The PlayStation controller is the first gamepad released by Sony Interactive Entertainment for its PlayStation home video game console. The original version (model SCPH-1010) was released alongside the PlayStation on 3 December 1994.[1]

Design

Based on the basic button configuration established with Nintendo's Super NES Controller, the PlayStation controller added a second pair of shoulder buttons for the middle fingers. Intended to update the gamepad for navigating 3D environments such as the ones PlayStation was designed to generate, the concept behind featuring shoulder buttons for both the index and middle fingers was to implement two-way directional depth controls using the two sets of buttons. To compensate for the less stable grip from shifting the middle fingers' placement to the shoulders, grip handles were added to the controller.[2]

Using the simple geometric shapes of a green triangle, a red circle, a blue cross, and a pink square (, , , ) to label its action buttons rather than traditionally used letters or numbers, the PlayStation controller established a trademark which would be incorporated heavily into the PlayStation brand. In an interview with Teiyu Goto, designer of the original PlayStation controller, he explained what the symbols mean: the circle and cross represent "yes" and "no", respectively (as common in Japanese culture, which explains their common use as "confirm" and "cancel" in most Japanese PlayStation games, placed similarly to the A and B buttons on the Super NES controller, which had similar functions); the triangle symbolizes a point of view and the square is equated to a sheet of paper there to be used to access menus.[3] In Western releases, the circle and cross functions are often reversed (circle to cancel, cross to confirm) or reassigned to a different button (cross to confirm, triangle to cancel).

The PlayStation 2 console is backwards-compatible with the original PlayStation controller, as it uses the same connector and protocol as the original PlayStation console. This is due to the PlayStation 2's backward compatibility with original PlayStation peripherals. However, functionality is limited with many PS2 games due to its lack of analog sticks and pressure-sensitive buttons.