Gamepad

A gamepad (also called joypad or controller), is a type of game controller held in two hands, where the fingers (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles.

Gamepads generally feature a set of buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. The direction controller has traditionally been a four-way digital cross (also named a joypad, or alternatively a d-pad), but most modern controllers additionally (or as a substitute) feature one or more analog sticks.

Some common additions to the standard pad include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, centrally placed start, select, and mode buttons, and an internal motor to provide force feedback.

Gamepads are the primary means of input on all recent video game consoles except for the Wii (though the Wii Remote can also function as a gamepad). Gamepads are also available for personal computers.

There are programmable joysticks that can emulate keyboard input. Generally they have been made to circumvent the lack of joystick support in some computer games, i.e. the Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52. There are several programs that emulate keyboard and mouse input with a gamepad such as the free and open-source cross-platform software antimicro,Enjoy2, or proprietary commercial solutions such as JoyToKey, Xpadder, and Pinnacle Game Profiler.

In the early 1980s joysticks and paddles were the most common videogame accessories, but several Atari joystick port-compatible pushbutton controllers were available. The third generation of video games saw many major changes, and the eminence of gamepads in the video game market. Nintendo launched the NES controller, and was followed soon by Sega's Master System controller in 1986.

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