Why didn't Sega add a second analog stick to the DC controller?

[Rick Dangerous]

It's a glaring omission when i play the console these days.  Really hinders the controls in a lot of the 3D games.   The trigger buttons were a poor substitute in some cases but i don't think they worked as well to replace a second stick as the tiny yellow C buttons on the N64 did even.

 

Love the DC always will, it's just the main thing i notice when i play it these days. 

[IntelliMission]

Probably because the console came out in Japan in late 1998, so we can assume it was designed back in 1997/early 1998.

 

Sega's 3D Control Pad and the Nintendo 64 controller, both released in 1996, only had one analog stick.

 

And while Sony's Dual Analog was already available since April 1997, it was considered as a secondary controller until the Dual Shock appeared in Europe in the summer of 98 (Sony wanted to release it along with Gran Turismo, which was compatible).

 

During the design stages of the console, there was no way for Sega to know that 2 analog sticks would become a huge success.

[Swami]

On 4/19/2021 at 11:48 AM, Rick Dangerous said:

It's a glaring omission when i play the console these days.  Really hinders the controls in a lot of the 3D games.   The trigger buttons were a poor substitute in some cases but i don't think they worked as well to replace a second stick as the tiny yellow C buttons on the N64 did even.

 

Love the DC always will, it's just the main thing i notice when i play it these days. 

 

On 4/20/2021 at 6:39 AM, IntelliMission said:

Probably because the console came out in Japan in late 1998, so we can assume it was designed back in 1997/early 1998.

 

Sega's 3D Control Pad and the Nintendo 64 controller, both released in 1996, only had one analog stick.

 

And while Sony's Dual Analog was already available since April 1997, it was considered as a secondary controller until the Dual Shock appeared in Europe in the summer of 98 (Sony wanted to release it along with Gran Turismo, which was compatible).

 

During the design stages of the console, there was no way for Sega to know that 2 analog sticks would become a huge success.

Probably trying to keep the price down a couple bucks in the price wars and thought a second one wasn’t a big improvement over a single one at the time. After all, Nintendo and sega used only dpad in previous gen. 

 

Sony took bigger risks at the time and they paid off. 

[Punisher5.0]

On 4/19/2021 at 11:48 AM, Rick Dangerous said:

It's a glaring omission when i play the console these days.  Really hinders the controls in a lot of the 3D games.   The trigger buttons were a poor substitute in some cases but i don't think they worked as well to replace a second stick as the tiny yellow C buttons on the N64 did even.

 

Love the DC always will, it's just the main thing i notice when i play it these days. 

Half Life used the 4 action buttons to act like the N64 C buttons in FPS games. It worked pretty good. I still really like the N64 controller for FPS'ers. Its kind of like using WASD on a PC.

[roots.genoa]

3 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Its kind of like using WASD on a PC.

Exactly! And yet no console FPS these days lets you use the d-pad for movement, it's always used for item selection or something similar.

One could think an analog stick would allow moving at different speeds but there's almost always a run button anyway (usually the stick click I hate so much) like on PC. ?‍♂️

[Lord Innit]

3 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Half Life used the 4 action buttons to act like the N64 C buttons in FPS games. It worked pretty good. I still really like the N64 controller for FPS'ers. Its kind of like using WASD on a PC.

Same for me.  The first Turok game pretty much made me play FPS games on console the way I do today. The C buttons were great for FPS games.

 

It made me a righty who plays FPS games with southpaw controls.

[+GoldLeader]

I'll take a D-Pad any day over an analog stick...At least SONY did it Right,  D-Pad for main control...Analog sticks down below for camera movements etc.  

 

Just my 2 cents.  

 

(Maybe a little less haha)

 

And I rarely ever play First Person Shooters so I'm sure I'm just tired and talking out the side of my head right now

[BawesomeBurf]

On 4/25/2021 at 2:50 AM, GoldLeader said:

I'll take a D-Pad any day over an analog stick...At least SONY did it Right,  D-Pad for main control...Analog sticks down below for camera movements etc.  

 

Just my 2 cents.  

 

(Maybe a little less haha)

 

And I rarely ever play First Person Shooters so I'm sure I'm just tired and talking out the side of my head right now

I liked the fact that many games let you use both analog and d-pad. When I played RPGs or any 3D title I would usually use analog for movement and d-pad for menus.