The Wii U

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Anybody remember the Sega Dreamcast controllers? With the mini-games that you could play on the memory cards, each of which had its own screen and controls? Which plugged into the system controller so that the mini-screen became part of the controller? Gawd what a weird setup that was.

 

For the record I would just like to note that touchpad (though not touchscreen) controllers have been around since the NES, and motion controllers have been around at least since the N64. The aforementioned NES controller had a primitive but functional touchpad in place of the D-pad; it was one of my favorites because the sensors reacted faster than the buttons did, making the controls more responsive. The tilt pak for N64 was pretty cool too- it was a controller pack (plugged into the memory card/rumble pack slot) that transmitted to a little fob you plugged in between the controller and the console; when enabled the device essentially replaced the analog stick. Worked pretty well too. So yeah, I guess Nintendo has always been the go-to system for screwy new controller ideas. It's just that Nintendo is developing the screwy new ideas in-house now; both of the above were third-party devices.