Rank the Nintendo controllers.

[Dr. Peach]

Out of the ones you've used.

For me its the Switch's JoyCon/Pro Controller>GameCube Controller>Wii U Gamepad>Wii U Pro Controller>Wii Classic Controller (didn't own, only used it somewhere)>Wii Remote + Nunchuck>Wii Remote>N64 Controller.

Haven't checked out the NES and SNES controllers yet so I can't put them anywhere. All I can say is that they are the most influential controllers ever.

The poop of this group is the N64 controller. Why have such an awkward three-pronged design with a craptacullar mess of buttons when you could go for just taking the SNES button layout and add the analog sticks in a way that resembles the Sega Saturn 3D Control Pad or the Dreamcast controller? Like, what were they thinking? Hell, the PlayStation Dual Analog and DualShock controllers do what the N64 did better because it is more organized like the SNES controller with its button layout, and has two analog sticks that make it less confusing than the N64 controller. Sony literally destroyed Nintendo in the controller department in the fifth-gen with the Dual Analog and DualShock. The GameCube controller is a big improvement over the N64 controller in every way imaginable. Heck, it's what the N64 controller should have been in the first place rather than the confusing mess it is today.

 

[Alex95]

Nintendo 64 has the best controller simply because of how dumb it looks. Also it's very colorful, bring back the colorful buttons, Nintendo.

 

[Goombuigi]

For me, it's Wii U GamePad > Joy-Con > Wii Remote + Nunchuk > Wii Remote.

 

[Dr. Peach]

Nintendo 64 has the best controller simply because of how dumb it looks. Also it's very colorful, bring back the colorful buttons, Nintendo.

Yeah, but still, it is a complicated mess of a controller. The GameCube controller is better in every way along with the PS1/2 DualShock. The buttons are colourful yes, that should come back after being absent after the SNES, N64, and GameCube.

 

[MiracleDinner]

Wii U Gamepad > Wii remote + Nunchuck > Wii remote > GC controller > CC Pro

I think I've uses SNES and possibly also NES controllers at one point but only very briefly so they aren't on here. I've never used the switch pro or the joycons, or the N64 controller

 

[Ray Trace]

Nintendo 64
Dreadful controller. Not only does it have this dumb-ass three arm design that renders access to one of its buttons (the L button) nearly unusable by default, its control stick feels like ass to use. The stick is stiff, uncomfortable, and it's the crap I blame for people getting blisters on their hands. The only thing it has going for it is that it comes in quite a bit of bright colored schemes such as blue, red, yellow, green, and gray, I own all of those except for red.

GameCube
Very great controller, very comfortable to hold, all buttons are in a nice location and configured well, though it's a bit dated, as it has only three shoulder buttons rather than four. The springs for the shoulders are pretty fragile too, and they'd break under pressure if you play a lot of Smash.

Wii
Wii mote consumes battery with no convenient way to recharge it, which is the worst part, and holding it on its side doesn't feel good. The nunchuk combo is pretty playable though, at least it's not terrible. I don't like how navigating the Wii system menu requires a Wiimote though, forcing you to search for batteries to even operate it when the bloody console comes with GameCube controller ports that are perfectly usable; added hassle comes in the form of needing that dumb motion sensor bar to navigate it. The classic controller is fine, but it requires a Wii mote to operate, but it at least can bypass requiring the motion sensor bar.

Wii U
Gamepad is my favorite controller. While its battery life isn't anything to write home about, you can easily recharge it by putting it into wall, so batteries are never a problem for it. I also like how the gamepad can function as a touchscreen too, giving it extra functionality. Pro controller is pretty good from my limited experience, but I just prefer the gamepad overall.

Switch
Joycons easily suffer drift, so they pretty much suck, but their battery life is a tremendous upgrade from other titles, and they also conveniently recharged onto the console. However, because of drift, they'll rank very lowly on this list. Switch Pro controller is a must and is a great option, tied with the Wii U pro controller, also has great battery life before it goes to bust.

