The N64 turns 30 on 23rd June 2026. To celebrate, we’ll be running a series of articles celebrating the 64-bit machine and its industry-shaping software over the next week or so.
Today, it might have taken the best part of 30 years, but Ollie has finally seen the light when it comes to the system’s revolutionary yet undeniably odd controller…
When I was a kid, I’m sorry to say that I completely missed the N64. This wasn’t through choice, mind you – I received the Mega Drive from my older brother when he upgraded to PS1, then later the PS1 when he upgraded to PS2. It wasn’t until the GameCube that I was able to buy a home console for myself.
So, I didn’t play the N64 at all until probably the mid ‘00s, though I’d soon experience many of the system’s biggest hits through the Virtual Console and 3DS ports.
Most notably, my first time playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time was via the Wind Waker promotional disc release in 2003. I distinctly remember feeling like I was so late to the party, though in hindsight, experiencing it just five years after its N64 release isn’t too bad.
The rare moments I did get to play the N64 came exclusively through visiting my friends’ houses. We’d boot up GoldenEye 007 and Mario Kart 64 and play for a short while, but it was never too long until I’d yearn to do something else entirely. The reason? I just didn’t like the N64 pad.
Going from Mega Drive to PS1 to GameCube, each controller felt like a fairly natural evolution of the previous one. Despite the addition of the analogue sticks on the DualShock and the distinct rearrangement of inputs on the GameCube pad, the overall shape and layout felt similar and intuitive, so moving from one to the next was a breeze.
So during those short multiplayer sessions with an N64 pad, I couldn’t stand it. Why was the analogue stick in the middle? What the heck are these weird ‘C’ buttons? Why are there three handles?!
I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around Nintendo’s ‘M-shaped’ design, which quickly led to frustration when playing competitive titles. Being a young teenager at the time, a couple of heavy losses in ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ was quite enough for me, so I’d promptly suggest stepping outside to do anything else.
I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to use that pad again, but when Nintendo launched the N64 app for Switch Online and released an accompanying wireless controller, I thought I’d finally give it a proper chance. And boy, am I glad I did! My opinion on the N64 pad has pretty much completely reversed. I love this thing.
The first game I tried on NSO was Super Mario 64, followed swiftly by Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time. I don’t know if it’s because I was finally able to take my time to get used to the controller on my own terms, but suddenly everything felt right.
That’s not to say it was an instant eureka moment – there was still an adjustment period to rewire my decades-long muscle memory. But once I realised that I didn’t need to worry about the D-pad and ‘L’ input quite so much, everything else just fell into place.
Indeed, I’m almost embarrassed at how quickly I got to grips with it after throwing in the towel as a teenager. Moving Mario with the analogue stick, using the C-buttons to swing the camera around… It all feels quite natural to me now.
My previous experience with Ocarina also taught me that the game really has no camera controls, bar a quick re-centre with ‘Z’ and some minor first-person shenanigans. So where I’d previously used the C-stick on the GameCube pad to use items, I now just had to transfer that knowledge to the C-buttons. Easy.
Is the N64 pad an objectively good controller? [Yes. – Ed.] Well… honestly, that’s a hard question to answer. There’s clearly a reason Nintendo never returned to its unique, bizarre design, while the vast majority of modern controllers settled into a tried-and-tested dual-analogue formula in which the only differentiating factor is whether the analogue sticks are offset or not.
I can’t deny, however, that it works wonderfully for the system it was designed for, and I’ve played almost every N64 game on NSO (I’ve still yet to touch Donkey Kong 64, but I’ll get there). I’ve also got the 8BitDo 64 Controller, and as good as it is, I’d still much rather use the proper, official pad from Nintendo. The weird design is key to its charm, and a big part of why I love it now.
There’s really nothing else like it.
