PC Joystick Computer Game Controllers

One of the oldest forms of game controller, the joystick got it's mainstream commercial start in the late 70s with the Atari. It's popularity can in part be attributed to the mirroring of the control movements for flight simulator video games and other games where the movement of a stick about a center point was useful.

This form of computer game controller began to share the spotlight with another form of game controller in the mid 80s with a move to gamepads, which are controlled by the thumbs.

The pc game controller joystick has truly morphed over the years to, in some cases, look and feel like real aircraft controls, with numerous buttons, controller wheels and throttle inputs, quick actions and other interesting features.

In the battle to build an increasingly larger number of gaming features and the ability of the common user to access them, many PC joystick game controllers have a thumb-operated control atop the joystick, often accessing look-around features such as looking behind when flying - simply pull back with the free thumb of the hand using the joystick portion of the game controller.

Other forms of PC joystick game controllers include the Arcade format game controller. The purpose of this controller type is to emulate the feel and layout of those games that have, for example, a joystick on the left and the action buttons in a cabinet-style layout - buttons lined up next to each other than a user might push down on to activate, as opposed to being smaller dome buttons in the joystick base or built in horizontally to the joystick base, controlled by the fingers.