A device used to provide input to a computer or video game. Normally this refers to a controller that is separate from the main machine, connected by wire or wirelessly, as opposed to the controls built into a handheld game console such as a Game Boy or Nintendo DS.

Examples of game controllers include gamepads, joysticks, arcade sticks, steering wheel, light guns, the Microsoft Kinect, and many more.

Gamepads can be held conveniently in two hands and do not require any particular mounting surface nor an exact fixed posture from the user. The gamepad provides basic functions to control a game such as Start/Pause, Select, 4- or 8-way navigation, and various different actions via other buttons (numbering from two to roughly a dozen). Among the first gamepads were those game controllers bundled with the U.S.-market Nintendo Entertainment System or Japanese-market Famicom, and throughout the 8-, 16- and 32-bit eras, video game consoles featured gamepads as basic controllers. Since the 64-bit era, they also include analog thumbsticks.

Examples

Gamepad

Arcade stick

Light gun

Types

• joystick
• arcade stick
• leverless arcade stick
• light gun

Console-specific controllers

External links

• Wikipedia: Game controller

The following tags are aliased to this tag: gamepad (learn more).

This tag implicates controller (learn more).

The following tags implicate this tag: arcade_stick, dreamcast_controller, dualshock, famicom_controller, gamecube_controller, holding_game_controller, joy-con, joy-con_2, nes_controller, nintendo_64_controller, nintendo_switch_pro_controller, playstation_controller, sega_mega_drive_controller, super_famicom_controller, super_nintendo_controller, wii_remote, wii_u_gamepad, and xbox_controller (learn more).

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