NES controller - Definition and Overview

The NES controllers were sturdy by necessity, and many survived in good condition over 20 years of use.

The NES controller is the game controller used for the Nintendo Entertainment System of the 1980s. The design is brick-like, and it has a very simple configuration. NES controllers lack L or R buttons, Z buttons, or multiple colored buttons; they consist of a cross-shaped D-pad, two red buttons labeled B and A (in that order), a Start button, and a Select button. The NES controller's simple nature often forced game developers to use combinations of buttons for certain game functions, such as B and A pressed together to make a character jump, or Up and A to make a ship fly faster, and so on. These controllers were incredibly sturdy, standing up to the kinds of beatings that make newer controllers shatter into multiple jagged fragments, something of a necessity in the days of the difficult Nintendo game library.

At the end of the NES' lifespan, both the system and the controllers received a makeover. The redesigned controller abandoned the "brick" shell in favor of a dogbone shape reminicent of the controllers of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Other than that, the button layout was the same as the original controllers.

See also

List of NES accessories