Games that destroyed your controller and/or hands.

[PizzaKat]

I have been playing Mario Kart 8 a lot trying to achieve 3 stars for each cup. Drifting and weaving by using the triggers and analogue have sure put the controller through a lot of high use. Is there any controllers in the past that you destroyed by using the controller heavily or you just got angry and broke it? I remember when Marvel vs Capcom 3 came out 4 years ago I totally destroyed the 360 controller doing combos etc, not to mention my hands. I know Mario Party killed the analogue on the N64.

[Tanooki]

I've taken out my share of SNES and N64 controllers, and not really due to wear. I'll get furious at something that happens/repeatedly happens in a game when I know it shouldn't have, usually a game I've already played through. I know eventually enough people will be in here about the cheap N64 plastic stick and how Mario Party would chew it up as that's truth.

[CastlevaniaDude]

That fishing minigame on the first N64 Mario Party was brutal. I regularly had blisters.

[goldenband]

Burning Soldier on 3DO. On Hard difficulty against the final boss, there's no way to push the fire button fast enough without injuring yourself. Last time I tried to beat the game, I had problems with my arm/hand for a week or two.

[Nebagram]

I'll be the first to mention Guitar Hero, then. First time I played Through the Fire and Flames on GH3 (during the credits) i had to pause 3 times, I was having so much trouble getting through it (bear in mind I'd just finished story mode). Then I went and played it again in free play, finished it in one go, and couldn't grip properly with my left hand for about 3 hours afterwards.

Then there's the DS Guitar Hero games, which seem to be designed with the sole purpose of giving people carpal tunnel.

[RARusk]

Activision Decathalon - Atari 2600. Turns your upper arm into mush after awhile.

[Az]

After about 80+ hours into Fist of the North Star for 360 the X button on my controller went to mush. The rubber contact pad wasn't torn but was so weak it would hardly pop back up and you had do mash the shit out of it to get it to register. Luckily a 50 cent replacement contact pad made it good as new.

[celerystalker]

My Time Soldiers cabinet always leaves me sore. See, if you know the game, for most of it you can keep the powerup that gives you rapid fire where you can just hold down the fire button. However, the final stage has no powerups, so it will run out, and there are no continues from it, so you are forced to jam the hell out of the fire button during a stage that is essentially a gauntlet of minibosses (those stupid cyclops/spider things that are only in that level) that take dozens of hits and intense dodging, all while hit and run flying enemies swoop in and out... and then you have to fight Gylend, who isn't so bad in and of himself, but my arms are so beat by the time I get there that it's a real endurance test. I've beaten it many times now, but my wrist is sore every single time.

[kai123]

GTA Vice City on the PS2. I can't remember the mission but the lock on or something like that went wonky and I died then proceeded to smash my PS2 controller on my metal desk. I had another controller thankfully. I have never done that again. I still don't know why that made me so mad.

[turboexpress]

Madden 95 and 96 on Genesis I remember at least 2 controllers in those couple of years bit the dust :frustrated:

[Tron 2.0]

Hmm id say the snes controller for me it's the d-pad is hard on the thumbs.

[Tanooki]

Wow really? I've never heard someone say that the classic Nintendo d-pad was hard on the thumbs because usually it's other first party pads or third party without a license (to use NIntendo's like ASCII had done) because they have a patent on it so the other stuff being different usually has pokey hard edges or corners that just dig in after awhile.

[Tron 2.0]

Wow really? I've never heard someone say that the classic Nintendo d-pad was hard on the thumbs because usually it's other first party pads or third party without a license (to use NIntendo's like ASCII had done) because they have a patent on it so the other stuff being different usually has pokey hard edges or corners that just dig in after awhile.
For long periods for me it will.Sure it's functional but i wish rubber was used instead or some other material.

[Scotterpop]

After about 80+ hours into Fist of the North Star for 360 the X button on my controller went to mush. The rubber contact pad wasn't torn but was so weak it would hardly pop back up and you had do mash the shit out of it to get it to register. Luckily a 50 cent replacement contact pad made it good as new.

Haha, the same thing happened to my Dualshock 3 while playing Borderlands 2. All that ammo buying (hitting X over and over and over) from the vending machines eventually killed the spring inside and it wouldn't pop back up normally.

