Art reveals the lengthy history of video game controllers
A jumbo-size poster sends the viewer on a retrospective journey through nearly six decades of video game input devices. What's your favorite controller?
The next time you mash buttons on a video game controller, keep in mind that there's more than half a century of innovation behind the venerable input device.
To remind you of this fact, Pop Chart Lab's eye-catching poster, titled "The Evolution of Video Game Controllers," sheds light on the incredible technological progression of controller hardware. You'll probably never again see more joysticks, knobs, and buttons in one place -- well, unless you're hanging around CNET producer Stephen Beacham's retro video game console patch bay.
Atop the list of 179 controllers stands the revolutionary input device for the 1958 game Tennis For Two (one of the first games to utilize graphics), and from there the neatly arranged hierarchy breaks down into multiple categories of controllers, ranging from analog to touch-based inputs, as well as the complete spectrum of handheld gaming gizmos.
Unless you're a complete gaming guru, there's probably a controller or two that you may not recognize and will end up investigating in a Google search. For example, did you know about the 1977 Nintendo Color TV Game console and its prominently orange controller with knobs and sliders, or the 1992 Sega Menacer lightgun?
For $29, interested buyers can preorder the 27x39-inch video game controller poster -- each signed by the original artist and limited to a run of 1,000 prints.