The Blueprint

The Dreamcast Junkyard is, as the name suggests, primarily a place where the love is targeted squarely at Sega's fantastic 128-bit swansong. However, being part of the Sega Network and all, there is a fair bit of affection around these parts for the rest of the Sega hardware stable. I personally own a Master System, a Megadrive 2, Mega CD 2 and a Sega Saturn as well as a Dreamcast, so I occasionally find myself purchasing bits and bobs for those systems too. This past weekend, I managed to get hold of a  Saturn 3D pad - you know, the one that you're meant to play NiGHTS Into Dreams with. I also got a copy of that very game (it was actually very kindly donated by Cauterize from Retro Collect - big thanks!), as well as a copy of Christmas NiGHTS too.

The reason for me going on about all this is that I never really appreciated just how similar the 3D pad is to the standard Dreamcast controller. Putting them side by side, you can really see just how alike they are, and you can see how Sega took the 3D pad and developed it into the Dreamcast controller we all know and love today. Random thought: is it mere coincidence that the 3D pad was bundled with a game with the word 'Dreams' in the title...but then went on to become the blueprint for the controller for a console with the word 'Dream' in it's name? Conspiracy theories abound.

A picture speaks a thousand words, but a video speaks twenty billion...so I did a little comparison and uploaded it to Youtube. Yes, I sound like a complete arse and say "erm" every 2.8 seconds...but hey - I never claimed to be a professional. I'll leave that to the...erm...professionals. Eh? Enjoy: