The amount of technology that has gone into making video games better have gone into doing the same for controllers. From the Paddle controller used in Pong back in the early 70s to VR headsets of today, gaming controllers have come a long way. Controllers are a must-have accessory and while there is a wide variety of them, all are judged on the same key elements; functionality, comfort, and style. A great controller hits all three marks and a really bad one misses them. And there have been some downright strange ones. Here's the 10 Weirdest Video Game Controllers Ever.
10 Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw
In Resident Evil 4 Leon S. Kennedy faces off against many different classes of enemies, including one called the Chainsaw Man whose weapon is, well, a chainsaw. This Gamecube controller is modeled after the Chainsaw Man's weapon with the added touches of grime and blood to give it a really grizzly look. While this controller makes for an awesome collector's item for any Resident Evil fan, it doesn't make for a great controller as the buttons are placed in weird and uncomfortable positions for both the Gamecube and PS2 version.
9 Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style Pad
In 1999 the fighting game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style was released. For anyone familiar with hip-hop they would know that the game was based on the real-life Wu-Tang Clan and the martial arts themes of their music. Along with the release of the game, Activision included a controller in the shape of the Wu-Tang "W". While it makes for a pretty sweet collector's piece, the fact that it doesn't have analog sticks, DualShock capabilities, and its unique shape makes the Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style pad difficult and almost near impossible to use.
8 Konami DDR Hand Pad
Dance Dance Revolution is a game that tests a person's footwork and ability to stay on beat. For people familiar with the game it's played by stepping on the right colored squares in the right sequence on a dance pad. But for the PS1 and PS2 Konami officially released a DDR pad... for hands. What makes this controller really weird is that there's nothing written on it that tell what the buttons do. Players have to reference the instruction manual that came with it to figure out what the buttons do.
7 Power Glove NES
The gamers of the late 80s had the opportunity to be apart of one of the greatest eras of video games as they become a more mainstream form of entertainment. And the NES was one of the best consoles to own with amazing titles like Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and Final Fantasy and the Power Glove was one of the many accessories made to go along with the console. Meant to be the start of a future with motion capture controllers, it fell short as the technology of the time made the Power Glove imprecise and hard to use.
6 Dragon Quest Slime Controller
Dragon Quest is an RPG where players take the role of the hero, battling monsters and other enemies with a party of characters. Out of all the monsters that appear in the game, the Slime is the most frequent and acts as the series' mascot. So iconic and popular within the series it makes sense to make the cute creature into a controller, right? Well maybe not. As cute as it is, its design is not only bizarre (players have to flip it upside to reveal the controls), but its shape makes it hard use compared to standard controllers.
5 Katana: The Soul Controller
Way back in 2004 Onimusha 3 was released for the PlayStation 2. And with the release of the game the company Hori (maker of many video game products), released a special controller in the shape of a katana, a Japanese sword. It has two ways to use it. Swinging it activates the internal sensors inside it and can be used to make attacks, or the hilt can be used as a wireless controller. Unfortunately, the controller's design isn't great with the D-pad and the analog sticks in awkward positions, and the face buttons in an even worse position.
4 U-Force
The U force is another NES controller that was a cool concept but came way before its time to be useful. The U-Force is a motion-controlled peripheral controller that was supposed to translate a player's hand movements into control pad inputs. It would have been great for games like Punch-Out, where players could just move their hands in the direction they wanted to go, but it often didn't work. Looking like something out Star Trek or some other sci-fi show, the U-Force controller couldn't accurately detect or translate a player's movements.
3 Novint Falcon PC Controller
The Novint Falcon PC controller is one of the weirdest and hardest to explain controllers out there. It's an oddly cone-shaped device that's meant to replace the mouse for PC gaming. It's big, heavy and comes with two attachments; a small ball with buttons and a fake gun that are the controls. It provides both force feedback (it can translate responses like the recoil of a gun) and can read the slightest of adjustments in a player's hand. But its sensitivity towards movement is its biggest downfall and the limited amount of games that support it.
2 Sega Dreamcast Fishing Rod
The Sega Dreamcast had a short run in the late 90s but produced a lot of great games like Jet Set Radio and Sonic Adventures. There were also quite a few fishing games. Fishing games might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the Dreamcast had one of the best fishing games out there, Sega Bass Fishing. And the best way to play this game was using the Dreamcast Fishing Controller, an actual fishing rod-shaped controller. The craziest part is that it works really well and even works on a few non-fishing games.
1 Cheetah CharacteriStick Joysticks
Joysticks are a staple of retro gaming in the late 80s. And Cheetah joysticks were some of the best ones around for gamers, but the ones in the Cheetah CharacteriStick set were not. This set of novelty controllers were made for the Sega Genesis and were in the shape of popular TV and movie characters of the time. While Batman is pretty cool, he doesn't make for a great or comfortable game controller with his pointy ears. But he's not the worst as there was a Bart Simpson one and an Alien one made.