As I'm sure you've read by now, GameCube games rock. The graphics are unbelievable, the gameplay is classic Nintendo, solid and original, and the execution is right on target. However, all this would be for naught without an equally good controller to go with it. Well, Nintendo has not let us down.

The first thing I noticed upon picking up a controller was that it practically melts into your hands. I don't know how others will feel about the size of the grips, but they fit my medium-large hands flawlessly. My next concern was the c-stick. In pictures it looks like a small nub that could be difficult to control. Fortunately, the c-stick only looks weird. You can't see it well in the pictures, but the top of the c-stick is covered with a layer of yellow rubber that provides excellent traction for quick moves and spins. The standard control stick has the no-slip rubber as well and the tension was fine on both sticks. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the placement of the c-stick, but when playing Rogue Squadron 2, I had to look down a few times to hit the correct direction on the tiny d-pad. The action on the d-pad, which is identical in size to the GBA d-pad, was great, but the size made it difficult to do a quick switch between it and the analog stick without looking. I don't think this will be a problem at all once I get a little more time with it. The next item of busines is the new action button layout. It is very intuitive and making the button circular was probably a very good idea. The start button... well, it's a start button. What can I say? Finally we have the shoulder buttons. As was mentioned yesterday, the shoulder buttons have a digital "click" when you press them all the way down. This was used to good effect in every game I played. When analog wasn't used, the button wouldn't activate until you "clicked" it. In Rogue Squadron however, the R button makes you go faster as you press it in, and clicking it causes your wings to close. My only complaint about the shoulder buttons is the Z-button. With the digital click in the L and R buttons, and the trigger like position, they actually take the place of the old N64 Z button very well. The new GameCube Z button however, is kind of odd. After using the smooth action of the analog R button, pressing the Z button is kinda like pressing a brick wall. The location is a bit awkward as well. Perhaps if they could move it the the left of the R button... then again, that might not work well for smaller hands. It might feel a lot better if it just had a little more action. Aside from that single flaw, everything about the controller just screams excellence.

I was particulary impressed with the weight of the controller. I think it was pretty light compared to a Dual Shock, but then again, I was a bit giddy from playing GameCube games and I didn't have a scale or anything. I can't say what the Xbox controller weighed because they were attached by these springy things that basically held the weight for you. The rumble features honestly feels a lot like the Sony Dual Shock rumble, which isn't a bad thing. Out of the three, Nintendo's is the most comfortable. The PS2 controller, feels exactly like the original Dual Shock, so you can check that one out for yourself. You'll probably agree that the grips are a bit small. The Xbox controller was very clunky and the button layout was attrocious. The group of buttons that should feel like the classic SNES (or PSX/DC) layout is skewed upwards making direct ports of games like Tony Hawk 2 (which I played) very awkward.

Well, that's the controller in a nutshell. If the console wars were decided by controllers, Nintendo would win hands down.