[8-Bit Archeology]

For me it was the Twisted Metal series on the original playstation. I have had many tense moments in my retro games but never felt like my controllers couldnt take it. It was the playstation controller for Twisted Metal and I could even add Jet Moto 2. I felt like Whatever I was driving, I couldn't turn around fast enough and blew through many controllers. I strangely have a more calm gaming experience with bullet hell games than driving/racing games. I never feel like d-pads can take me as a driver lol.

[CelticJobber]

I've never broken a controller (not even the easily breakable N64 analog sticks).

But Street Fighter games on Playstation have always been murder on my thumbs, with the Dualshock's d-pad leaving blisters without fail.

[Niku-Sama]

Wow really? I've never heard someone say that the classic Nintendo d-pad was hard on the thumbs because usually it's other first party pads or third party without a license (to use NIntendo's like ASCII had done) because they have a patent on it so the other stuff being different usually has pokey hard edges or corners that just dig in after awhile.

I've got a few NES controllers that have corners on the d-pad that are sharp as shit

so my hand has been "permanently" damaged by a NES controller, not from the sharp D-Pad I was just talking about, those were ones I found recently.
No the top right corner of the nes controller would rest right at the base of my middle finger on my right hand. when I used it some times there'd be a lot of pressure from hitting buttons super fast and what haves you, well over time while I was growing up and playing the most it caused a cyst to develop at the base of that finger right where the controller rests, ive had it for years, when it gets mad it swells up real big and hurts like hell.

I really should get it removed but I would hate to see how much that would cost, I shoulda done it when I was younger on my parents insurance

[jammajup]

Mostly Street Fighter 2 on SNES,number of pads I threw off the floor and wall playing that is unbelievable,typical situation were you have an upper hand in combat and suddenly the cpu decides to start pulling off moves and comes back to win two rounds in a row.The smes pads were pretty strong though and would often survive with bits rattling inside or a shoulder button would fly off somewhere lol

[Tron 2.0]

Mostly Street Fighter 2 on SNES,number of pads I threw off the floor and wall playing that is unbelievable,typical situation were you have an upper hand in combat and suddenly the cpu decides to start pulling off moves and comes back to win two rounds in a row.The smes pads were pretty strong though and would often survive with bits rattling inside or a shoulder button would fly off somewhere lol
SNES controller was never suited to well for fighters.It's was all ways best to use joysticks instead for those kind of games.

[Tanooki]

It kind of depends how your hand sit in the controller. For enough the L button was an issue in Street Fighter II type games trying to pull off special moves. I got used to it so it wasn't an issue so much, but you're right the best solution was really the SNES Advantage or that odd Capcom soldier pad which had this really weirdo shape to it and all the 6 buttons lined up on the face of it 3x2 in order.

[ColecoFan1981]

A little off topic for this particular section: Daley Thompson's Decathlon was the program that destroyed numerous joysticks and keyboards on various early PCs such as the Commodore 64. Several folks even blamed him for it 3 years ago!

~Ben

[Gamevet]

Populous on the Amiga killed the right lower side of my palm. I had played the game so much, that the part of my hand that rested on the mousepad went numb for days.

[The 1 2 P]

Activision Decathalon - Atari 2600. Turns your upper arm into mush after awhile.

Pretty much anything I played on the 2600. That may be the reason I hate that system despite it being the first one I owned. It was pretty easy to get blisters from that joystick if you played for more than 30 minutes a day.

[Jorpho]

Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros 3DS helped develop some new callouses on the tips of my thumbs.

The World Ends With You was pretty rough on my DS touchscreen. I should have learned my lesson before I started playing Kirby Mass Attack on my 3DS.

[PreZZ]

I remember renting the original playstation with International Track and field when the playstation came out, and it was just how quick you could mash the buttons to win. After a couple of beers, we found out that taping the bottlecaps to our fingers and scratching quickly on both x and square was the way to beat world records!!! good times, we %^&&* the shit out of those controllers, and had to play with the playstation upside down or else it wouldnt work because we played for too long... was kinda scared they'd keep the safe deposit, but they didnt!

[Atarileaf]

Activision Decathalon - Atari 2600. Turns your upper arm into mush after awhile.

Is that the one that forces you to move the joystick left and right as quickly as possible or was that Track and Field? A joystick breaker for sure, probably why they came up with the track and field controller.