When I was reading the "Sega Saturn Worth It?" thread, I couldn't stop thinking about how good the controller for the Sega Saturn was. Of course the d-pad was great and the pad was comfortable overall, but one of the keys to the pad was its six face buttons.
As I played Killer Instinct Classic on my Xbone tonight, I couldn't help to get annoyed with the trigger buttons, which do not work very well in this or any fighting game.
Thinking back to the PSX, Saturn, N64 era, there was only one controller with 4 face buttons. Sure the N64 face consisted of 2 good buttons and 4 shitty yellow direction buttons, but the truth is there was 6 buttons. Unfortunately for gamers and the future of gaming, Sony won the generation's battle, and 4 face buttons ruled going forward. Even Sega itself emulated the 4 face buttons in its next system, presumably to make something approachable for the Sony fan base it so desperately wanted to win back.
It is kind of interesting the Microsoft tried to bring back the 6 face buttons with a half-ass attempt with the "white" and "black" buttons on the original XBox, but the controller was so uncomfortable and crappy that I think this put the final nail in the 6 face button coffin.
The PS4 or Xbone contollers could very easily put 2 more buttons on the face, retain all of the comfort of the controllers, and maintain the same trigger/dual analog stick design.
...perhaps this was a rant, but in summation, Sony ruined gaming controls forever when they took away two of my face buttons. For this, I will never forgive them!
