Yes they could have left the left side off, however the N64 controller was the first controller to ever have an analog stick. It revolutionized 3D interface. It worked so well that Sony quickly copied the concept, modified it, and added another analog stick for good measure. Throw in another utilized N64 innovation in the rumble pack, and that is approximately how the Dual Shock Controller was born. This is what became the standard convention soon after. Not knowing how the public would take to the analog stick feature, that was far more radical than adding shoulder and additional buttons and the first main movement control change since the NES pad replaced the Atari joystick, Nintendo thought they better play it safe and include the D-pad on an additional extention. This way, if the analog stick and trigger buttons did not go over with consumers, they could still play the old fashioned way. It was a bad attempt at covering their back because they weren't sure of the innovation, completely contrary to what they did for the Wii in backing the innovation full force.

They did have a backup with Wii though. It was the classic controller, but to a far lesser extent. The Classic Controller was never meant to be a fallback alternative control for the Wii in case of failed motion control adoption rate. It was, however, used to encourage developers and naysayers that you "could" play the traditional way in some form.

I always hated the Genesis controller. Being a kid, it's thickness was unbearable...especially compared to the NES controller I was so used to.

No, I had much more clarification, you just wanted to take one tenth of what I said, and then use that as an argument, so I will repost it, and clarify for you, since obviously, you are a few fries short of a happy meal.

Original Post:

I still don't understand.  If you had a PS2, never owned a SNES and someone said press square, and you didn't, you are STUPID.  YOUR FRIENDS ARE STUPID.  Period.  I haven't owned a SNES.  My first system was a PSx, then PS2, PSP, XBOX and 360.  I understand both button combinations.  Matter of fact, me and my bro only speak sony.  I was teaching my friend how to play halo.  I said press RB to reload, and he was like ???  So then I said press R1 and he reloaded...  I just don't understand.  When we play new games, I still speak sony.  I mean, just because your memory sucks, doesn't mean the controller sucks.  Also, people who are like the buttons for confirm/cancel change on the PSx, 2, and 3 change because of culture.  In JP O is confirm while X is cance.  and vice versa with america.  I've never had a game that had triangle has cancelled.  Most games with O confirm are JRPGs.  I don't know what that gripe was all about.  I play both PS and XBOX 360 avidly, and have never become confused playing either. 

Clarification:  When you read sentences.  You start at the part after the last period and before the next period... Okay?  So you read everything that is in the red.  That is one sentence...  you follow?  So, as I said, you are stupid, if you owned a PS2, and never owned a SNES but didn't know where square was.  (See that, that was a sentence.  If you are going to quote someone, you quote the whole sentence, not half of it, as my comment had a stipulation. 

Back on Topic:  Like I said.  If you owned a PS2, and someone said press square and you didn't know where it was, you are stupid.  How could you own a controller and not know that?  I just can't make it any more plain or simple. 

My point was to illustrate your insults.  Try to argue without calling the other person stupid next time.  Like this:

Letters are simply easier to remember.  Humans are accustomed to numbering things with letters or numbers, and one of the reasons is that they have a specific order.  Look at the SNES controller, and you'll see that there are two convex buttons, A and B, and two concave buttons, X and Y.  Similarly, if you look at a Saturn controller, the buttons are labeled ABC on one row, and XYZ on the other row.  Grouping the letters in this manner and giving them an order makes it very easy to remember which button is which.  On the other hand, there is no order to the symbols "cross, square, triangle, circle."  There are also no easily definable groups.  You could call cross and circle one group if you wanted to, but that's pretty arbitrary, and you don't know which is cross and which is circle, because one doesn't come naturally before the other.  A and B is an explicit group, and it's obvious that A comes before B, making it easier to remember which is which.  You can pick up a SNES controller, study it for literally 5 seconds, and never have to look down at it again to remember which button to press.

See how I did all that without calling anybody stupid?

i would say the touchpad on my laptop...

worst: ps1 / ps2

best: GC, wii

I remember this thread, this is when I got banned! Oh, it brings back such memories.

@ Faxanadu

LOL, mine too.

The original Xbox controller is hands down the worst thing ever, it was ergonomic for The Hulk, that's about it.

I N64 controller felt differently depending on what game you were playing and how you needed to hold it.

That confusion happens alot. I has teaching my friend Halo 3 and I was like "Press RT to shot,", he was like "WHAT," so I rolled my eyes and said "Press R2 to shot," and he shot.

On Topic: I really don't like the Xbox original controller, too big. So did the unreleased PS3 "boomerang" controller. 

In recent console history I'd have to say the Dreamcast by far has the worst controller ergonomically.