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49-405: Although D-pads offer less flexibility than analog sticks , they offer high accuracy and can be manipulated with minimal movement by the thumb. They require comparatively little maintenance and their minimal profile makes them ideal for portable devices. D-pads have appeared on diverse forms of electronic equipment including calculators , PDAs , mobile phones , and car stereos . A precursor to

98-479: A joystick or mouse . Less-sophisticated designs similar to those on remote controls appear on some calculators , particularly scientific and graphing calculators , which use the D-pad for cursor control on multi-line screens, as well as input/output recall, menu navigation, and occasionally direct screen access (graphing calculators in particular allow the use of the D-pad to determine values at specific points on

147-408: A D-pad. For three generations, Nintendo's control stick was distinguished from analog sticks used in other major consoles by its surrounding octagonal area of freedom that only allowed it to be moved in any of eight different directions, with each one assigned to each of the octagon's eight vertices where the control stick could be pushed towards. Nintendo would eventually change this octagonal area to

196-612: 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. 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 but some, such as those of

245-414: A controller, to allow for more functions. With the prevalence of analog sticks, the aforementioned limitations of the D-pad ceased to be an issue. Two analog sticks offer greater functionality than a single stick. On some modern game controllers , the analog sticks are "staggered", such that the left stick is positioned to the upper left of the D-pad while the right stick is positioned to the lower left of

294-466: A displayed graph). On programmable units, the D-pad can also be mapped directly, allowing it to be used as a gaming or pointer control. Analog stick 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 game controller ) that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick

343-462: A real guitar, while the D-pad is used for selecting chords . The game allows players to play through a list of songs in order to unlock other features such as upgraded strings and new backgrounds, while Free Play allows the player to simply strum away, playing out songs or practicing without being judged. Tutorial and Warm Up modes teach players how to play the game and get accustomed to the controls and

392-528: A second analog stick and later the 3DS' initial lack of such feature have been criticized. Nintendo has since released an add-on for the 3DS that adds, among other things, a second analog "circle pad". The follow-up to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita , features dual analog sticks. It is the first handheld game console to do so. The New Nintendo 3DS line of systems added a second analog controller, known as

441-577: A second analog stick, namely the Wii's standard controller (whose lone analog stick is implemented in the Wii Remote 's Nunchuk attachment), Sony's PSP and Nintendo's 3DS . While the Wii's abovementioned supplemental Classic Controller accessory and its initial backwards compatibility support of the GameCube controller allow for dual-stick control schemes in certain games , the PSP's complete lack of

490-427: 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. Sega's analog Mission Stick

539-428: A song using Jam Sessions for guitar alongside traditional instruments. The DS can also be plugged into an amplifier via the headphone jack to output a more natural sound. A Jam Sessions "Performance Bundle" was set to be released on January 4, 2008 and was going to include a portable amplifier in addition to the game. The bundle has since disappeared from Ubisoft's web page. In addition to publishing and translating

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588-425: 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

637-477: 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

686-583: Is a guitar simulation software title and music game for the Nintendo DS that was originally based on the Japan-only title Sing & Play DS Guitar M-06 ( Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06 ) originally developed by Plato and released months earlier. It was later brought to North America, Europe and Australia, courtesy of Ubisoft . Jam Sessions makes use of the DS touch screen to simulate strumming on

735-415: Is a variation of a joystick , consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default "center" position. While digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement (using internal digital electrical contacts for up, down, left and right), analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers to measure

784-420: Is almost essential for most modern first-person shooters such as Halo , where it controls the player's gaze and aim, as opposed to the left stick, which controls where the player moves. In Namco's Katamari Damacy and its sequels, both analog sticks are used at once to control the player's character. In spite of widespread adoption of dual analog sticks, a few modern video game systems are designed without

833-404: 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

882-726: 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 Sega Genesis console and several Japanese computers. It was intended to replicate the HOTAS controls found in Sega’s arcade games at

