What is the first controller you've ever held?

For me it's 1, I'm old AF.

#1 for me as well. I’m an old foggy now.

#1 for me too.

#6 I believe

#4

As the first game I was ever shown to be playing was Kirby 3, though calling it 'playing' maybe giving a newly born baby too much credit. I probably drooled all over it.

#2. SMB3 was my first game.

Either NES or maybe an Atari my parents had. So 1 or 2.

It was either 1 or 2, I cannot remember. I would lean towards 2, because we got our NES somewhere around '89 and I don't recall having an Atari ever at any point. My cousins had one on, got theirs about the same time we got NES (yeah, they were jealous).

So probably NES.

I have every single controller on that list, plus more (excluding the Wii-U tablet and Atari Joystick) sitting in a drawer beside me.

A nes.

#1, and I still have that same controller and console (sadly neither work now 😢). I still to this day love me some good 2600 games.

The input used was a joystick for the C64.

The first controller owned and used was the Master System.

2 and it was my grandma's lol

5 was the first controller I had because my uncle gave me his Saturn when I was a kid

I repair and mod retro consoles. I bet your 2600 could be fixed.

2 > 7 > 12. Now I rock a 3rd party one which is cheaper and better.

Mine isn't on there as it would have been a generic Joystick I used on a Commodore 64 around 1984 or something like that.

I do fondly remember #1 though as although it was designed for the Atari 2600 it worked perfectly on a C64. That thing was tough as nails. I may have still owned the same working one when I transitioned to a Sega Mega Drive in 1991 (the real name of the 'Genesis' 😏).

They don't make them like that anymore Well built tough as nails controller! I'm sure there are guides to get one of these fixed.

Sega master system.

Knockoff version of nr.2.

This atari controller.

4. The SNES was also my first console.

I think it was an Atari controller. But I was very young. My gaming skills were Pong level.

My first controller actually predates 1 in that list.

IBM PCJr Joystick

The Atari 2600 joystick in the list is probably my second controller. I also gamed on my friend's Commodore 64 but I'm pretty sure that just used Atari 2600 joysticks. Still within the same Atari generation, there were also the paddle controllers:

Then there were several entries between the 2600 and the NES that I played.

Atari 5200 Controller

I never owned a 5200 but I got to play one at a friend's house. Games came with a numberpad overlay that you could put on the bottom that labelled the extra buttons.

We then got an Atari 7800. Played 2600 games (but not 5200 games) plus newer 7800 games which were graphically way more advanced and supported a two button controller:

On paper the 7800 should have been a real competitor to the NES but Nintendo came along around the same time and just crushed it. Outside of handhelds, Atari didn't make another home console again until the disastrous Jaguar.

Edit: There are a TON of weird controllers that I've used throughout the years that are not on that list (especially if you get into all the random PC joysticks/flightsticks/controllers I've used over the years). Neo Geo home system controllers for instance, but since the topic was the first controllers I kept myself limited to the earliest ones.

#1 Atari joystick and paddles. Who remembers forehead hickeys with rubber joystick cover?

Commadore 64 controller

I think it was the Sega genesis for me.

#1. I’m turning 50 in a year or so. Been gaming for many years.

Oooo I don't know...

Likely number 3. Megadrive.

7 - the one with the analog sticks

Number 7. Followed by 4.

Same for me. The controller without the analog sticks just seems incomplete even though it's the original. Which surprised me when I first found out only a few years back believe it or not, lol.

My first controller was #2 from the NES, although I may have played the Atari #1 first I don't consider that a controller. I remember being blown away by Super Mario Bros on the NES when I was 3-4, but I also know we had an Atari... so, not 100% sure. NES easily has more enjoyable memories though.

Considering I've started the gameboy,my first actual controller was the Snes never looked back since then

Damn your grandma had an NES? That's pretty neat!

I often wonder what my generation is going to look like when we are old. LAN games in the retirement home, maybe!?

#1, there were actually some games on the old Atari that had you use the switches on the console as well. Dating myself with my nerdness.

The first mine was a joystick that came with ZX Spectrums. Photos still can be found over the web.

I'm pretty sure it was a Nintendo controller. I remember playing track and field and duck hunt with my big brother.

My first was the SEGA Mega Drive/ Genesis controller

NES controller, probably. My earliest memory in gaming was probably Mario 1 on NES. I did play a little Atari at the time, but that's because my cousins got a 2600 around the same time we got out NES, which pretty much meant they were always at our house wanting to play real games, but, yeah, NES was probably the first for me.

Besides the 2600 controller, I have every single controller on that list in a drawer beside me, plus some not on it, like the Saturn controller, and a couple Famicom controllers I just took off of a Japanese Famicom.

Master system.

4.

Is Tamagochi or Tetris a controller? Because they kinda are...

1. Atari 2600

Num. 4 which was also the first console we owned.

#2 NES

My mom got it for me brand new when I was little.

I still remember never finishing Total Recall. Lol

2. I had early PC games from a young age too, though, so it's hard to say exactly what the first game I played was.

#2 (NES). Before this I played on my friends commodore 64 but I can't remember if we used a controller.