SCPH-1180e in Europe) is Sony's first handheld analog controller for the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the DualShock. Its first official analog controller ...
,
DualShock
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
,
DualShock 2
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with Haptic technology, vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Enterta ...
,
Sixaxis
The Sixaxis (trademarked SIXAXIS) is a wireless gamepad produced by Sony for their PlayStation 3 video game console. It was introduced alongside the PlayStation 3 in 2006 and remained the console's official controller until 2008. The Sixaxis was ...
,
DualShock 3
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
,
DualShock 4
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
and
DualSense
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
—all use this configuration, with the remainder of the controller layout closely resembling the original digital
PlayStation controller
The PlayStation controller is the first gamepad released by Sony Computer Entertainment for its PlayStation home video game console. The original version (model SCPH-1010) was released alongside the PlayStation on 3 December 1994.
Design
Bas ...
. The
Classic Controller
The is a game controller produced by Nintendo for the Wii home video game console. While it later featured some compatibility with the Wii U console, the controller was ultimately succeeded by the Wii U Pro Controller. In April 2014, Nintendo ...
for the
Wii also uses this configuration. The original configuration of the
Wii U GamePad
The Wii U GamePad is the standard game controller for Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Incorporating traits from tablet computers, the GamePad has traditional input methods (such as buttons, dual analog sticks, and a D-pad), touchscre ...
controller had twin analog "Circle Pads" positioned symmetrically above the D-pad and face buttons, but was reconfigured to have twin clickable analog sticks several months ahead of the system's planned launch. This setup also carried over to the
Wii U Pro Controller
The is a video game controller produced by Nintendo for the Wii U video game console. It is available in Black and White.
History
Nintendo unveiled the Wii U Pro Controller at E3 2012. Many video game journalists have noted the similarity betwe ...
.
With genres such as
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
,
adventure games,
platforming, and
shooting
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles ...
, the left stick normally controls the character's movement while the second stick controls the camera. The use of a second analog stick alleviated problems in many earlier platform games, in which the camera was notorious for bad positioning. The right stick not only allows for camera control in third-person games, but is almost essential for most modern
first-person shooters
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pla ...
such as ''
Halo
Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to:
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Video games
* ''Halo'' (franch ...
'', where it controls the player's gaze and aim, as opposed to the left stick, which controls where the player moves. In Namco's ''
Katamari Damacy
() is a third-person puzzle-action video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan in March 2004 and in North America in September 2004. Designer Keita Takahashi struggled to pitch the game to Namc ...
'' and its sequels, both analog sticks are used at once to control the player's character.
In spite of widespread adoption of dual analog sticks, a few modern video game systems are designed without a second analog stick, namely the Wii's standard controller (whose lone analog stick is implemented in the
Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...
's
Nunchuk
is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person w ...
attachment), Sony's
PSP and Nintendo's
3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
. While the Wii's abovementioned supplemental Classic Controller accessory and its initial
backwards compatibility
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially in ...
support of the GameCube controller
allow for dual-stick control schemes in certain games, the PSP's complete lack of a second analog stick and later the 3DS' initial lack of such feature have been criticized. Nintendo has since released an add-on for the 3DS that adds, among other things, a second analog "circle pad". The follow-up to the PSP, the
PlayStation Vita, features dual analog sticks. It is the first handheld game console to do so. The
New Nintendo 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld consoles, following the original Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 2DS. The system was released in Japan on October 1 ...
line of systems added a second analog controller, known as the "C-Stick" to the right side of the device.
Neutral position and drifting
To operate properly, an analog stick must establish a neutral position, a special, unique position which the stick must maintain that the controller would interpret as an intentional cessation or absence of in-game movement. Ideally, this would be the stick's very center when it is not touched or moved. Whenever the controller is activated or the system it is connected to is powered on, the current position of its analog stick(s) become the established neutral position. If the analog stick is moved away from its center during a time while it is established, the neutral position would shift to some place away from the center of the stick, causing the controller to interpret the center motionless position of the stick as in-game movement, since it is not the neutral position as it should be. This phenomenon, commonly called ''drifting'', causes undesired gameplay effects, depending on the current game's controls, such as constant movement of the player character in a single direction or the game camera being skewed towards one particular angle while the affected stick is unmoved, and can only be corrected by performing particular actions that would restore the affected analog stick's neutral position back to the center of the analog stick. For Nintendo controllers with analog sticks, this would involve holding down a certain combination of buttons while the affected analog sticks are untouched.