931-411: The Nintendo DS , for example, uses the D-pad to select music chords during play. D-pads appear on a number of menu-driven devices as a simple navigational tool; though superficially similar to those used for gaming devices, they are not optimized for real-time control and therefore can usually accept input from only one direction at a time. Many, though not all, such designs include a trigger button in

980-478: The Wii U Pro Controller . With genres such as action , adventure games , platforming , and shooting , the left stick normally controls the character's movement while the second stick controls the camera. The use of a second analog stick alleviated problems in many earlier platform games, in which the camera was notorious for bad positioning. The right stick not only allows for camera control in third-person games, but

1029-410: The "C-Stick" to the right side of the device. 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

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1078-515: The D-pad the standard directional control for the hugely successful Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System (first released 1983) under the name "+Control Pad". All major video game consoles since have had a D-pad of some shape on their controllers, until the Nintendo Switch in 2017, which used the older four-button design on its included Joy-Con controller, allowing each Joy-Con to be used as an individual controller for multiplayer games:

1127-540: The D-pad was the four directional buttons used in arcade video games such as Gremlin 's Blockade (1976) and SNK 's Vanguard (1981). A precursor to the standard D-pad on a video game console was used by the Intellivision , which was released by Mattel Electronics in 1980. The Intellivision's unique controller featured the first alternative to a joystick on a home console, a rotating circular pad that allowed for 16 directions of movement by pressing it with

1176-552: 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

1225-550: The VideoMaster Star Chess game. A controller similar to the D-pad appeared in 1981 on a handheld game system: Cosmic Hunter on Milton Bradley 's Microvision ; it featured four directional buttons around a fifth button in the center, all under a single rubber membrane. Nintendo 's known "cross" design was developed in 1982 by Gunpei Yokoi for their Donkey Kong handheld game. The design proved to be popular for subsequent Game & Watch titles, although

1274-417: 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. Shortly after the introduction of the first microcomputers , Cromemco introduced a S-100 bus card containing an analog-to-digital converter , and shortly after,

1323-466: The center of the button arrangement, usually labeled "Enter" , "OK" , or the like. Some older devices do not have D-pads as such, but simple single-axis, up/down or left/right pads. On some remotes, the D-pad can also be used to control a robot using a signal-compatible receiver. On remote control devices, the buttons on the D-pad function in the same manner as other buttons, and are generally used to navigate on-screen menus. Though initially not common,

1372-681: The circle widely used in other console controllers during the eighth generation starting with the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U , to allow for many more different movement directions beyond these eight. 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

1421-409: The concepts behind playing guitar. What makes Jam Sessions different from other rhythm games, such as Guitar Hero , is that it is considered to be a tool instead of a game. In addition, the player (while using headphones or an external speaker) can also use the DS microphone to sing along. Andy Myers of Nintendo Power and his band, Hidari Mae demonstrated this ability by writing and recording

1470-452: 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. This setup also carried over to

1519-477: The exact position of the stick within its full range of motion. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console 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 ,

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1568-591: The exception of the Sega Dreamcast controller and Nintendo 's Wii Remote controller. Other exceptions to this dual-stick rule are Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo 's 3DS handheld game consoles aside from the New 3DS (although the former may be upgraded to dual-stick functionality through the use of an accessory), which both feature only a single small, flat sliding analog "nub". How Stuff Works articles on: Jam Sessions Jam Sessions

1617-495: The face buttons. The controllers of all of Microsoft 's Xbox consoles ( Xbox controller , Xbox 360 controller and Xbox Wireless Controller ), as well as controllers for Nintendo 's GameCube and Switch ( GameCube controller , the dual Joy-Con Comfort Grip and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller ), utilize a staggered analog stick layout. Other controllers instead have the two analog sticks in

1666-618: The following songs available by default: These Best Buy "exclusive" songs can be unlocked in other copies by inputting a variation of the Konami Code . In the Europe version, the following songs can be unlocked by pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right in free play mode. If playing in left-handed mode the code is X, X, B, B, Y, A, Y, A . The game is infamous for its Australian ad campaign, which consisted of two viral internet advertisements that had content at odds with

1715-473: The game for western players, Ubisoft have also modified and expanded certain aspects of the original title. These include: The chords and lyrics to the following list of songs appear in the game for players to perform. Some songs also feature an audio demo of the song. The following songs are available on the European version: Copies of Jam Sessions sold at Best Buy also include the chords and lyrics of

1764-427: The game, one type of control may be more appropriate than the other. In many cases with games that use a thumbstick, the D-pad is used as a set of extra buttons, all four usually centered on a kind of task, such as using items. Even without an analog stick, some software uses the D-pad's 8-directional capabilities to act as eight discrete buttons, not related to direction or on-screen movement at all. Jam Sessions for

1813-609: 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 followed , many video game console controllers have included two analog sticks, with

1862-408: 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

1911-494: The optional Switch Pro Controller, and the handheld-only Nintendo Switch Lite, retain the usual D-pad. To avoid infringing on Nintendo's patent, most controller manufacturers use a cross in a circle shape for the D-pad. In 1984, the Japanese company Epoch created a handheld game system called the Epoch Game Pocket Computer . It featured a D-pad, but it was not popular for its time and soon faded. Following

1960-625: The previously introduced non-connected D-pad style was still utilized on various later Game & Watch titles, including the Super Mario Bros. handheld game. This particular design was patented and later earned a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award . Initially intended to be a compact controller for the Game & Watch handheld games alongside the prior non-connected style pad, Nintendo realized that Yokoi's updated design would also be appropriate for regular consoles, and Nintendo made

2009-499: The quick success of the DVD format led to wide availability of remote designs with D-pads circa 2000, and most current menu-driven consumer electronics devices include some sort of D-pad on the remote (and, occasionally, on the unit itself). In addition, many small computing and communications devices, particularly PDAs , mobile phones , and GPS receivers , include D-pads not only for menu navigation but as general input devices similar to

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2058-530: The release of the Sega Mega Drive in 1988, Sega coined the term "D button" to describe the pad, using the term when describing the controllers for the Sega Genesis in instruction manuals and other literature. Arcade games, however, have largely continued using joysticks. Modern consoles, beginning with the Nintendo 64 , provide both a D-pad and a compact thumb-operated analog stick ; depending on

2107-493: The system, but these took some time to become popular. 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, alienating many consumers at the time. During that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex , a vector graphics based system which used

2156-456: The system. Initially announced in late 1995, Nintendo released their Nintendo 64 controller on June 23, 1996, in Japan. The new controller included a thumb-operated control stick which, while a digital stick (the analog stick operated on the same principles as a mechanical ball-type computer mouse ), still allowed for varying levels of movement and near-360-degree control, translating into far more precise movements than were possible with

2205-521: The thumb. A precursor to the D-pad also appeared on Entex 's short lived " Select A Game " cartridge based handheld system; it featured non-connected raised left, right, up and down buttons aligned to the left of a row of action buttons. Similar directional buttons were also used on the Atari Game Brain , the unreleased precursor to the Atari 2600, and on some early dedicated game consoles such as

2254-595: The time, such as After Burner II . This controller included a thumb-operated control stick which allowed for varying levels of movement and near-360-degree control, translating into far more precise movements than what is possible with a D-pad. It was released twice, with a price drop upon its re-release in 1994. A few games on the Genesis (as well as the Sega CD and 32X add-ons) supported the controller’s analog stick functions, including some of Sega’s first-party games for

2303-519: Was a unique implementation of the technology that was carried forward into the design of the Dreamcast controller as well. The Saturn's analog controller was previously mentioned in the June 1996 issue of Computer and Video Games magazine. 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

2352-520: Was released for the Saturn console on September 29, 1995. On April 26, 1996, Sony released a potentiometer-based analog joystick for use in Flight-Simulation games. The Sony Dual Analog FlightStick featured twin analog sticks and was used in games such as Descent to provide a much greater degree of freedom than the typical digital joysticks of the day. The NES Max , released in 1988,

2401-504: 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. 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, Sony released their third analog controller to

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