The evolution of video games is pretty obvious — just look at the difference between, say, the original Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart 8 to see the insane improvements video games have made to graphics since the 1980s. But the games themselves aren’t the only things that have evolved, as console controllers have undergone some drastic changes over the years as well.
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GadgetLove, which has made a habit of producing awesome GIFs that show us how our favorite gadgets have changed over time, has now made some GIFs that show the evolution of gaming controllers over the years from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
As you can see below, the Nintendo controller has undergone the most drastic set of changes over the years, as it’s gone from a fairly simple rectangle with a direction pad and two buttons to a huge tablet-style controller for the Wii U. In between, of course, there was the small motion-sensitive controller that came with the original Wii.
The Sony and Microsoft controllers, meanwhile, don’t undergo such drastic changes and instead show gradual refinements over time.
The Xbox controller has definitely undergone some significant changes in style even though its overall format has remained the same — thankfully, Microsoft wisely decided that having a giant ugly green “X” in the middle of the controller was a less-than-good design choice.
