Analog stick
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An analog stick (analogue stick in British English), also known as control stick, joystick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller (often a
Usage in video games
The initial prevalence of analog sticks was as peripherals for flight simulator 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, 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. It may also be used to rotate the camera, 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.[1] With the prevalence of analog sticks, the aforementioned limitations of the D-pad ceased to be an issue.
Dual analog sticks
Two analog sticks offer greater functionality than a single stick. On some modern
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's PlayStation-series analog controllers—the Dual Analog Controller, DualShock, DualShock 2, Sixaxis, DualShock 3, DualShock 4 and DualSense—all use this configuration, with the remainder of the controller layout closely resembling the original digital PlayStation controller. The Classic Controller for the Wii also uses this configuration. The original configuration of the Wii U GamePad 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.[2] This setup also carried over to the Wii U Pro Controller.
With genres such as
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
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.[5][6][7][8][9]
History
Analog joysticks
Shortly after the introduction of the first microcomputers, Cromemco introduced a S-100 bus card containing an analog-to-digital converter, 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.[10]
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 [11] 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 as a standard input, but these failed to meet FCC emissions guidelines and Apple Inc. 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.[10]
In 1982, Atari released a controller with a potentiometer-based analog joystick for their Atari 5200 home console. However, its non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable due to the filing,[12][13] alienating many consumers at the time. During that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex, a vector graphics based system which used a self-centering analog thumbstick.
In 1985, Sega's third-person rail shooter game Space Harrier, 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.[14]
Sega's analog Mission Stick was released for the
Analog thumbsticks
The NES Max, 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
Initially announced in late 1995,
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-based gameplay. The analog pad used magnet-based Hall effect sensors, which was a unique implementation of the technology that was carried forward into the design of the Dreamcast controller as well.[citation needed] The Saturn's analog controller was previously mentioned in the June 1996 issue of Computer and Video Games magazine.[21]
On April 25, 1997, Sony 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 featured rumble (removed in overseas versions), three modes of analog (Flightstick, Full Analog and Analog-Off), and dual plastic concave thumbsticks.[16][22] 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,[16] Sony released their third analog controller to the market: the DualShock. 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 became the first video game in history to require the use of two analog sticks.
In the console generations that
See also
References
- ^ GiantBomb: Tank controls
- ^ [1] Archived April 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Nix (2004-09-24). "TGS 2004: Ape Escape Academics Hands-On". IGN. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved 2007-12-14.
- ^ Ashcraft, Brian (October 16, 2014). "How The New Nintendo 3DS's C-Stick Works in Super Smash Bros". Kotaku. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
- ^ "Nintendo 64 Accessory Troubleshooting". Nintendo of America Support. Nintendo of America. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "Nintendo GameCube Accessory Troubleshooting". Nintendo of America Support. Nintendo of America. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "Metroid Prime Instruction Booklet" (PDF). Nintendo of America Support. Nintendo of America. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "Wii Operations System Manual" (PDF). Nintendo of America Support. Nintendo. p. 8. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ "How to Reset the L and R Control Sticks to a Neutral Position on the Wii U Pro Controller". Nintendo of America Support. Nintendo of America. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ^ a b Ahl, David (Fall 1983). "Game Controllers And Accessories". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games. p. 115.
- ^ Dargenio, Angelo (October 12, 2013). "10 Great Controller Firsts". Arcadesushi.com. Archived from the original on January 23, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- ^ "AtariAge - 5200 Hardware and Accessories". atariage.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
- ^ "The Atari 5200 Super System". www.atarimuseum.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
- ^ Levi Buchanan, (September 5, 2008), Space Harrier Retrospective, IGN, Archived from the original on March 14, 2012
- ^ [セガハード大百科] アナログミッションスティック [The Sega encyclopedia - analog mission stick] (in Japanese). Sega. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17.
- ^ a b c "SCPH". maru-chang.org.
- ^ "XE-1 AP". Segaretro.org. Archived from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- ^ "Out of control: Nintendo 64 Arrives In Japan". Nintendo Power. No. 79. Nintendo. December 1995. p. 12.
- ISBN 978-1-59184-405-1.
- 1UP.com. Archived from the originalon 2016-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
- ^ "Computer and Video Games - Issue 175 (1996-06)(EMAP Images)(GB)". June 1996.
- Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition, pg. 73, Hit Entertainment, 2016.