I didn't use the SNES controller enough to have a strong option on it and I never owned an NES.

 

[Dr. Peach]

Nintendo 64
Dreadful controller. Not only does it have this dumb-ass three arm design that renders access to one of its buttons (the L button) nearly unusable by default, its control stick feels like ass to use. The stick is stiff, uncomfortable, and it's the crap I blame for people getting blisters on their hands. The only thing it has going for it is that it comes in quite a bit of bright colored schemes such as blue, red, yellow, green, and gray, I own all of those except for red.

I agree with you so much who has used the N64 quite a bit when playing on a friend's N64 at school. As someone who has had a PS1 growing up rather than an N64, I can safely say that the PS1 & PS2 DualShock has the better analog stick, in fact, it has two analog sticks which make it better than the N64 controller any day of the goddamn week. Even the GameCube controller has better analog sticks than the N64 controller. Same with the Sega Saturn's 3D Analog Pad. Nintendo should have kept the SNES button layout and make the analog stick primary along with a second analog stick and made it look like what the GameCube controller looks like today. That would have been better, they should have done it before Sony beat them to the punch with the PlayStation Dual Analog or DualShock.

 

[Vivian]

The switch controller hasn't failed me yet, I love how adaptable it is, so it wins 1st place for me.
2nd place goes to the gamecube controller, it's a perfect comfortable fit.
3rd to the Wii, motion control is pretty fun.
4th to SNES, although nothing remarkable, it's small.
5th to NES, it's small like the SNES but with even less buttons, buttons which are very stiff.
6th Atari (does that even belong to nintendo?), it's a semi-stiff joystick with one or two also stiff or loose buttons.
7th aka dead last to N64.

 

[zel]

heres my ranking of joycons

first it does have some positives yeah. i do like their versatility, theyre comfortable to hold (at least with a joycon grip i dont use anything else), the hd rumble and motion stuff is cool, the buttons feel good to use,
but. im sorry. i just cant ignore the fact that they chose to put in a cheap stick that will also inevitably wear itself down and start drifting with not really a way to fix it without replacing the stick entirely or sending it out to nintendo or something . and worse yet nintendo keeps ignoring it! sure free repairs exist but only in a select few regions, and mine isnt included in that select few. thats fun! and oh yeah did i mention getting a pair of joycon is pricier than a normal full priced switch game? those pricey controllers that will all inevitably start drifting? huh? huh???

you wanna know how bad mine gets? on rare-ish occacions (but still frequent enough to be irritating) i very clearly hold one direction on a stick and then it randomly just decides to slowly drift to the complete opposite input like IM HOLDING RIGHT STOP GOING LEFT!!! and i also just struggle keeping it centered. and oh yeah! not drift related but my right joycon has a tendency to just randomly disconnect, sometimes hard enough to the point i have to straight up go into the "search controller" menu and keep trying to get my switch to just detect the dam thing. its a wonder i still manage to play games fairly well despite having to constantly deal with drift and constantly complain about it forever



i havent used anything else . i hope to get a pro controller soon though so i dont have to deal with drift hell
though. oh yeah i have an usb snes controller? i guess? i cant judge how good it is because its not a real snes controller and im pretty sure the buttons arent all supposed to be so weird to press? its fine enough ig. i dont really see myself using this one though

 

[Dr. Peach]

heres my ranking of joycons

first it does have some positives yeah. i do like their versatility, theyre comfortable to hold (at least with a joycon grip i dont use anything else), the hd rumble and motion stuff is cool, the buttons feel good to use,
but. im sorry. i just cant ignore the fact that they chose to put in a cheap stick that will also inevitably wear itself down and start drifting with not really a way to fix it without replacing the stick entirely or sending it out to nintendo or something . and worse yet nintendo keeps ignoring it! sure free repairs exist but only in a select few regions, and mine isnt included in that select few. thats fun! and oh yeah did i mention getting a pair of joycon is pricier than a normal full priced switch game? those pricey controllers that will all inevitably start drifting? huh? huh???

you wanna know how bad mine gets? on rare-ish occacions (but still frequent enough to be irritating) i very clearly hold one direction on a stick and then it randomly just decides to slowly drift to the complete opposite input like IM HOLDING RIGHT STOP GOING LEFT!!! and i also just struggle keeping it centered. and oh yeah! not drift related but my right joycon has a tendency to just randomly disconnect, sometimes hard enough to the point i have to straight up go into the "search controller" menu and keep trying to get my switch to just detect the dam thing. its a wonder i still manage to play games fairly well despite having to constantly deal with drift and constantly complain about it forever



i havent used anything else . i hope to get a pro controller soon though so i dont have to deal with drift hell
though. oh yeah i have an usb snes controller? i guess? i cant judge how good it is because its not a real snes controller and im pretty sure the buttons arent all supposed to be so weird to press? its fine enough ig. i dont really see myself using this one though

You've never played on other Nintendo consoles like the GameCube, Wii, or Wii U?

 

[Koopa con Carne]

the wii u gamepad loses points in its grease-prone glossy surface and rather unappealing look, however it is a very comfortable controller to hold. i'm not sure if i can be as positive about the wiimote as it shares much of the gamepad's drawbacks without having the ergonomics of a more classic controller.

the joy cons can suck a turd, hopefully they don't get more drifty in the process.

 

[Teedgee]

I havent used a lot, heck a lot of the ones here i only used once in my life so it may be inaccurate

Nes controller, pretty bland all things considered. not bad, but definitely nothing noteworthy<joycons: they work fine, until they drift, which was happening during most of my switchs lifespan<wii u gamepad: pretty fun to play with, but I have nothing else to say cause I've only even held one once<wii balance board (ig it counts): surprisingly accurate and fun to use<wiimote: ok this is mostly nostalgia bias, but I love motion controls, so I love this controller<switch pro controller: easily my favorite Nintendo controller, and the one I use for my switch.

 

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

1. Wii U Gamepad - Yeah I know it's rather big and bulky for a controller, the battery life sucks, and (in hindsight) the whole 'off-screen play' gimmick doesn't work that well because you're still tied to the console (shout out to my house where I couldn't walk down the damn hallway by my bedroom without losing connection), but the actual feel of holding the controller is pretty great. It melds nicely into my hands and I'm a big fan of the above the d-pad and face buttons position of the analog sticks. Also genuinely did enjoy it having a screen because I'd often use it like a tablet when I was too lazy to use my laptop, worked great for that + shit like YouTube and other video watching sites and the off-screen play was a fun feature, even if I was limited thanks to my house design.
2. Wii Remote Plus + Nunchuk - I actually had a lot of fun with this controller, especially since I only ever had the more accurate version of the controller with the built-in Motion Plus (May have used the OG remotes at my mom's house tho). I'm not gonna say it's perfect, we've all heard the complaints about waggle and various other forced motion controls, but when done right, I think motion controls worked well. Also gotta add that, as a weirdo who played FPS games on her Wii, using the pointer to aim >>>> using analog sticks.
3. Wii Classic Controller - This one I've got mixed feelings on. I really liked it, at the time, because I thought it was a great controller for playing Virtual Console games (and emulators I installed via homebrew) and more 'traditional' games on the system that supported it. But looking at it now? I don't think it holds up that well. It just feels very light and cheap, I'm not a fan of how it has to be tethered to the Wii Remote, and some of the buttons, especially the d-pad, feel super spongy and it's hard for me to tell which one I'm pressing.
4. Nintendo 64 controller - I actually really enjoyed using the controller back when I had an N64 as a little kid, but looking back on it, it was very much 'of the time'. Luckily I'm not one of those weirdo 'OMG you need three hands to hold the thing', but I'm glad controller design has evolved past this one.
5. GameCube controller - Never had a GameCube, but I'd often go over to my friend's house in elementary and middle school and play GameCube over there and (this may be my most radical Nintendo controller opinion) I can't stand this goddamn thing. Look I'm sorry, I think it's one of the worst and most overrated controllers out there. The d-pad is godawful, the c-stick sucks, the shoulder buttons are weird and awkward to use, it was missing buttons compared to its contemporaries, etc. If you like the GCN controller, that's fine, I'm not gonna say you're wrong for liking it, but I just hate it.

I've never played an NES, SNES, or Switch yet.

 

[Dr. Peach]

GameCube controller - Never had a GameCube, but I'd often go over to my friend's house in elementary and middle school and play GameCube over there and (this may be my most radical Nintendo controller opinion) I can't stand this goddamn thing. Look I'm sorry, I think it's one of the worst and most overrated controllers out there. The d-pad is godawful, the c-stick sucks, the shoulder buttons are weird and awkward to use, it was missing buttons compared to its contemporaries, etc. If you like the GCN controller, that's fine, I'm not gonna say you're wrong for liking it, but I just hate it.

At least the GameCube Controller is better and less awkward than the N64 controller. The only thing I liked about the N64 controller was the Z-trigger and that's about it. The GameCube controller is very comfortable and I like its pressure-sensitive analog triggers, they feel natural to hold. It may not have as many buttons as the PS1/PS2 DualShock or the original Xbox controller, but it has a second analog stick when compared to the Dreamcast controller and it is what the N64 controller should have been in the first place, instead of being that awkward mess that it is today. It is the ultimate Smash Bros. Controller, and is the best for Melee, Brawl, Smash 4, and Smash Ultimate (although JoyCon and Switch Pro Controller are just as good though).

I've never played an NES, SNES, or Switch yet.

You should get a Switch soon and try them out.

 

["Scary" Wolf]

The NES and SNES controllers were great for their time. (The SNES controller, more-so). I don't dislike the N64 controller nearly as much as others do, but I can't deny it does have its issues. The controller seemed like it was supposed to be designed for 2D and 3D games, but since plenty of the games required the control stick, (At least the ones I've played), the D-Pad and L button wouldn't be used as much.

GameCube controller was a huge improvement, although it would be even better if it had 4 shoulder buttons and the d-pad was bigger.

The Wii Remote is an interesting controller since its very efficient at pointing and selecting things, and also turning it sideways for NES games and 2D Wii games. The nunchuck helps it work for games that require 3D movement, but I wish the cord was a bit longer. The classic controller is alright, and it's a bit weird that this is the only controller, other than the gamecube controller, that Nintendo has made with analogue triggers.

Wii U gamepad was good, although it was annoying that you couldn't go into the settings and use certain apps without the gamepad. The Wii U Pro Controller was good as well.

The Switch joy-con controllers are... fine, I guess. The drifting is a problem though. The Switch Pro Controller is good though.

 

[Jade]

This is how I rank controllers I have played:

Gamecube Controller>Wiimote/Wiimote+Nunchuk>Switch Joycons>N64 Controller

N64 Controller - The design I found cool as a kid but these days in usage i find it clunky. I don't like how the control stick is in the middle of the controller and how games that I owned often used it instead of the control pad.

Switch Joycons - I actually don't have the drift issue that other people have been talking about, my issue with mine though is that they have a habit of sometimes sliding out at times. Not ideal when I'm playing something in handheld mode (which is a lot of the time). Also my hands are pretty big so when I have to use the joycons to play a game like say, Super Mario Party, it can be a bit tedious.

Wiimote - Only thing I don't like is how the remote can drain battery. I prefer using a nunchuk whenever I use a wiimote since it's much easier to navigate through things imo.

Gamecube Controller - The buttons are in easy to reach places, and it's comfortable for the most part. I don't really have any negatives to say about this one.

I have used a SNES controller too but I don't think I've used it enough or remember enough of my experiences to rank it on my list.