Nintendo Invented Your Xbox Controller: Gaming Would be Lost Without Nintendo

When the motion-sensor controller for the Wii (then known as the Revolution) was first unveiled, there were a lot of skeptics. Some people cried gimmick. Many pointed out the past creative failures of the company, like the Power Glove, or the ill-fated Virtual Boy. "Going out on a limb like this," they cried out, in unison, "is not how you run a successful console gaming company."

These reactions, to be honest, dropped my jaw. How tightly must you shut your eyes to miss the fact that you can't bundle the Power Glove, the Virtual Boy and the Wiimote into one package called Nintendo's Risky Ventures? Or, rather, you can do that, but the package is going to be full to bursting with all of Nintendo's risky ventures. For Nintendo, original and unfamiliar hardware design has always been the name of the game. In fact, if you go get one of your Xbox 360 controllers, I think you'll find that it's built almost entirely from ideas that were thought up at Nintendo Headquarters.

Look at the shape of it. Held in two hands, with the thumbs doing most of the button work. This was introduced with the Nintendo Entertainment System, over a decade ago, back when people were used to joysticks and paddles. Not to mention the eight-direction control pad, which is still there on your Xbox controller, hipper looking, but unaltered in function.

Moving up the controller's plastic body, you'll find the shoulder buttons, controlled by the pointer fingers, and introduced with the Super NES, back in 1991. And you'll also notice the SNESesque four-button diamond, on the right, which is still (and I can barely believe this) designated with the A, B, X and Y letters, though in a different order.