Say hello to the ‘Big6’.
Back when the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis was first released, it came with a 3-button pad which – in 1988 – felt like the future. It wasn’t square and boxy like the NES and Master System controllers but had a rounded, ergonomic shape which was more comfortable to hold, and it had one extra action button. Bliss!
However, by the time the SNES arrived, it was clear that Sega’s pad was no longer the cutting edge; with just 3 action buttons, it couldn’t offer the same degree of control options, and when Street Fighter II hit the market and changed things forever, Sega had to release a separate pad which had the required number of buttons for the game. That pad was also smaller and boasted an improved D-Pad, and it’s the design that Sega has stuck with over the decades (although the Genesis Mini was bundled with the 3-button controller in North America and Europe – Japan got the 6-button variant instead).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
