PS2
- best d-pad ever made
- comfortable to my big hands without being uncomfortable to friends’ regular-sized hands
- pressure sensitivity all over the place, even if that did get underutilized
- versatile design that’s equally comfortable to use for 2D and 3D games and doesn’t specifically favor a small number of genres
- smooth, strong, and yet quiet rumble
- good heft
- uses a cord so no fucking around with batteries
- sensibly named and located Start and Select buttons (Everyone‘s been dropping the ball on that front, lately. Sony most of all.)
N64
I got no beef with the three prongs like you see so many fuss about but those analog sticks were extremely fragile and would inevitably go completely limp over time and wind up 99% deadzone.