History
Analog joysticks
![Cromemco JS-1 joystick](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Cromemco_JS-1_joystick.jpg)
Shortly after the introduction of the first
microcomputers,
Cromemco
Cromemco was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution.
The company began as a partnership in 1974 between Harry ...
introduced a
S-100 bus
The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE 696-1983 ''(withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. computers, consisting of p ...
card containing an
analog-to-digital converter
In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal. An ADC may also provide ...
, and shortly after, a card with two of these and an associated analog joystick, the JS-1. This is the first known example of such a device for personal use.
The first consumer games console which had analog joysticks was the
Prinztronic/Acetronic/Interton series, launched in 1978. This system was widely cloned throughout Europe and available under several brand names. The 2 sticks each used a pair of potentiometers, they were not self-centering in most models but some, such as those of the Interton VC4000 models did self-center.
When the
Apple II was released, it shipped with an analog
paddle controller
A paddle is a game controller with a round ''wheel'' and one or more ''fire buttons'', where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object along one axis of the video screen. A paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc ( ...
as a standard input, but these failed to meet
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...
emissions guidelines and
Apple Inc
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
was forced to stop selling them. This left hundreds of games unable to be used, and this problem was quickly rectified by 3rd party suppliers. Not long after, these same companies began producing analog joysticks for the system, but these took some time to become popular.
[
In 1982, Atari released a controller with a potentiometer-based analog joystick for their ]Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 520 ...
home console. However, its non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable due to the filing, alienating many consumers at the time. During that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex
The Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console–the only one ever designed and released for the home market, developed by Smith Engineering. It was first released for the North America market in November 1982 and then Europe an ...
, a vector graphics
Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...
based system which used a self-centering analog thumbstick.
In 1985, Sega's third-person rail shooter
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a Video game genre, sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certai ...
game ''Space Harrier
is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but tec ...
'', released for the arcades, introduced an analog flight stick for movement. It could register movement in any direction as well as measure the degree of push, which could move the player character at different speeds depending on how far the joystick is pushed in a certain direction.
Sega's analog Mission Stick was released for the Saturn console on September 29, 1995. On April 26, 1996, Sony released a potentiometer-based analog joystick for use in Flight-Simulation games. The Sony Dual Analog FlightStick featured twin analog sticks and was used in games such as ''Descent
Descent may refer to:
As a noun Genealogy and inheritance
* Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology
* Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology
**Pedigree chart or family tree
** Ancestry
** Lineal descendant
**Heritag ...
'' to provide a much greater degree of freedom than the typical digital joysticks of the day.
Analog thumbsticks
The NES max
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
, released in 1988, is the first instance of a thumb pad-based joystick controller. The Quickshot Chimera 2 is another example of an early thumbstick controller available to the NES.
In 1989, the Japanese company Dempa released an analog thumbstick controller called the XE-1 AP for the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) console and several Japanese computers. It was intended to replicate the HOTAS
HOTAS, an acronym of hands on throttle-and-stick, is the concept of placing buttons and switches on the throttle lever and flight control stick in an aircraft's cockpit. By adopting such an arrangement, pilots are capable of performing all vit ...
controls found in Sega’s arcade games at the time, such as After Burner II
is an Arcade video game, arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by des ...
. This controller included a thumb-operated control stick which allowed for varying levels of movement and near-360-degree control, translating into far more precise movements than were possible with a D-pad. It also distinguished itself by having the player control it with the thumb, similar to a D-pad, rather than gripping a handle. It was released twice, with a price drop upon its re-release in 1994. A few games on the Genesis (as well as the Sega CD
The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan ...
and 32X) supported the controller’s analog stick functions, which also includes Sega’s first-party games for the system. It being much more lightly to be on the second release as it was to compete with the Nintendo 64 and also supported multiple hardware platforms.
