Gaming - News
How Super Mario 64 Influenced The N64's Controller
By JESSICA REYES
The three-pronged design of the Nintendo 64 controller was strange at the time, and the popular theory claimed the controller was specifically designed for “Super Mario 64.” However, as Giles Goddard, a programmer who worked on "Mario 64," put it, the game didn’t dictate the controller’s design but rather “Mario was the way of testing it out.”
The Nintendo 64 controller was designed to be two controllers in one: one for 2D, the other for 3D. According to Den of Geek, "Nintendo's design was based on the idea that gamers would rarely need to access all of the N64's buttons at once"; however, as 3D gaming evolved, it became more obvious how controllers needed many more inputs than expected.
Many Nintendo games didn't end up using just a part of the controller for 2D titles, and some games ended up needing to use the buttons together to keep up with competitors. So "Super Mario 64" might have been the first game in mind, but the controller was meant to cater to all types of games, and especially 3D titles.
