N64 Controller Pad for Pandora Game Console

Three handles and a Z trigger

Nintendo 64 games were designed around one of the strangest controllers ever made, and they still play best on it. This N64 Controller Pad recreates that layout for the Pandora Game Console Platinum, so Mario Kart 64 and Smash Bros feel the way they did in the late 90s instead of being squeezed onto an arcade panel.

If you never held the original: it has three handles. The analog stick sits on the middle one, the Z trigger is underneath where your finger rests, and the yellow C buttons on the right were used for camera control in some games and for extra moves in others. Hand a modern pad to someone who grew up with this controller and watch them hunt for buttons that are not there.

The games that make it worth having

Smash Bros is the obvious one. The whole control scheme depends on the analog stick and the Z trigger for shields and grabs, and on any other controller it feels slightly wrong. Mario Kart 64 is the other, especially on a Friday night with the whole family in on it.

The Mario Kart Madness & Friends Archive Card is where most of our N64 racing lives:

• Mario Kart 64
• Diddy Kong Racing
• Wave Race
• Super Mario 64

Beyond those, the wrestling and sports games of the N64 era were built for four people on one couch and four of these pads in a row. Those are the games where a matching set of pads makes the most difference, because everyone is reaching for the same buttons at the same moment.

Up to four players

The Nintendo 64 was one of the first home consoles with four controller ports built in, and its multiplayer games assume you have a full set. With this pad, the Pandora Game Console handles up to four players in games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart 64. Get one for each person who plays, because nobody wants to be the one stuck on a different controller in a four player race.

Why a pad at all

The arcade panel on your console is built for arcade games: a lever and a row of buttons. N64 games want an analog stick, a trigger and a cluster of camera buttons, and an arcade panel cannot map all of that comfortably. The pad covers what the panel cannot. Keep the panel for Street Fighter and Galaga and pick this up when the menu says Nintendo 64.

You can see it in action in the video on this page. For questions about which archive cards carry the N64 games you want, call US SUPPORT in Las Vegas before you order and we will point you to the right card.