Why the N64 controller had three handles, and how you were supposed to hold it

Hand anyone under 25 a Nintendo 64 controller and watch them hold it like an alien artifact. Three prongs. Two hands. Somebody's getting left out.

But that weird trident wasn't a design accident. It was Nintendo trying to build one controller for two very different kinds of games at the same time.

The problem Nintendo was solving

When the N64 launched in 1996, games were in the middle of a huge shift. 2D games played great on a D-pad, the plus-shaped pad that had been Nintendo's signature since the NES. But 3D games like Super Mario 64 needed something new: an analog stick that could tell the difference between tiptoeing and sprinting.

Nintendo didn't want to give up either one. So instead of cramming a stick and a D-pad side by side, it gave each its own handle and put the face buttons on the third.

The two main grips

Most players settled into one of two grips, depending on the game:

• Center and right: Left hand on the middle prong with your thumb on the analog stick, right hand on the right prong for the A, B and C buttons. This was how most people played Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and GoldenEye.
• Left and right: Left hand on the D-pad, right hand on the buttons, just like a Super Nintendo. Useful for games that leaned on the D-pad.

Some people also gripped the left and center prongs to use the D-pad and stick together, but that was rare. In practice, the left handle spent most of its life getting ignored. That's why it often looks like new on old controllers while the stick is worn out.

The trigger on the back

The center grip also explains the Z trigger, tucked under the middle prong where your left index finger naturally lands. In the 3D grip it felt like pulling a trigger, which is exactly why GoldenEye used it to fire and Ocarina used it for Z-targeting. That combination, stick plus a trigger under your finger, became the template for nearly every 3D game controller that came after.

The slot on the bottom

The controller also had a slot underneath. That's where the Controller Pak memory card, the Rumble Pak and the Transfer Pak plugged in. The Rumble Pak arrived alongside Star Fox 64 in 1997 and helped make vibration a standard controller feature.

The stick's dark side

That analog stick was revolutionary, but it wore out. The plastic parts inside ground down over time, leaving the stick loose and floppy. If you ever played Mario Party's stick-spinning minigames with your palm, you also know it could tear up your skin. Nintendo ended up offering protective gloves after complaints about blisters.

The legacy

The three-handle layout died with the N64. The GameCube moved to a more normal two-handed shape, and every major controller since has put the stick and D-pad under the same left hand. But the N64 got there first with the idea that matters: a 3D game needs an analog stick under your thumb and a trigger under your finger.

If you want to feel it again, original controllers are easy to find secondhand, and there are modern USB versions too. Just test the stick before you pay. A USB N64-style controller saves you from a floppy original.