Initially announced in late 1995, Nintendo released their Nintendo 64 controller
The Nintendo 64 controller (model number: NUS-005) is the standard game controller for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. Manufactured and released by Nintendo on June 23, 1996, in Japan, in late 1996 in North America, and 1997 in Europe, ...
on June 23, 1996, in Japan. The new controller included a thumb-operated control stick which, while a digital stick (the analog stick operated on the same principles as a mechanical ball-type computer mouse), still allowed for varying levels of movement and near-360-degree control, translating into far more precise movements than were possible with a D-pad. For three generations, Nintendo's control stick was distinguished from analog sticks used in other major consoles by its surrounding octagonal
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, w ...
area of freedom that only allowed it to be moved in any of eight different directions, with each one assigned to each of the octagon's eight vertices where the control stick could be pushed towards. Nintendo would eventually change this octagonal area to the circle widely used in other console controllers during the eighth generation
Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight.
Eighth may refer to:
* One eighth, or ⅛, a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole
* Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet)
* Octave, an i ...
starting with the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
, to allow for many more different movement directions beyond these eight.
On July 5, 1996, Sega released '' Nights into Dreams...'' for their Saturn console in Japan; bundled with it was the Saturn 3D control pad which featured an analog pad intended to give the player more fluid control over that game's flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
-based gameplay. The analog pad used magnet-based Hall effect sensor
A Hall effect sensor (or simply Hall sensor) is a type of sensor which detects the presence and magnitude of a magnetic field using the Hall effect. The output voltage of a Hall sensor is directly proportional to the strength of the field. ...
s, which was a unique implementation of the technology that was carried forward into the design of the Dreamcast
The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
controller as well. The Saturn's analog controller was previously mentioned in the June 1996 issue of '' Computer and Video Games'' magazine.
On April 25, 1997, Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
introduced the world's first dual stick controller for its game console, PlayStation. Based on the same potentiometer technology that was used in the larger Dual Analog Flightstick, the Sony Dual Analog Controller
The Dual Analog Controller (SCPH-1150 in Japan, SCPH-1180 in the United States, and SCPH-1180e in Europe) is Sony's first handheld analog controller for the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the DualShock. Its first official analog controller ...
featured rumble (removed in overseas versions), three modes of analog (Flightstick, Full Analog and Analog-Off), and dual plastic concave thumbsticks.Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
, pg. 73, Hit Entertainment, 2016. It also added two new buttons, L3 and R3, under the thumbsticks, which could be used by pressing down on the sticks.
On November 20, 1997, Sony released their third analog controller to the market: the DualShock
The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...
. The controller featured similar twin analog sticks to the Dual Analog, although they featured convex rubber tips rather than concave plastic ones. It also removed the third analog (Flightstick) mode and added two rumble motors.
In 1999, Sony's ''Ape Escape
''Ape Escape'' is a series of video games developed primarily by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, starting with '' Ape Escape'' for PlayStation in 1999. The series incorporates ape-related humour, unique gameplay, and a ...
'' became the first video game in history to require the use of two analog sticks.
In the console generations that followed, many video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...
controllers have included two analog sticks, with the exception of the Sega Dreamcast
The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
controller and Nintendo's Wii Remote
The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...
controller. Other exceptions to this dual-stick rule are Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo's 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
handheld game consoles
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...
aside from the New 3DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It is the fourth system in the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld consoles, following the original Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, and Nintendo 2DS. The system was released in Japan on October ...
(although the latter may be upgraded to dual-stick functionality through the use of an accessory), which both feature only a single small, flat sliding analog "nub". However, Sony's PlayStation Vita does have a dual analog stick configuration.
See also
*D-pad
A D-pad (short for directional pad or digital pad; officially referred to by Nintendo as a +Control Pad) is a flat, usually thumb-operated, often digital, four-way directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern vid ...
*Wired glove
A wired glove (also called a dataglove or cyberglove) is an input device for human–computer interaction worn like a glove.
Various sensor technologies are used to capture physical data such as bending of fingers. Often a motion tracker, such a ...
References
External links
''How Stuff Works
HowStuffWorks is an American commercial infotainment website founded by professor and author Marshall Brain, to provide its target audience an insight into the way many things work. The site uses various media to explain complex concepts, termin ...
'' articles on:
Nintendo 64 control pad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Analog Stick
Joysticks