The Sega Activator. Need i say more?

https://segaretro.org/Activator

complicated x stupid

XD

Now I want this for modern VR...
To be fair to Nintendo/ the N64 controller...its three "horns" gave you the possibility to play different games with a button layout that fitted the games better - not like today's controllers, which are fixed in their layout.

Sadly those days are not coming back without the entire industry standardising on a single keyboard layout/frame.

It is within Apple's power, but I don't think cardboard templates match their design aesthetic.

I truly believe it has more to do with the games market being mostly "digital download only", nowadays.

No incentive to produce such an extra for the retail market, when there are almost no customers for retail anymore.

Ultil you're trying to enter the cheat code for Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, which is probably the hardest cheat code to enter I've encountered. (In addition to all the buttons you have to press you have to move the controller stick *half way* (not all the way, as that won't work).

In any case, the most complicated controllers I've used are the PS2 dual-shock, the XBox 1 controller, and the 8Bitdo SF30 Pro; it's a bit much having 2 sticks (why?), two shoulder buttons per side, and even having it so that each stick counts as yet another button when pressed. Even worse, the designers of the XBox controller decided to label the face buttons in a way that clashes with the standard Nintendo had established (whereas the PSX controller's button names, while different from Nintendo's, at least don't clash with them). (At least they don't have a button on the *bottom* of the controller, like the N64 controller does.)

The one game I encountered that did this was the (original) PC version of Final Fantasy 7. It's useful for getting used to the controls, but after that you just learn what does what, which works fine until the game presents you with a forced minigame.

Mandatory mention.

I remember them mostly for simulations on the C64/C128...Gunship comes to mind, and Echelon.

I just checked...F-117A here on GOG comes with a key control card, but not with a template - though such a thing was available in retail.

https://bilder.bild.de/fotos-skaliert/kassen-chef-baut-sich-flugsimulator-36051080-33948676/2,w=1280,c=0.bild.jpg

He must have a very understanding wife... :)

Edit: I remember watching a TV report a few years ago, about a guy who literally built a cockpit into his living room...an enclosed capsule, with a door at its rear end that got to be locked during flight.
He then flew from - let's say - Frankfurt/Main to New York...in real time...and whenever he felt hunger or thirst, he pressed a button on his dashboard, that made a light blinking in the kitchen.
His wife then prepared a coffee or a whole meal, put it on a tablet, rang a bell at the door to the cockpit, which he then unlocked, so she could serve him his beverage/food.
That's what I call dedication...on both sides. ;)

In my case, a HOTAS joystick.

Strange that no one has mentionned Steel Battalion.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion#/media/File:Steel_Battalion_controllers.jpg]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion#/media/File:Steel_Battalion_controllers.jpg[/url]

I don't know which controller Gog's web team uses for this forum, but it must be overly complicated. Why the hell can't I post links?

If this counts, the flight simulator's controls in the full-motion one I tried a while ago.

A LOT of stuff to mess up in an airplane.

Beat me to it.....this is the best answer, imo.......no controller can match a keyboard and mouse in complexity and number of buttons(that I am aware of).

(Waits for some olde school gamer to inevitably prove him wrong)

=========
=========No changing the rules and moving the goalposts. XD

You said controller......and it DOES control things(games/apps/etc). :)

The funny(sad) thing is the Wii(original) controller does all this(functionality wise) with only a handheld unit and its much easier to use.

I feel that it isn't a sheer number of buttons that really counts for anything; we've been using the same basic layout for over 150 years. A bad layout is a bad layout, even if you manage to screw up the stick & button joystick.

Number pf buttons aside, it can be and is often used to control games. If you wanted console only type controllers you should've mentioned such to begin with. ;)

This has been an interesting thread with info to peruse, though.