Controller Experiences

[Koh]

The only N64 game that I can think of that FORCED the use of the D-Pad was Kirby 64. Otherwise, why would your hand even be on that part of the controller?

I think this goes back to the original question of "Why would you design a controller like this anyway?" If only half of it is ever going to be used at a time, why not simplify the design? It'd be like if you had an SNES controller, but playing games that only ever used as many buttons as an NES controller; there's no need for all of those extra buttons. Holding this thing was never comfortable for me, even when holding it from the middle.