The Top 5 Best Nintendo Controllers

Nintendo has a long list of wacky and out there controllers from over the decades. From the rectangular, blister-inducing NES controller, to its sleek and sexy Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, they've come a long way since their initial design that was nothing more than a modified version of an old Game and Watch controller.

With their original D-Pad design, motion controls, and sometimes bizarre interfaces, Nintendo has led the way with controller innovation, but what's our top five for every official Nintendo controller that has seen the light of day? Let's start from the bottom and work our way up...

5. Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons

Whilst they are definitely unique in their approach to controls on their handheld system, there's enough tech cramped into these small handheld devices to run NASA of the early nineties. With gyro controls, NFC readers, and everything you could shake a stick at, the Joy-Cons are a great, handy, thoughtful addition to one of Nintendo's best consoles. However, the reason they really make our list is simple - it's the fact that they are a single controller that can be split for two-player co-op play! Innovative, fun, and above all, Nintendo.

4. GameCube Controller

Yes, the layout is a bit strange, and it may feel weird to hold when you first pick it up, but the GameCube Controller is Nintendo's first controller that looks like it was designed to be held by a human hand for a considerable length of time. This was also Nintendo's first controller that had a built-in haptic feedback, rather than the N64's Rumble Pak add-on. For Nintendo, this was hardly breaking innovation, but it was a solid controller that wasn't gimmicky and did the job well, surviving to this day as the preferred controller of any Smash Bros. e-sports scene.

3. Wii Remote and Nunchuk

Tradition went out the window with the Wiimote, and Nintendo doubled down on the easiest-to-use controller they ever devised. Designed to be living room friendly, the Wiimote and Nunchuk became the pinnacle controller for grandmothers everywhere, as Nintendo broke fresh ground and brought video games to the masses and the big screens. No longer being confined to a child's bedroom, their new console demanded something as friendly as its soft, Mii-driven interface, and it got just that with this controller that set the scene for Nintendo's future love affair with motion controls. Add a Nunchuk to the remote, and you are essentially using a GameCube controller split in two.

2. Nintendo Entertainment System Controller

The rectangular block that introduced the Western world to the B A layout that made Nintendo so famous for their backwards approach to button layout (it's a Japanese thing, check out the PlayStation controller that does the same). This is a controller so simple in its concept, but so powerful in the right hands. Besides the D-Pad (itself innovated and patented by Nintendo at the time), the controller's four buttons of B, A, Start, Select, was more than enough for the titles at the time, and I can play Punch-Out on no other device besides this one. Not only that, it could also be unplugged and tidied away.

1. Super Nintendo Entertainment System Controller

The dogbone design, the shoulder buttons, the two additional front-facing buttons, and without a doubt my favourite controller of all-time. The SNES controller was designed to maximise your gameplay, making ports such as Street Fighter II with its complex arcade button layout a doddle to play on this gift. Not only that, its rounded edges allowed for long gaming sessions. This is a controller I loved so much I still use an updated version of this with the 8BitDo SN30 Pro controller as my go-to for the Switch. A classic of design that is as iconic as its predecessor. I can still feel the skin being tormented and roughened by my repeated hours of play on the SNES and performing combo after combo on the D-pads. Marvelous!

Super Nes... Super Controller!